BT considering trial of gigabit speeds over FTTC

By Crisp
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Grand Master

Crisp

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BT considering trial of gigabit speeds over FTTC fibre broadband with G.fast

BT is considering trials of gigabit speeds over FTTC (Fibre to the Cabinet) lines.

Bill Murphy, managing director of NGA (Next Generation Access) for BT told Recombu Digital that deployment of G.fast standard technology could see customers getting 1Gbps speeds on FTTC lines over distances of 100 meters from a street cabinet.

While this wouldn?t be helpful to everyone, as not everyone lives within a stone?s throw of a BT cabinet, this could see some customers getting 1Gbps without having to resort to FTTP ON Demand.

1368630763_w670_h500.png

If the view out of your bedroom window is similar to this, you could get 1Gbps for less

Initial prices released for FTTP On Demand show that upgrading an FTTC line to a faster FTTP (Fibre to the Premises) type connection isn't going to be cheap. So a way in which customers could get FTTP-type speeds without necessarily forking out for a last mile upgrade is likely to be well received.

Murphy told us that plans to implement G.fast on BT FTTC lines were very much ?on the horizon.? It?s something that BT is looking alongside trials of vectoring, which could see speeds of up to 100Mbps arriving on FTTC, are taking place. Murphy told us:

?This is part of a long-term plan about how to evolve the network and how we can still deliver prices and speeds that will people pay for and deliver services that people will need.?

The idea of gigabit speeds over FTTC might seem like a pipe dream. The last mile of BT?s FTTC lines are made up of copper and as such are subject to interference. This makes delivering hyperfast speeds over long distances difficult, compared to a pure fibre connection.

However back in 2011, Huawei announced prototypes of Giga DSL technology, which promises to reduce interference to the point where download and upload speeds of 1Gbps are possible within 100 meters and 500Mbps and faster can be achieved within 200 meters.

BT's vectoring trials, which are testing out 100Mbps speeds over FTTC, will take place across a number of areas this summer.

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Grand Master

n_K

Posted
Posted

So you get Gig Speeds to Cab after that you have to deal with Contention Ratios, Throttling and other crappy BT Infrastructure. *sigh*

Sorry I think you're getting confused between BT and VM there. BT doesn't do throttling UNLESS you download torrents. VM on the other hand throttles you to 30% of your connection speed if you download so much within peak times.

  • ashpowell and ZakO
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Grand Master

FloatingFatMan

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Posted

Sorry I think you're getting confused between BT and VM there. BT doesn't do throttling UNLESS you download torrents. VM on the other hand throttles you to 30% of your connection speed if you download so much within peak times.

Small correction. VM do not throttle people on their top tier of service.

Mentor

technord

Posted
Posted

So you get Gig Speeds to Cab after that you have to deal with Contention Ratios, Throttling and other crappy BT Infrastructure. *sigh*

This is fibre not ADSL. Different technology.

Funnily enough I was on a course last week covering this and technically there should be no slow down no matter how many people are connected to the cab

Grand Master

+John Teacake MVC

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  • MVC
Posted

This is fibre not ADSL. Different technology.

Funnily enough I was on a course last week covering this and technically there should be no slow down no matter how many people are connected to the cab

Explain how that works? Its got to connect to a router or switch sooner or later. There is no technology in the world (Yet) that would not produce slowdowns if it is getting hammered by a number of users.

This is fibre not ADSL. Different technology.

Funnily enough I was on a course last week covering this and technically there should be no slow down no matter how many people are connected to the cab

Explain how that works? Its got to connect to a router or switch sooner or later. There is no technology in the world (Yet) that would not produce slowdowns if it is getting hammered by a number of users.

This is fibre not ADSL. Different technology.

Funnily enough I was on a course last week covering this and technically there should be no slow down no matter how many people are connected to the cab

Explain how that works? Its got to connect to a router or switch sooner or later. There is no technology in the world (Yet) that would not produce slowdowns if it is getting hammered by a number of users.

Grand Master

MightyJordan

Posted
Posted

Sorry I think you're getting confused between BT and VM there. BT doesn't do throttling UNLESS you download torrents. VM on the other hand throttles you to 30% of your connection speed if you download so much within peak times.

