Residential dark fibre broadband launches in Tameside

Tameside Council’s work to develop a high speed digital network across the region will be available to residents for the first time as part of a new development of homes from Jigsaw Group.

Eleven kilometres of fibre cable has been installed at Summers Quay, which will connect to Tameside’s dark fibre network as part of a new partnership between digital service providers Simply IP, Tameside Council and housing provider Jigsaw Homes Group. The development is thought to be one of the first residential schemes in the country to benefit from full fibre connectivity.

Dark fibre is the term given to unused Internet fibre cables, the use of which can offer greatly improved speeds and reliability due to reduced traffic. A microwave radio antenna on the roof of the building at Armentieres Square in Stalybridge will further support the resilience of the network at Summers Quay.

Each of the 67 one and two-bed apartments at the scheme will receive end-to-end full fibre connectivity through a free gigabit wireless dual-band router which will be ready to use upon move in.

There will be equal download and upload speeds of up to 50MB for £15 per month, giving tenants a faster network for streaming movies and watching video content.

The Simply IP service provides unlimited usage, no traffic management and no contract.

Steven McCrory, Network Director at Simply IP said: “Summers Quay will be the latest Simply IP residential installation where each apartment will receive business grade service and connectivity and our work delivering full fibre residential internet services in Tameside has been ground breaking for Greater Manchester.”

John Ardern, Director of Development at Jigsaw Group added: “Summers Quay is our first private rent scheme and we’re excited to work with partners to bring some of the very best products to our tenants and we look forward to welcoming people to take a look around our stunning new show homes later this month.”

More than one third of apartments at Summer Quay have already been reserved off-plan. The development is due for completion in July.

A one-bed apartment with a courtyard view starts from £575pcm and £595pcm for a canal side view.  Two-bed apartments with en suites are priced at £675pcm for a courtyard view and £695pcm for canal side. There are also six penthouse apartments priced at £750pcm and £775pcm.