The first customers have been connected to 'Guernsey Fibre' broadband as part of a £37million programme to roll out fibre to every property in Guernsey within five years.
Royston and Caroline Gallie, who live in Victoria Avenue, are the first customers connected by Sure to the new fibre network. They said they noticed an immediate improvement in broadband speeds.
"These faster speeds are great," said Mr Gallie.
“My daughter’s reaction said it all: she came running down the stairs to tell us she had downloaded the new Bond film in one minute 12 seconds compared to the 40 minutes it would have taken on our old connection.
"Our daughter used to get frustrated working from home in lockdown when all of us were on the internet at once. Now all four of us can be online at the same time to stream TV, download things and work from home."
Pictured: Royston and Caroline Gallie are delighted with their new broadband speeds after becoming the first customers connected to the island's fibre network which is being rolled out to all properties over the next five years in a partnership between Sure and the States.
Engineers from Sure are working around the island to install the network, known as Guernsey Fibre. The scheme aims to connect 30,000 properties to provide significant improvements in broadband speed by the end of 2026. The States are contributing £12.5million to the partnership with Sure.
Tom Piprell, the Sure engineer who installed the fibre technology at Mr and Mrs Gallie's home, said: “The installation process for Mr and Mrs Gallie went very well and we’re so pleased that they’re happy with their new faster internet speeds.
“Getting connected to Guernsey Fibre needs engineers to install new equipment - a small box on the outside of the house, enabling the external fibre to connect to the network point inside the home so it can connect to people’s router, which then spreads a WiFi signal through the property.”
Mr Gallie said: “The installation process wasn’t intrusive or disruptive at all. The engineers were fantastic, explaining the technology and answering all our questions. The equipment is small, compact and fits neatly on the wall by a socket and is out of sight. I’d definitely recommend fibre to other people in Guernsey."
Hundreds of people in Guernsey have already been connected to other fibre networks, with JT linking people to its service in 2013.
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