BT competition seeks out UK's next fibre hotspots

DorsetBoy · Oct 04, 2010, 06:52:58

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11455649

BT competition seeks out UK's next fibre hotspots

QuoteCommunities that are keen to obtain fibre-based broadband are being asked to publicly declare their desire for high-speed net access.

BT will log responses to a website to get a better idea of the potential demand for fibre-based services.

The telecoms firm said the results would influence its future plans on where it deploys the technology.
BT will log responses to a website to get a better idea of the potential demand for fibre-based services.

BT said it would commit to wire up the five exchanges showing the highest demand for fibre.

It said this could mean that commercially viable exchanges would be the first to get the fibre-based service or that exchanges thought to be non-viable would be added to its deployment plans.

The survey, dubbed The Race to Infinity, will start early this month and run until the end of the year.

BT has set up a website through which individuals and communities can express their desire to have their area fibred up.

BT said it would commit to wire up the five exchanges showing the highest demand for fibre.

It said this could mean that commercially viable exchanges would be the first to get the fibre-based service or that exchanges thought to be non-viable would be added to its deployment plans.

The survey, dubbed The Race to Infinity, will start early this month and run until the end of the year.

BT has set up a website through which individuals and communities can express their desire to have their area fibred up.

Lance · Oct 04, 2010, 09:15:24

The person writing the article was so surprised, they repeated themselves

Simon · Oct 04, 2010, 09:49:35

Pardon?

SSK · Oct 04, 2010, 11:54:33

Maybe it's too early to expect to find it yet, but I can't see anything on the BT website that refers to this 'competition' or how to declare one's interest.

If/when such a competition/survey page appears, please could someone post a link here?

Thanks!

Sean

Ray · Oct 04, 2010, 12:14:36

More information on the ThinkBroadband site

klipp · Oct 04, 2010, 12:48:39

http://www.racetoinfinity.bt.com/

Get voting. My exchange has a massive FOUR votes!!! Yeh.. don't think we'll be winning lol.

Lance · Oct 04, 2010, 12:52:00

Thats one more vote than mine!

klipp · Oct 04, 2010, 12:53:53

Quote from: Lance on Oct 04, 2010, 12:52:00
Thats one more vote than mine!

Mwahahaha.

klipp · Oct 04, 2010, 12:55:32

I wonder if it's voting per capita as some exchanges are going to have way more users than somewhere in the middle of nowhere.

Simon · Oct 04, 2010, 13:01:15

That's exactly what BT want though, isn't it?

Ray · Oct 04, 2010, 13:03:33

Mine was the first vote for my exchange.

SSK · Oct 04, 2010, 17:39:31

Thanks for posting the link.
It was quite a hassle voting because the site is a complete mess on my browser (Firefox 3.0.15 on Mac).

Anyway, mine was the 13th vote (oo-er! hope it's not unlucky!) out of 26.726 possible votes for my exchange.

Sean

klipp · Oct 04, 2010, 17:41:15

Fair Isle winning with 26%. They got 10 out of their 38 exchange members to sign LOL.

Simon · Oct 04, 2010, 17:48:27

GREAT NEWS!
Your exchange is already on the rollout plan for BT Infinity.

pctech · Oct 04, 2010, 18:15:35

I think exchanges that serve a lot of businesses are likely to be upgraded first.

So its probably a good idea to contact as many local small businesses as you can and persuade them to vote because they are likely to spend more on communications than most consumers and so BT wants to keep them happy.

Lance · Oct 04, 2010, 18:26:51

Quote from: Simon on Oct 04, 2010, 17:48:27
GREAT NEWS!
Your exchange is already on the rollout plan for BT Infinity.

Not fair!

Steve · Oct 04, 2010, 18:45:56

GREAT NEWS!
Your exchange is already on the rollout plan for BT Infinity.

Me too

Although I'm not sure what I would different if I had it.

pctech · Oct 04, 2010, 18:49:51

If you are one of the lucky souls that gets the fabled 7 or 20 Meg then there's probably little to gain from FTTC but if like the rest of us that gets between 1 to 4 Meg then it can make a big difference believe me.

.Griff. · Oct 04, 2010, 19:31:47

QuoteGREAT NEWS!
Your exchange is already on the rollout plan for BT Infinity.

I know

wecpcs · Oct 04, 2010, 21:33:40

Quote from: klipp on Oct 04, 2010, 12:48:39
http://www.racetoinfinity.bt.com/

Get voting. My exchange has a massive FOUR votes!!! Yeh.. don't think we'll be winning lol.

Well mine has 2 now including mine.

Colin

mrapoc · Oct 04, 2010, 22:34:41

We now have 9. I'm on a massive drive to get people voting...Even contacted the local radio

Rik · Oct 05, 2010, 17:59:17

Quote from: Lance on Oct 04, 2010, 09:15:24
The person writing the article was so surprised, they repeated themselves

It was the garlic.

klipp · Oct 06, 2010, 15:02:47

I just emailed my local newspaper telling them to print an arctle each week until the end of december reminding people to vote. I wonder if they will. With only 12 votes so far we not looking good. I think the problem is not enough people know about this, and we'll find the winning exchanges only received a few hundred votes.

pctech · Oct 06, 2010, 16:51:26

If you have a lot of non tech savvy pensioners round you who couldn't care about the Internet then you may have very limited success.