Caithness man offers free broadband advice for those working from home
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PARENTS struggling to work from home while keeping children entertained may benefit from some free broadband advice being offered by a Caithness man.
Robin Herrick, a Bower-based mechanical engineer with a good understanding of computers, said: "I don't mind providing free help and advice to individuals and business about hardware, as I have done in the last year or so."
With many people now working from home and with schools closing due to the coronavirus crisis, he felt it would be a good time for people to find out more about rural broadband. Mr Herrick has already been contacted by an anxious parent asking for help.
The father-of-four explained that he used to find it difficult himself to work from home while his children were all trying to watch videos on YouTube, listen to Spotify, play computer games or study online.
If he needed to do some work online he would have to get his family to stop what they were doing. However, he was able to upgrade his broadband system with a special antenna which he pointed towards Castletown and it has made doing all these things possible.
"We have never looked back, and there is no arguing," he said.
"I think with parents having to work from home now it is fairly critical that they know there is a solution.
"There are good deals now on unlimited 4G data, and with some hardware that you can buy online it's possible to get up and download speeds which are far in excess of those being offered by Openreach for less than the cost of a typical fixed line broadband deal.
"For areas such as Gillock and Bower, which have been waiting years for the infrastructure to be updated and will probably wait for years more, this solution is transformative.
"If people want to contact me I would be quite happy to help give them advice about what equipment they should buy."
Mr Herrick can be reached by email at robin@rr2h.uk
