KC Lightstream


So, it’s arrived. KC Lightstream is here and being totally honest, it looks amazing. How about up to 100Mbps?!

Kevin Walsh, the Chief Executive from KC announced:

Our fibre deployment is the start of something special that local people can feel proud of. At its heart it’s an investment in the future of Hull and East Yorkshire, and, I believe, a catalyst for change that will help to transform the region’s fortunes and improve local lives.

The Government has recognised that superfast broadband will play an important role in the UK’s future economic success; helping to attract new businesses, stimulate the digital sector – a key driver of growth and wealth creation in regional economies – and helping councils and other public sector bodies to deliver services to residents more efficiently.

Kevin is a great ambassador for the region and passionately believes in the potential for the Lightstream service. Having talked to Kevin over the past three years or so, the Lightstream launch has been a firm focus for the company and the planning process has been a long and hard journey, culminating in the official launch today.

The headline figures are pretty amazing – upstream speeds up to 10Mbps and downstream up to 100Mbps. More than enough to satisfy speed freaks across the region. KC have looked at both the consumer and business areas, with various packages available.

For business, the packages start as £25.00 per month and go up to £100 per month, with the speed ramping up and also the usage allowance.

One big question I had was around the difference between the Business service and the Consumer one… from what I gather this download speeds are the same but the services for businesses include bigger usage allowances and faster upload speeds which is fair enough. I’m sure there will be some overlap though…

There is a very thorough FAQ for the new business service here.

Certainly, something like the homeworker option looks terrific and a really good price too. For many of the Hull Digital community who are freelancers, developers and work from home, this kind of speed is going to be very welcome. Upload speeds of 5-10Mbps depending on package will be even more warmly received!

Moving onto the consumer offering, there are a number of different options. Bundles and stand alone packages, with the bundles being the best value. You need to pop in your postcode first of all to see if you will be able to get the Lightstream service in the coming weeks… If you are in the right area, the website shows the packages available. See below:

 

The 100Mbps package is available for some areas which have FTTH (Fibre To The Home). Some postcodes show the 80Mbps package as this won’t be available and will be FTTC (Fibre To The Curb).

I’ve seen a few comments about the fact that it’s not unlimited download, but anyone who is giving that as a negative, is in my opinion, looking to find something to complain about. A 500 GB monthly allowance is HUGE. I use the web daily. A lot. Now I’m not certain of my data usage, but it’s no way near that. 500GB is very fair.

The big question – who can get Lightstream and when?

The people of the Grovehill area of Beverley will be the first to receive KC’s lightning fast broadband service this year, with customer installations starting in two weeks’ time on Monday 6thFebruary. Other installations in Beverley will include the Grange Way, Lockwood Road, Butt Lane, Old Manor Lawns, Lincoln Way, Poplars Way and Norwood areas.

Further fibre installations in 2012 are planned for the following areas (subject to detailed engineering surveys):

Priory Park business park in Hessle
Barnsley Street, Belmont Street and Buckingham Street off Holderness Road
A number of East Yorkshire villages including Skidby
Flats and apartments in areas including Hull city centre
Kingswood in the north of Hull
Parts of Greatfield estate in east Hull, as well as other areas of east Hull
Victoria Dock
Parts of Sutton-on-Hull
Parts of west Hull around Pickering Park

Overall, I am seriously impressed with Lightstream. They needed to do this, no question, but from the looks of things, we are going to have an amazing service in Hull, and at a very reasonable price. I’ve seen very few negative reactions from people, with the vast majority being very positive. The only thing to have really ticked me off is that I cannot have it yet! Now where’s Kevin’s number…

Main press release can be found here.

FAQ page is here.

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  • http://theled.co.uk John Polling

    Very much looking forwards to getting this in my home.  I know people think I moan about KC a lot, but I do think this is pretty well priced, and I’m very excited to be able to start streaming HD content into my home. I’ll have to see about how close I run the usage allowance ;)

    I had cable back when I lived in Birmingham back into the early part of the millennium and it was always incredibly reliable. 

