LINGEN COMMUNITY BROADBAND
As we prepare to transfer the service from AccessBroadband/QiComm to us there will be some interruptions to the service. It's impossible to be precise - to a large extent this is out of both our hands and QiComm's - but it looks like:
* From 5pm (1700hrs) today the service will begin to go down - some users will loose their service first, others will follow. This is to allow for technical updates and changes
* by midnight tonight the service will be entirely down
* sometime on Thursday - could be as late as 8pm, could be as early as mid-afternoon - the service will revive, this time under Lingen Community Broadband colours.
* during much of April we may find the service a little gummy whilst we expand our bandwidth. We simply didn't have time before the 1st April deadline to install all the bandwidth we need - so please bear with us - the end result will be worth it.
Wednesday, 31 March 2010
Monday, 29 March 2010
Signed and sealed - legal paperwork completed
With just three days to go until we take responsibility for the service we've finally completed and signed the hefty load of legal paperwork we needed.
This includes
* transfering assets and equipment from QiComm Ltd to Lingen Community Broadband CIC
* agreeing arrangements with QiComm for the transfer of service responsibilities
* agreeing new licenses with the landlords of our transmitter sites
In all it amounts to nine separate legal agreements.
This morning the final piece of paper got the final signature - and so everything becomes ours on Thursday morning.
The transfer of the service will happen later that day.
This includes
* transfering assets and equipment from QiComm Ltd to Lingen Community Broadband CIC
* agreeing arrangements with QiComm for the transfer of service responsibilities
* agreeing new licenses with the landlords of our transmitter sites
In all it amounts to nine separate legal agreements.
This morning the final piece of paper got the final signature - and so everything becomes ours on Thursday morning.
The transfer of the service will happen later that day.
Friday, 26 March 2010
Users - Urgent Information
EXISTING USERS PLEASE NOTE:
Please leave your customer units (the boxes attached to the house) powered from now until at least 2nd April: keep it plugged in and switched on. Our engineer will be remotely updating its software ready for the transfer – and the transfer itself on 1st April requires the unit to be powered. If the unit is not left powered and plugged into the mains, your broadband service will not operate after 1st April.
Please leave your customer units (the boxes attached to the house) powered from now until at least 2nd April: keep it plugged in and switched on. Our engineer will be remotely updating its software ready for the transfer – and the transfer itself on 1st April requires the unit to be powered. If the unit is not left powered and plugged into the mains, your broadband service will not operate after 1st April.
Monday, 22 March 2010
Service announcement
Existing users might like to know that we think - think - engineers will be calling at user's houses to reconfigure your transmitter units on Wednesday 31st and Thursday 1st next week. More information to follow.
New users might like to know that any remaining site surveys will be taking place w/c 29th March. We'll be in touch soon after.
We're still not sure exactly which day, nor for how long, the service will be down during the transfer from QiComm to us. Best guess is Thursday 1st, but we'll keep you posted.
New users might like to know that any remaining site surveys will be taking place w/c 29th March. We'll be in touch soon after.
We're still not sure exactly which day, nor for how long, the service will be down during the transfer from QiComm to us. Best guess is Thursday 1st, but we'll keep you posted.
Friday, 19 March 2010
Police checks, routers, and drama...
A typical example of the ups and downs of setting this service up: we've known for a month or more that it's going to cost us a lot of money to meet the requirement to keep the records of customer activity which the law - and the police - require us to keep.
At one stage it looked like costing £2,000 for the software alone, plus heaven knows how much for bits of hardware, and we began to get very fed up with the statutory requirement for customer-session logging. Our friends at Herefordshire Council - also dismayed - bravely agreed to help out if we had to face a mighty bill, but there was a risk that the cost would simply sink us, and we'd have to give up. It would have been Lingen Community Broadband RIP, thanks to yet more red tape.
As the weeks passed other technical solutions began to appear - and they involved using freeware (rather than costly software) and some slightly cleverer routers (the boxes, flatish and about the size of a telephone directory, that control who gets to use what bit of our bandwidth and at what speeds). Yesterday it emerged that the preferred technical solutions was a Cisco 1841 router - but, horror, they cost around £1000 (see http://www.hardware.com/store/Cisco/CISCO1841?campaignid=1-22590961&gclid=CLmq8p6mwqACFUKZ2AodQ2HUew ).
Once again worry sets in: where can we find £1000? Do we really need it? (answer: if we're not to break the law, yes we do). Today a solution arrives, almost literally a case of deus ex machina: QiComm have found a second-hand router elsewhere in their network and plan to let us have it, for free. It's had two years of wear and tear, but who are we to argue? It will last us until we can sort out something more fancy, and we're very grateful to QiComm (again). So a happy ending - we hope - to yet another little mini-broadband drama.
