British Farmers Growing Their Own Internet Service 178
pigrabbitbear writes "Look outside of your window: if you see miles of farmland, chances are you have terrible internet service. That's because major telecommunications companies don't think it's worth the investment to bring high-speed broadband to sparsely populated areas. But like most businesses, farms increasingly depend on the internet to pay bills, monitor the market and communicate with partners. In the face of a sluggish connection, what's a group of farmers to do? Grow their own, naturally. That's what the people of Lancashire, England, are doing. Last year, a coalition of local farmers and others from the northwestern British county began asking local landowners if they could use their land to begin laying a brand-new community-owned high-speed network, sparing them the expense of tearing up roads. Then, armed with shovels and backhoes, the group, called Broadband for the Rural North, or B4RN (it's pronounced 'barn'), began digging the first of what will be approximately 180,000 meters of trenches and filling them with fiber-optic cable, all on its own."
Re:Optic? (Score:5, Informative)
Placing a good antenna on a roof and then getting the aim to the next site is not cheap.
Placing a good antenna on a perfectly positioned roof may not be allowed due to historic building listing.
Placing a good antenna on a tower might need gov approval and the costs can then go up with expert advice and paperwork.
The new expensive tower might not even allow good 24/7 connections.
A wireless box in a field or wood might attract 'easy' theft, property damage or free data use.
Optical is the neat generational fix. You can always blow in new cable if needed.