Trebles all round for rural pub high speed broadband

Quickline Communications is rolling out free broadband and WiFi to pubs to raise awareness that high speed broadband is a reality - even in places that were previously “not spots”.

Managing director Steve Jagger said it was hard to convince some people that the offer - made to pubs in East Yorkshire and North and North East Lincolnshire - came without strings attached.

He said: “This isn’t pie in the sky or something we could theoretically do if we were given a large pot of money. It is something which we have already done and is live and here now.”

The latest pub getting the installation is the Railway Inn at New Ellerby.

Mr Jagger said: “We have only just started this campaign and ironically when you ring a pub they think it is some kind of con.

“They can’t believe they would give them free connectivity.

“Kelk, the village I live in near Driffield was a BT not spot and is now probably the fastest village in East Yorkshire.

“It was a commuter village and no one was there during the day; now people can work from home a couple of days a week, there’s home businesses started up and that means there are always some people there.

“If there’s WiFi in a pub it can become an extension to people’s homes and businesses - people can go down with their laptop and sit there with a pint.”

The service, which has speeds up to 40Mb, beams to a receiver on the roof and then to a WiFi device in the bar area. Quickline estimates it has 80 per cent of East Yorkshire covered already, and is aiming for full coverage.

Goole and Brigg MP Andrew Percy said: “Quickline’s campaign has been designed to raise awareness of their service as a true alternative to traditional broadband providers, a subject that is currently being discussed in Parliament.

“I believe that wireless broadband providers can work with traditional telecoms to help the Government achieve its target of 100 per cent broadband coverage by 2015. The wireless service is perfect for rural communities as it requires no digging up of roads, cabling nor telephone lines.”