Next meeting:Wed 3 Aug 2005, Anglesey
Hosted by Anglesey County Council (Barry Eaton)
VENUE
Treadbury Bay Hotel www.trearddurbayhotel.co.uk
Car parking available
Other recommended accomodation:
http://www.the-anchorage-hotel.co.uk/index.html
http://www.islandofchoice.com/doc.asp?cat=236
SCHEDULE
Meet for coffee 10h00
Meeting starts 10h30
Lunch will be provided
Target close 14h30
TRAVEL
Directions: http://www.trearddurbayhotel.co.uk/directions.htm
NB this is Eisteddfod week, so please allow plenty of extra time for travel!
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[Comment:
As Secretary I just sent out invites to the meeting. Our agenda will include a presentation on the Anglesey Connected project by our host, Anglesey County Council. I did a google for the project, and noticed that google ads offered me links for wi-fi hotspots. Here's some of the results...
Its interesting to see the Parliamentary profile that Anglesey Connected assumed, around Jan 2004, when Parliamentary debate- and pressure- focussed upon the broadband deficit in the UK, and before the incumbent telco's aggressive ADSL roll-out strategy. Wireless was seen as a strategic last mile solution for rural areas. We note the "technology neutral" response, in government's reply to the Opposition's suggestion that Anglesey Connected "offers solutions as to how availability and take-up of high-speed Internet services might be rolled out more widely throughout the United Kingdom". Note that Anglesey connected affirms an Island-wide broadband solution beyond a "first generation"-ADSL broadband product:
"'First generation' broadband - ADSL and equivalent is a first step but is very much a half way house. The product cannot therefore be considered a viable strategic solution for broadband access and availability for the Island".
Looking ahead, wireless will remain a strategic last mile/first mile broadband solution for Wales- alongside the structural factors of the "remote and rural areas" agenda and the issue of backhaul].
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ANGLESEY CONNECTED PROJECT
The Council of the Isle of Anglesey
Anglesey Connected Cyswllt Mon
Broadband Britain Challenge Champion 2003
Broadband on Anglesey
The issue of broadband availability and access is one of increasing concern on the Island. At this time the only broadband offering is via BT and their ADSL product, which has limitations in its access and availability.
'First generation' broadband - ADSL and equivalent is a first step but is very much a half way house. The product cannot therefore be considered a viable strategic solution for broadband access and availability for the Island.
There has been no taker for the available ITC licence to provide broadband services to the Island despite initial optimism. It therefore falls upon the Isle of Anglesey County Council to lead developments in this field in order to achieve the aims and objectives of the Assembly, Lifelong Learning initiative, Peoples Network and other similar projects, by the installation and implementation of a comprehensive and cost efficient solution which can ultimately be utilised by all sectors of the community wherever they may reside on the Island.
Anglesey Connected
‘Anglesey Connected’ is a new and innovative wireless broad-band Internet access project worth an initial £1.3 million and is the first network of its kind in the U.K.. Funding has been received through the Welsh European Funding Office (WEFO), National Grid for Learning, New Opportunities Fund and Objective One ERDF together with monies from the Local Regeneration Fund.
The project will create the infrastructure for a broad-band community network across the whole Island.
See web-page here
Islanders get connected
BBC NEWS | UK | Wales | Islanders get connected | Friday, 28 March, 2003
The Anglesey Connected project will create a broadband network across the whole island, and has been made possible because of £1.3m of funding under the European Union's Objective One scheme...
Read full article here
2003 Broadband Britain Challenge Champion for Wales award winner
See press release here: pressbox.co.uk | Groupe Pathfinder link all of Anglesey’s schools and libraries with broadband network | 21 Aug 2003 |
Lords Hansard text for 5 Jan 2004 (240105w07)
Written Answers Monday, 5 January 2004:
Broadband
The Earl of Northesk asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they consider that the Anglesey Connected programme, aimed at providing high speed Internet access to public sector institutions and facilities on the island of Anglesey, offers solutions as to how availability and take-up of high-speed Internet services might be rolled out
more widely throughout the United Kingdom.[HL506]
Lord Sainsbury of Turville: The Anglesey Connected solution is one of many different methods of delivering broadband in the UK. The Government do not intend to promulgate a particular system of broadband delivery UK-wide. Our approach is to leave decisions on broadband delivery to those best placed to make them, taking account of all the relevant considerations.
See here
Lords Hansard text for 14 Jan 2004 (240114-14)
Internet and Broadband Access:
The Earl of Northesk:
(...) I would not like the Minister, to imagine that I have been unduly critical. There are encouraging elements in some of their approaches to broadband. I am aware of recent developments such as Ofcom's decision to open up the 5.8 gigahertz band to wireless service providers. That should facilitate the deployment of broadband, particularly in rural areas. As the Minister, Stephen Timms, has said:
"there will be cases where the market will not deliver and targeted support may well be needed. Where the lack of broadband availability is a limiting factor in economic regeneration, that can be a justification for using existing funds for regional economic development".
That is a very welcome policy stance, albeit its virtue is dependent upon appropriate action being taken. Happily, like the noble Lord, Lord St John, I can extol the merits of the DTI's broadband aggregation project as a potential means of filling some of the gaps in broadband availability. Indeed, in that context, I have been very impressed by the Anglesey Connected programme and the imaginative way in which it has been used to extend the reach of broadband and the potential use of "piggy-backing" in that part of Wales. The key point is that, as BT has observed, the Government have to be seen to be utilising broadband capabilities, if at all possible in partnership with local communities and the private sector, in their own delivery of services. That would do a great deal to unlock both availability and take-up.
See here
Getting connected on the move: Online hot-spot finders for Anglesey (also spelt Anglessey); google mobile
Online hot-spot finders: try for yourself, here's a sample:
myhotspots
http://www.myhotspots.co.uk/results.aspx?Town=Anglessey
Anglessey: 1 result
http://www.myhotspots.co.uk/Results.aspx?Town=holyhead
Holyhead: 4 results
Did you know that myHotspots are now resellers for BT Openzone credit
vouchers? Find a link under every BT Openzone hotspot listed...
jiwire
http://www.jiwire.com/browse-hotspot-united-kingdom-gb-holyhead-2129775.htm
Holyhead: 3 results
SMS Hotspot Locator
Text the word hotspot to 80010 to find your nearest hotspot. BOZII's SMS hotspot locator allows you to find your nearest hotspot quickly and cheaply. Text the word hotspot to 80010 from your mobile phone and message will be return within a few seconds informing you of closest location. It does this by working out the physical location of your phone and then compares the longitude/latitude results to our hotspot database.
Need info on the move? Try google mobile (UK):
http://mobile.google.co.uk/
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