Getting a Great Park office connected where there was no fixed infrastructure and no usable mobile signal


The situation

CASA occupies office space at Great Park in Gosforth, Newcastle. They needed a working connection and had already struggled with the lack of one for 12 months.

An order had been accepted by a major national provider, then cancelled as there was no fixed data infrastructure available to serve the site. The client was back at square one, a year on and still without connectivity.

The building's managing agent put them in touch with Fuse.

What was at stake

Twelve months without the connection you planned for is already a long time to operate. A second attempt carries a different risk: another order, another wait, and another possible ‘it can’t be done’, with the client paying for the wait each time, whether or not it works out.

So the question wasn’t only what would work at Great Park. It was how to find that out without the client footing the bill for a second dead end.

What Fuse did

• Tested the low-cost option first. Rather than specify a full installation and hope, we tested 5G on site. A quick, low-cost answer if it worked, and very little spent finding out if it didn’t.

• Said so when it wasn’t good enough. Testing showed the mobile signal wasn’t reliable enough for what the office needed. Rather than leave the client on a connection that would frustrate them daily, we called it and moved to the third option: Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet service, which depends on neither mobile masts nor fixed lines.

• Surveyed the site and specified satellite. A proper survey covering cable routing, access restrictions and equipment placement, followed by a current-generation Starlink connection specified on the back of it. Fuse’s partners at NE IT Solutions carried out the installation on site.

The result

Installed and working, with a fast, reliable connection in place. No lengthy commissioning, no return visits.

A location a national provider had confirmed it could not serve, on a business park where the mobile signal would not carry the site either, is online and operating. The client paid to find out what worked once, not twice.

Starlink uses satellites to deliver high-speed connectivity with no dependence on local mobile masts or fixed lines. Fuse's partners at NEIT Solutions installed it on the Great Park site.

Matt Holbrook, Commercial Director at CASA Group, said:

"After waiting for a connection that ultimately couldn't be delivered, we needed an alternative quickly. Fuse tested 5G and, when that wasn't reliable enough, recommended Starlink. They handled everything from there and had us up and running with a fast, reliable connection."

Fuse can provide fixed-line, 5G and satellite connectivity, or any combination of the three, to find the service that works best for the building rather than trying to make the building fit the solution.

The point

Most connectivity problems are solved by ordering the obvious thing. The hard ones are the sites where the obvious thing isn’t available, and those are exactly the sites where a supplier who only sells one answer will either sell you the wrong one or tell you it can’t be done.

Fuse carries every option: fixed lines, 5G, satellite, and combinations of them. That’s what makes it possible to try the cheap answer first, be honest when it doesn’t hold up, and move to the one that does, without starting the whole process again somewhere else.

It’s also why managing agents refer tenants to us. A connectivity problem that drags on is a problem for the tenant, the agent and the landlord all at once.

Check any UK commercial address free at connect.fusecore.co.uk.