Fast broadband

[Littleredwagon2308]

An Internet company is connecting our village up to faster internet. They are proposing to lay fibre optic cable in our fields to reach us and some neighbours. They are also wanting to do this to some fields away from our home which won’t connect us up but only a few houses nearby and not go on to anywhere.
They are currently not offering any wayleave payment (I’ve asked).
TBH I’m not that enthusiastic about the cable being laid in our fields that won’t service us.

They are putting pressure on me to start work without the paperwork. I’m currently away from home for a while with a small baby and quite a lot of other things on my plate (as we all 🙂).

I don’t know where to seek advice/information.
What do I need to consider?

Sorry OP I'm confused- are the cables they want to lay in your fields going to improve your service or not?

The problem is you would be liable for any damage .Ploughing fields and things like that , if you cut it or damage it you would face a MASSIVE bill and also they would have rights of access to maintain it.Wouldn't make you popular but be tempted to say no .Contractors in this line of work often cut corners cables and ducts not buried very deep you don't find out till you damage them then you have to pay.

@cloudymelonade one set of cables will improve our service and the other set in a field away from our home won't.

The broadband provider is a small company that specialises in bringing faster broadband to rural homes.

@rwalker thank you for pointing that out. I'll see what their proposed contract says about accidental damage. They propose to lay the cable at a depth which they say is below regular agricultural use.

What they say they do and what they do are 2 different things. A lot of this work is done on a soon as you finish there off so not always the depth they say. Gate crossings sometimes have concrete in so they go round anyway they can and a later date if you wanted to say put a contrerte path in with footing you would have to pay them to move it .Remember a cable is put in at say 3 foot after a number of years it can work it's way to the top with land movement and ploughing very easy to damage .

@rwalker thank you for your thoughts on this. I'll definitely take note and discuss it amongst the family and take it up with the broadband provider

What is the 4G signal like at your location? If it is reasonable you (and your neighbours) may not need the faster connection via cables.

Wessex Internet, the supplier, has canceled my government voucher for rural faster broadband and will not be supplying me. They have not told me why. I can only surmise that because I questioned their Deed of Grant and route across my land.
Thank you for your advice.

Hi this used to be my field of work (from landowners side) you need a Rural Chartered Surveyor, take a look at the RICS website- they have a find an advisor section I believe. They would be able to advise you and ensure any work was undertaken as per your spec etc. The telecoms company should cover their bill - with prior agreement. Hope that helps.

Just seen you have named Wessex internet (incidentally who we get our broadband from) you could contact the Dorset firm with yellow and green branding who also sell houses - they have a whole team who deal with this kind of thing

@babymum89 I'm grateful for your advice
I did contact the company you mentioned (is it against rules to name companies?) and they advised me re the Deed of Grant. I went back to WI with questions and that's when relations started going south. I was keen for the project and had lots of questions and wanted to get information from other sources but unfortunately WI saw it differently and are have now cancelled my government voucher.
How are you finding WI as internet providers?

That's very frustrating, i know that in some villagers they have a monopoly and so can be rather bullish. We find the device pretty faultless we've had it nearly 3 years, it's the only way we can get fast internet out here.

Im glad you're happy with your service.

It's good to hear that I might not be the only one who felt the pressure from WI.

It's disappointing it didn't work out for us.