Broadband Assessment Programme

Marlborough Area Development Trust has begun a programme to understand how broadband services are performing in the Marlborough Area. The Marlborough Area is not just the Town but extends to the 18 surrounding parishes as can be seen on the map at this link.

Broadband services are now widely considered as an essential service, and the availability of reliable and adequately performing services is already important for most households and businesses in the Area and is becoming vital for many domestic and business activities.

There are however many stories about inadequate services in the Area so MADT is undertaking work to provide some real performance data on an ongoing basis that we will report on, but we need your help to do this.

We would therefore like you to join the Marlborough Area BBFix Programme - which is being supported by Actual Experience Ltd., a company based in Bath using technology spun-out from Queen Mary, University of London. Please see this link for some background information on the Actual Experience BBFix programme.

There are no costs to you and, apart from the simple installation of Actual Experience (Windows only) Agent software on your home or business computer, no effort is required on your part. The software does not see or record, in any way, what you do. Instead, it periodically sends small test messages to Actual Experience Reference Servers. It will run automatically and invisibly (because it runs as a Windows Service). It has no impact on computer performance. There is no need to leave your computer on any more than you would normally and you can withdraw from the project at any time.

We would like as many people as possible in the Marlborough Area to install the software as soon as possible. They then need think nothing more of it until they hear from us with some initial results.

If you have not received our detailed invitation/installation email from a friend or a colleague and you would like to join the programme then please just email us and we will send you more detailed information.

If you have any concerns regarding the installation of the software or any other aspect of the programme then the Frequently Asked Questions section below will hopefully address your issues, but if not then do please contact us so that we can answer your additional concern and then add it to the list below.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who are MADT and why are you running this programme?

• Marlborough Area Development Trust is a non-profit-making voluntary Development Trust that carries out work to ensure that the Marlborough Area is a vibrant, successful and pleasant place to live, work and visit; both now and in the future.
• Broadband services are now an essential service for many domestic and business activities and we want to ensure that the Marlborough Area is being served with the best possible capabilities. Measuring what we currently have, and being able to track how services change with time, will therefore help us lobby for improvement as and when they are needed.

What are the benefits of the Marlborough Area BBFix Programme to me?

• Typically internet performance is assessed using broadband speed tests. Unfortunately speed tests do not help anyone, not even an expert, to understand what people will experience when using real applications. Ten years of research at Queen Mary, University of London, mean that Actual Experience can analyse your broadband, your home WiFi and the global internet from the perspective that is most important and meaningful to you: how real applications perform across your broadband service.

• Over time, we will be able to feedback individual information to you that will:

  • Health-check your WiFi and Internet Service Provider (ISP)
  • Find out how your ISP service compares with others (measured speed is a misleading guide to actual experience).
  • Help ISPs to improve the service they provide.
  • All of this in terms of your actual experience of real applications.
• You will also contribute to an overall understanding of service levels in the Marlborough Area - which will help us lobby for improvements that will benefit everyone that lives, works or visits the Marlborough Area.

When will the tests start and how long will the programme run?

• The tests of your broadband service will start as soon as you have installed the Agent software.
• We have not put an end date for the programme and it is expected to run until at least the end of the year. Our current thinking is that a continuing assessment beyond this period would be useful but we would have to keep this under review.

How do I withdraw from the project?

• Any individual participant can withdraw from the project at any time simply by removing the Agent software from your PC.
• You do this using the standard "Add or Remove Programs" function in the Windows Control Panel and removing two programmes called "Perception Agent" and "Perception Agent NI Runtime".
• If you do this we would appreciate it if you also send us an email so that we can update our records.

What information will you need from me?

During installation, a small amount of information listed below, about you and the Agent software must be entered (This information will only be used in communication with you, and to help us collate the Marlborough Area measurement results by broadband provider, broadband package, and location).

• Analytics Key: this software key is provided in the detailed invitation/installation email that you may already have or can request
• Your first name
• Your last name
• Your email address
• Agent Location: for this input please type your “broadband provider, broadband service, postcode, Marlborough Area”. An example of what to put in this last field might be "BT, Total Broadband Option 3, SN8 1JJ, Marlborough Area". It is important that you add the words Marlborough Area at the end if the PC you are installing the Agent software on is located in one of the 19 parishes in the Marlborough Area. However if the detailed invitation/installation email has been forwarded to you and the PC you use is not in one of the Marlborough Area parishes then please do still install the software but do not add the text "Marlborough Area" to this last field.

What happens if I get stuck when installing the software?

• This is very unlikely but support, if required, is available at support@actual-experience.com

How do you know who has signed up?

• We will be getting reports from Actual Experience Ltd., but to cross check the data we would like you email us at admin@marlborougharea.org so that we can keep track of the take-up of contributors to the Marlborough Area programme.

Can I pass on the details of the programme?

• Yes absolutely! We would encourage you to forward your detailed invitation/installation email to any business associates, friends and family who use broadband services and you think might also be interested in helping with this project, particularly if they live or work in the Marlborough Area.

 

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