Category: work

A landmark day for us on the 29th June as the Rathmell cabinet came live.

And Chris Conder and Jorj Haston from B4RN were in the area so we fitted and connected routers in 15 properties along Route 1; of those 9 went LIVE on the B4RN network.

We have work planned during next week that will enable us to bring more properties on Route 1 live

Quick checklist for being ready to go live:

1. We have got ducting to your garden wall
2. Duct is laid through your garden to the house wall
3. House kit is installed (internal & external box and white duct through the wall)
4. Complete a voucher / service request on the Get B4RN form (enter your postcode at https://b4rn.org.uk/postcode-checker/ and it will direct you to the right form for your postcode)
5. You have had fibre blown to the property
6. Fill out a B4RN Contract form before the B4RN installers arrive (https://b4rn.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Contract-Pack.pdf – contact me for a copy if you can’t print your own)

If we’ve done 1 and you’ve done 2, 3 and 4 but haven’t had fibre blown please get in touch so we can arrange with the fibre blowers to get you done.n.b. you can still do 2, 3 and 4 in advance of us doing 1 as long as you know where we are expecting to bring your property connection to
If you have had 5 done too we will be in touch to arrange a visit to get you on line (if you aren’t delaying service by more than a couple of months due to an existing contract).

If you are on Route 1 and haven’t done 2, 3 and 4 yet then it’s really time to get some plans in place to move things forward.  If you need help / advice you can fill in our form to request help.

For those of you who are now live or about to go live there are a number of useful links on the B4RN website (https://b4rn.org.uk/resources/) on all things from Voice-over-IP (VOIP) phone package providers (e.g. Vonage / SIPGate) to Uninterruptable Power Supplies (UPS) that can keep your router running in the event of a power cut.

B4RN also do a weekly computer club (Fridays 2pm-4pm) at their Melling office to which all are welcome (especially if you bring cake!) where you can get advice on getting Wifi signal around your property, VOIP phones and they can potentially (depending on make/model) also re-programme your existing Broadband router (when you are live on B4RN) in order for it to become a Wifi repeater somewhere else in your property.

Dig & Fibre Blowing progress

As per the map below we have had a lot of progress over the last week or so. 

Green shows where there is Live fibre, Red shows where fibre has been blown into the access chambers (manholes) but is not yet spliced (joined up), and orange shows where we have duct. 

n.b. when the fibre is blown into the chambers it then needs to be split out and spliced to the next section of fibre, either to link to the next chamber or to serve a property(s), this splicing is done by a separate team who need to get scheduled in by B4RN. 

Further route 1 fibre blowing is now awaiting the arrival in stock at B4RN of the 288 fibre cable that we need to have blown into the rest of route 1.

The road crossings at the old school field and at Gawthorpe House have both been completed this week, we just need to get a few ends of ducts dug in and jointed and we will have a fully dug in trunk route ducting.

Digging has been ongoing up at Rome farm and the line to Parsons Close has now been completed. Digging will continue in Rathmell next week to lay in the property spur ducts on the north side of Hesley Lane from Gawthorpe House to The Grange and a couple of other outstanding property spurs off route 1. 

If you are on Route 1 then if you haven’t already done so you need to be working on the following: Get your garden dig done

Get the ducting into your garden (in most cases from the field adjoining your property) and across the garden to your house wall.  As per previous emails the orange duct needs to run below ground, please do all you can to go under garden walls / fences rather than through or over them, and please consider the chances of you or someone else damaging the ducting when doing future work in the garden (probably best to be more than a single spade depth down), use extra protection (e.g. blue water pipe) if you can’t dig it in deep.

If you need help in doing your dig then ask around for help from neighbours, a group working together can do a lot in short time.

There is also a gardener who has done work for people on garden digs on other B4RN projects and would do similar work for residents on this project, his name is Robert Davidson and he can be contacted on 07766662861 or email robert.davidson83@outlook.com.

Get a House Kit installed

I’ve given out 25 house kits over the last few weeks and have another 20 ready to get out to you.  Rather than me spend time chasing people to try and give them out, I’ve decided that it would be best if people arrange to come and pick up a kit from me, so get in touch to arrange a pickup if you are on Route 1 and don’t yet have a kit.

We have a Rathmell based electrician, Craig Curry, who is B4RN trained to install house kits and you can contact him on 07941 085086 or email craig.curry@btinternet.com to arrange an install.

Over the summer and since the last update, Roger has made sure that good progress was made… digging started and several kilometres of cable are now in the ground between the LEWFA project and Rathmell. As I write, we’re expecting an imminent visit from B4RN’s technicians to have a look at details such as power supply up at Rathmell Reading Room, where our central cabinet will be located.

wanted: mole plough contractors

But we’re also slightly victims of our (or B4RN’s) success, because our mole plough contractors have been too busy to dig for RW(G)BB in recent weeks.

We’re putting out a call for other people who would be willing and able to mole plough to get in touch with us. B4RN experience / accreditation is an advantage because there’s immediate work for anyone who can jump straight in and knows the specifics of the project. We think training can be arranged for contractors who mole plough but not yet for B4RN, so please get in touch if you’re interested in the work!