B4RN

B4RN (Broadband for the Rural North)

B4RN (Broadband for the Rural North Ltd), launched in 2011 as an entirely fibre optic broadband network aiming to provide high speed broadband to domestic and business premises in rural locations across England (mainly the Northwest) led by community volunteers and supported by investors, local landowners and government gigabit voucher funding.

Their gigabit network uses no overhead copper lines (all ducts are buried) and at 1000Mbps (1Gbps) their broadband service is many times faster than most of their competitors, allowing every member of the household or business in their coverage area to use the broadband at the same time without frustration.

Community is what B4RN is all about! Other than the hyperfast broadband speeds for families, schools and businesses there is so much for the community to gain. B4RN cares about the service it provides to its customers and uses all of its profits to get communities connected. Small village schools and places of worship are offered the service completely free as are village halls when they agree to host one of their cabinets (a custom built secure outdoor enclosure).

Most of the B4RN network relies on the work of volunteers, landowners and farmers who know the area like the back of their hand with many helping other areas to get connected once their own area is up and running. B4RN can help to connect even the most rural of communities by utilising the local knowledge, assistance and its free wayleave permissions. It is with these wayleaves that a network of B4RN’s scale can be built by a community. Their wayleave agreement is a straightforward simple agreement giving permission to install ducts across a landowners property and for this B4RN are incredibly grateful.

At a cost of a one off £150 connection fee and just £30 per month, households can expect to receive hyperfast broadband speeds, a reliable connection and a supportive, knowledgeable call centre team. There are savings to be made also in that once B4RN is installed, no phone line rental is required, the B4RN connection can be used for an internet based telephone service.

B4RN’s coverage area is growing all the time. More than 8,000 properties connected to the network. To find out if B4RN is available in your area simply enter your postcode into their postcode checker. Should B4RN not have reached your area then all you need to do is register your interest and gather community support.

B4RN will only extend their network into areas where they are wanted. Each community that raises interest with B4RN needs to raise a certain level of investment to cover the work and materials needed for installation (currently, a significant amount of each project build is met by government gigabit voucher funding). This is done via the purchase of new shares with each B4RN share having a nominal value of £1. The minimum shareholding is £100 and the maximum £100,000. Regardless of how many shares are owned a member is entitled to one vote at B4RN General Meetings.

A large amount of the installation cost is being covered by a government led project – Project Gigabit of which B4RN are a registered supplier. To keep costs down customers can dig in the ducts across their gardens themselves but for those who prefer to have a contractor carry out the work then B4RN have a list of independently approved contractors who come highly recommended and are fully trained by B4RN.

Who Makes Up The B4RN Community?

Landowners

The only way B4RN can build their network across landowners property and connect even the most rural of communities is through the generosity of the local landowners and farmers with their vast knowledge of the area and free wayleave permissions. In return for their generosity landowners and farmers can claim shares for work whereby they can earn a fixed £2.00 per metre for the distances they’ve installed ducting, subject to all works being approved by the B4RN office.

Volunteers

B4RN provide the infrastructure and expertise but the vast majority of work is undertaken by volunteers. Volunteers who within their parish help to coordinate and manage all aspects of the build. It isn’t just about digging up the trenches and those with access to ploughs and tractors, other skills are welcomed too when looking for volunteers, particularly those who make a good cup of tea!

Investors

Each new area that invites B4RN in needs to raise investment to help cover the work and materials needed for the installation. Core investment in the community is made up of shares, the value of which can be used to support their requirement. As a community Benefit Society B4RN can pay interest on its shares but only at a level that benefits the community and attracts investment needed for construction and operation.

Large investors – investors wishing to purchase £1500 shares in one go can designate a property within the B4RN coverage area that will be connected with no £150 charge. Investors wishing to buy more than £1500 shares can take advantage of this offer for each £1500 purchased, up to a maximum of four free connections per investor. B4RN assumes the investor’s address will be included in this offer unless told otherwise.

A significant amount of the build cost is being met currently with government voucher funding. As a registered supplier with Project Gigabit run by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, B4RN are able to offer both small to medium size businesses and residential properties the opportunity to upgrade their broadband to 1000Mbps (1Gbps). The funding is there to help with the costs of installation only, not the monthly service charges.

B4RN Technology

B4RN Speeds

B4RN broadband offers speeds of 1000Mbps, that’s 1Gbps! There is even an option to upgrade to 10Gbps, which is ludicrously fast!  With more and more people working from home and viewing habits changing in terms of more streaming of apps such as Netflix and Spotify there has never been a better time to take full advantage of B4RN’s gigabit connection. There’s no peak time slowdown or waiting for files to download and certainly never the frustration of multiple streaming slowing the connection down either. Just as importantly B4RN’s symmetrical gigabit connection makes a huge difference to uploads too.

Thanks to the design of the B4RN network there is no compromise to the quality or speed of the user’s connection. Viable routes and wayleaves are established with the help of local landowners and volunteers. Small 16mm ducts are laid in trenches into which fibre optic cable is fed and further 16mm ducts are buried around the community into which junction boxes are placed called ‘bullets’. From these bullets a small 7mm duct is laid to each and every property requesting the service. The 1000 Mbps is then ready and waiting to be enjoyed.

The B4RN Router

Included in the £30 per month service fee is a Zyxel router therefore costing you nothing extra but does remain the property of B4RN. It is up to you which band the router connects to, there are two bands to choose from, 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz or you can just let the router choose automatically. Once logged into the router there are various things that can be accessed such as schedule settings for Wi-Fi access by certain devices, blocking access completely for certain devices and parental controls.

Ideally for the WiFi to be used to maximum effect it is best to position the router in the room where the internet is used the most. It also needs to be near a power socket and a telephone socket should you decide to move your home phone over to VoIP.

B4RN Technical Support

B4RN don’t have a 24 hour call centre but what they do have is a local and dedicated support team who can be contacted by phone or email during office hours. The B4RN website has a detailed troubleshooting self help page which can be accessed anytime should there be any problems with passwords or connection itself for example.

How Much Does B4RN Broadband Cost?

B4RN is very competitively priced given the 1Gbps speeds on offer. In fact their fees are comparatively below the monthly fees charged by the large well-known national broadband providers. Their current pricing can be found on their website, as well as below –

If you intend to use B4RN broadband as a business customer it is important to note that the price increases based upon the number of users within the company. The price scale is as follows –

10Gbps – In order to connect to this service the fee is £360 and the monthly service fee is £150

*Free connection offer – An investment of £1500 to B4RN ensures free connection worth £150. Investment in shares currently attracts a rate of 5% which can be paid out or reinvested year on year.

*Holiday cottages, caravan sites, schools, hotels, churches all have special pricing plans to take into account their special circumstances. Often a custom built enclosure housing a node cabinet will need to be sited on the grounds of a village hall or local school, in return they will get free service and B4RN will pay for the power the cabinet uses.

*No line rental required – the landline can be dispensed of and the B4RN connection used instead. A Voice Over Internet Protocol service (VoIP) is a telephone service that uses your internet connection and calls are generally much cheaper than a traditional telephone landline service. You simply need to sign up to a third party VoIP provider and your telephone number is simply ported over to the provider, a small device gets plugged into the B4RN router and you’re good to go.