Superhighspeed Internet

[Fareastdriver]

All around my area they are digging up the pavements and laying purple optical cable for our new superdupa internet. Om some streets where the house is adjacent to the road they are putting in little spur with a square metal cap like a stopcock. I live in an old house converted into flats so the cable just runs past with no spurs. A few questions for those that know.

Should you want to be connected to this facility who pays for the connection to your property and how much is a typical bill?

How does it work? Do they connect it to your telephone line so that it goes through your existing modem position or is it a separate circuit with a different connection in the house.

What speeds will they provide? At the moment I am on about 36 m/s which seems to cover most things. However if this system gets going I can see it replacing wired broadband in the same way as broadband replaced dial-up.

We are all standing around scratching our heads so some knowledgeable input would be welcome.

[Blues&twos]

We have recently had fibre-to-the-premises installed (by BT). It involved Openreach running a new cable from the telephone pole in the road to a fibre modem/box which they fixed to the wall inside the house. It needs power, so it had to be fitted near a mains wall socket.
The copper wire telephone connection inside our house (from the master socket to the phones) was not changed.

The new BT wireless Homehub plugs directly into the new fibre box on the wall.

Our broadband speed has increased significantly to an average of about 60Mbps (download) and 20Mbps (upload). Previously they were about 7Mbps and 2Mbps respectively.
It took the BT engineers about 2 hours to complete the installation. We just pay the monthly charge - we didn't have to pay any one-off or extra charges for the new cabling and fibre box to be fitted or for the new Homehub and "disc". The disc is effectively a wireless booster/repeater and is placed away from the Homehub to improve wireless signal strength in any part of your home which normally has a weak or no wireless signal. BT will send multiple discs free if necessary, so your house is fully covered.

BT is trying to roll out fibre to as many properties as possible, so you're right in that they are replacing old technology at every opportunity.

[yellowtriumph]

Original We have recently had fibre-to-the-premises installed (by BT). It involved Openreach running a new cable from the telephone pole in the road to a fibre modem/box which they fixed to the wall inside the house. It needs power, so it had to be fitted near a mains wall socket.
The copper wire telephone connection inside our house (from the master socket to the phones) was not changed.

The new BT wireless Homehub plugs directly into the new fibre box on the wall.

Our broadband speed has increased significantly to an average of about 60Mbps (download) and 20Mbps (upload). Previously they were about 7Mbps and 2Mbps respectively.
It took the BT engineers about 2 hours to complete the installation. We just pay the monthly charge - we didn't have to pay any one-off or extra charges for the new cabling and fibre box to be fitted or for the new Homehub and "disc". The disc is effectively a wireless booster/repeater and is placed away from the Homehub to improve wireless signal strength in any part of your home which normally has a weak or no wireless signal. BT will send multiple discs free if necessary, so your house is fully covered.


BT is trying to roll out fibre to as many properties as possible, so you're right in that they are replacing old technology at every opportunity.

I can add a little bit to your last paragraph. I was speaking only today to friend who is very clued up on telephone and IT technology. About 3 months ago he signed up to a BT trial of their next generation technology. Has was told that as part of the trial, which is obviously in place to test new ideas and technology, his existing copper telephone connection would be disconnected completely and he would be moved over entirely to fibre technology. As part of this he received a new BT hub and two very fancy hand held phones with colour screens. He was given a changeover day but cometh the day nothing happened. He chased this up with BT and was told they were experiencing problems changing over existing ‘copper’ telephone numbers to the fibre system, they then gave him a new date and sent him another hub and 3 more fancy phones. Cometh the next changeover day he suffered the same issues. He chased it up and was given a new date - and another hub and 2 more fancy phones so now he has 3 hubs and 8 fancy phones.

Of course this is a trial and my friend will have no BT bills for at least a couple of years if not more. He said it was BT’s intention to remove all copper infrastructure by the mid 2020’s.

As to FED’s original question, I’m afraid I do not know the answer but given the up/download speeds you quote I would leave it all alone particularly if you live in a multi occupancy building. Can you keep an eye out for your local BT engineers when they are around and ask them? I generally find them very helpful if you show an interest.

[Fareastdriver]

I’m afraid I do not know the answer but given the up/download speeds you quote I would leave it all alone

I don't think my hard drive could absorb 100+mbps for very long.

[jimjim1]

All around my area they are digging up the pavements and laying purple optical cable for our new superdupa internet. Om some streets where the house is adjacent to the road they are putting in little spur with a square metal cap like a stopcock. .

Virgin did that round where I am. It was apparently a connection point between every two premises.

Best thing to determine your current options is to check on one of the many availability checker sites on t'interwebby.

After a bit of a dig round it appears that the virgin presentation is a co-axial cable. Two if you get TV too. None of that matters really since the provider inevitably seems to include the equipment in the deal.

