Lochwinnoch CLAN Broadband Project

The Lochwinnoch Community Network (CLAN) is almost 18 months old and has be able to deliver broadband connections to their subscribers via our satellite connection to Belgium. We have recently been looking at how we can improve the service to users over the newly installed wired broadband. On November 24th, BT enabled ADSL broadband on the Lochwinnoch telephone exchange and you may also be wondering how this affects the Lochwinnoch Community LAN (the CLAN).

The CLAN is presently distributed round the village by wireless signal and the link outside the village is currently being provided by a satellite dish. Now that broadband is available from the local telephone exchange, the satellite link will be replaced with 2 broadband connections from the CLAN network to the local exchange.

Having 2 separate, high speed, commercial links will make your connection very reliable and, for most types of usage, the change will make your connection faster than it is today. Additional links may be added in the future to increase the speed even further. ADSL broadband is cheaper than satellite and therefore we expect to be able to announce a reduction in the subscription shortly (once the new connections are stable enough for the satellite link to be turned off); we need to first make the change but we are planning a monthly charge of £10 per user. This will mean that the CLAN will be cheaper than the alternatives and give you a faster connection. We are also looking at additional functionality over the network but these will be announced later.

If all goes to plan, the change will be invisible to you and you will not need to change any settings on your PC. If you have a lochwinnochclan.net email account, this will automatically be transferred to a new service provider and you will be able to keep your existing email address. There may be a short interruption to the lochwinnochclan.net email service while it is being transferred and details will be sent out closer to the time. We will keep you aware of our progress over the next few months during the changeover period.

Lochwinnoch has exceeded the trigger level set late last year and the local telephone exchange is now scheduled to be ready for service ie. broadband enabled on 24th November 2004.

How does that affect CLAN? It's great news! The CLAN community network is based on a satellite connection because that was the only option available. It should be possible to share single ADSL connection amongst a a cluster of users. The 2Mbps satellite link could be replaced by a single 2Mbps BT line for a fraction of the cost and we would be able to have multiple pipes into the village. The true potential of the community network could really be explored... online gaming in the village, community broadcasting, radio.

If you have not yet registered with BT then sign up NOW. Help us to reach the trigger level.

The CLAN project has now rolled out broadband internet access to over 30 homes and businesses in the village. Lochwinnoch was one of the first communities in the world to have the new wireless technology 802.11g working in the field, and as such has generated much interest from the Scottish Executive, BT, Intel. The project has succeeded where many have failed, with many other companies and communities attempting to do what Lochwinnoch has done but not managing to get the wireless speed at the client end or the coverage. Lochwinnoch is certainly living up to it's reputation of being a community prepared to help itself rather than just complain.

What it worth highlighting again perhaps is the voluntary nature of the project. This project is being installed and run by a small group of volunteers from the village. No-one in the village is being paid to provide this service and there is a considerable amount of work involved in the day to day running of the network as well as the weeks of field surveys, installs, paperwork etc etc.
Some people have expressed frustration about the speed of rollout of the service and we do understand this, however we would ask you to remember that what we have all achieved is quite unique and we are continually working hard to push things forward. We always welcome any constructive suggestions about how the service can be improved or speed of deployment increased but please don't call and simply moan - we're all in this together ! There will be hassles but we'll get there and it will be worth it !!