Doncaster Racecourse is one of the premier horse racing venues in the UK as well as being one of the leading conference venues in South Yorkshire. With thousands of punters attending race days throughout the year, numerous events using the venues conference suites, and large conferences taking place regularly, it is pivotal that the best broadband service available is offered to customers.
Adam Gray, Group IT Manager at Doncaster Racecourse, talks about how connecting to the Digital Region network via ISP Origin Broadband has significantly improved the performance of the venue.
“As one of the premier racecourses in the UK and as one of the leading conference venues in South Yorkshire it is pivotal to our business that we offer superfast broadband.
“Before we connected to the Digital Region network we had a standard business broadband connection offering speeds up to 8Mbps. However, we never actually received those speeds and the connection limited us massively. On busy race days we were getting a lot of press and photographers here and when they were simultaneously trying to upload images it was impossible. The connection was far too slow.”
Connecting to with Origin Broadband
“The Digital Region network was recommended to me by a communications company in Doncaster. I looked on the website and contacted two of the listed Internet Service Providers. One of those was Origin Broadband and a day later I received a call from the Managing Director there which impressed me greatly.
“We met up with Origin Broadband and I was hugely impressed. Everything was done very professionally; they always kept us up to date with what stage we were at and what we should expect to happen next. I would recommend them in the strongest possible terms.”
Opening up new markets
“One of the key benefits of superfast broadband is the new markets it has opened up for us. Whether it’s a gaming event where 250 people need to be online at the same time or exhibitions where multiple delegates need to connect to the internet, there are massive markets which we’re now able to explore.
“Superfast broadband has future-proofed our network for any new technologies which may be used in the future. We don’t anticipate having to upgrade our network for a long time which gives us peace of mind. We’ve had a huge increase in the speeds which are available to us and we now have a significant advantage over many of our competitors.”
Putting superfast broadband to the test
Mark Spincer, Managing Director at Doncaster Racecourse, talks about how the superfast broadband connection enabled the racecourse to flourish at the recent Ladbrokes St Ledger Festival:
“This year at the Ladbrokes St Ledger Festival we had 167 journalists, way more than we’ve ever had before. With the IT services we now have available we’ve been able to ensure we’re able to take care of such a vast amount of journalists. We were able to offer them a superfast broadband service and the feedback we received from members of the press was fantastic. Many journalists expected slow upload speeds but they experienced no problems at all because the service we have from Origin Broadband is so great.
“Superfast broadband really has made a big difference to our business. We connected early in 2012 and already we’ve seen a number of new clients come on board that were looking for a venue that could deliver a great broadband service. I think our Digital Region connection can helps us grow our business on both race days and non-race days.”