All posts by Paul Newton

TP-Link DECO M5 Whole Home Mesh Wifi Review

Wi-fi is a bit like black magic – sometimes it works but no one really knows why!

Before F4RN it didn’t matter if the wi-fi  was poor because the internet speed to the property was the limiting factor – but with F4RN superfast speeds of 700 – 800 Mbps, you need good wi-fi to get the best out of your connection.

“Why is my wi-fi speed sometimes brilliant and then suddenly poor?”

There are lots of factors –

  • distance from router and construction of your house,
  • reflections and blockages from household items,
  • other devices transmitting wireless signals (microwaves, DECT phones, wireless speakers, Alexas, Siris, Googles, thermostats, etc)
  • whether you are connected on the 2G or 5G wi-fi band (our routers transmit both),
  • How strongly your device can communicate to the router.

Recognising this, many F4RN customers have invested in the TP-Link DECO M5 Whole Home Mesh Wifi system – either 2 or 3 dishes depending on the size of your house.   Other similar WiFi mesh systems are available, but we have a review of the M5 if you are interested:  https://f4rn.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/DECO-M5.pdf

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Repairs and Additional Wiring

F4RN relies a lot on volunteers and we a generally happy to provide support and advice.  However, if you need a repair to accidental damage on your property, or to move fibre to allow extensions etc,  then there be a charge for this work at a fixed rate of £40 an hour (+VAT).

Where possible, we recommend using ethernet connections rather than wi-fi, especially for devices using video streaming (TVs, Games consoles, Zoom calls).  You may want to route additional ethernet ports and extensions externally.  James (5* Aerials) has worked with us for several years and is happy to be contacted about this work.  Please contact him directly on 07710-270980

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Photos from the Construction Archive

[ditty_news_ticker id=”1137″]Not a bad weekend’s work – Sports and Gala complete and a key section finished in Morton.  Great to see so many people turn out and to have the mole plough in action for the first time.  Same again next weekend?!

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FTTH: What is it?

ftth councilA guide published by the Fibre to the Home Council Europe – “Fibre broadband”, “high speed”, “bandwidth”, “FTTC”, “FTTB”, “FTTH”… those who are not specialists in broadband services can easily feel confused about these technologies and seemingly obscure acronyms. In order to educate the general public on fibre to the home technology, the FTTH Council Europe released this year a new guide entitled FTTH – What is it?. The Council would like this guide to enlighten the concerned but novice citizen whose life is impacted by telecommunications, yet who feels a bit lost in this environment.

FTTH2

This guide provides its readers with the most accurate definition of FTTH. What is optical fibre? How does it work? What are the factors that encourage fibre to the home adoption? From the individual components to the overall network infrastructure, the guide gives an overview of the fundamental elements that constitute an FTTH network and that allow the optical fibre to reach the end user’s home.

So, if you or someone you know is not familiar with FTTH technology and why it is so essential for future developments, this guide is made for you! Share and spread the word about fibre to the home!

->Download here<-

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We’re there!

Thank you to everyone who has supported our community broadband project by investing in F4RN.

We’ve now raised over £113,000 and have 100 people who have signed up to take up the broadband service as soon as it is available, with more planning to join us as soon as their existing contracts are complete.

This is fantastic and, as agreed at the open meeting last week, we’ve met both the criteria needed to start the project.

The plan now will be to cash the investors’ cheques and collect the investment made through the Microgenius site.  Please make sure you have the funds available as we will start drawing down the investment next week (from 25th April onwards).

With the funding in place we can start ordering equipment, arrange for the professional network survey and order the connection onto the national fibre optic backbone.

In the coming months we will need a lot of help to build the network – particularly when we start to lay the ducting and fibre optic cable.  The more volunteers we have the quicker and easier it will be, so please don’t be shy!

Thanks again for your support

Peter Wheeldon

Chair

Fibre for Rural Nottinghamshire

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Sign up for a connection

signupWe expect the F4RN ultrafast broadband network to go live by August.  If you want a connection and have not already signed up then please sign up here

The initial connection charge is £210.
Monthly charge set at £36 for 100Mbps symmetrical broadband connection.  Both prices include VAT. Initial 12 month contract.

Connection will initially be delivered through a high performance wireless network with progressive overlay of full fibre solution as the community broadband network develops.

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F4RN Launch Event Video

Perhaps not the most riveting Sunday afternoon viewing, but if you missed the launch events or just want to review the presentation we’ve finally manage to upload the video.

The slides are also available on our home page.

Don’t forget, the share offer is open so don’t miss the opportunity to invest in your community.

 

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SEIS Advance Approval Received

Great news – we’ve received advance approval from the HMRC for our share offer. This means that under the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme, eligible investors should be able to receive a tax rebate of 50% of the amount they invest. So if you invest £1,000 you should get a £500 tax rebate!

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