OT - BT testing 800Mbps broadband

[Richard Tobin]

The normal situation would presumably be that they run fibre from the (already-fibred) cabinet to the pole - likely to be a few hundred metres.

So certainly if you're in an area that doesn't (and won't) get FTTC then you're not likely to get this either.

Well, that's one of the disadvantages of living in the country. I live in a big city and have a good broadband connection, along with frequent buses and nearby supermarkets. On the other hand I'd quite like to have open fields and a babbling brook at the bottom of my garden, but it seems that the government isn't going to do anything about it.

-- Richard

[dennis]

You have to ask why they *need* more than 1 Mbit. If they do *need* it then why hasn't one of them solved the problem. What's the GSM network like there?

[charles]

Then they'd need another cabinet at the base of the pole.

a bit of a broad scatter condemnation. A friend who was lucky to get 2MB on POTS now gets 16+ with FTC.

[Adrian]

No cabinet. We're direct to the exchange.

*ding*

Yeh, I'll tell that to my mate who's on the edge of the city, and gets

500Kbit, because he's the very furthest house on the exchange.

[Adrian]

Can't even make a call.

[Dave Liquorice]

iPlayer or any other video streaming service?

GSM is 56 kbps IIRC. You need 3 or 4G to get sensible speeds and a data tarrif that won't charge an arm and leg for say 50 GB download/month.

Here GSM is not useable downstairs, you have to be upstairs near a window and on the right side of the house. Similar for 3G but the otherside of the house! Even then the speed is very variable.

[jrwalliker]

Fibre to the premises (using epon) is cheap enough that in some parts of China it is the ONLY option - even for residential internet connections. ADSL is being phased out. SOme blocks of offices don't have any telecomms copper - only fibre.

John

[Tim Streater]

If there were ever mooted there'd be a protest from the Thieves Guild. Honest cable re-assigners being done out of a crust.

[Richard Tobin]

This makes sense for blocks of offices, blocks of flats, and other similarly dense housing. You need the equivalent of a cabinet for the building anyway, so you might as well have fibre all the way.

The situation is different for most housing in Britain, though BT's FTTP on demand prices are ridiculous - fixed connection charge of 750 pounds, plus distance-based connection charge (e.g. 1,050 pounds for

200-399 meters from the cabinet), and then 1,188 pounds a year rental. All plus VAT of course.

-- Richard

[tony sayer]

Have you actually seen it, as it seems not its very robust stuff...

[Tim Watts]

Just like ISDN used to be IIRC...

If, back You are not allowed to dig up the roads.

However, we will give licenses for a 3rd party company to dig up the roads, just once, to lay in super duper ducting and ground boxes with duct spurs to the curtilage of every house. Then you guys get to rent space in those ducts. BT will also be required to use the same ducts for new cabling.

It would have been lots of pain once. But just think how easy it would be to pull a new service through now and for all time...

[Tim Watts]

Generally they pull through an empty tube. The fibres are added later (google "blown fibre").

It lets them get the rough work done without risking the glass and it also allows potential upgrades later.

[Tim Streater]

Sure you're not confusing it with fibre patches? A 24-pair fibre cable can be installed by ordinary cable monkeys with no problems at all. How d'ye think it gets from the street up to the n-th floor of a building? It's pulled through ducts in the same way as any other sort of cable.

[tony sayer]

Did they?, they did a lot of digging around here and hence my now 100 Meg BB service via VM:)...

Theres ducting around over a lot of the UK this is where it's been viable to dig it, else overhead line can work fine providing the tech is right ...

[John Rumm]

How many of those ducts would now be full of water or blocked with "stuff" now I wonder?

[charles]

"stuff" being tree roots, I assume.

[Dave Liquorice]

Aye, there are 2 x 4" ducts carrying the phone cables down to the village right past us. They have just pulled in a 1" dia duct for the

29 fibre cable that will be blown in some time. Our line arrives overhead from the otherside of the road where the DP is fed froma 20 pair armoured cable just buried in the ground.

Dow-Corning (I think) have a very nifty FTTP distrbution system that can be flown. Pole/building mounted boxes with a dozen weather proof connectors, pre-terminated drop wires, remove cap on box plug in drop wire run to customer premisis very similar to good 'ole Drop Wire No.10. Trunk say 96 fibre cable (which is about 1/4" dia) is simply opened at each box, 12 or what ever fibres broken out and terminated to the box connectors.

[Yendor]

Virgin Don't use Blown Fibre. They use 96 core SWA Fibre. Its quite cheap, quick to install and terminate. For upgrades, they just pull in another 96 Core.

Blown fibre tubes cost more to install and are more delicate.

[Tim Watts]

Interesting...

BT certainly still do as they are installing it here and I've seen the equipment :)

[tony sayer]

They do have smaller ones than that for more local use. I'll get a part number when I have moment;)..