Message from Councillor Steve Delaney on Superfast Broadband in Kingswells.

“There’s been much confusion over the super fast broadband rollout in recent weeks. This is not helped by the poor responses potential customers have allegedly been getting from their chosen ISP, most of whom appear to be unaware of the upcoming availability of superfast broadband in Kingswells.

This isn’t restricted to just one ISP, several of them appear to be telling people they can’t get the service. Some are talking about lack of capacity at street cabinets, an area being too far from the exchange or there being no plans for super fast broadband in a specific area. The first two comments only apply to the old (normal not superfast) broadband displaying a lack of awareness of the upgraded service.

With regard to the final comment, my understanding is that the whole of the village will be covered and some outlying properties will be last to be done nearer the end of the year.

This upgrade is part of a digital inclusion initiative being rolled out by the UK Government. It has nothing to do with Prime Four who already have their own dedicated line which they installed (at their cost) prior to opening. They do not use the public broadband network.

The Digital Scotland website (www.digitalscotland.org) is stating that the rollout will be between June and October this year. There is no reason to disbelieve this at this point in time as cable laying activities appear to have been completed and the Westhill exchange (which serves Kingswells) has now been upgraded.

I was in contact with them some months ago. At that time the timetable was July to December and they advised that it would be a phased roll out with some areas getting superfast broadband before others, so it’s not unexpected that some areas are not yet operational.

My understanding is that all of Kingswells is included in the upgrade. What I have managed to find out is that one cabinet in Kingswells in operational now and another two are soon to become operational (weeks rather than months I believe). The others will be a little longer before they are operational. I’ve contacted Digital Scotland to try to get some more information but I’m still awaiting a response.

Kingswells Community Council have a page worth checking out at http://www.kwells.org/superfast-broadband-now-available/

The link on that page will allow you to enter your telephone number to determine if you can or cannot get the service. Please check back to this link on a regular basis as things are changing but nobody seems to be communicating with the public. Until such times as the various ISPs can get their act together this is the best I can offer you by way of reliable information.”