What is BT’s ultrafast fibre?

[Bluecube]

I noticed BT working on my street laying fibre cable down into the “pipes”. Never got a chance to talk to the engineers but a bit of Googling revealed that BT are rolling out “ultrafast” fibre with speeds upto 170Mbit/s. Does anyone have more info on what this is? Is it FTTP or a spin on the current FTTC tech?

And if it is this ultrafast rollout, how long does it take after laying the line before it’s released to customers?

 

[Ev0]

Likely fttp.

We had the same a about 5 months ago, Openreach guys feeding reels of fibre into the ducting in the streets.

Then in December FTTP was available to order.

 

[rhysduck]

It's not going to be FTTP with those speeds surely? More likely some form of FTTC.

 

[Armageus]

BT "Ultrafast" is currently comprised of 2 different products:
FTTP - Typically 300Mbps
G.Fast - this can deliver up to 300Mbps but only at a distance of 300 Meters or less - this was undergoing trials and a limited rollout, but afaik has now stopped being rolled out in any new areas.

 

[Caged]

Anecdotally I have never seen a G.fast connection perform to speed estimates and I think that's a large contributor to the rollout being stopped.

 

[rhysduck]

BT "Ultrafast" is currently comprised of 2 different products:
FTTP - Typically 300Mbps
G.Fast - this can deliver up to 300Mbps but only at a distance of 300 Meters or less - this was undergoing trials and a limited rollout, but afaik has now stopped being rolled out in any new areas.

Thanks. I can't get BT Ultrafast even though FTTC is enabled on my exchange according to the ThinkBroadband website.

 

[Ev0]

It's not going to be FTTP with those speeds surely? More likely some form of FTTC.

Don’t think any services top out at 170Mbps, FTTC is lower, FTTP and G.fast higher, so would guess someone got the number wrong.

If they are laying fibre in the street ducts then it should be FTTP.

FTTC is referred to as ‘Superfast’ by BT.

 

[the-evaluator]

FTTP isn't necessarily higher, OpenReach are working on a 0.5Mbps product which is intended to be used for SIP only though it'd work for normal internet access too. The idea is they want a solution that'll work for the people who only want a telephone line and no internet access once they've stopped delivering over copper.

Agreed though, 170Mbps does seem an odd figure.

 

[Bluecube]

Apologies. Got the figure wrong. Seems what I’ve been looking at is g.fast. Sky states they can offer it at 145Mbps, BT say 150Mbps. No idea where I got the 170Mbps figure from!

 

[rhysduck]

FTTC is referred to as ‘Superfast’ by BT.

Any idea why think broadband would say that the cabinet has FTTC but BT and Sky say I can't get Superfast?

 

[Ev0]

What does the BT dsl checker website say is available?

https://www.dslchecker.bt.com/

I just looked up my postcode on ThinkBroadband and the results were very wrong, listing loads of Virgin packages when we can't get Virgin here, and no listings for any FTTP products when we do have this.

 

[TJM]

Apologies. Got the figure wrong. Seems what I’ve been looking at is g.fast. Sky states they can offer it at 145Mbps, BT say 150Mbps. No idea where I got the 170Mbps figure from!

G.Fast doesn't require any roadworks (it's a box that is bolted on to an FTTC enabled cabinet), so if Openreach are pulling new lines through residential streets then it's more likely to be FTTP.

https://www.openreach.com/fibre-broadband What does this say for your postcode?

 

[Nick1881]

I'm surprised BT haven't offered any speed upgrades on FTTC, VDSL 2 was supposedly capable of 250mb at short distances 10+ years ago.

When I had Infinity installed I remember the engineer saying that it was connecting at 100mb, so they must have capped it at 80.

I moved back to VM because after years BT couldn't give me any more speed. They seem very far behind now. My service is 350 now but normally reaches 410 and VM offer 500 now.

 

[Mcnumpty2323]

Didn't BT have to have a rethink on their fibre to the premises even though they had started it ?
Due to Vodafone announcing they were going to lay their own 1Gbs fibre to the premises network ?
Sorry can't remember exact details or where I read it though
Virgin also had been laying 300Mbs I think it was in my area mysteriously they stopped at the end of my street and haven't been seen since

 

[Avalon]

G.fast rollout was pulled, but randomly OR continued with a certain number of pre-planned rollouts which are gradually tailing off. We have g.fast, its performed (eventually) as it was intended, the criticism of the lack of accuracy usually seems to stem from conveniently forgetting we had exactly the same issues with ADSL and every other product generation previously, I suspect we'll be pretty low on the FTTP upgrade list as a result of having g.fast.

 

[Bluecube]

G.Fast doesn't require any roadworks (it's a box that is bolted on to an FTTC enabled cabinet), so if Openreach are pulling new lines through residential streets then it's more likely to be FTTP.

https://www.openreach.com/fibre-broadband What does this say for your postcode?

FTTP on its way with speeds upto 1Gbps. So it says.

 

[TJM]

FTTP on its way with speeds upto 1Gbps. So it says.

That's good news.

You asked when it'll be available to order - it could be next week, next month or in several months. I'd check here once or twice a week: https://www.dslchecker.bt.com/ Select the address checker, bang in your postcode and pick your house number. "WBC FTTP Up to 1000" will appear near the top of the product list when it's ready.

 

[Bluecube]

Thanks for the info.