Compton Valence Case Study

Residents of Compton Valence were struggling with extremely slow speeds of less than 2Mbps. Local business owners and farmers were finding it increasingly difficult to operate with such slow Internet and residents were frustrated with the speeds.

Compton Valence is a small village in West Dorset. Sited at the head of a narrow valley, it is surrounded by the hills of the Dorset Downs.

The Problem

Residents of Compton Valence were struggling with extremely slow speeds of less than 2Mb/s and it was estimated to be one of the slowest parishes in the country.

Our Solution

In Spring 2016, we had everything in place to expand our coverage area into Compton Valence. Using a combination of funding from local landowners and BDUK connection vouchers, we were able to put a mast on a resident’s land. However, this mast could not give coverage to the entire village, so in addition to this, we put up 2 network boosters, to increase the coverage area to include the entire village. One network booster was funded partially by the Russell family for their tenants’ properties to be covered and partially by the tenants’ BDUK vouchers all clubbed together. The second, on Compton Valence Village Hall, was funded by a group of 5 residents using their vouchers and each partially contributing towards the costs. We provide the village hall with a free subscription as they host this network booster.

The Result

We are now able to serve an area of Dorset where residents were previously only receiving speeds of up to 2Mbps. Now we can provide them with our 50Mb/s package. A year on since this project went live, take up of our service is at 75%. This is more than double the average take up rate of BT Openreach’s rollout across Dorset. Jeremy Russell, one of the residents involved in getting Wessex Internet to Compton Valence, explains, “We farm in Compton Valence, and have a number of tenanted cottages. It was becoming increasingly difficult to let the properties, because after asking how much it cost to rent, the next question was ‘how fast is the Internet?’ They were not impressed to hear ‘less than 1Mbps’, with no prospect of a BT upgrade. It was also becoming harder to run an agricultural business, where Government Agencies require a good Internet connection to download maps etc. We had to do something about this, and once Wessex Internet had a dish on Wardon Hill we were able to link into it. The whole village are pleased with the result, both on the speed of the Internet, and the follow up support.”

The average download speed received by properties in Compton Valence has increased by over 50 times since Wessex Internet arrived.