Members Meeting - 27/03/12

Thank you to everyone who managed to attend - here is a summary of the meeting:

Lingen Community Broadband CIC

A general meeting at Lingen Village Hall on 27^th March 2012 at 7 30pm

Mr Steve Sanders chaired the meeting called to inform Members of the future development possible for LCB. He reminded Members that the company had been set up to provide a broadband service for eighteen months until a new provider could be found. We had now completed two years.

The Directors of LCB had for several months been in  conversation with the Council about maintaining a broadband system that was reliable. They had been very helpful and had paid for the mains electricity to be installed to the Cadwell transmitter which had improved the network in that area. They are concerned about our present difficulties and may be willing to help if that is needed.

The Directors, with help from Herefordshire Council, had identified a provider who could provide a wireless service (up to 20Mb) but who would need the equipment to be upgraded first-to be modern and compatible with his system. The cost of this was more than LCB could afford.

However, the Council are at present negotiating a contract with potential suppliers to provide a broadband service to Herefordshire. They have amended the project slightly from superfast broadband to part of the county to initially 2Mb provision to all the county. The Council wish to speak to the new contractor when the contract is awarded to ask if they could provide a solution for broadband in our area.

If the new contractor does not think that they can provide a solution within a reasonable time-frame, then we hope the Council will help LCB with the wireless solution.

The Council’s contracting process is subject to extreme privacy and thus it is not known what technological method the contractor will use. [An internal report to Hereford officers has suggested that a provision of mixed technologies may be needed for the county.]It appears to LCB Directors that a wireless solution is likely to be needed in our area.

Mr Bruce Williamson spoke about the technology of our system and the present difficulties we are having with a signal that drops off for some customers- it is difficult to identify the problem since it changes over time. We have asked Rob de Corday Long to do a diagnostic survey of the whole system. There has been a delay in starting the survey because of a breakdown of the monitoring computer. The survey should begin later this week.

Mr Brian Lewis spoke about the financial aspects of the company. We just break  even but it is not a commercially viable group. The age of the equipment has meant that we have had to spend a considerable percentage of our income on maintenance.

Members asked questions seeking clarification or further information. Also they expressed appreciation of the efforts of the Directors in seeking a solution for the future.

The Chairman thanked the Members for their patience and forbearance. Wireless systems are very weather dependent and transmitters powered by batteries charged by solar power are particularly fragile in the winter months. The batteries ( tractor batteries) are quite old and do not hold their charge as well as they did. He promised to let them know of future developments – the Directors expected to speak to the Council again towards the end of May. He thanked everyone for coming and sharing our concerns.