Fibre broadband for Sutherland village of Ardgay

28th February 2017

High speed fibre broadband is now available to order in Ardgay.

Fibre services are completely different to existing broadband services, and download speeds in the village will see a boost from a previous maximum of 8Mbps, to up to 76Mbps.

You can check your phone number on the interactive map at www.hie.co.uk/fibre This will tell you whether you are part of the current network, and what speeds you might expect on your individual line.

Stuart Robertson, digital director at HIE said: "If services are available you do have to order. You can use comparison websites to shop around for the best fibre internet deal. It may not cost you any more than your current service.

"The new services are delivered by fibre cabinets, and being able to order depends on two things - being connected into the cabinet and your distance from it.

"There are three fibre cabinets in the local area. The latest one is for Ardgay village, and there are two which cover Bonar Bridge (one in the village itself and the other which sits just outside Ardgay Game).

"The network has been built as part of the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband project, led in the region by HIE. Public investment is helping extend superfast broadband access to as many towns and villages as possible which would not have been reached by the commercial market. It is funded by the Scottish Government, the UK Government, HIE itself and private sector partner BT, whose local network business Openreach is delivering the work on the ground.

"It provides the same kind of mainstream network which is available across the UK, and as it is open to all providers to allow you to shop around for best value."

If you order the broadband service, it is delivered along your existing telephone line from the cabinet. Your provider may send you a new router for the house, and they will advise you if an engineer needs to come to the house, it's not always necessary.

The roll-out isn't reaching everyone. The project has built as many cabinets as the budget allows to reach as many people as possible. However, the cabinets can't reach everyone as the broadband signal diminishes on the phone line, and those more than 2kms away may not see a benefit. It is always worth confirming with your provider even if you are at the outer limits.

The Scottish Government is currently looking at ways to ensure that all homes and businesses can access superfast broadband by 2021. A further project is being planned to help reach further.

In the meantime any home which can't access the new services, and which has a download speed of less than 2 Mbps, can apply for a better broadband voucher to help with the installation costs of a satellite or wireless option.