Grant Updates

No further news on grant payments by Welsh Government presently, 38 claims are awaiting payment.

Construction and Progress

Chris and Dave Walford have continued trenching over the past two weeks and have now completed the trenching and duct laying up Cefn Mably Park Drive, a large section at Penylan and from Bridge Farm to Ruperra House.

Thompson Directional Drilling have been otherwise occupied in Mid Wales this past two weeks and have been unable to get to us. However, we are hoping that they will make it next Wednesday when they can drill to place our ducts under the river near Cefn Mably Farm Park, under the stream part way up Cefn Mably Park Drive, and across from the solar farm on Began Road to Afon Close, before another river crossing towards Minorca Cottages. They will then work on the remaining road crossings.

Router installations

There are not too many more routers installed currently as activities have now been focused on trenching, laying ducts and getting ducts to property boundaries. In the following 2 weeks it is anticipated that there will be a number of  routers installed at Cefn Mably Park.

Splicing and Splice Bullets

Carina and Jim Dunk installed the first splice bullet to go in at Cefn Mably Park on Wednesday evening. Fortunately, we do not have to dig any chambers for the splice bullets as there are cabinets that are perfect for their storage. 15 ducts have been installed in the splice bullet ready for the properties in the Walled Garden to be connected after fibre has been blown.

Fibre Blowing

Last Sunday, the fibre blowing hit some snags and with a leak in the seals of the fibre blowing machine and difficult  joints in the ducting, we finally achieved success in blowing a 24 fibre from Penylan to Clearwell Farm a distance of about 800 meters.

New seals are on order and we will hire a larger compressor for increased air performance next week. This should mean that we can blow fibre from:~ Penylan to the Splice Bullet in The Horsefield; from the Hub to Fairwater Farm, Pentreporth Cottage; Cefn Mably Park, the Walled Garden and down to Haygrove.

The Hub

We have had a new “commando socket” fitted which will enable the new Air Conditioning unit to be installed next week. The temporary air conditioning unit is just about managing but it will be less of a worry once we have the new external unit in place. Many thanks to Chris Bolton for arranging the fitting of the socket.

Cefn Mably Park

Now the work is beginning at Cefn Mably Park we are discovering the challenges of using an existing duct system. In some places it is working well and our ducts are going through easily and some areas where there are obstructions which is where the challenges lie.

16mm ducts have been run from the bottom of the drive up to the main gate in trenches that have now been backfilled. The stream crossing will be completed when the Directional Drillers arrive.

Some ducting has been pulled through the existing 4 inch pipes from the gates with the last run proving difficult. Another challenge to be overcome.!

In the Walled Garden, most of the ducts are now able to be fed through existing chambers and pipework with the exception of 4 which have been obstructed by the installation of water meters !   A challenge that will be overcome, I am sure. Thank you to everyone who has helped ~ a great job done guys, (Wayne, Tom, Derek, Sukhdev, Shaheed and Phil) routers to be installed soon and fibres blown, it will not be too long before you are connected.

It is great to see that we are also having an increase in the number of enquiries from residents at Cefn Mably Park also wishing to connect to our 1Gb internet.

Technical information

New firmware has been installed to all existing live routers and will automatically be installed on the new routers as they are provisioned before installing them into properties.

The new firmware adds parental controls as well as fixing several bugs.

Our routers have the option of connecting on either 2.4 GHz or 5.0 GHz. If you enter the routers management pages you can rename the wireless networks so that you can see which one you are connected to. If you do not feel competent to do this simply email support@myfi.wales and we will arrange to pop in and do this for you. All newly provisioned routers will already have this done before they are installed.

“The primary differences between the two frequencies are the range (coverage) and bandwidth (speed) that the bands provide. The 2.4 GHz band provides coverage at a longer range but transmits data at slower speeds. The 5 GHz band provides less coverage but transmits data at faster speeds.

The range is lower in the 5 GHz band because higher frequencies cannot penetrate solid objects, such as walls and floors. However, higher frequencies allow data to be transmitted faster than lower frequencies, so the 5 GHz band allows you to upload and download files faster.

Your WiFi connection on a particular frequency band can also be faster or slower because of interference from other devices. Many WiFi-enabled technologies and other household devices use the 2.4 GHz band, including microwaves and garage door openers. When multiple devices attempt to use the same radio space, overcrowding occurs. The 5 GHz band tends to have less overcrowding than the 2.4GHz band because fewer devices use it and because it has 23 channels for devices to use, while the 2.4GHz band has only 11 channels. The number of channels that are available to you depends on the regulatory domain. If you’re experiencing a lot of interference from other devices, consider using the 5 GHz band.”

Courtesy of https://kb.netgear.com/29396/What-is-the-difference-between-2-4-GHz-and-5GHz

AOB

Carina Dunk is compiling a Customer Feedback Form to send to all customers as soon as they are connected. This will enable us as a Company to assess what we are doing well and if improvements are required. This will also give us an opportunity to further improve our service , methods and processes.

Please be honest with your comments because this is the only way we can make changes and improvements.

Attending the meeting this evening for the first time were local residents who are interested in connecting to our network who are not already included in the current rollout. The map was explored for potential routes and the next stage is for the Directors to assess the financial viability of being able to do the work based on the income from the grants.

The date of the next meeting is Thursday 9^th August 2018 at 7.30 P.M.

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO COME ALONG AND HEAR ABOUT THE LATEST PROGRESS AND ASK QUESTIONS. EVERYONE IS WELCOME.