At one stage it looked like costing £2,000 for the software alone, plus heaven knows how much for bits of hardware, and we began to get very fed up with the statutory requirement for customer-session logging. Our friends at Herefordshire Council - also dismayed - bravely agreed to help out if we had to face a mighty bill, but there was a risk that the cost would simply sink us, and we'd have to give up. It would have been Lingen Community Broadband RIP, thanks to yet more red tape.
As the weeks passed other technical solutions began to appear - and they involved using freeware (rather than costly software) and some slightly cleverer routers (the boxes, flatish and about the size of a telephone directory, that control who gets to use what bit of our bandwidth and at what speeds). Yesterday it emerged that the preferred technical solutions was a Cisco 1841 router - but, horror, they cost around £1000 (see http://www.hardware.com/store/Cisco/CISCO1841?campaignid=1-22590961&gclid=CLmq8p6mwqACFUKZ2AodQ2HUew ).
Once again worry sets in: where can we find £1000? Do we really need it? (answer: if we're not to break the law, yes we do). Today a solution arrives, almost literally a case of deus ex machina: QiComm have found a second-hand router elsewhere in their network and plan to let us have it, for free. It's had two years of wear and tear, but who are we to argue? It will last us until we can sort out something more fancy, and we're very grateful to QiComm (again). So a happy ending - we hope - to yet another little mini-broadband drama.
Signing up
The current plan is that paperwork should reach all users on Tuesday next week, 23rd March: it's being printed and posted on Monday. There'll be a standing order form, another form to sign up for the service (and membership of Lingen Community Broadband), and a booklet full of all the fascinating things you'll need to know. Please make sure we've got the correct postal address, otherwise things will go badly awry.
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
Complaints, complaints....
The task for this week: Judith and David are signing us up with the internet industry's disputes arbitration service. On pain of a £50,000 fine we need to provide this. It will handle any complaint we can't resolve up to a value of £5000. Of course if one of us chose to pursue a complaint of that value against our own company then Lingen Community Broadband would go out of business immediately - and I'm sure neighbours would have something to say about that. It's also worth pointing out that if the arbitrators get involved - something a user can insists on if they aren't satisfied with the way we've handled a complaint - that will immediately involve Lingen Community Broadband in what are, for us, hefty costs. A single complaint will cost us £417.13 in case fees alone - and then on top of that we'd have to pay whatever the adjudicator awarded. And we haven't room in our budget for £417.13. We might run to a £5 Boots voucher - but even that's a bit iffy. You may wonder if all of this red tape is appropriate to a small community owned and run service with a handful of users. We certainly do. Perhaps write to Ofcom if it all seems a bit heavy-handed....
A big thankyou .... Part 1 of Many
Time to raise three cheers for the landlords of our transmitter sites. They've hung in with us whilst we sort ourselves out, and have been amazingly generous in their approach to the rents we have to pay. Without their generosity running a community broadband service would not be viable - simple as that. So a big round of applause, please!
Lloyds TSB...
...if any of you have any leverage with Lloyds TSB now might be a good time to use it. We've been waiting since 26th February for the bank to allocate us an account number and sort code. We've no idea what the delay is - credit checks, apparently - but checking what (the company is only 18 days old)? And surely it doesn't take long to run a credit check these days? Ho hum.
Insurance again...
We've now got this sorted and cover is arranged to begin on 1st April. The cost, though, is no less than three times the figure we'd budgeted - which means insurance amounts to a staggering 10 per cent of our entire turnover. Amazingly pricey, but we went with the best quote and felt it was not something we could skimp.
Tuesday, 9 March 2010
Service out of action around 1st April 2010
Another update: there will be a period of up to 24 hours on the day of transfer when the system won't be operating. Sorry. The outage could be shorter - it depends how long it takes to make some changes to the Leintwardine hub to cope with the transfer of the service from QiComm to us. Unavoidable, apologies. More information as we get closer: we should be able to say exactly from when-to-when the service will be down.
Insurance...
....brokers are advising, and quotes are beginning to come in. Amazing how hard it is, in these days of forms and tick-boxes, to get insurers to understand that we are not looking for contents insurance - because none of our transmitters are indoors - and that although we don't need buildings insurance (ticking the box for timber joists seems a bit pointless....) we do have things on hilltops that need insuring. Anyhow, we're on the way.
Friday, 5 March 2010
Customer update 5th March 2010
* If you have an @accessbb.co.uk email address, then you need to replace it urgently. The @accessbb address will die on, or before, 31st March - so you need to act now. The easiest solution is www.googlemail.com or www.hotmail.co.uk or www.yahoo.co.uk - follow the instructions on line. If you have problems give me a call and I'll talk you through it. When you've your new email address PLEASE TELL US WHAT IT IS - and of course, tell your friends and family....
