To make the Countryside Broadband charges easy to understand it will help many new subscribers if we explained in simple terms what Broadband is.

Access to the Internet for email, information, shopping and so on, is available to most rural users only over a modem, sometimes known as a "narrowband" connection. This is called "narrowband", because the modems used will not transmit, or receive, data faster than 56 kbit/s, or 56,000 "bits" of data each second. Also, this is an absolute maximum speed, and if there are others sharing the connection within the network of your Internet Service Provider (ISP) the throughput will be reduced. This happens quite often and is know as "contention". So, for example, if 2 Users are sharing the same connection the contention ratio will be 2:1; if 50 are sharing, the contention ratio will be 50:1. Congestion in the wider Internet will reduce throughput but that is out of the control of your ISP.

The same principles apply to Broadband, but on the other hand Broadband can carry data at much faster speeds, as the bandwidth supplied is very much "wider" than a "narrowband" link. Also, Countryside Broadband is able to control contention ratios within its network to make the best use of the available bandwidth.

A major advantage of the Countryside Broadband service is that it is "always on". This means you do not have to dial out and you do not have to pay call charges, only the simple, affordable monthly flat fee and the initial set-up fee. It also means that information you request on your screen appears much more quickly, compared to "narrowband".

The fees below are supplied at what are considered to be good contention rates. The bandwidth supplied will be at 512 kbit/s or 1024 kbit/s, in both directions (to receive and send data). This is better than the ADSL service, which is restricted to 250 kbit/s in the transmit direction.

The pricing is based on three tiers, modelled to suit the needs of a rural community and on experience of what a good Broadband service should offer.

Thus, at the lowest end of the tariff we offer a contention ratio of 50:1, a mid-level band at 20:1 and a high-end service of 1024 kbit/s, at a contention ratio of 20:1. We are also considering offering a 2048 kbit/s service at 20:1 if there is a demand.

In general terms the lowest fee is suitable for a home user, the mid-level for a small business and the high end for larger enterprises or those who need high speed for some other reason.

Initial Account Setup Fee and Installation charge £140

Monthly Fixed-Wireless Broadband Internet Access £ 30

Initial Account Setup Fee and Installation charge £260

Monthly Fixed-Wireless Broadband Internet Access £ 80

Initial Account Setup Fee and Installation charge £260

Monthly Fixed-Wireless Broadband Internet Access £120