From snail’s pace to superfast

Web developer Chris Foulstone vowed to tackle the problems after struggling withslow internet speeds which meant downloading an iTunes song could take more  than 20 minutes at a time, whilst streaming live broadcasts or getting involved with online gaming was practically impossible.

Following the collapse of Digital Region in 2014, Chris realised it could be many years before Treeton received the high speed internet connections promised by the project and was left with no other option but to relocate his business to Sheffield data centre High Availability Hosting.

After researching alternatives, he realised it may be possible to give all residents and businesses in Treeton a chance to access superfast broadband.

His idea was to build a direct link from the data centre, which could be shared wirelessly, allowing the superfast broadband speeds to be achieved.

Chris has invested profits from his web development company into building a new mast in Treeton, which connects to the data centre and following a successful trial, he has launched Bliss Internet, which is available exclusively to residents and businesses living in Treeton.

The result is a tenfold increase in broadband speeds in the village — with up to 30MBps possible — and Chris is now looking into rolling the service out to other remote areas.

“The slow speeds were impacting on my own business and it meant that it was virtually impossible to work from Treeton,” he said.

“When I temporarily relocated my business to HA Hosting, I realised that with a little technical expertise and a bit of imagination, the problems could be solved and everyone in the community would benefit.

“The result is a genuine first which has not only meant that I'm able to continue running my business in Treeton, but we've created a solution where everyone in the village benefits.”