Gigabit City network brings world-class connectivity to Slough businesses
Slough is undoubtedly one of the most diverse and tech-savvy towns in the UK, renowned as a hub for blue-chip businesses and start-ups. In fact, a recent report by ‘Centre for Cities’ announced that Slough has the second highest GVA per worker, behind only London. The same report also cited Slough as having the third highest start-up rate in the UK and placed it in the top 10 for the number of patents published, writes Nick Gray, city development manager, CityFibre.
Business is booming, but with the influx of economic activity, both online and offline, is there an impending bandwidth issue on the horizon which Slough’s businesses need to prepare for?
Internet bandwidth limitations are a hot topic. The UK’s digital infrastructure is largely reliant on out-of-date, legacy networks that are no longer fit for purpose. As a result, networks can only take so much traffic before they become overloaded and grind to a halt. This inefficiency not only hampers business productivity, it also restricts agility, communication and the opportunity to harness new cloud technology. What makes matters worse is that exponential year-on-year rise in data usage and web traffic will take legacy infrastructure capacity beyond its max and restrict Internet bandwidth even further.
At the moment, most businesses in Slough use one of two options: copper-based ADSL networks or FTTC fibre and copper hybrids. Neither option gives Slough’s businesses enough bandwidth to work restriction-free.
The good news is that, as of this month, Slough is the UK’s latest ‘Gigabit City’ as a result of CityFibre’s pure-fibre digital infrastructure.
CityFibre’s new network is live across the city from April, providing a future-proofed alternative to the city’s capacity-constrained copper network. The new Gigabit City network will totally transform Slough’s digital infrastructure with gigabit speeds and world-class connectivity. CityFibre’s local service provider partner, BtL Communications, will be offering businesses in Slough access to some of the fastest download and upload speeds in the world with a new range of competitively priced products, starting at £250 for 500Mbps services.
CityFibre’s 38km network is already in place, installed from the town centre all the way to the Slough Trading Estate – and it’s completely independent, with no reliance on Virgin, Openreach or any other providers. This freedom enables CityFibre to offer a powerful yet affordable alternative for businesses in the area. With a CityFibre connection, businesses will see ultra-fast (up to 1000Mbps) Internet speeds available at one of the most competitive rates in the city.
CityFibre’s delivery and construction excellence sets it apart from the sluggish incumbents. CityFibre completes the go-live process for a new install within 45 working days on average, half of what Openreach strives for. Being free of a reliance on the incumbents also allows us to keep unparalleled uptime percentages – in plain English, that means CityFibre’s connection rarely drop off and proudly holds a 99.99% uptime rating.
With affordable, reliable, ultra-fast and bandwidth-free Internet connections now on the doorstep for hundreds of businesses in Slough, 2017 is the year many of those will look to secure their digital future.
You can find out if your business is eligible to be enabled right now using the postcode checker at cityfibre.com/business
For more information about the capability of gigabit internet speeds and pure-fibre connectivity in Slough, get in contact with the CityFibre team:
