Merry Meeting Farm
Richard Olds owns an arable farm near Camborne and also runs a landscaping and amenity contracting business.
He signed up to broadband through actnow at the end of 2002. Already an internet user, he was looking forward to the greater speeds he could achieve through broadband.
As his business is so weather dependent, Richard regularly uses the Internet to assess the weather. “Being in the far West of Cornwall, you cannot rely on the standard weather forecasts to be accurate, so I assess the situation myself using pressure charts and radar charts online. It is crucial to the business because I need to know if the conditions are going to be suitable for the work that needs to be done and if there is going to be enough of a window in the weather for us to start on a particular job. Broadband has saved us an awful lot of time. Now we can assess the situation far more quickly.”
Another benefit that Richard has found is that it can make communications between contractor and subcontractor far simpler. “If we are working on a tender, we can send a document between ourselves in no time and all make amendments to the same document. It is a marvellous way of getting information around the country very quickly – especially for large files or if you want to send photographs.”
One unusual use which Richard has found for broadband is when a piece of machinery breaks down. “When we have a fault with a machine, I can take a photo with the digital camera and email it to the manufacturer so we can diagnose the problem. Once I had a hedge trimmer break down and the manufacturer had made some changes to the design since my model was made so I asked him to email over the drawings of the new design – and they were here straightaway. That meant I could show them to my fitter and get the hedge trimmer fixed.”
Richard also uses the Internet to check out comparative prices of supplies and equipment and finds that with broadband this is much simpler and faster. “It also helps me access information I needs about area measurements and that sort of thing.”
“Broadband has made a big difference – it saves time and makes running the business more efficient.”