  • http://www.theappleofmyi.com/blog Anonymous

    I’m chomping at the bit to get Lightstream in… I agree about the pricing – just right in my opinion. As to the usage, well, as we discussed, I think the for majority of people, the limits will be more than enough. If you’re regularly over 500GB, well, you’re probably doing something you shouldn’t, or sitting on the sofa all day streaming HD content!

  • http://twitter.com/jfconno John Connolly

    Really excited by all this – I think it could be key to kickstarting the local economy.

  • http://www.nh97.com/wp/ Neil Holmes

    This will be a great service, I’m not sure when it reaches my doorstep, but increased upload speed will be very welcome.

  • Anonymous

    Looking forward to this reaching Hessle – streaming HD video is a no go for me at present which is frustrating as I have friends who live in the sticks who can make full use of services such as netflix etc.

  • http://www.theappleofmyi.com/blog Jon Moss

    Hi Neil, I bet the upstream speeds will help you! Those files from Lightroom are not small!

  • http://www.theappleofmyi.com/blog Jon Moss

    I know what you mean Luke… I’ve no idea when it will arrive in our village, but it cannot come soon enough! You should pop along to Fudge tomorrow for breakfast, would be nice to catch up.

  • http://cloudofdata.com Paul Miller

    I don’t see where you’re finding the 500GB download cap? The basic Home package says in your screenshot that it has a 50GB limit, the same as the current ‘Mid’ offerings on ADSL. Once people start benefiting from the additional speed to download HD rather than SD content, I think they’ll hit that limit pretty quickly. I routinely bump into my 50GB ADSL cap at the moment… and I’m not sitting on the sofa all day streaming iPlayer in HD…  ;-)

    Another reason to consider the cheaper business packages rather than any of the consumer ones is the upload speed. 2Mbps up? Is that *all* ? 

    I’ll definitely be grabbing ‘Homeworker’ or ‘Office’ from the business tariffs, just as soon as they reach this bit of Beverley…

  • Anonymous

    Would love to but I have a meeting in Doncaster first thing.

    Will aim to be down at the next one for a catch up.

  • http://www.theappleofmyi.com/blog Jon Moss

    No worries, have a good meeting and see you soon!

  • Simon Hudson

    I’ll sign on the dotted line the day it’s available in Ferriby.
    My ADSL service has been solid: 10 – 12Mbps all day, every day, 99.99% uptime over 3 years. Give me taht and more performance  and I’ll be jolly happy indeed!

  • http://www.theappleofmyi.com/blog Jon Moss

    So much potential for services and content… agreed, just what we need.

  • http://www.theappleofmyi.com/blog Jon Moss

    Those are impressive figures, but you are quite close to the exchange… we now need a petition for us to get it next. It cannot come soon enough!

  • http://www.theappleofmyi.com/blog Jon Moss

    Hi Paul, the 500GB and 600GB are on the bundle packages – see the screenshots above. I agree that the 50GB is going to be a touch one to stay under for some people, but just pay more for a better / more suitable package.

    The better packages have 10Mbps upload which is perfect for me and I’ll probably do the same as you – when I can get it – counting the hours!

  • http://cloudofdata.com Paul Miller

    Ah, hadn’t looked closely at the Bundles because they’ve never appeared very useful in the past – I want lots of bandwidth, and almost zero telephone use.

    I agree – 10Mbps upload will be just fine… I look forward to it… (and my street is on the list, so fingers crossed that they announce a date soon… and deliver soon!)

  • http://www.theappleofmyi.com/blog Jon Moss

    Lucky man! Hopefully it won’t be too long. Bundles will be great for some people, but like you, I don’t use the home phone much, certainly less and less, hence may go the fibre only route.

  • Cairn Emmerson

    We (Intrahost and GoCloud) have just moved last week to Bridge View, next to Priory Park and are one of the lucky first to be getting it in a couple of weeks. V. Excited. Can you run Doom II over the net?

  • http://www.theappleofmyi.com/blog Jon Moss

    I’m liking the sound of that Cairn and look forward to getting a demonstration!