Wales’ highest house halfway up Snowdon gets some of the fastest broadband in UK thanks to new wi-fi connection at top of the mountain
- Snowdon will provide visitors with the highest broadband connection in the UK
- Standing at 3,560ft, people can send selfies from the summit of the mountain
- Eira Morris, who lives halfway up Snowdon said this ‘is some kind of miracle’
- The change will benefit the local community, visitors and rescue services
Britain’s busiest mountain will have the UK’s highest broadband connection with Wifi for 600,000 Snowdon visitors.
Engineers hope to provide peak connectivity at the top of the 3,560ft mountain as they install fibre at the top. Around 7km of cable will be laid up from the nearest exchange hub in Llanberis to provide Wifi for more than 600,000 annual visitors and mountain rescue teams.
Workers will team up with staff from the historic Snowdon Mountain Railway to carry the cable and equipment up the gruelling slopes.
Day-trippers will be able to send selfies from the summit and those living in Wales’ highest house can surf the internet with ease once the project is complete.
Snowdon mountain in Wales will soon have the UK’s highest broadband connection
The mountain, recently renamed Yr Wyddfa by national park bosses, will see the highest full fibre connection point in the UK at its summit cafe once the project is completed.
Eira Morris, who lives halfway up the mountain, said: ‘We live off-grid and have never had a telephone landline. For 20 years we have had to stand at a window to answer mobile phone calls.
Around 7km of cable will be laid up from the nearest exchange hub in Llanberis to provide Wifi for more than 600,000 annual visitors
‘Living in the heart of the National Park putting up telegraph poles for a landline was never an option, regulations here did not allow it.
‘Having the fastest fibre optic broadband is some kind of miracle. Thanks to Openreach, the engineering team and staff members working in very challenging conditions to get it to Yr Wyddfa. We are extremely grateful for this’
Suzanne Rutherford, Chief Engineer for Wales, said: ‘To say that bringing Full Fibre to the top of the Wyddfa is a huge task is an understatement.
The mountain, recently renamed Yr Wyddfa, will see the highest full fibre connection point in the UK at its summit cafe
‘You just have to look at the sheer scale of Yr Wyddfa to appreciate how big a job this is for our engineers and that’s before you even take into consideration weather conditions.
‘We’re all extremely proud at Openreach of the work we’re doing to not only bring Full Fibre to what will be the highest point across all of the UK but also the improved connectivity that it will bring for visitors to the summit, families that live under the shadow of Yr Wyddfa and of course how our technology could potentially save lives.’
Openreach say residents living on or near the mountain will benefit from the 1 gigabit per second installation.
Speaking of the new potential the change could bring, Suzanne Rutherford, Chief Engineer for Wales, said: ‘Our technology could potentially save lives’
Marty Druce, Railway Operations Manager at Snowdon Mountain Railway, said: ‘Full fibre broadband to the summit will be extremely beneficial for us as a business and will greatly improve communications from Llanberis to Hafod Eryri on the summit of Snowdon, Yr Wyddfa.
‘It will be hugely beneficial to the local community, visitors and rescue services, with improved connectivity on the mountain.
‘Our operations team here at Snowdon Mountain Railway are more than happy to assist in the logistical transportation for the Local Openreach engineers, fibre and equipment along the route of Snowdon.’
Marty Druce, Railway Operations Manager at Snowdon Mountain Railway, said: ‘It will be hugely beneficial to the local community, visitors and rescue services’