* The changeover from QiComm to our community-owned and run service will mean an engineer needs to visit every user's house. Your Repeatit customer units (the small boxes attached to the outside walls or chimneys) need to be re-configured. This will take place in the week beginning 29th March. We're hoping the work can be done from outside - but it may need access to the house. We'll be in touch - but it would be helpful if you could make arrangements for that week, in case engineers need to access. Needless to say, without it your internet service won't be connected.
* The first stage of the technical changes we need has been completed. Users in the Kinsham, Belgate, Uphampton, Lower Woodhouse area's are no longer plumbed into the internet via Pembridge telephone exchange: all traffic is now being bounced up the hills from Shobdon via Kinsham and Lingen to the main network centre in Leintwardine. For now that means all 36 of us are sharing one ADSL line at Leintwardine - which is far too many. There's a theoretical risk it will slow your service - so far mine seems unaffected, but please understand if the internet gets a little gummy in the next few weeks until we can add extra lines.
* The changeover from QiComm to our community-owned and run service will mean an engineer needs to visit every user's house. Your Repeatit customer units (the small boxes attached to the outside walls or chimneys) need to be re-configured. This will take place in the week beginning 29th March. We're hoping the work can be done from outside - but it may need access to the house. We'll be in touch - but it would be helpful if you could make arrangements for that week, in case engineers need to access. Needless to say, without it your internet service won't be connected.
* The first stage of the technical changes we need has been completed. Users in the Kinsham, Belgate, Uphampton, Lower Woodhouse area's are no longer plumbed into the internet via Pembridge telephone exchange: all traffic is now being bounced up the hills from Shobdon via Kinsham and Lingen to the main network centre in Leintwardine. For now that means all 36 of us are sharing one ADSL line at Leintwardine - which is far too many. There's a theoretical risk it will slow your service - so far mine seems unaffected, but please understand if the internet gets a little gummy in the next few weeks until we can add extra lines.
Internet Service Providers Association
We've now joined IPSA - the Internet Service Providers Association - a trade body that will help by providing us with information and advice, and make sure we keep our standards up. IPSA membership gives us access to the complaints adjudication service which we need to have to meet OfCom requirements.
We're rapidly learning that running a community broadband service involves a lot of red tape...
You can find IPSA at www.ispa.org.uk
Monday, 1 March 2010
How to Complain
ingen Community Broadband believes passionately in delivering the best possible user experience. Should you have an issue with any aspect of our service there are a number of ways that we can try to resolve your query.
If you wish to query any aspect of the service provided you should phone (01544) 262 896 or write to Company Secretary (Judith Phillips) at Lingen Village Hall, Lingen, Bucknell, Shropshire SY7 0DY. Lingen Community Broadband will try to resolve your query in 3 days.
If you remain dissatisfied with the solution or explanation offered we request that you raise a formal complaint by writing to the Company Secretary at Lingen Village Hall, Lingen, Bucknell, Shropshire SY7 0DY.
Lingen Community Broadband will respond by acknowledging all written complaints within 5days . We aim to resolve customer complaints within 7 to 10 working days.
If we have been unable to resolve a complaint satisfactorily after 12 weeks you may refer the complaint to an independent arbitrator. Lingen Community Broadband is a member of Communications and Internet Services Adjudications Scheme (CISAS). This is an Ofcom approved arbitrator. They may be contacted at:
CISAS ,24 Angel Gate, City Road, London EC1V 2PT telephone 020 7520 3827, fax 020 7520 3829, E-mail info@cisas.org.uk ; Web site www.cisas.org.uk
If you wish to query any aspect of the service provided you should phone (01544) 262 896 or write to Company Secretary (Judith Phillips) at Lingen Village Hall, Lingen, Bucknell, Shropshire SY7 0DY. Lingen Community Broadband will try to resolve your query in 3 days.
If you remain dissatisfied with the solution or explanation offered we request that you raise a formal complaint by writing to the Company Secretary at Lingen Village Hall, Lingen, Bucknell, Shropshire SY7 0DY.
Lingen Community Broadband will respond by acknowledging all written complaints within 5days . We aim to resolve customer complaints within 7 to 10 working days.
If we have been unable to resolve a complaint satisfactorily after 12 weeks you may refer the complaint to an independent arbitrator. Lingen Community Broadband is a member of Communications and Internet Services Adjudications Scheme (CISAS). This is an Ofcom approved arbitrator. They may be contacted at:
CISAS ,24 Angel Gate, City Road, London EC1V 2PT telephone 020 7520 3827, fax 020 7520 3829, E-mail info@cisas.org.uk ; Web site www.cisas.org.uk
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