Who are NextGenUs?
Frequently Asked Questions
We believe in answering all of your questions as quickly and effectively as possible so we’ve listed a few of the most popular ones below, you can always call sales on 01482 363738 if you have any further questions.
NextGenUs is a Community Interest Company (CIC) that takes a Big Society, Social Enterprise approach to connecting the “Final Third” of the country, often technologically isolated and suffering from poor broadband speeds, to the internet at high speed via fibre optic cabling directly to the property where the current big players say it is uneconomical to do so. We define “high speed” as 100Mbps symmetric (same speed for upload and download) compared to the “no access up to 8Mbps” situation currently available and future proofed to 1,000Mbps and beyond.
Our message is simple – given sufficient community demand and commitment to take service, NextGenUs will work with each local community to deliver a future-proof 4th Utility service that is regulated, owned and operated in the interests of the local community.
Whats a Community Interest Company (CIC)?
Community Interest Companies (CIC) are limited companies, with special additional features, created for the use of people who want to conduct a business or other activity for community benefit, and not purely for private advantage you can find out more about why a CIC.
How much does it cost?
Costs vary depending on many factors; distance from a fibre feed, number of users taking up the service, speeds required and type of install required.
We typically charge an install fee of £149.95 for the equipment and its installation.
You’ll need to pay the engineer the installation fee and 1 month in advance….once the installation is complete.
Then its just monthly fee (this covers rental of the equipment and maintenance)….its as simple as that, no redundant landlines to pay for no additional fees for bandwidth (There is a Fair Usage Policy). You can be safe in the knowledge there will be no nasty surprises when you check your bank account!
In some areas we offer a Lite Residential package but this normally requires many more signups before triggering deployment.
Whats a fair usage policy?
So that we can maintain a fast and stable network for all our users we encourage our customers to stay within 5GB of downloads per day. If the customer continues to download excessive amounts of data NextGenUs will throttle the connection so that the customer does not affect the network for all the users.
Its about being responsible. If everyone downloads excessively the network will be affected and all customers will suffer.
How does it work?
We use state of the art Fibre Optic wireless technology to deliver speeds that are not possible over copper ADSL throughout the UK.
We have a Gigabit Fibre Optic cable (currently lit with a 100Mbps symmetrical feed) installed into a secure high building it’s then “beamed” to our customers using Wimax transceivers capable of up to 300Mbps speeds.
Wimax uses “near line of sight” signals so if an object (a building or some trees) obscures the signal we will work to provide an alternative signal using a “node”. Nodes are strategically placed throughout the area to ensure signal to areas that will not receive a strong signal from the main tower/feed.
Does the weather affect the signal?
No, adverse weather will not affect the signal (the speeds) at all. A lightning strike is the only weather that can stop your signal. Lightning strikes are very, very rare. In the rare event of a failure of the Nano, NextGenUs replace it Free of Charge as art of the rental and subscription of the service.
Is it secure?
Our FiWi network uses state of the art WPA2/AES encryption so is as secure as any other network (wired or wireless) and we regularly ensure the networks resilience using internal specialist procedures.
Can I keep my old “BT” phone line?
NextGenUs operates completely independently of BT’s landline, if you want to you can keep the landline. Of course it will cost you more.
Do I need a landline?
No! The best thing about NextGenUs is it doesn’t use all the old copper lines, its works wirelessly so you don’t have to pay line rental for something you dont use. If you wish you can have a phone number which works over the internet (VoIP) using our voice call partner Connexin.
How reliable is it?
The service has been designed and built using state of the art Fibre Optic and Wimax technology to provide reliability equivalent to (and in most cases in excess of) wired services.
The NextGenUs network is constantly monitored to ensure optimum service is maintained and that any issues are dealt with as soon as they arise.
Do NextGenUs offer business services?
Yes! We do check out our Business Services.
How does the survey and installation work?
Our install engineers will arrive at the agreed time and make their way to the most suitable point for the equipment to be sited (normally the highest point on the roof, the chimney stack or wherever your TV aerial is attached).
The engineers will check that the signal is stable and strong, if this meets NextGenUs standards (currently a minimum of 10Mbps) and you are happy to go ahead the engineer will complete the installation of the equipment.
You’re ready to start enjoying the Internet “in the fast lane!”.
If, when we do your site survey (which will usually be on the same day as the installation), the signal strength from the NextGenUs is below what NextGenUs class as an acceptable level, we will not complete the installation. In these circumstances we will not make any charge.
What equipment will I need?
If you are already using ADSL its likely you won’t need any additional equipment at all as most routers will work with NextGenUs (with the notable exception of Thompson ADSL routers supplied by some ADSL suppliers).
If you need a router/switch (you’ll need a CABLE router, the same as required for Virgin media connections or a standard switch). Let our sales team know when booking the install they have a limited number of superb Cisco/Linksys routers available for £25 (Wireless upto 150Mbps) and £50 (Wireless upto 300Mbps).
If you have already have a router the engineer on install will configure it to work with NextGenUs but NextGenUs will only provide ongoing technical support for routers supplied by themselves.
What speeds will I get?
NextGenUs is the fastest FiWi network by a long way!
On average our customers receive 25Mbps plus (download) and our minimum install speed is 10Mbps. Many of our customers receive much higher speeds.
One of the key benefits of our FiWi network is its upload speeds which are much, much higher (normally 20 to 50 times faster) than what current legacy copper ADSL can achieve allowing you to create, upload, transmit much more, much faster…you can now take part in the internet and not just look at it!
As there are many factors determining your speed/bandwidth for example location, height of your building, surrounding area (ie trees or tall buildings) distance from the transmitters, the type of your internal network and the performance of your equipment.
We can only tell accurately what speeds you’ll receive once we have surveyed your location although our sales team will have a good idea of your likely speeds.
You can test your connection speed at Speedtest.net
01482 363738
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Owthorne Manor,
Hubert Street,Withernsea,
East Riding of Yorkshire, HU19 2AT