WIREDGOV

Guests and visitors to Bryn Berwyn Country House in rural West Wales are now enjoying the many benefits of superfast fibre broadband, thanks to Superfast Cymru.

The upgrade to superfast fibre at Bryn Berwyn near Tresaith in Ceredigion has been a big boost to the business and allows guests to take advantage of the robust site-wide wi-fi system.

This means visitors can surf the web with ease and make the best use of the property’s Smart TVs amongst other benefits, with owner Gareth Robinson saying the move to superfast was a ‘no brainer’.

The country house has currently taken a package offering its customers high-speed connectivity with  speeds of 70 Mbps through fibre-to-the premises (FTTP). This technology, where fast fibre is run directly from the telephone exchange to the property, provides among the fastest speeds in the UK. FTTP customers can currently get ultrafast broadband speeds of up to 330Mbps and could access even faster gigabit speeds in future.

Owner Gareth Robinson said:

“Going superfast has made a world of difference at Bryn Berwyn Country House. Being able to provide a positive answer to a guest’s query about broadband and wi-fi services safe in the knowledge we have a strong, stable and fast connection in a remote area of Wales is simply fantastic.

“Feedback from visitors has been really encouraging with many saying how pleased they are to be able to stream in high definition or even do some work whilst enjoying the spectacular views.

“Having much better broadband, which was installed by dyfedsuperfast.co.uk, has also enabled us to run surveys with customers so we can continue to improve our service.

“I’d encourage any business which has access to superfast to get it. It’s worked out brilliant for us, made a difference to our website www.brynberwyn.com and had a real impact on guests.”  

Minister for Skills and Science, Julie James, said:

“I’m very pleased upgrading to superfast broadband has had such a positive effect at Bryn Berwyn Country House near Tresaith.

“This is a great example of the lengths the Superfast Cymru project goes to in delivering the infrastructure capable of providing fast fibre broadband access to some of the remotest areas of Wales.  

“Faster connection speeds can open a swathe of opportunities for businesses throughout Wales. From downloading large files more quickly to engaging better with customers, superfast broadband can make a real difference.

“More than 653,000 premises across Wales have now been given access to fast fibre broadband thanks to the Superfast Cymru programme. Many areas of the country including Ceredigion would be without any access to superfast broadband without the intervention.

“We are already working towards offering fast reliable broadband to every property in Wales so that even more people can take advantage of the many benefits it can deliver.”

Ed Hunt, regional director for Openreach, said:

“The roll out of superfast broadband is making a huge difference to how companies such as Bryn Berwyn Country House can now do business.

“We’re bringing superfast connectivity to some very rural parts of Wales which can in turn prove to be a major boost to businesses and the local economy through increased trade, opening up new markets and saving time.

“Thousands of homes and businesses in Ceredigion can already do the same as the Bryn Berwyn Country House and connect to their best ever broadband speeds when they sign up with a service provider, and we’d encourage local people to check out their options.

“It’s a highly competitive market, so people could potentially be surfing at much higher speeds at a similar cost to their current service. Once you’ve made the switch to superfast we’re confident you’ll never look back.”

Superfast Cymru is the partnership between the Welsh Government, BT, UK Government and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), bringing faster broadband to areas which would otherwise not receive it.

The Welsh Government also runs the Access Broadband Cymru scheme, which can offer assistance to those not able to access superfast broadband by providing grant aid to help them receive  it through other technologies.  

Further details are available at www.gov.wales/broadband