What is Fibre Optic Broadband?
What is Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC)?
What is Fibre to the Premises (FTTP)?
When can I get Fibre Optic Broadband?
Why is my cabinet deployment repeatedly delayed?
Why use Fibre Optic Broadband?
What actual speeds can I expect?
How will Fibre Optic Broadband benefit you?
Is there a contract period for the Fibre Optic Broadband service?
What happens if I want to move house within the first 12 months?
When will my local exchange be upgraded to provide Fibre Broadband?
What if BT has no confirmed dates for the Fibre upgrades of my local BT exchange?
How is the FTTC Fibre Broadband service installed?
Will I need to upgrade my PC or other equipment to receive Fibre Optic Broadband services?
Will I need any additional hardware?
What is Fibre Optic Broadband?
BT Openreach is investing £2.5bn in the deployment of Fibre Optic Broadband across the UK between 2010 and 2015. This will reach 10 million homes and businesses by the summer of 2012 and around 16 million premises by 2015 equal to approximately two-thirds of the UK population. This will be deployed by two different means.
For around 75% of premises that will fibre broadband enabled areas, it will be delivered over Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) technology which will allow customers to benefit from broadband download speeds of "up to 76Mbps", and upload speeds of "up to 19Mbps". The remainder will receive Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) services which supports even faster download speeds.
What is Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC)?
Fibre to the Cabinet or FTTC describes a deployment where a fibre cable runs from a BT exchange to a street cabinet that contains the Broadband equipment. From here it is linked to business premises and homes via the existing BT copper network. This then connects the home or business to your Internet Service Provider’s Fibre Broadband service.
What is Fibre to the Premises (FTTP)?
Fibre to the Premises or FTTP describes a deployment where a fibre cable runs from a BT exchange all the way to the end-user premise. It terminates at a box (the CSP) which is fitted to the external wall. From here it is connected to a modem fitted internally which then connects the home or business to your Internet Service Provider’s Fibre Broadband service.
When can I get Fibre Optic Broadband?
To determine if you can already access Fibre Broadband services, submit your telephone number or postcode on the 'Check your Speed' section above.
If you have access you will be provided with an estimated speed.
If not you can use this link to find if your exchange is one of those planned for the Fibre Broadband rollout. Please bear in mind that this information is subject to change and will be updated on a monthly basis.
Please note that not everyone connected to an upgraded exchange will be able to receive a Fibre-Optic broadband service. For FTTC, new fibre-ready street cabinets will not be deployed in all parts of an exchange area, while other premises may not be offered FTTC fibre broadband service due to excessive line length. Also around 10% of premises are served directly from the exchange and these will not qualify for an FTTC service. These areas may be offered Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) in the future.
FTTP is currently available as a trial service at a small number of locations. If an availability check shows that your premise has access to FTTP and you're interested in supporting our trial please complete the FTTP trial request form following the availability check.
Why is my cabinet deployment repeatedly delayed?
Deploying fibre cabinets is a complex engineering challenge, which involves not only provision of fibre, but availability of power connections, planning consent for the cabinet itself in some cases, road closures, traffic management permissions and space within the Openreach duct network to make the necessary connections. In a small number of cases Openreach encounter problems which can delay the cabinet by several quarters, and take time to resolve; in the vast majority of cases these are caused by power provision and local planning permission.
Openreach works closely with the power companies and local authorities to minimise such delays. In order to avoid repeatedly delaying these cabinets, they have moved their due dates to the end of their commercial programme to reduce multiple changes to the likely activation date. Openreach will continue to seek solutions for these cabinets and where possible will activate them before the end date given.
Why use Fibre-Optic Broadband?
Existing broadband services provided over the BT network use traditional copper-pair cabling which was originally designed to support the telephone network. For the past ten years, the network has also proved itself able to support broadband internet connections with speeds of "up to 16Mbps".
However, the capacity for copper cabling to transmit data at high speed diminishes according to the length of the line so most users receive speeds far below this. By using fibre optics for all (FTTP) or part (FTTC) of this connection, the copper line length is significantly reduced or eliminated, enabling faster downloads and much faster uploads.
What actual speeds can I expect?
FTTC Fibre-Optic Broadband
As copper cabling still accounts for the final part of your internet connection, line length is still a significant factor in determining the actual speeds you can expect to receive. It is possible to get an estimate of your likely download and upload speeds ahead of purchase based primarily on the length of the line.
Our services will offer a 'Best Effort Minimum Throughput' speed of either 12Mbps or 16Mbps. The elevated "Best Effort"” speed provides a prioritised traffic service to assure faster download speeds at peak times of the day.
