FAQ
Common questions about rural internet.
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Starlink
- Can Starlink work on my farm?
- In almost all cases, yes — Starlink needs only a clear view of the sky in roughly a 100° cone. During the site survey we identify the best mounting position on a roof, gable end or dedicated pole, away from trees and obstructions.
- Will Starlink give me coverage across the whole farm?
- The Starlink dish gives you a fast connection at one point — coverage across the whole farm is a separate job. We take that connection and build a network around it: access points on the buildings you use, and wireless bridges out to barns, yards and outbuildings. That's the difference between one fast spot and a working farm that's connected everywhere.
- Starlink or fibre — which should I get?
- If fibre reaches your property at a sensible price, it's usually the better line — lower cost and very reliable. Where fibre stops short of the last lane, which is common around NN12 and NN11, Starlink is often the best fast option. During the £99 Health Check we'll tell you honestly which one makes sense at your postcode, rather than pushing one over the other.
- Can you install Starlink tidily, without cables everywhere?
- Yes — a tidy install is part of the job. We route the cable properly, use the right weatherproof mounts and bring it into the house cleanly, so you're not left with a wire taped across the wall. On stone and period properties we take extra care about where things are fixed and how they're run.
- Will Starlink be reliable in bad weather?
- Modern Starlink hardware copes well with rain, snow and wind. Heavy snowfall on the dish is the most common cause of brief outages — the dish self-heats but in deep snow may need a brush. For businesses that can't afford any downtime, we can design in a 4G or fibre failover.
Fibre & WiFi
- My fibre is fast but my WiFi is slow — why?
- This is the most common thing we hear. The fibre line arriving at your house is usually fine; it's the free router and any cheap extenders that waste it before it reaches you. A single router can't cover a rural property, especially through thick walls, so you end up with a fast line and slow WiFi. A network designed for the building fixes that — same line, but the speed actually reaches every room.
- There's no signal in my garden, barn or annexe — can you fix that?
- Yes, this is routine work for us. We place proper access points to cover the areas you actually use — the garden, a home office over the garage, an annexe or a barn — and link separate buildings with wireless bridges where needed. The aim is a single network that works everywhere on the property, not just near the router.
- Isn't a mesh system from the shop good enough?
- A shop-bought mesh can help in a modern house, but on a rural property it usually falls short. Mesh units talk to each other over WiFi, which halves the speed at each hop and struggles through stone walls. A designed UniFi network wires the access points back to the router properly, so each one delivers full speed. It's a more considered setup built around your actual building, not a box on a shelf.
- Can you get WiFi working in a stone cottage or barn conversion?
- Yes — this is exactly the kind of property we're built for. Thick stone and rubble-filled walls swallow a single router's signal, so we design around them: wired access points positioned so no one has to fight through a wall, and cabling run sympathetically on period buildings. It's the difference between guessing and a network designed for how the building is actually made.
- Can you improve my existing WiFi, or does it all have to be replaced?
- Often we can improve what you've got. We audit your existing setup, identify the weak spots, and keep whatever is worth keeping — sometimes the fix is small. Where kit is genuinely holding you back we'll say so and explain why, but we don't replace things for the sake of it. The £99 Health Check is designed to find the real cause before anyone spends money.
CCTV & security
- Can you get my CCTV cameras working on the network?
- Yes. We don't sell or fit the cameras themselves, but we provide the network they depend on — structured cabling, PoE switches, wireless backhauls and reliable internet. We work alongside your camera installer or fit in with a system you already have, so the footage gets where it needs to go reliably.
- Is it safe to put cameras and smart devices on my home network?
- Only if they're kept separate — which most home setups don't do. A cheap camera or smart plug is a small computer, and the budget ones are often the least secure. On a flat network, if one is compromised it can reach your laptop and business files. We isolate cameras and smart devices on their own space (a VLAN) so a weak device can't become a way into the things that matter.
- What is a VLAN, and why would I want my cameras on one?
- In plain terms, a VLAN is a fenced-off part of your network. We put cameras, smart plugs and other IoT gadgets in their own pen: they get the internet they need to work, and nothing more. If one of them is ever hacked, it stays stuck in that pen and can't wander across to your laptop, phone or the files you run the business on. It's standard practice in a well-run office and something we build into home and farm networks too.
- Will my CCTV keep recording if the internet drops?
- That depends on how the system is set up, and it's something we design for. Cameras recording to a local recorder will keep recording through an internet outage — you just lose remote viewing until the line is back. For properties that can't afford to lose visibility, we can add failover so the connection stays up. We'll walk through exactly what happens in an outage during the survey.
Farm & business
- Can you connect my barn to my house network?
- Yes. We use weatherproof point-to-point wireless bridges to link buildings together, sharing the same internet connection and network. Distances from 20m up to several kilometres are routinely achievable with clear line of sight.
