News - BT trials ultrafast broadband using copper cables

[HEXUS]

Speeds approaching one Gigabit per second are achieved.

Read more.

[Biscuit]

Stop wasting time and money and just run fibre to the home, higher initial cost but lasting infrastructure.

This drives me bonkers!

[BlackAle]

They aren't wasting money, they are saving it. The majority of people aren't prepared to pay the cost of FTTP.

[mrmist]

I'm sure this is wonderful but it's also a bit of a mystical pink unicorn, given how many houses still don't have any kind of fibre at all, it's hard to see how this will improve things, save for those who already have the fastest available connectivity.

[Sladey93]

Me and my family are on BT (They are the only internet provider in our area as we live quite rurally) and we are only getting 100 kbps (yes you read that correctly) between 5 of us. This is barely enough to stream a Youtube video in 360p. Instead of making new ways of increasing speeds to people who already have good speeds, why not actually focus on improving areas of the country that have internet speeds slower than some third world countries. Please sort out your priorities BT! We are not amused! ]

[D-T]

Me and my family are on BT (They are the only internet provider in our area as we live quite rurally) and we are only getting 100 kbps (yes you read that correctly) between 5 of us. This is barely enough to stream a Youtube video in 360p. Instead of making new ways of increasing speeds to people who already have good speeds, why not actually focus on improving areas of the country that have internet speeds slower than some third world countries. Please sort out your priorities BT! We are not amused! ]

That really sucks but unfortunately for as long as they're the only provider in your area you've probably got next to no chance. I'd start hoping for more competition rather than for BT to do anything to improve it out out of the kindness of their hearts.

Is satellite broadband not a possibility? I can't say I've had any experience with it but this article - while far from the best in the world - makes it seem like less of ridiculous idea than it initially sounds.

[Brewster0101]

Either I am reading this wrong or alot of other people are.

The problem with fibre is rural areas is the cost of putting fibre into the ground to properties around the countryside. This new process requires only one fibre connection to the main exchange in the area and then can use the copper connections to house/buildings. Ergo cost's will be heavily reduced and the likely hood is you'll get quicker speeds alot sooner.

Hats of to BT for this - shame the idea came about after the heavy cost of popping fibre everywhere when looks like copper wires have alot more life left in them.

[Jipper]

I need to move.Still struggling to get 1.5Mb/sec where I live. Bloody rural areas and their lousy interwebs

[MrRockliffe]

Either I am reading this wrong or alot of other people are.

The problem with fibre is rural areas is the cost of putting fibre into the ground to properties around the countryside. This new process requires only one fibre connection to the main exchange in the area and then can use the copper connections to house/buildings. Ergo cost's will be heavily reduced and the likely hood is you'll get quicker speeds alot sooner.

Hats of to BT for this - shame the idea came about after the heavy cost of popping fibre everywhere when looks like copper wires have alot more life left in them.

That's what I was thinking but I'm also not sure whether I've read it wrong.

[Primey0]

Stop wasting time and money and just run fibre to the home, higher initial cost but lasting infrastructure.

This drives me bonkers!

You say they are wasting money yet you want them to give people fibre to the home which would be more expensive than this technology

[Apex]

Either I am reading this wrong or alot of other people are.

The problem with fibre is rural areas is the cost of putting fibre into the ground to properties around the countryside. This new process requires only one fibre connection to the main exchange in the area and then can use the copper connections to house/buildings. Ergo cost's will be heavily reduced and the likely hood is you'll get quicker speeds alot sooner.

Hats of to BT for this - shame the idea came about after the heavy cost of popping fibre everywhere when looks like copper wires have alot more life left in them.

It's fibre to the telephone pole from what i can tell....most folk don't live next door to the exchange so they would be pushing the line lenghts....

[Biscuit]

You say they are wasting money yet you want them to give people fibre to the home which would be more expensive than this technology

In the short term its more expensive, but once its done there is little need to change any of technology in between the premesis and the source for decades., potentially centuries. Having active boxes, 'in line' is always a stop gap.

[LSG501]

Well all this extra speed is great but unless they go an up the limits on monthly allowance and the sites supplying the data actually get faster in every day usage it would make no difference over an average adsl2 broadband line. The only exception is streaming but then you have congestion issues, if you all of a sudden increase the bandwidth flowing at the exchange you could end up with no faster than you already are now because of bottlenecks further down the line.

I can actually see this turning out like America, they have plenty of fast broadband connections but they then struggle with things like netflix due to network congestion. Ultimately forcing netflix to pay the isps for more bandwidth, meaning the isp's get paid twice for the bandwidth which they're already charging customers for... netflix will likely need to up prices at some point to compensate for this too.

Have to say personally I would settle for this as a 'stop gap' (I'm semi rural) but ideally bt need to get everyone on fibre, iirc they had funding to help them do this and all it seems they've done is kit out London with faster and faster connections

[Gerrard]

Either I am reading this wrong or alot of other people are.

The problem with fibre is rural areas is the cost of putting fibre into the ground to properties around the countryside. This new process requires only one fibre connection to the main exchange in the area and then can use the copper connections to house/buildings. Ergo cost's will be heavily reduced and the likely hood is you'll get quicker speeds alot sooner.

Hats of to BT for this - shame the idea came about after the heavy cost of popping fibre everywhere when looks like copper wires have alot more life left in them.

It's fibre to the telephone pole from what i can tell....most folk don't live next door to the exchange so they would be pushing the line lenghts....

I've read it the same as Apex; it's something between FTTC and FTTP.

I would have thought that every exchange would have a fibre connection between it and the rest of the network.

What you're describing Brewster would be more in line with FTTC; a green cabinet would probably serve a whole village and by connecting a fibre link to it, you're effectively (although not absolutely true) moving the exchange distance to the middle of a village.

This goes one step beyond and runs fibre to the top of telegraph poles, thereby reducing the copper length from maybe km's (perhaps for a cabinet in rural areas) to several metres. The last step is FTTP, running the fibre right to the door.

However, I have to agree with the sentiments that if they're doing this, then the chances are FTTC is already enabled for a decent enough speed and maybe they should look into getting the rest of the country up to speed. Of course, doing it is not a waste of time or money and seems the next logical step from FTTC, but the real-life gains seem smaller jumping from FTTC to FTTdp than jumping from ADSL to FTTC; although it's no doubt easier and therefore cheaper.

[kremmen]

BT should ensure the majority of the country has at least double digit mbit speed before rolling out anything else.

Also to Blackale, I'm in a small group of homeowners who can only upgrade to FTTP due to being connected directly to an exchange. I'm surrounded by FTTC cabinets and cant have it.

tried discussing this with Openreach who just put the phone down on me - what an awesome company.

[Marcvs]

Alternatively, have a look at what a few towns/villages have done. Create a company and run a fibre line to the town and split the cost.

Regards