Actual speeds experienced may be faster or slower than the estimates provided and can vary significantly throughout the day and over time. Factors affecting delivered speeds include:
- Time of Day – the amount of Internet traffic varies throughout the day and at bust times, speeds may be reduced
- Contention – as uptake of fibre broadband increases in a given exchange speeds may reduce over time
- Interference
- Wireless networking – speeds experienced on devices connected wirelessly can be significantly less than the speeds provided by the fibre broadband service
FTTP Fibre-Optic Broadband
The rate at which fibre-optic cabling can transmit data does not degrade according to the length of the line. This means that regardless of the distance from the exchange, your line will support very close to the advertised speed of the service you take. Current services offer a choice of 38Mbps and 100Mbps downstream and 2Mbps, 10Mbps, 15Mbps or 30Mbps upstream.
Like ADSL and FTTC, FTTP services are subject to contention and may slow during periods of heavy Internet use as well as when a device is connected to a wireless network (see FTTC Fibre-Optic Broadband).
Our services will offer a 'Best Effort Minimum Throughput' speed of either 12Mbps or 16Mbps. The elevated "Best Effort" speed option provides a prioritised traffic service to assure faster download speeds at peak times of the day and is available on our business-oriented FTTP services.
How will Fibre Optic Broadband benefit you?
These are just a few of the expected benefits of fibre broadband:
- File download and upload in seconds for quicker back-up or sharing with others
- Faster Internet browsing including streaming of high-definition video e.g. iPlayer
- Additional bandwidth will improve the performance of Virtual Private Networks making uploading and downloading of files more efficient and making working from home easier and more secure
- Lower call costs by taking advantage of VoIP delivered over Fibre
- Improved business services such as video-conferencing or the use of hosted applications
Is there a contract period for the Fibre Optic Broadband service?
Yes, there is a Minimum Service Period of 12 months. Following completion of the first 12 months, a one month rolling contract period will apply. See our legal policies for further information on any charges that will be raised for cancellations within the Minimum Service Period.
What happens if I want to move house within the first 12 months?
Currently there is no House Move process for Fibre Optic Broadband services. Unfortunately this means that your service is non transferrable. If you were to move to another enabled location and wanted to continue to receive Fibre Optic Broadband, you would need to order a second service while completing the terms of your original service.
We recommend that if you are likely to move within 12 months, you consider our standard broadband services. With no long term contract you will have the flexibility of moving at any time and upgrading to Fibre Optic Broadband when appropriate.
When will my local exchange be upgraded to provide Fibre Broadband?
The following exchanges have already been FTTC enabled by BT.
Details of many more exchanges being enabled by summer 2012 have been published. You can find out if your exchange is included in the planned rollout. Please bear in mind that this information is subject to change and will updated on a monthly basis.
What if BT has no confirmed dates for the Fibre upgrades of my local BT exchange?
BT has so far announced details of its fibre broadband roll-out up to summer 2012. However, BT has confirmed that it will continue to deploy its fibre broadband infrastructure until at least 2014. By this time they will reach two-thirds of the UK population. We will continue to work with BT and provide updated information on our website as it becomes available.
How is the FTTC Fibre Broadband service installed?
If you already have an existing broadband service installed to a BT phone line, moving to fibre broadband is a simple process. Someone will need to be at the premises to allow a BT Openreach engineer onsite. The engineer will fit a new telephone face-plate at the site of the existing one and connect a VDSL modem. The VDSL modem will need to be within 1.5m of the face-plate and close to a power-supply otherwise an extension kit will be required which can be provided to you. It is strongly recommended that the modem is wall-mounted to prevent over-heating.
When you arrange your preferred installation date, you will be offered an AM or PM appointment. Typically 30 minutes to an hour. However, this can be longer e.g. if a data extension kit is required. No external work is needed at your property.
There should be minimal downtime on your current broadband service. You will lose service for 'a few minutes' while changes are made at the street cabinet that serves your premises.
Will I need to upgrade my PC or other equipment to receive Fibre Optic Broadband services?
PCs
will not require upgrading to use Fibre Optic Broadband. The set-up for Fibre
Optic Broadband is compatible with PCs running Windows, Mac and Linux operating
systems.
Will I need any additional hardware?
Other than the VDSL modem which will be provided for free, you will need a router which can support the speeds provided by Fibre Broadband and has an Ethernet WAN port with the capability to dial PPPoE. We have tested and recommend the following fibre broadband routers.
Want to find out more?
For further information on how we can help you find the right broadband service please call 0845 058 9000 (or alternatively 01706 902000).