What is the Shetland community Broadband Project?
The Shetland Community Broadband Project will investigate delivery of a minimum 2Mb symmetric broadband service (SDL), using wireless technology to paying customers. The service will be initially trialed in the in Vidlin area and Fetlar.

What areas will the service cover?
The trial will cover the Vidlin and Fetlar areas, but some places may be impossible to reach due to their geography. There is capacity for 50 connections in Fetlar and 50 in Vidlin. Once we reach that limit we will be unable to connect additional users.

What are the time scales?
Installation of the new network will start in May and it will be completed by October 2009.

How much will the service cost?
The monthly cost to the household or business will be £17.99 per month (inc. VAT) to keep it in line with ADSL prices available in other areas. The installation will cost between £500 and £1000 (equipment and labour) but for anyone signing up before the end of April it will be free of charge.

Is there a minimum contract period?
the minimum contract will be 12 months.

Is there a free trial available?
There is no free trial available.

Is there an installation charge?
There is free installation for customers who sign up before 30th April 2009 (minimum £500 thereafter)

How do I pay for the service?
Payment will be made to Shetland Broadband LLP by Cheque, bank transfer (BACS), Paypal, or cash (at our office).

Is the service subsidised?
There service will be subsidised during the trial period.

What happens at the end of the pilot project?
The worst-case scenario is that the pilot will end and the connection to the Internet will no longer be operational. In order to make the network financially sustainable in the long term it will require as many people as possible to sign up for it.

What happens if I move house?
If you move to another building within the area of coverage and wish to continue with the service your equipment can be re-installed for a fee, contact us for a quote. If you do not wish to continue using the service or are moving to a location where it is unavailable you will be liable to pay for the balance of your contracted period.

What bandwidth options will be available?
The service we are going supply is a 2Mbps service. In Vidlin and Fetlar the current best speed available is 0.5Mbps. The service will also provide a 2Mbps upload speed which is 4 times faster than most domestic broadband services.

How much faster will it be than ADSL from my local telephone exchange?
The service we are going supply is a 2Mbps service. In Vidlin and Fetlar the current best speed available is 0.5Mbps. The service will also provide a 2Mbps upload speed which is 4 times faster than most domestic broadband services.

Will I be able to continue using my existing ISP and e-mail address?
The internet provider for this pilot will be Shetland Broadband. They will provide all usual ISP services such as technical assistance. No other internet providers will be available on this network.

You will be issued a new e-mail address from Shetland Broadband. You may be able to negotiate with your current internet service provider to keep your old e-mail address but we cannot guarantee that they will be amenable. Online e-mail addresses from Google, Hotmail etc will be unaffected.

I still have a contract with another ISP. What should I do?
If you are one of the first 50 people to sign up for this pilot and do so before the end of April 2009 your connection will be free of charge and your first bill will be issued in October for the Month beginning 1st September. If you sign up later then we will pass on the whole equipment and installation charge, which will be at least £500. You will need to make your choice whether to cancel or maintain your existing contract based on this.

Are there any internet services available (e-mail addresses, web space etc.)?
Web space and e-mail is available to all subscribers to the service, you will be issued with a sub domain of your choice (subject to availability) in the form of "yourname.shetland.co.uk" and will then be able to have an e-mail address in the form of "yourmail@yourname.shetland.co.uk". The use of these sub-domains are subject to the terms and conditions to be found here.

What equipment needs to be installed?
The broadband will be delivered to your house using wireless links so you will need an aerial and radio attached to the outside of your house. The aerial and radio equipment (see photo below) is in small box approx 27.5cm x 27.5cm x 8cm. A network cable will need to be brought from the radio to inside your premises, the cable carries both your internet data and the power for the radio equipment. This cable will normally be terminated at the nearest suitable mains socket in your premises, the termination consists of an ethernet (RJ45) socket for your data connection and a small mains power supply. The power consumption of the equipment is about 7 watts.

Some houses may be required to have an additional aerial to re-broadcast the signal as part of the network. This will be dependant on the network design and that can't be finalised until we know which houses/businesses want to take part in the pilot project.

Who will install the equipment?
The equipment will be installed by Shetland Broadband and H Williamson & Sons (Scalloway) Ltd.

Can I install the equipment myself?
There is not an option for self installation.

How reliable will the service be?
This type of network is in use all over the world and has proved to be very reliable. As with all electrical/computer equipment, things can go wrong! We will make every effort to ensure that the network is as reliable as possible by installing duplicate equipment (where possible) so that there is as little downtime as possible.

What technical support will be available?
Support will be available from Shetland Broadband LLP. See their support pages for more information.

Will the Council be monitoring my usage of the internet?
This is a pilot project and part of that project is the collection of usage statistics. We will not be monitoring e-mails nor will we monitor which websites you are browsing, Shetland Broadband will act in the same way and according to the same laws as your existing Internet Service Provider. We will however be asking each user of the network not to use the service for any sort of illegal activity.

Are there any health risks from the radio equipment?
The equipment will all be licensed for use and will conform to all EU health and safety regulations.