- How far can wireless links reach?
- With clear line of sight, modern wireless bridges comfortably cover 5–10km, and longer links are possible with the right equipment. We size the kit precisely to your distance and conditions.
- Can you cover a whole farm with several buildings?
- Yes — multi-building sites are a core part of what we do. We design a single network that ties the farmhouse, barns, workshops, stables and offices together, using wired access points where we can and wireless bridges across open ground where we can't. You end up with one connection and one network reaching the whole holding, rather than a patchwork of routers that don't talk to each other.
- Can you provide guest WiFi for a holiday let or Airbnb?
- Yes, and we set it up properly. Guests get their own separate network with its own password, kept well away from your family's or your business's devices — so you're not handing out your home WiFi to strangers. It's the same isolation we use for cameras and smart devices, applied to guest access.
- We run a wedding venue / rural business — can you make the WiFi reliable enough?
- That's exactly the sort of work we design for. Venues and rural businesses can't afford a dropout mid-event, so we build in resilience: proper commercial-grade kit, coverage across the whole site, separate guest and staff networks, and failover to a second line where uptime really matters. We'll design it around how your business actually runs, and document it so it can be supported.
Coverage & local
- Do you cover Towcester, Brackley, Silverstone and Daventry?
- Yes — that's our home patch. We're based in Towcester (NN12), so Silverstone, Brackley and the south Northants villages are on our doorstep, and Daventry (NN11) and the west Northants lanes are well within our day-to-day area. We know which lanes have fibre, which don't, and what actually works at your postcode.
- Do you cover rural NN12 and NN11 villages, not just the towns?
- Especially the villages — that's where the connectivity problems usually are. From Paulerspury, Greens Norton and Blakesley around Towcester to Braunston, Long Buckby and Badby near Daventry, the villages and outlying farms are exactly where fibre thins out and a designed network earns its keep. If you're on a lane where the signal gives up, that's our patch.
- Which areas do you cover?
- Our day-to-day area is Towcester and the NN12 area, normally within about 30 minutes. We also consider larger projects across Northamptonshire and the South Midlands by arrangement, including parts of Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Warwickshire.
- How far will you travel?
- For routine visits we stay close to Towcester so support remains quick and realistic. Larger installations can justify travelling further across the South Midlands — send us the postcode and scope and we'll be clear about availability before you book.
- Are you actually local, or a national company with a call centre?
- We're genuinely local — based in Towcester in NN12, not a call centre badging out subcontractors. When you book, you deal with the people who do the work, and support is a phone call to someone who knows your setup. That's a big part of why we can offer same-week visits across the local patch.
Pricing & process
- How does the £99 Network Health Check work?
- For £99 we visit your property, test your existing setup — router, WiFi coverage, Starlink, cabling, outbuildings and more — and give you clear written recommendations. We measure and document rather than guess, then explain what's really causing the problem and what your options are, with no pressure to buy anything you don't need.
- Is the £99 credited if I go ahead with the work?
- Yes. If you proceed with an installation, repair or upgrade, the £99 survey fee is credited toward the work. So if the Health Check leads to a project, you're not paying twice — the diagnosis effectively becomes part of the job.
- Can you quote without a paid visit?
- For a straightforward new installation we can sometimes prepare an initial estimate from a conversation, photos and the property details. The £99 Health Check is for an existing setup that is not working, where the value is in testing the cause before money is spent on a fix. We'll tell you which route is appropriate before anything is booked.
- Do I need a care plan or ongoing contract?
- No — there's no obligation to take one. Every installation is documented and handed over so it stands on its own. Optional care plans and monitoring are available, and they make sense for businesses and larger sites that can't afford downtime, but they're a choice, not a requirement. We'll explain what a plan does and doesn't cover so you can decide honestly.
- How long does installation take?
- Most rural WiFi and Starlink installations are completed in one day. Larger estate-wide projects with multiple wireless bridges and CCTV integration typically take two to three days. We'll give you a realistic timescale before we start.
- Will the cabling be run tidily?
- Yes — tidy, sympathetic cabling is part of doing the job properly, and it matters most on the stone cottages and period properties we work on. We plan cable routes carefully, use the right fixings and clips, and keep runs discreet. You shouldn't be able to tell at a glance that the work was done.
- Do I need planning permission?
- For most domestic installations, planning permission is not required. We flag anything that might need consideration during the site survey — including listed buildings, conservation areas and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
- What happens if something goes wrong later?
- Every installation is documented and handed over with a clear network diagram. We're a phone call away and can usually diagnose and resolve issues remotely. Optional ongoing monitoring is available for business customers.
- Do you work outside the local area?
- Yes, for the right larger project. Routine support stays focused around Towcester and NN12; new multi-building or estate projects elsewhere in the South Midlands are considered by arrangement.
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