BT tests 100Mb Broadband
BT broadband’s latest 100Mb fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) trials have finally gone live, with the first customer reaching superfast 77Mb download speeds.
BT’s trial, which runs fibre optic cables direct to home and businesses, completely bypassing the copper wire network, is being offered on a wholesale basis and it was actually a lucky Plusnet broadband customer that got the first connection.
“FTTP offers speeds of up to 100Mb down and currently up to 15Mb up (the upstream will be increased later in the trial),” said Dave Tomlinson from Plusnet.
“Unlike existing DSL broadband services there’s no copper involved in the connection. An engineer will run fibre optic cable direct to your home. As such, certain limitations on copper such as the speed decreasing the further you are from the exchange are no longer an issue.
“Is 100Mb overkill? What will people find to do with 100Mb?” he asked. “It’s hard to say, from an application point of view what services will make best use of speeds that high? File downloads will benefit of course and the faster upload will really help people that send large files or host services. Our first thoughts on the faster downloads will be the benefits it gives to people with slower speeds.
BT Wholesale’s latest trials, which were delayed by six months, have now gone live in the brownfield sites of Bradwell Abbey in Milton Keynes and Highams Park, London. Two additional areas are also due to be added to the trials in Leytonstone, East London and York, bringing the total number of premises in the trial to 40,000.
