BT's relic-grade broadband
Discussion
graphene said:
Having had cable internet for 10+ years, now looking to move house. According to BT's availability checker the possible new home can offer 4mb (no virgin there, obviously). I don't think I have ever had less than 10mb and rock 50mb at present. Hell, I think the mobile gets close to 3-4mb, on a good day.
The superfast-Openreach site says the local exchange is at status: 'Future Exchanges'.
Now, I didn't expect to be able to get speeds up to 100mb, but other than remote villages, I imagined 8-16mb to be, broadly, the minimum standard.
Other than being an effective monopoly, how have BT managed to get away with this for so long? Forget Ruskies and missing jets, why is not moonface sorting this out?
Speeds here are 1.2M at best. It is a new estate which will be about 1800 houses, the town already has fibre and has cable everywhere - except neither fibre or cable is available on new estate. I think BT have been trying to get for developers (or failing that government) to pay. It does look like there has been an agreement to sort it out, but I am not holding my breath.The superfast-Openreach site says the local exchange is at status: 'Future Exchanges'.
Now, I didn't expect to be able to get speeds up to 100mb, but other than remote villages, I imagined 8-16mb to be, broadly, the minimum standard.
Other than being an effective monopoly, how have BT managed to get away with this for so long? Forget Ruskies and missing jets, why is not moonface sorting this out?
funny how fast 512 seemed when I got ADSL back in 2001.
When I went to cable in 2003 (after moving) - speeds were 128k, 600k & 1.5M IIRC.
bimsb6 said:
No it's not it's a business ! And you fall into one of the exceptions i listed , you could try for fibre on demand once the other cab is done ? Which would give you fttp rather than fttc .
I'm well aware it's a business. Although I would argue that it's a badly run one given that they area I live in has all been built in the last 4 years so they have knowingly built a non fibre ghetto (and I'll bet it's not an isolated incident). The farce comment was aimed at the local government infill plans taking 4 years. Especially so when Edinburgh council have poured 70 times the amount they contributed to the project on a tram white elephant (altough in fairness that's very specific to here). I guess my point is that the sums involved are buttons in the big scheme of things and the situation should be addressed as a matter of urgency nationally.
I wasn't aware there was an option of fibre on demand from a cabinet you're not connected to. I'll give that a look thanks.
Edited by Greedydog on Friday 21st March 20:35
JimmyTheHand said:
Speeds here are 1.2M at best. It is a new estate which will be about 1800 houses, the town already has fibre and has cable everywhere - except neither fibre or cable is available on new estate. I think BT have been trying to get for developers (or failing that government) to pay. It does look like there has been an agreement to sort it out, but I am not holding my breath.
funny how fast 512 seemed when I got ADSL back in 2001.
When I went to cable in 2003 (after moving) - speeds were 128k, 600k & 1.5M IIRC.
It's the other way around, the developers want around £75 per connection from the utility company in order for them to go ahead and light up the estate. I used to work for a small cable company, it would have cost us around £120 per household to dig/lay/connect back to the networkfunny how fast 512 seemed when I got ADSL back in 2001.
When I went to cable in 2003 (after moving) - speeds were 128k, 600k & 1.5M IIRC.
I'm in a rural location and get 5mb/400k ADSL.
We have a fibre exchange but the cabinet isn't upgraded because it's not economically viable, so no fibre for the more rural people.
Unfortunately we're also in the shade of the local 3G and mobile signals.
However with a decent aerial or holding a 4G phone out of an upstairs window we can easily get 8mb/3mb or so on 3G and I'd assume when 4G gets put on that transmitter it'll be near super-fast speeds.
BT are stupid. They charge us the same for ADSL as a person pays for fibre. Their telephone charges make modern mobile costs seem cheap!
As soon as 4G gets put on our local mast (which I think it is within the next year ish) I'll be moving to mobile/4G aerial and sacking off the entire BT line/package.
Cities are served by cable, rural will be by mobile. I'm not sure where that leaves BT... but given competitors can lay cable or build masts and pay billions for mobile EM bandwidth and STILL be competitive with BT/OR then it just shows how naff BT have been with their business.
I'm fairly sure I heard somewhere that BT's biggest issue were workforce benefit liabilities. Not a good sign for those expecting those benefits to be there in the next decade or so if BT can't be competitive to be around then!
We have a fibre exchange but the cabinet isn't upgraded because it's not economically viable, so no fibre for the more rural people.
Unfortunately we're also in the shade of the local 3G and mobile signals.
