FTTP on demand

.Griff. · Feb 03, 2012, 12:19:23

BT holds successful trial of "FTTP on demand" and sets timeframe for doubling of FTTC broadband speeds.

BT today announced it has held successful trials of "FTTP on demand" in St Agnes, Cornwall. This solution allows additional fibre to be run on demand to a home or business in a Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) enabled area, providing the customer with ultra-fast Fibre to the Premise (FTTP) broadband.

Previously, FTTP speeds weren't possible in FTTC enabled areas but BT has developed a solution that takes advantage of the fibre it has already deployed between the exchange and the street cabinet.

The technological development has the potential to transform the UK broadband landscape. This is because FTTP – which will soon offer end users speeds of up to 300Mbps - could be made available anywhere in BT's fibre footprint where a customer requires it. BT will conduct further trials of FTTP on demand this Summer with a view to making the service commercially available to all communications providers by Spring 2013.

The service – which also delivers fast upstream speeds – is likely to be of particular appeal to small and medium size businesses who need to send and receive large amounts of data. The feedback from businesses in St Agnes has been excellent.

BT also said it will introduce a new faster variant of FTTC broadband this Spring. This service will deliver speeds that are approximately double those on offer today so downstream speeds will be up to 80Mbps rather than up to 40Mbps. Upstream speeds will also be faster at up to 20Mbps.

Both announcements came as BT revealed more than seven million premises can now access fibre broadband over its network. This figure will rise to ten million in 2012 and then to around two thirds of UK premises by the end of 2014. BT wants to go further and believes it is possible to make fibre broadband available to more than 90% of UK premises by working with local councils and devolved governments. BT is bidding for Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) funds to make that happen.

Openreach chief executive Olivia Garfield said: "FTTP on demand is a significant development for Broadband Britain. Essentially, it could make our fastest speeds available wherever we deploy fibre. This will be welcome news for small businesses who may wish to benefit from the competitive advantage that such speeds provide.
"We are also doubling the speed of our standard fibre broadband this Spring giving ISPs the chance to offer speeds of up to 80Mbps. This will ensure that residential customers have world class speeds for all their family's needs."

Source - http://www.btplc.com/News/Articles/Showarticle.cfm?ArticleID=14863CF1-DD70-4D79-83F8-2CDA88B3E51B

Rik · Feb 03, 2012, 12:32:41

All we need now are the bandwidth allowances to make it worthwhile.

cavillas · Feb 03, 2012, 14:07:06

And lower prices

Rik · Feb 03, 2012, 17:42:39

That too, Alf.

pctech · Feb 03, 2012, 17:55:29

If I was able to get FTTP for the same or as near as the price I currently pay for ADSL I'd be saying book me an installation engineer straight away.

Tacitus · Feb 03, 2012, 18:23:58

Quote from: pctech on Feb 03, 2012, 17:55:29
If I was able to get FTTP for the same or as near as the price I currently pay for ADSL I'd be saying book me an installation engineer straight away.

If I could get much above 2meg I'd be happy......

pctech · Feb 03, 2012, 18:35:18

iPlate Tac or have you cut the bell wire?

mervl · Feb 03, 2012, 22:00:00

BTs anouncement: Take your chance with the line lottery, or pay (significantly) more for the "guaranteed" service. Where have I heard that one before? Oh yes, it's how mature markets behave. Anything else just isn't sustainable, however hard we might wish for the fairy godmother.

I think the fog is clearing on digital policy: most will get a connection (of varying quality) to a commercial or subsidised local "digital hub": exchange, cab or equivalent. If you want or need to take the "local loop" vagaries out of the equation then it's at your own cost. Not popular, I suspect; but it's sensible. Sounds then like the death knell for any adoption of universal vectoring on FTTC for the forseeable (let alone widespread xTTP for all). BT has better things to spend its money on, and consumers won't pay the cost.

john · Feb 03, 2012, 22:56:34

Quote from: pctech on Feb 03, 2012, 17:55:29
If I was able to get FTTP for the same or as near as the price I currently pay for ADSL I'd be saying book me an installation engineer straight away.

From BT's announcement on the BBC News I think you can expect to have to pay considerably more, at least for the installation :

QuoteBut connection will come at a price. BT said the installation fees will most likely be in the high hundreds of pounds, possibly more.

What individual customers will have to pay will depend on whether companies who provide broadband connections, such as ISPs, pass them on to consumers.

pctech · Feb 04, 2012, 16:25:17

Ciopper theft is an increasing problem for BT and the cost is ultimately footed by its customers (service providers and Retail customers)

If you replace this with fibre the problem would be reduced significantly, add to this the lower maintenance (except where some herbert puts the bucket of a digger through it)

Rik · Feb 04, 2012, 16:48:38

Though that does assume the thieves are bright enough to know the difference between copper and fibre before they cut it...

Lance · Feb 04, 2012, 17:18:13

Although if there was a big national push to get as much laid in as little time as possible with a big advertising campaign they would know.

Rik · Feb 04, 2012, 17:22:08

We hope.

Glenn · Feb 04, 2012, 17:25:32

But how much is the armoured casing worth?

Lance · Feb 04, 2012, 17:30:03

This is BT, they probably just use plastic pipes

Rik · Feb 04, 2012, 18:16:32

kinmel · Feb 04, 2012, 18:43:37

Quote from: Glenn on Feb 04, 2012, 17:25:32
But how much is the armoured casing worth?

zilch

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