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WightFibre Announces Completion Of 'Big Copper Switch-Off'

WightFibre has announced the completion of its 'big copper switch-off'.

WightFibre has been operating a hybrid fibre-coaxial network (cable) network on the Isle of Wight since 2001.

In 2018, WightFibre commenced the rollout of a new full-fibre network across the Island. Earlier this year the final few cable customers were upgraded to the new network.

Over the summer, the last few phone-only customers were upgraded, allowing the old copper network to finally be decommissioned.

WightFibre’s entire network is now fully optical right into the customer premise. Each home has it own dedicated fibre optic cables, providing powerful broadband speeds.

John Irvine, WightFibre CEO, said:

“Our big copper switch-off was a major undertaking. For most customers the migration to full-fibre was seamless – their existing phones and analogue devices are supported on the new network with the notable exception of rotary dial telephones – thankfully there were only a few of those.

"A small number of customers with very old alarm systems did need to upgrade their alarm systems as these are incompatible with full-fibre. With business customers, this extended to some older dial-up credit card machines and fax machines. In many case WightFibre helped with these changes to persuade customers to upgrade.

"Overall the process ran fairly smoothly. Our customers love the new network, the faster speeds, and the much-improved reliability.”

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