The average internet installation day can be a nightmare. You clear your schedule for that vague “any time between 8 and 6” window and keep half an ear out for a van that never quite arrives.

But for one Chester man, getting high speed internet couldn’t have been more different as a nineties boyband turned up to ensure he got online. 

As Tao Chang, a local university lecturer and father-of-two, got his broadband installed, he was met by pop icons Five, who have joined forces with mobile and broadband provider giffgaff to get Chester connected. 

The moment was marked with a spectacular neon light display at his home, followed by a headline performance by Five at The Carlton Tavern (their first ever gig in a pub) delighting an audience of around 100 guests with hits including ‘When The Lights Go Out’ and ‘Keep on Movin’.

The band had taken a night off from their nationwide stadium tour for the giffgaff Switch-On Party as they celebrated  with tunes first released before broadband even arrived in Britain.

Despite the fact that the technology has been around for 25 years, recent research has found that more than half of Brits (53%) experience connection issues at least twice a month, with more than 340,000 in the North West alone missing out on gig tickets as a result of poor broadband. 

At the party, Chester fans were treated to ‘bytes’ to eat, drinks and two exclusive DJ sets from Chester-born DJ and Radio 6 presenter Nemone Metaxas to celebrate Chester becoming one of the first towns in the country to experience giffgaff’s full fibre broadband. 

Tao said: “I never thought getting new broadband would end up with Five lighting up my house – it’s definitely not your average install day. The whole thing has been amazing; the energy, the music, the community spirit. Having fast, reliable internet makes such a difference – and getting it switched on like this is something I’ll never forget.”

 

Five said: “When we first came onto the scene, broadband hadn’t even launched in the UK — and now here we are in Chester helping giffgaff switch on the next generation of full-fibre connection! It’s been brilliant gettin’ down with fans in such an intimate setting, and we’ve loved being part of Tao’s big switch-on moment in Chester! We don’t do things by halves, and that’s one way to draw some attention to switching on your internet.”

Natalie Cutten, giffgaff broadband Product Director added: “Like we’ve done before in mobile, we’ve built broadband around our members to create a product that meets their needs – simple, fair value and flexible broadband.

“So who better to help us celebrate our official launch than our members, including Tao and his family and friends. We lit up Chester and Five put on quite the show to mark an exciting milestone for giffgaff as we launch broadband across the UK.”