Connecting Cumbria Newsletter

Welcome to the January edition of the Connecting Cumbria newsletter. We would like to take this opportunity to wish our readers a happy new year and thank you for your continued support of the deployment of improved broadband services across Cumbria.

In this edition we take a look at the advantages of a fibre broadband connection and remind readers of the steps they should take to check to see if they can upgrade their current service. We catch up with the Digital Tech Cumbria team and look to businesses who have already upgraded their service to talk to us about how their fibre broadband supports them in what they do.

If you would like to see any specific topics covered in future editions of the newsletter then please email us at connecting.cumbria@cumbria.org.uk

The Benefits of Fibre Broadband

As part of their recent article on ‘The benefits of fibre broadband’ Which? carried out a survey of more than 3,000 broadband customers who had upgraded to a fibre connection from a slower standard broadband connection with the majority saying that they had noticed an improvement in many ways including reliability and speed.

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To read the full article and to find out the full findings of this survey, please visit: https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/broadband/article/the-benefits-of-fibre-broadband-gigabit-aBQ199p7pITR - Which?

How do I check to see if I can order a fibre broadband service?

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More than 75% of properties that can access improved services have chosen to upgrade but there remain many Cumbrian’s that may not realise that they are able to order superfast services.

To check if you can order improved services please visit our website.

Digital Tech Cumbria Broadband Support

<image002.jpg>The Digital Tech Cumbria programme is offering broadband support that could make a big difference to your business. If you don’t already know about it, you should have a look at https://dtc.winningmoves.com/ and get involved as soon as you can.

The programme is known for its webinars and masterclasses and its 1-2-1 adviser support on all things digital but did you know that the team is working with Connecting Cumbria and partners to improve broadband provision too?

“While the picture across Cumbria has improved a lot in recent years, there are still gaps in the fibre network and still businesses and properties that are struggling with slow internet speeds,” explains DTC’s Business Support Programme Manager, Janet Addison. “Part of our remit is to improve the broadband speeds – upload and download – and there have proved to be a number of successful approaches.”

Solutions so far have included:

  • creating a mobile hub for self-catering accommodation,
  • installing 4G SIM card broadband for a haulage business and
  • using satellite connectivity to improve speeds for a wood processor.

Suppliers such as Online Systems and Eclipse Office Technologies have been involved and the target is to improve speeds for every SME in the county, making the most of existing contracts and looking for new approaches where needed.

If you think Digital Tech Cumbria’s advisers might be able to help you, please contact Janet at janeta@winningmoves.com or via the DTC website https://dtc.winningmoves.com/. There’s also a blog all about broadband connectivity under Digital Insights on the website.

Launch of Help to Grow: Digital

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The Government ‘Help to Grow: Digital’ campaign provides businesses with access to free, impartial online support about how digital technology can boost their performance.

Eligible businesses can also access a discount of up to 50% towards the costs of buying approved software, worth up to £5,000.

Applications to this scheme are now open – to find out more please visit Help to Grow – Take your business to the next level (campaign.gov.uk)

Call to Businesses using Fibre Broadband!

If you are a business who would like to talk to us about how fibre broadband has been of benefit to what you do then we would love to hear from you.

We are currently looking to create case studies of local businesses who are reaping the benefits of a fibre broadband service for use on our social media platforms in support of us raising the awareness of the availability of services across Cumbria.

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Please contact the team at conencting.cumbria@cumbria.gov.uk to find out more.

Notice Date: 31/01/2022