Kitz Forum
Announcements => News Articles => Topic started by: waltergmw on November 21, 2016, 05:53:54 PM
-
Gentlefolk,
I thought perhaps it's time for an update although those keenly interested could visit the web site b4rn.org.uk or join the Facebook page too.
https://www.facebook.com/B4RNorth/
Their coverage area has "exploded" over large parts of mainly sparsely-populated rural Lancashire, Cumbria and North Yorkshire.
The original diverse-routed symmetric 1 gbps design was based upon 8 parishes but that has grown to over 50 since the services became live over the winter of 2011 / 12
The B4RN area overlaps around 25 BT exchange areas, but not inside the larger towns where mostly VDSL FTTCabinets are deployed.
There are now well over 2,000 live 1 Gbps services. Some extra properties have elected to have the fibre installed as an insurance policy; sometimes due to existing contract terms.
A coverage map can be found here:-
http://b4rn.org.uk/b4rn-service/coverage-area/
but note much of the lighter green area to the east is just becoming live too. The lists below the map mention most of the villages but again the lists are in need of updating (when time permits !).
Earlier this year the B4RN network suffered an outage due to damage to the Zayo cable down to Manchester.
That was the trigger to engineer a (possibly unique ?) fully diverse route now planned to a second data-centre in Edinburgh.
Because B4RN is a community Interest Company all surplus cash can only be used for the benefit of the community so there are good reasons to maintain the network performance well ahead of other domestic Telco providers.
Higher capacity links including to content providers are being upgraded too.
It is quite possible that other disgruntled rural groups "over the border" might take advantage of the additional link too ;).
Kind regards,
Walter
-
It is quite possible that other disgruntled rural groups "over the border" might take advantage of the additional link too ;).
I presume "over the border" takes one from northern England to southern Scotland.
Given time, I wonder if Weaver (on the Isle of Skye) will eventually have a symmetric 1 Gbps service from B4RN? :D
-
It puzzles me what a rural person would do with a download sync of 1000Mbps as I seems to get by with BT's FTTC sevice of 38Mbps it just seems an awful waist of throughput for one household :o
-
@Newtronstar,
I don't think B4RN consider it as a waste but there are very few who are actually consuming anywhere near that bandwidth.
I believe some of the heaviest users are those families with several teenagers all selecting their own HD entertainment.
The B4RN design is to provide ample bandwidth from every property all the way back to dual data-centres which also contain cacheing facilities.
For that reason B4RN are already increasing their throughput capacity and also their link capacities to content providers.
EDIT Unsurprisingly B4RN have a link into the BBC so get quite reasonable figures for e.g. 67 pings:-
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 10.274/10.371/10.616/0.059 ms
One reason they can do so is that Community Interest Company shareholders do not receive any dividends, but can earn modest interest on the shares they have purchased; until they are redeemed at face value only.
That does not mean that they provide anything like a combined throughput of say 2,000 properties * 1,000 Mbps (symmetric).
However the entire infrastructure is sized to accept far greater capacity in the future and the network continues to expand just as fast as the volunteers can bury additional fibre tubes (weather permitting !).
It should also be noted that their sparse rural model is unsuitable in its current configuration for urban areas.
Kind regards,
Walter
-
I believe some of the heaviest users are those families with several teenagers all selecting their own HD entertainment.
Walter was wondering what sort of hardware (Modem/Router) B4RN supply the client's because at 1000Mbps surely an average router would become a bottleneck with a 1Gbps throughput ?
-
Stuff from the company Genexis a specialist FTTP router supplier from Holland for both GPON and point to point FTTP systems.
https://genexis.eu/ (https://genexis.eu/)
B4RN use their DRG series
Gigaclear use their Hybrid live models
-
Thanks I am looking into this device not getting much technical specs on the net but it won't take to long to find the juicy stuff
-
B4RN uses point-to-point fibre, hence the symmetry of the service provided.
With fibre to the premises, there is no modem but an ONT (optical network terminal). The GENEXIS DRG700/7000 datasheet is available via this link (https://genexis.eu/drg700_7000_datasheet_rev8-2/).
-
That's a nice link and this looks of interest to me
CATV
» Frequency range 47-875MHz
» RF output F connector 75Ω
» Output return loss 14dB
» RF output level (AGC) 80 ± 2 dBµV
It is optical to a point and then needs to be converted to a Radio frequency
Edit that look like a TV connectivity option
-
Edit that look like a TV connectivity option
Yes, that's correct.
Somewhere within the masses of on-line images, from various aspects of B4RN installations, there is a sequence showing the fitting of the GENEXIS DRG device (without the CATV option) in a customers premises. If you are interested, Walter might be able to point you towards the relevant images.
-
A typical pdf user guide for the Genexis ONT/routers web interface can found at this link.
http://helpdesk.sshnet.nl/v12/DRGOS-1.12.1-GUI_User_Guide_A%5B5%5D.pdf
[Moderator edited to simplify the complex URL.]
-
[seriously off-topic, apol.] Can I get arrested if I unwind a long reel of fibre across someone else's land?
-
Yup. For a couple of things.