Farmer so sick of poor internet signal he built DIY mast
And now it’s giving him superfast broadband
LIVING on a farm nestled in a remote area of Salisbury Plain, Richard Guy had battled for years with unbearably slow internet signal.
But the 60-year-old farmer decided enough was enough and resolved to take on telecoms giant BT and find an alternative source.
Mr Guy noticed that his mobile phone’s 4G signal – a wireless internet connection – was significantly faster than the broadband link provided by BT to his home, but he needed to find a way to route the signal to his farmhouse.
So the savvy father- of-two built his own makeshift wooden telephone mast, on which he set up a 4G adaptor inside a toolbox. He then connected this to his home via a system of wires – and he was soon enjoying ‘perfect’ internet access at super-fast speeds.
The father of two said: ‘It’s a big problem for people in rural areas. The Government told us that the Olympics would bring fast broadband to everyone in Britain.
‘Well, the Olympics were some time ago now. The world assumes that everyone is online, but the 5 per cent who can’t connect are just dismissed. So I decided to take matters into my own hands. We only had a 1 Mbps [megabits per second] speed, which means everything is far too slow. Now I run at 69 Mbps, it runs everything perfectly.’
The average speed households across the country enjoy is around 25 Mbps.
Mr Guy added: ‘When I spoke to the fibre-optic people [who provide wires to transmit an internet connection], they were very intrigued.
‘They said “you’re going to do what? Put it in a box up a pole, are you crazy?” They normally deal with people like Google and IBM.’
Mr Guy, who has worked in IT since the 1980s, had found that the strongest 4G signal was on farmland miles away from his house. He fitted a 4G dongle, which is a type of adaptor, inside a waterproof toolbox two thirds of the way up a pair of wooden poles.
The adaptor, which is powered by a 12V battery topped up by two small solar panels, then converts the internet signal into a form that allows it to run along relatively cheap fibre-optic cables, costing £1 per metre, to his home.
Mr Guy and his wife Gilly, who is also 60, have now started a company called Agri-Broadband, which aims to get super-fast internet connections to Britain’s most rural homes.
‘I think at the start Gilly didn’t think it would work,’ Mr Guy said. ‘But she’s very supportive and helps with all sides of the business.
‘I just love seeing the expression on someone’s face when you show them it’s possible that they, having been left out in the middle of nowhere, can get serious broadband. But I turn up in a dirty Range Rover and this old geezer gets out and people think “he’s not going to solve this”. I think they’re expecting some young techie, but then it works and they’re amazed.’
The farmer uses Ofcom’s mobile network website to determine where the best signals can be found in rural areas, usually within small valleys and hills.
Mr Guy said his next customer, who will have a specialist trench dug on his farm in the Cotswolds in September, has a connection of just 0.4 Mbps, adding: ‘He’s trying to run a business on that, so he’s delighted.’
‘It runs everything perfectly’