Fibreoptic broadband for all Mercia boats

ALL the boats at Mercia Marina now have the benefit of superfast wired fibreoptic broadband.

The marina has once again bucked the trend, this time by investing heavily in boater services despite the pandemic, lockdowns and restrictions.

Now standard

This means boaters (and shortly all lodges) can now receive the same broadband as bricks and mortar households, with Instant iPlayer, bufferless YouTube, fast Netflix and Amazon and easy shopping are now standard.

Zooming much-missed family and friends is now easy. The Grounds & Maintenance Team worked closely with the installers, a local firm W3Z to install separate hookups to the 600 plus berths. As it is a smart system, plugging into a new berth will instantly provide the same service as it ‘recognises’ the user. Boaters have a choice of packages at different prices depending on their need. To make it even more convenient, the service is available on a monthly contract.

A cost of £100,000

At a cost of £100,000 this is a large investment especially during these uncertain times, but the boaters are already reaping the benefit.  The marina decided to proceed with this service as obtaining a strong reliable mobile signal in the countryside is difficult, whilst getting a strong reliable mobile signal into a steel boat is much harder. With fibre broadband, the problem is solved.

Mercia did not stop there.  While other places are furloughing staff, the marina has increased its team by 12 people in the last 12 months. More grounds and maintenance staff to look after the new park as well as the rest of the landscaped 74 acres.  More housekeeping staff to look after the already immaculate 12 showers, 20 loos, 12 washing machines and driers as well as the luxury holiday homes once they can reopen.  More office staff to accommodate the team working to improve the service level.

Remained open throughout

Mercia remained open throughout the lockdowns.  The enhanced staff team were able to support the very active community volunteers in looking after people who were shielding, in helping to pick up and deliver groceries, getting people to appointments and simply maintaining high spirits. The pandemic has presented many challenges, but the community has pulled together and been fantastic at supporting each other and making sure that they stay safe. There is no better kinship than in boaters.