A village school celebrated the arrival of superfast broadband by wishing children in the United States a happy Independence Day.
All homes in Cossington, to the north of Leicester, are now on the fibre optic cable network, thanks to investment by Leicestershire County Council and BT Openreach.
Yesterday, year five pupils at Cossington Primary had a Skype conversation with the Madel-Toner family in Carolina Beach, North Carolina to test out the new cables.
As well as learning about Independence Day, which is celebrated on July 4 each year, they found out about school life for the American youngsters, the perils of the ocean and the hurricane that struck the east coast of the USA on Thursday.
The conversation started with the English youngsters shouting "Happy Independence Day" before the US children turned down a challenge to sing the American national anthem.
Nine-year-old Theo then told the children in Cossington about the recent hurricane.
He said: "Well it was very, very windy and very, very, very rainy. It was really hard rain but it was only a category one hurricane and it can go up to five so it's the least strong kind.
"We had to stay in the house, though."
The American youngsters said they were following the World Cup and showed off their sticker album before talking about the pelicans, turtles, sharks, crabs and jellyfish in the nearby Atlantic Ocean.
The children in Cossington also asked their American counterparts about their school holidays, the American flag and the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
As well as having a transatlantic Skype conversation, the youngsters at the school had a talk from Andrew Cook, of BT Openreach, who told them about what the company had been doing, laying fibre optic cables alongside the existing copper wires to give everyone in the village between 15 and 80 megabits per second download speeds, whichever network they rent their phone lines from.
The new lines are part of the £18.6 million Superfast Leicestershire project, led by the county council.
Heather Sewell, Cossington Primary School headteacher, said: "The children have been really excited about talking to the children in America.
"They're all pretty competent with computers and ICT. It's the way of the future and the more they know about this the better."
Other celebrations in Cossington yesterday included a ribbon-cutting ceremony at a new cable junction cabinet in Main Street and an information event for residents and businesses at the Royal Oak pub, in the village.
www.superfast leicestershire.org.uk
