G.fast launch summer 2017 - probably

philip2009 · 3 Feb 2016 at 09:37

G.fast Trials and Commercial Rollout

Yesterday’s results from BT revealed that the current G.fast trials would come to an end in September 2016, which represents an extension from the original spring 2016 completion window. As a result of that BT now say that they will conduct a larger scale pilot from Summer 2016, with the commercial launch being tentatively pegged for Summer 2017 (the first time we’ve seen a solid date for their UK roll-out).

The Summer 2016 pilot is expected to deliver “further functionality” (there’s currently no indication of what that means), while more detailed roll-out plans, pricing and device standards have yet to be finalised.

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.ph...ast-sogea-and-slow-speed-broadband-plans.html

And I guess that supposes there won't be any upheaval - like Openreach being split off?

Avalon · 3 Feb 2016 at 10:15

philip2009 said:
And I guess that supposes there won't be any upheaval - like Openreach being split off?

Openreach has operated as a independent company since inception, all that's proposed to happen is it's sold off by BT like o2 was, in effect it becomes totally independent as at present it's seen as being unfair that BT is the parent company and therefore has access to information and potential resources that other providers don't.

The g.fast spec hasn't been ratified, Sckipio (one of the companies developing chip sets used in hardware that's deployed in one test area) claim to be able to deliver 500Mbps at 500m and have also developed 1000Mbps over bonded lines. It'd be nice to think that they'd trial 500Mbps and go to launch with it.

philip2009 · 3 Feb 2016 at 10:44

Thought the G.fast standard was ratified by the ITU in 2014?

SKILL · 3 Feb 2016 at 11:06

So initially Summer 2017, in real terms that's what, 2019/2020?

Bit of a shame, due to the distance to the cabinet I'm 'only' getting ~35mbps down and 7mbps up out of my infinity connection, probably going to end up with VM for a few years it seems...

Amraam · 3 Feb 2016 at 11:09

SKILL said:
So initially Summer 2017, in real terms that's what, 2019/2020?

Bit of a shame, due to the distance to the cabinet I'm 'only' getting ~35mbps down and 7mbps up out of my infinity connection, probably going to end up with VM for a few years it seems...

How far from the cab are you?

darknite · 3 Feb 2016 at 11:14

I would say 2020 sounds about right! Though I expect while BT/Openreach offer their "upto" 500mbit service other providers like virgin will offer 1gbit and only 1gbit for all (I mean everyone in range of their network)

Avalon · 3 Feb 2016 at 11:48

philip2009 said:
Thought the G.fast standard was ratified by the ITU in 2014?

My apologies they did in December 2014.

SKILL · 3 Feb 2016 at 12:46

Amraam said:
How far from the cab are you?

According to google maps it's 0.3 miles away, along the roads, god knows what route it takes and whether it's more/less than that. At my last place it was ~100 metres tops, and I got ~74 down and 18 up, was good

darknite said:
I would say 2020 sounds about right! Though I expect while BT/Openreach offer their "upto" 500mbit service other providers like virgin will offer 1gbit and only 1gbit for all (I mean everyone in range of their network)

Yeah, VM can already theoretically offer much more than they do so they'll increase as/when required, although you could argue what they claim and what the end user receives isn't always the same, given the capacity issues they have (almost by design).

Avalon · 4 Feb 2016 at 11:39

darknite said:
I would say 2020 sounds about right! Though I expect while BT/Openreach offer their "upto" 500mbit service other providers like virgin will offer 1gbit and only 1gbit for all (I mean everyone in range of their network)

By that stage it'll be a relatively moot point, for most people doing most things the difference will be minimal, it's like SSD's and CDR all over again, the law of diminishing returns kicks in and the resulting time difference becomes smaller to the point of insignificance. It happened with mp3, you could download enough audio in minutes to last a full day, the same is true with video now and 4k won't really change that as you can already download quicker than you can watch etc.

Obviously if you're some sort of compulsive file downloader who constantly downloads stuff then that won't be the case, but the storage costs in HD space are multiple times the cost of the connection if you max it 24/7 so again that's unlikely.