Information about Winster in the Derbyshire Dales
for residents and visitors
Information about Winster in the Derbyshire Dales
for residents and visitors
Winster is well served for Broadband. Winster exchange offers speeds of "up to 8Mbps" - for most of the village, speeds of up to about 5Mbps should be possible, dropping away only when you get a long way from the exchange (which is on the north side of Wensley Road, just beyond the bus stop).
The exchange is scheduled for upgrading to BT's 21CN technology in late 2009, but this is not likely to make a big difference to Broadband speeds. That will happen when the second phase of the upgrading, to "Wholesale Broadband Connect" (WBC) - and this is scheduled for Winster Exchange on 31st March 2011.
At present, only BT Wholesale have equipment in Winster exchange - and given the economics, it seems unlikely that anyone else will bother. So, the most tempting phone-and-broadband packages will continue to be denied us.
Most of Winster is also served by Zycomm's W3Z service, who offer Broadband-by-radio. They were the only option for a few months before BT started to offer Broadband, and their prices seem rather high for ordinary users. They could be a good option if you want to download large volumes, or if you can negotiate any special deal. They are also worth considering if you don't want a fixed-line phone (which is compulsory if you want the standard "ADSL" Broadband that everyone else offers).
Zycomm's network is inherently less reliable than BT's (the signal to Winster comes via at least two radio masts, so the Broadband stops working if either are damaged or lose their power) but customer service is excellent: their MD has been known to come out to Winster on Christmas Day with a bit of replacement kit.
Information on the Winster Website is provided subject to our disclaimer
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