Residents of the tiny Monmouthshire (Wales) village of Llangwm, which is covered by Voneus’ full fibre (FTTP) broadband ISP network, have complained about the dire state of local internet connectivity and missed medical appointments because the local service is often said to be “sporadic” and “slow“.
The community, which is home to just over 400 people, sits in a very remote and rural area some 3 miles (4.8km) east of Usk. As a result of this, the village can suffer from poor mobile signals and isn’t reached by Openreach’s hybrid fibre (FTTC / VDSL2) broadband network, although it is possible to get a slow ADSL line in parts of the community.
Happily the situation started to improve in 2021, which occurred after alternative network operator Broadway Partners (Broadway Broadband) began to deploy a new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across the village and several other locations as part of a £2m scheme – supported by Monmouthshire County Council (here).
At this point our regular readers may well recall that Broadway Partners fell into administration in May 2023, which was said to have been caused by “adverse macroeconomic issues, including raising interest rates and inflation, in a highly competitive environment“ (here). Network operator Voneus ultimately ended up acquiring the operator’s network a few months later (here).
According to the BBC News, internet connectivity in Llangwm has suffered as a result of the fallout from Broadway’s troubles, while new owner Voneus appears to be struggling to get on top of things. The complaints highlight long service outages, extremely slow speeds, a lack of support from Voneus (their service status page for Monmouthshire highlights no problems), as well as difficulty accessing popular websites and other online services. Not what you’d expect from a modern FTTP network.
A spokesperson for Voneus said:
“We greatly appreciate the community’s patience and understanding whilst we continue to upgrade the network, and we are confident that the changes we’re making will result in a stronger, more dependable network for everyone in the community.”
According to Voneus, the infrastructure it acquired from Broadway “did not meet our high standards” and they are now “investing significantly to upgrade the network“. The provider also apologised for its poor communication and customer service in the area and said they are “working hard to improve the network“. But it remains unclear how long locals will have to wait for that improvement to arrive.
The situation in the community appears to echo some of the recent complaints from the Shropshire (England) village of Brockton (Lydbury North), which is also served Voneus and suffered from a protracted period of connectivity woes (here). But the cause in that situation was rather different and has since been resolved.