[YorkshireTyke]

As Blues and Twos. We are just in the process of moving to a new location. Fibre cable has been laid down all the roads in what is a new estate, so "the men" dug a shallow trench in the lawn from a junction box at the roadside adjacent ot our house, then ran it up a conduit into the roof space and down the wall to a point under the desk in what will be our future "office'. The small, birthday card sized Fibre modem was luggec into the adjacent 240 volt power supply, and cabled directly to the Vodafone Modem on top of the desk, which is now transmitting cancer causing (?) WiFi all around the house for our various "devices". Our cordless telephone master unit is plugged directly into the Vodafone Modem, but "the men" said that all the old copper wire telephone outlets installed in every room by the previous owner would still work. We haven't tried that yet. the operation took 1 1/2 working days, and Vodafone paid for it because we are a new customer nand they want our business. We have entered into a 2 year contract. Speeds ? Don't know, don't care, we are connected to the Internet now and the computer works.

[BirdmanBerry]

All around my area they are digging up the pavements and laying purple optical cable for our new superdupa internet. Om some streets where the house is adjacent to the road they are putting in little spur with a square metal cap like a stopcock. I live in an old house converted into flats so the cable just runs past with no spurs. A few questions for those that know.

Should you want to be connected to this facility who pays for the connection to your property and how much is a typical bill?

How does it work? Do they connect it to your telephone line so that it goes through your existing modem position or is it a separate circuit with a different connection in the house.

What speeds will they provide? At the moment I am on about 36 m/s which seems to cover most things. However if this system gets going I can see it replacing wired broadband in the same way as broadband replaced dial-up.

We are all standing around scratching our heads so some knowledgeable input would be welcome.

Depends on where you are and which provider is laying the fibre.

Around the UK there are multiple companies all installing fibre to the premise (FTTP) but at their own spec. Gigaclear are hitting Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Oxfordshire and more and offer upto 1000Mbps to the premise. BT meanwhile can only get upto 350Mbps with their FTTP offering as it's how they operate multiple connections down one strand of fibre optic cable. Add to the mis there is CityFibre, Hyperoptic and KC who are all laying FTTP.

Each network is separate also so soon there will be an issue whereby not one company manages the UK wide network, unlike BT Group currently. This could be a good thing or could be bad, however I expect to see some acquisitions very soon between these companies.

Oh and Gigaclear, for example, did very well out of public money grants...

[EGTE]

BT have recently announced that up to 500Mbps and up to 1Gbps services are to be launched shortly.
Of course, the main limiting factor to Ultrafast broadband speeds is not always the service provided by your service provider. Often it is the limitations of the kit that people connect to their broadband. Many phones, tablets and computers are just not capable of running at some of the high speeds offered.

[Blackfriar]

BT have recently announced that up to 500Mbps and up to 1Gbps services are to be launched shortly.
Of course, the main limiting factor to Ultrafast broadband speeds is not always the service provided by your service provider. Often it is the limitations of the kit that people connect to their broadband. Many phones, tablets and computers are just not capable of running at some of the high speeds offered.

Not just your equipment. The internet won’t run at that speed. Your Internet Service Provider will need to upgrade their core network with very expensive kit as will the global carriers. Getting a high bandwidth link is good for future proofing but depending on your ISP, the whole street, estate or town might be sharing a congested link back to London where it connects with other ISPs’ networks in the UK and global carriers. Getting a fibre connection will give a more stable and reliable service with plenty of spare capacity for the future.

[Ancient Observer]

Virgin dug up our village. As the houses have reasonable size plots, whilst not being at all grand, each plot got its own "terminal". Which just looks like the cover to the external water tap.

When they had finished, they did some heavy phone based selling. However, I found their sales folk to be unconvincing. Beyond the "promise" of speed, they had nothing to say. And it was no cheaper than my BT deal. And I would have to keep my BT landline. Why?? They had no idea.
I could not transfer my phone number. The same one I have used for 30 years.
Researching it a bit, Virgin have some very bad reviews about repairing front gardens during their installations.
So I'm still with BT. Getting about 35mbps at peak times. Even when our grown up children are here, they can't use up all that 35mbps. It is a pain ringing up each year and telling BT that I am going to leave them, until their price is lowered yet again.

[crewmeal]

Same in our area B67. Virgin dug up pavements, laid their cables and left them in a right mess. They installed a cabinet outside someone's house which I guess is the focal point for the road's connection. So far no one has taken up their offer.

I was then bomarded with Virgin junk mail and even one guy demanding to know why I wouldn't change and wanted to know who my current provider is. He also pointed out how ugly satellite dishes looked. I pointed out that if he had a dish on top of his head he'd look ugly!!