Internet in rural areas: what are your options?

How to get internet in rural areas

Internet connections in rural areas are often slow because remote properties are at more of a distance from the broadband exchange and rely on slow, unreliable copper wires to get the connection from exchange to home. That said, there are other ways of establishing an internet connection, and here’s a rundown of the different types of internet access you might encounter when looking for a good internet provider in the countryside.

ADSL broadband – this is your common-or-garden broadband option, running entirely through copper phone wires and, in remote areas, often on the slow side.

Fibre broadband – the best option if it’s available, and Full Fibre (what we offer here at Wildanet) is the best of the best. We’ll talk more about this shortly.

Wireless broadband – known as Fixed Wireless Access (FWA), wireless broadband gives you a permanent strong connection and it’s typically cheaper than other types of broadband. It’s quick and easy to install and ideal for rural areas, but does need a direct line of sight from the antenna and can be affected by the weather.

Mobile internet – whether it’s a portable ‘MiFi’ device, a phone hotspot or 3, 4 or 5G broadband, the thing linking every type of mobile internet option is that you need a decent phone signal. If you’re lucky enough to get one where you are – maybe because you’re on high ground – then this can be a good option if traditional broadband isn’t available.

Satellite internet – you can get this wherever you are, but while it can offer decent speeds, it’s not without its drawbacks. It’s quite expensive, and you’ll need a satellite dish to receive a signal – not ideal if you live in a picturesque rural home.

As we mentioned, Full Fibre broadband is your best bet if it’s available. But why?

 

Why choose Full Fibre broadband?

We’re not exaggerating when we say that Full Fibre broadband is the future of the internet, and to explain why, we first need to look at what basic fibre broadband entails.

Fibre broadband brings you your internet connection using fibre optic cables, but those cables only go so far, and copper telephone cables do the rest. This type of broadband is known as ‘fibre to the cabinet’, or FTTC for short. Because copper cables are slower and less reliable than fibre optic ones, you won’t get the best speeds from this type of broadband.

Full Fibre broadband, on the other hand, uses fibre optic cables right the way to your home (which is why it’s also known as ‘fibre to the property’, or FTTP), so you get faster upload and download speeds and a more reliable connection. Our full-fibre broadband packages offer lightning-fast connection speeds to rural homes and businesses in Cornwall and Devon, counties that have lots of properties in remote areas where getting good internet access has traditionally been a challenge.

Businesses like Clovelly Lakes, which had been struggling with poor internet that left them with insufficient bandwidth for guests to stay connected while on holiday with them. That’s until they contacted Wildanet for one of our business broadband packages. With an installation that took no more than a couple of hours, Clovelly Lets can now offer holidaymakers reliable internet access in every lodge. “A particular bonus for my residents and for me is that within a certain reach of every lodge, we’re also able to pick up Wi-Fi and internet so anglers are able to sit lakeside and access the internet,” says proprietor Claire.

Cabilla Cornwall is another business benefiting from our quick and easy broadband installation. This wellness retreat centre can now offer guests the chance to connect with nature at the same time as staying connected to life back home. And that’s not all. A reliable WiFi connection has also helped facilitate a number of rewilding projects, including setting up a real-time, WiFi-enabled ‘Beaver Cam’ and helping to run ‘Nofence’ technology to keep Highland cattle inside a virtual boundary. “What Wildanet has done affects so many aspects of the business, from the day-to-day running to helping us to monitor our wildlife,” says founder Merlin Hanbury-Tenison.

For potter and artist Jenny Hale, Wildanet’s solid internet access has also meant the ability to grow her online business after years of battling with slow upload and download speeds. It means she’s now able to send high-resolution images to galleries, hold Zoom lectures and take payments via her card machine. No more driving to friends’ houses to do simple online tasks and interrupting her creative flow!

 

What about wireless broadband?

When fibre or full fibre aren’t available, wireless broadband is another option for a remote rural property. Also known as Fixed Wireless Access (FWA), this works like a mobile phone signal, bringing internet to your property or business using radio waves picked up by a small receiver quickly and inexpensively fitted to your building.

We helped Kelynack Camping and Caravan Park, a popular Cornish holiday park, get connected using wireless broadband. Our team came up with an innovative hybrid solution which involved using an antenna on a nearby house to send the signal. The result? Kelynack and its guests now enjoy an ultrafast connection thanks to connectivity boosted to around 1Gbps.

And it’s by no means just businesses benefiting from fast, reliable wireless broadband in the Cornish countryside. It made the world of difference to Mandy during the 2020 lockdown, keeping her connected with her grandchildren when she couldn’t meet them in person. 

In the isolated community of Constantine near Falmouth, we’ve installed a wireless broadband hub on the church tower roof that will serve the whole community. Not only does it allow the church to livestream services to those who can’t physically get to church, and to take contactless donations, but it will also enable others in the village to take advantage of a free, fast and reliable connection for everything from ordering repeat prescriptions to using e-learning to gain new knowledge and skills. 

“Thanks to Wildanet, we now have one of the fastest broadband connections of any parish church anywhere in the county,” says Rev Stewart. “We can offer free WiFi in the church and people are coming in to access the internet and to have a coffee.”

 

Great WiFi throughout the house

Of course, while getting a great internet connection to your home or business gets you most of the way there, there’s also the issue of making sure the signal can be picked up throughout your property. If you’re living in the depths of the countryside, the chances are that your home is an old one with solid stone walls that make it difficult to get a decent WiFi signal in every room of the house. If you’re finding that your WiFi signal drops when you go upstairs, or even when you leave the room where the router is, you need our Ultimate WiFi SuperPods. Just plug this device in anywhere around your home and extend your WiFi coverage for a faster, more reliable connection.

To find out if our reliable superfast and ultrafast fibre broadband is available in your area, check your availability today.