Broadband for Surrey Hills (B4SH, pronounced 'bash) is a not-for-profit CBS which aims to:
Provide high speed, 1,000Mb, up and down broadband to domestic and business premises located in the rural areas of the Surrey Hills, especially those areas which are poorly served by their current broadband suppliers;
Promote the take up of broadband and the Internet and the use of information and communication technology generally, which is currently more difficult with poor speeds and reliability;
Provide opportunities for public-spirited people and organisations to contribute to the community, financially or by volunteering, with the expectation of a social dividend, rather than personal financial reward.
B4SH is installing this brand new, independent, fibre to the home network locally into the Surrey Hills. Slow broadband connections affect residents of all ages and rural businesses cannot flourish. Our network is being funded through the sale of shares and installed with the help of large numbers of volunteers.
We have modelled ourselves on the pioneering and successful Broadband for the Rural North (B4RN) who already do all of this. They provide hyperfast internet to the rural communities of Lancashire, Yorkshire and Cumbria (an area similar to inside the M25) and have done so with a small staff and volunteers who are involved in all aspects of the company, from making cups of tea to fusing fibre.
We want to expand our team of volunteers to speed up the process of planning and installing this exciting network.
We need people to help, who want to get out into the beautiful Surrey Hills. We would like more market research on our potential subscriber base and possible new investors. We are funded by the community and have already raised a significant amount but more funding is needed.
We are planning the network but would love to train new people.
We are putting the finishing touches to our website but would love those with an interest in marketing to help us develop and promote our message.
There is a lot of physical installation work where the process would move more quickly with more people involved in scheduling civils, booking the excavator, digging the trenches, ordering the supplies, getting wayleaves (permission to dig across private land) etc and perhaps even learning a new skill of blowing and fusing fibre.
As in any small organisation, we have all learnt new skills and it would be good to share that knowledge and learn from our volunteers too.
