Levens B4RN

What is B4RN?

An image of a speedtest (Mbps) in action

B4RN speeds leave other ISPs playing catch-up

B4RN (Broadband for the Rural North) is a professionally designed fibre optic broadband network. They are a registered non-profit community benefit society and offer 1000Mbps FTTP (fibre to the property) broadband to every property in their coverage area costing households just £33 per month.

B4RN Voice, a residential VOIP (voice over internet protocol) telephone service that runs over your B4RN gigabit fibre connection, has recently been made available ahead of the 2025 PSTN (public switched telephone network) switch off.

The routes & route progress

As of 16th December 2024 there are 352 households connected to B4RN in Levens together with 2 working to connect and a further 13 more planning towards a live connection.

Levens has also helped a further 22 properties connect in the Foulshaw area south of the A590.

Starting in early 2021, the rollout of B4RN continued in earnest in Levens after initial route pioneering. Some properties had infrastructure installed via surrounding fields, but in more central areas B4RN employed a trenching technique through pavements, verges, and roads, using defined routes designed to make an FTTP (fibre to the property) broadband connection possible to every resident in the village.

Each route had a designated Levens Village volunteer coordinator who took on the task of liaising with each household who had signed up. It was made clear that it was the household's responsibility to install ducting from the boundary into their house. The volunteer group disbanded in May 2022 after the initial project was complete.

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Last updated: 08.03.2024
Route # Status Comments
0 Complete 100% ready to go
1 Complete 100% ready to go
2 Complete >99% ready to go
3 Nearly complete >97% ready to go
4 Partially live >63% ready to go
5 Complete 100% ready to go
6 Complete 100% ready to go
7 Complete 100% ready to go
8 Complete 100% ready to go
9 Complete 100% ready to go

Behind the scenes

Since 2016, there have been a phenomenal amount of volunteer hours dedicated to the project to make it a reality. Here's a short, interactive timeline of the key points along the Levens B4RN project timeline to date.

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You helped Levens Charity

A large majority of households made a donation to Levens Charity in recognition of all our volunteers hard work and to pass on some of your dig grant of £150 received from B4RN.

The support of Levens Charity, via grant funding, enabled the Levens B4RN project to purchase items such as a printer, ink and paper to produce publicity material. The project also purchased a SDS drill, bits and the tools required for the groundworks. Up to 28 volunteers came forward to help and give time to help the core committee team achieve close to the 60% fibre connection of Levens Village.

We suggested a minimum donation is £50 and any larger amounts were gratefully received by the charity.

This scheme raised £ 11,361.22 (net of Just Giving fees of £270) in direct donations and a further £770 + £20.03 interest has now been received from HMRC in respect of donations that were Gift Aided. 

This makes a total of £ 12,151.25 received by the Charity as a result of the voluntary donation initiative.

Levens Charity is registered with the Charity Commission (Charity number 1030561) and makes grants to local bodies or organisations for the general benefit of the inhabitants of the Parish of Levens.

Where next?

Householders are responsible for getting the conduit from their threshold to their house via whatever means necessary! Approved contractors (like Dave pictured above) may then be able to help further.

Thank yous

The Levens B4RN project has only been possible with our sincerest thanks to the following (in no particular order):

  • Levens Charity for £1k financing our first flyer, banner, a printer and website hosting fees.

  • Levens Parish Council for their continued support and guidance.

  • Anonymous Donor of £1500 to aid Levens Project buy equipment and a further £300 from the Institute committee.

  • Richard Bagot for help and permission to cross land into Levens.

  • Andrew Dobson and Company for on-going support and loan of digger

  • Roger Mason, Jonathan Mason, Dennis Parsons and David Martin for permission to cross their farmed fields.

  • SLDC’s Locally Important Projects fund for £15.2k, which funded the cabinet and its installation.

  • Tony Middleton, Son & Pup for fighting forward with his moleplough.

  • All the B4RN staff and broader community of helpers for technical input and moral support.

  • All the Levens B4RN project block champions, route champions, and informal volunteers.

  • Levens residents’ loans and purchases of B4RN shares - a key part to meeting funding requirements.

  • Our route coordinators:

    • Laurence Ormerod

    • Dave Rogerson

    • Jacob Deane

    • Simon Doddrell

    • John Wood

    • Kevin Holmes

    • Guy Paton

    • Steve Bavin

    • Hugh Connor

    • John Watson

Keen to know more?

Most internet services are currently provided along twisted copper wires to individual houses – a technology that was developed for telegraph lines over 100 years ago! Over the years, better methods have been developed to get data down these antiquated wires but they are fast becoming obsolete.

Fibre optics have long formed the backbone of major communications networks because they can handle huge amounts of data. They are highly reliable and can carry data very long distances without interference or significant reduction in speed..

Over the last decade, dial-up became broadband (ADSL), then ADSL+, then fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) where the fibre is brought to a cabinet much nearer your house. Each of these produced increased speeds, but nothing like what B4RN is capable of and always with significantly slower upload speeds (asynchronous connections).

With its fibre to the property (FTTP) service, B4RN finally removes the need for any copper bottlenecks in the system, and its bandwidth can support a synchronous connection where both the download and upload speeds are similar. This is great news for those increasingly working with their documents and photos 'in the cloud', using video conferencing, and much more besides.

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