BT to invest billions in ultrafast broadband over next three years

[HEXUS]

Wants 12 million homes with ultrafast broadband by 2020.

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[jigger]

I need 5Gbps, but would need 10G networking and a serious SSD upgrade. Probably some kind of fast RAID setup. I foresee much Windows failure in the future.

[Ttaskmaster]

Yeah yeah yeah, heard it all before...

[HSK]

I live just 10 mins away from Heathrow, and we still only have ADSL in our area.

[LSG501]

yeah nothing like a monopoly to keep this country in the technological dark ages....we need fibre now, not when they feel like it. They need to stop flogging the dead horse that is copper lines, all their research to speed this is up is just wasting time/money. PMSL at the 'digital leader' comment from the BT boss, we haven't been that for the last 5-10 years, if only someone had invested in the infrastructure when ADSL/Fibre started becoming popular instead of doing nothing.....

Getting fttp (this is what we all really need for decent up and down speeds in the future) to 2 million properties (so mostly businesses then) by 2020... lets put this into context then - there's 25 million homes (according to a quick google) in the UK so at a rate of 2 million per 4 years that means it would take at least 25 years just to cover the current houses in the UK and you can likely add on another 5-10 years to cover the businesses being done first and the usual BT delays.

OH and my fav part... this investment needs BT/Openreach to stay as one entity.... funny that they want to keep their monopoly going and are now in essence using it to 'blackmail' OFCOM to get the faster speeds that the government already said we'd have in 2020.

Seriously OFCOM/Government needs to grow some balls and tell BT to get off their lazy behinds and catch up with the times, we're supposed to be a 'first world' country after all.

[go4brendon]

What BT wants and what Openreach can deliver are two separate things. I'm moving house and apparently cant transfer my Infinity 2 to my new address because 'the box is full.' Also our business has been waiting for a new fibre business line (which we signed the contract for 10 months ago.) They need to open up their network as their costing the economy millions everyday in sh*t delivery.

[cheesemp]

Does anyone have anything good to say about Bt/openreach? I know I don't... Still think its amazing I can get infinity at 30Mb (no more) - more by luck than BT judgement I expect as I live in a small town. Can't see me getting an upgrade from 30Mb for a long long time though.

[jimborae]

YAwn, heard it all before from BT/OpenReach and their monopoly.
They're an absolute shambles & the Gov needs to step in but of course it won't.

[Ttaskmaster]

Seriously OFCOM/Government needs to grow some balls and tell BT to get off their lazy behinds and catch up with the times, we're supposed to be a 'first world' country after all.

I don't know of any OF--- regulator that has balls. Obedience to our own is seemingly just voluntary, often because it's cheaper to do whatever the heck we want and just pay the little fine afterward.

[Firejack]

I find it hilarious people are calling for the government to step in. The government is why we have this outdated internet infrastructure!!

In 1979, (yes, 37 years ago!!!!) BT realised copper wasn't suitable for the digital communication revolution.
By 1986 BT was one of the world leaders on fibre networks and could deliver fibre cheaper to the home then copper.
In 1990 they were 6 months into mass producing all the fibre equipment for a national rollout when the Conservative government (yes, those idiots again) decided BTs fibre rollout was anti-competitive.
By 1991 BTs fibre factorys were closed and asset stripped to make way for international competition in the local-loop. With all the fibre technology getting shipped to our friends in South Korea and Japan. Who now benefit from Superfast fibre broadband that we helped develop over 25 years ago.

The mind boggles how this was allowed to happen.

[aidanjt]

Using threats of denial of infrastructure upgrades as a political bargaining chip to maintain their BT/Openreach monopoly is all the more reason to split them up. Do it and suddenly Openreach isn't beholden to BT's malicious management anymore, their mission will instead be to sell infrastructure capacity to service providers without preference, and they'll invest around that, including fibre deployments. No more just letting BT hoover up public investment as pure profit.

[Conan257]

I've moved to the middle of nowhere in Canada, and everybody has access to 300mb fibre.

Get a grip Britain! Move with the times and invest in a modern telecommunications system!

[Calum]

Here in Sicily, Italy, my top upload speed is 6.8 Mb/s! The Italian government and the equivalent of BT (Telecom Italia) are also full of S***. I get daily offers of 'Ultravelocita' (high speed) and 'Fibra' (Fibre optic cabling) but the infrastructure isn't here, and won't be in my lifetime.
My smartphone is meant to be using 4G but 4G doesn't exist here yet.
Such is life.

[pastymuncher]

How about they give the rest of us fibre first. I am sick and fed up of paying more and getting less.

[tonyd223]

100Mbps fibre - Hull

[jag272]

100Mbps fibre - Hull

You gotta admit we pay out the rear for it with KC though, im on 250Mbps myself.