Fiber to the homes broadband report.

Great news for Belcarra but good news for Cong and Clonbur.

Yesterday at eircom’s unveiling of the ultra fast broadband trial in Belcarra it also indicated that Cong and Clonbur were in line as one of the 39 other communities in Mayo which will receive an upgrade to the broadband connection of local homes and businesses.

This upgrade means replacing the existing lines with fibre optic cables which can allow speeds of up to 1000Mb/s meaning that movies can be downloaded in seconds, video calls are picture perfect, young adults can play online games with people anywhere in the world, Netflix is uninterrupted and working from home becomes a reality.

The ‘Fibre to the Home’ technology is different to previous approaches to solving the poor broadband experience of local communities in that it will connect directly to people’s homes and not just to local exchanges or roadside poles.  This is significant because the final connection to the house can often be the point where broadband fails.

In theory Cong and Clonbur could see ultra fast connectivity arrive with 6 months but it could take much longer and how far it extends outside the villages is unknown

At the launch of the trial in Belcarra the company showcased the technology in three different locations with live feeds and online biding at the Balla mart, a primary school using it for research and rural entrepreneurs who are running online businesses.

It is not difficult to see how Cong and Clonbur could benefit if and when this ultra fast broadband arrives which would trump speeds available in many cities.

At least we are on the map.

Article written by Eoin Kennedy (@eoink)

Comprehensive article can be found here.

More information on the Eircom Fiber rollout can be found here.