However with a decent aerial or holding a 4G phone out of an upstairs window we can easily get 8mb/3mb or so on 3G and I'd assume when 4G gets put on that transmitter it'll be near super-fast speeds.
BT are stupid. They charge us the same for ADSL as a person pays for fibre. Their telephone charges make modern mobile costs seem cheap!
As soon as 4G gets put on our local mast (which I think it is within the next year ish) I'll be moving to mobile/4G aerial and sacking off the entire BT line/package.
Cities are served by cable, rural will be by mobile. I'm not sure where that leaves BT... but given competitors can lay cable or build masts and pay billions for mobile EM bandwidth and STILL be competitive with BT/OR then it just shows how naff BT have been with their business.
I'm fairly sure I heard somewhere that BT's biggest issue were workforce benefit liabilities. Not a good sign for those expecting those benefits to be there in the next decade or so if BT can't be competitive to be around then!
mini1380cc said:
Get yourself on the JANET network
Since speeds jumped to about 8mb at my house i have had no performance issues using the internet and watching tv and listening to music online.
What will I be able to do with say 200mb that I should ve looking forward to?
prand said:
So, in reality, will I ever have a need that speed?
Since speeds jumped to about 8mb at my house i have had no performance issues using the internet and watching tv and listening to music online.
What will I be able to do with say 200mb that I should ve looking forward to?
Depends what you do, most hosted websites/downloads etc. probably wouldn't be served to you as a client at anywhere near that speed.Since speeds jumped to about 8mb at my house i have had no performance issues using the internet and watching tv and listening to music online.
What will I be able to do with say 200mb that I should ve looking forward to?
It makes a good job at torrents though, but I'm sure no one ever abuses the education network for that
prand said:
mini1380cc said:
Get yourself on the JANET network
Since speeds jumped to about 8mb at my house i have had no performance issues using the internet and watching tv and listening to music online.
What will I be able to do with say 200mb that I should ve looking forward to?
andy-xr said:
It's the other way around, the developers want around £75 per connection from the utility company in order for them to go ahead and light up the estate. I used to work for a small cable company, it would have cost us around £120 per household to dig/lay/connect back to the network
I believe NTL used to pay developers to put in cable - but I get the impression things have changed. BT is wired to house already, so it should make no difference to costs except the extra cost of a fibre enabled cabinet as it will use same wires.JimmyTheHand said:
I believe NTL used to pay developers to put in cable - but I get the impression things have changed. BT is wired to house already, so it should make no difference to costs except the extra cost of a fibre enabled cabinet as it will use same wires.
It's the way a lot of developers/house builders are working at the moment, for new build anyway. There's an estate being put up near me that when we spoke with the developer their version was that we'd benefit from exclusivity initially and they'd benefit from £75 in their pockets. Some estates have wireless only in parts of Cumbria
NPI said:
Those cabinets cost £30K though.
about £30 per house that could be connected to them when estate is finished, or if they can sign up one in 12 properties it should take less than 3 years to recover initial outlay etc. and I am sure there are dodges around tax that will help them.Now add BT has spent how much to break into pay TV market - which requires customers to have access to reasonable broadband speed.
Just colour me suspicious of the companies involved.
andy-xr said:
It's the way a lot of developers/house builders are working at the moment, for new build anyway. There's an estate being put up near me that when we spoke with the developer their version was that we'd benefit from exclusivity initially and they'd benefit from £75 in their pockets.
Some estates have wireless only in parts of Cumbria
I suspect in many parts of the country this will start biting them as likely to reduce value of property Link at which point I suspect some telecoms companies might start playing hard ball.Some estates have wireless only in parts of Cumbria
JimmyTheHand said:
about £30 per house that could be connected to them when estate is finished, or if they can sign up one in 12 properties it should take less than 3 years to recover initial outlay etc. and I am sure there are dodges around tax that will help them.
Now add BT has spent how much to break into pay TV market - which requires customers to have access to reasonable broadband speed.
Just colour me suspicious of the companies involved.
Each fttc cabinet will only support approx 150 circuits Now add BT has spent how much to break into pay TV market - which requires customers to have access to reasonable broadband speed.
Just colour me suspicious of the companies involved.
JimmyTheHand said:
NPI said:
Those cabinets cost £30K though.
about £30 per house that could be connected to them when estate is finished, or if they can sign up one in 12 properties it should take less than 3 years to recover initial outlay etc. and I am sure there are dodges around tax that will help them.Now add BT has spent how much to break into pay TV market - which requires customers to have access to reasonable broadband speed.
Just colour me suspicious of the companies involved.
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