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.

This post looks at the response to the Digital Britain Report, as well as asking how this effects us in our region. Hull Digital was interviewed on the BBC Radio Humberside breakfast show which you can listen to below:

Earlier in the week, the final Digital Britain report was released to an expectant Great Britain. It has generated a huge amount of coverage, which unsurprisingly, is very mixed. Rory Cellan Jones from the bbc (http://twitter.com/ruskin147) has posted on the their technology blog here, and has attracted a huge number of comments, universally negative towards the Government’s report.

What really stood out was this:

This morning, as he visited the Crystal Palace digital television transmitter, the Prime Minister made an extraordinary promise. Just hours before the publication of Digital Britain, he said this:

“Britain’s going to lead the world. This is us taking the next step into the future, being the digital capital of the world, making the necessary investment.”

This is categorically a BLATANT lie and more evidence that this report is woefully inadequate and 10 years too late. How we (the UK) can expect to be the “digital capital of the world” with the target of 2mb broadband is not only misguided, but frankly, plain rude, arrogant and misjudged.

Do they, the Government, really think that the UK population are that stupid to believe this?

Adam Westbrook, a local media journalism commentator and reporter summed it up very well on his recent post here:

The Promise: 2Mbps broadband for everyone (and “action separately to address the issue of next generation broadband”)

Result?: epic fail. While broadband for everyone is great, 2Mbps [...buffering...] broadband is inadequate for [...buffering...] the growing needs of digital journalism including [...buffering...] the huge demand for [...buffering...] video on demand. Separate action to [...buffering...] investigate faster broadband looks like [...buffering...] the buck being well and truly passed.

With the icing on the cake being that we, the public are being asked to fund this next generation broadband with a £6 per year tax levy. The £6 amount is neither here or there, but it is the fundamental principle that WE are being asked to pay for something that Governments should have done 10 years ago.

Finances, the jaw dropping truth

It has been estimated that it would cost around £27bn to install fibre country-wide. That you might say is a whole lot of cash.

But, to put this in perspective, we spend around £1bn per year just in Iraq.

Yes, £27bn is a big figure, but surely, a necessary one? Just think of the business benefits that it would bring? Anyway, as mentioned before,  4 words come to mind. Too little, too late.

So what do the Digital Britain measures include?

• A three-year National Plan to improve Digital Participation
• Universal Access to today’s broadband services by 2012
• Next Generation fund for investment in tomorrow’s broadband services
• Digital radio upgrade by the end of 2015
• mobile spectrum liberalisation, enhancing 3G coverage and accelerating Next Generation mobile services
• robust legal and regulatory framework to combat Digital Piracy
• support for public service content partnerships
• a revised digital remit for Channel 4
• consultation on funding options for national, regional and local news

There are lots of worthwhile areas of focus here, but it still comes back to what the vast majority of people relate to, and that is broadband speed.

How does this effect us here in Hull?

The simple answer is that we just don’t know yet. There are many questions to be asked, one being do we need to pay the £6 tax / levy for NGN (next generation network) investment? Being in a unique, and frankly, very unpopular positon here in Hull, with our local ISP / teleco, Kingston Communications / Karoo there would need to be written and concrete assurance that something was also being done here to catapult us onto NGNs.

What is certain that with Digital Region and NYnet, there is an understanding that something MUST change and soon.

It is also hugely encouraging that there seems to be a real groundswell in feeling, people-power, and concern in the area, with Hull Digital and Humber Mud starting to become noticed, and actively participating with the Council and Hull Forward to ensure that we are not left behind.

Your say

The Digital Britain report is a cornerstone in our future, not only personally but also for business.

We want to hear your views, not only about our region and how the report effects us, but what you think about the country, and is it enough?

What is certain, it remains very controversial, and it is clear that Gordon Brown is still using a 56K modem.