Residents in a tiny village took matters into their own hands and came together to install their own superfast broadband after being unable to use the internet.
Pensioners, farmers, teachers and pub landlords in Michaelston y Fedw, clubbed together after being unable to download films, stream music or connect to online banking.
The village, which has a population of just 300, now has one of the fastest internet speeds available at a thousand times quicker than before and the fastest in Wales.
Pensioners, farmers, teachers and pub landlords in Michaelston y Fedw, came together to install broadband
Homeowners in the area between Cardiff and Newport put in thousands of hours of volunteering digging more than seven miles (12km) of trenches to install their own cables
The village, which has a population of just 300, now has one of the fastest internet speeds available at a thousand times quicker than before
Homeowners in the area between Cardiff and Newport put in thousands of hours of volunteering digging more than seven miles (12km) of trenches to install their own cables.
The first residents were connected last week and now have internet with upload and download speed of 1Gbps or 1000Mbps.
The idea was sparked in the village pub when villagers were complaining about their WiFi connections.
Ben Longman, landlord of the Cefn Mably Arms, said: ‘We were in the pub and we were all moaning about how bad the wifi was.
‘I had just paid for high speed broadband and realised it would not work.’
Organisers then began to look into how to obtain grants to fund the project and asked villagers to help with volunteering.
One of the organisers, Carina Dunk, 61, said it was fantastic what the village had achieved.
She said: ‘It used to take a few days to download a film, now it takes less than a minute.
Jim and Carina Dunk put in hundreds of hours of voluntary work installing fibre along with neighbours he hadn’t known before the project
‘Communities have tended to be more distant and detached but not here anymore.
‘Sometimes we have to take a step back and pinch ourselves at what we have done. Anyone can do it, it is not rocket science.’
Her husband, retired marine worker Jim Dunk, 71, put in hundreds of hours of voluntary work installing fibre along with neighbours he hadn’t known before the broadband project.
He said: ‘Bearing in mind I have had the house here for 41 years I never got to know many people.
‘Getting involved with this is magnificent. The number of people from different walks of life I have met has been incredible.’
Residents dug 12km of trenches spending thousands of hours of volunteering
Before the project Mr and Mrs Dunk would spend ‘days’ downloading a film – now they can do it in seconds
His neighbour Brinley Richards, 79, added: ‘It is a remarkable success story. I am so proud of the community.
‘The village deserves recognition. Some of the people will work more than 12 hours a day.
‘I have no doubt that other parts of Wales will asking us for advice. I have got to know more people in the last four months than I did in the previous 25 years.’
A year after the project begun most of the 300 villagers are now hooked up to a 1,000mps broadband connection.
Richard Raybould, 59, is still waiting for his house to be connected on the edge of the village.
He said: ‘I will be one of the last to get it. It is amazing what skills people in the community have. There are it experts and farmers who dig trenches.
‘I have met at least 30 people who I had never spoken to before. We all know it is not viable for a commercial organisation to install it all.’