Small correction. VM do not throttle people on their top tier of service.

Two small corrections. Virgin Media throttles users to 70% of your connection speed if you download above a certain amount in an hour, then to 60% if you go above another amount in the next hour. And Virgin Media do throttle people on the top tier (120Mb): http://my.virginmedia.com/traffic-management/traffic-management-policy-thresholds.html

Grand Master

n_K

Posted
Posted

Wrong fat man they throttle all.

Also n_k they reduce your speed by 30% not to 30%

From what I remember I looked into the small print (this was on their business service) and it stated being limited to 30%.

Found the page for residential VM throttling, HAHA thank god I left that god awful company, what an utter con;

Level of speed reduction? The 1 hour reduction on the downstream is 30%

The 2 hour reduction on the downstream is 40%

The 1 hour reduction on the upstream is 60%

The 2 hour reduction on the upstream is 75%

Grand Master

n_K

Posted
Posted

I don't recall them changing that... Last time I checked, XXL customers were not getting throttled and, from the contract I signed, would not be so in the future.

Methinks a phone call is in order.

Funny you should mention that, I had the same thing with their business line, when I got it installed, they were adament that there was no throttling or speed restrictions on the business line, then a few years later I really noticed sudden slowdowns and emailed them about it and they said network throttling was on all business packages...

VM are, in my mind, a scam company that if properly investigated could be sued for a lot of money and dodgy dealings.

Grand Master

MightyJordan

Posted
Posted

I don't recall them changing that... Last time I checked, XXL customers were not getting throttled and, from the contract I signed, would not be so in the future.

Methinks a phone call is in order.

It was fairly recent; only last month it was changed: http://www.cable.co.uk/news/virgin-media-overhauls-broadband-traffic-management-policy-801571837/

VM are, in my mind, a scam company that if properly investigated could be sued for a lot of money and dodgy dealings.

Personally, I'd want BT investigated as well for similar practices. My family considered switching to them a couple of years ago (around the time they were first introducing BT Infinity), but they wanted to charge us ?150 just to switch back to them, even though our house still has a BT phone line; it was never taken out, simply switched off, so they want to charge us ?150 to effectively switch a box on! :angry:

If there's a way to get around that extortionate fee, then my family might consider switching back, as the prices have gotten better recently (it may actually work out cheaper than Virgin Media now), and my dad and brother will probably be swayed by BT Sport, as they're both football nuts.

Grand Master

n_K

Posted
Posted

?150 to get it switched on? Must be something more than that. We applied in some holiday offer when the line setup was free, which was good for us as out actual BT line from the street to the house was cut and needed to be put back, saved us a lot of money that did :D.

Grand Master

Crisp

Posted
  • Author
Posted

I can't see how BT will meet their target of 70% of the UK by 2015...

http://fttc.eclipse.net.uk/

There's so many missed areas, not to mention not all cabinets will get FTTC within an area of an enabled exchange - example being my cabinet, which is connected to an enabled exchange, but can't get it.

Mentor

Sylar0

Posted
Posted

I can't see how BT will meet their target of 70% of the UK by 2015...

http://fttc.eclipse.net.uk/

There's so many missed areas, not to mention not all cabinets will get FTTC within an area of an enabled exchange - example being my cabinet, which is connected to an enabled exchange, but can't get it.

Yep time to end the BT monopoly. Or privatise it I don't mind just sort it BT.

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I've custom-built all my own PCs and servers since the 90s, and this is the first time I have had to put a NAS together. Even if the actual base ZimaBoard 2 was already a completed build, it still feels pretty custom. I just wish that IceWhale Technology included a getting-started guide in the box for the Start Kit, which would have really completed this kit. Instead, I had to search for the official video on the YouTube channel to make sure I wasn't doing anything wrong. So who is this for? Definitely the hobbyist who is comfortable building their own PC and servers. It also has a much smaller footprint than its nearest equivalent (in terms of specs), like the Beelink Me Pro, which is another NAS I will be testing soon. Although the Beelink does not come with the PCIe 3.0 X4 expansion, the ZimaBoard 2 Starter Kit suddenly looks to be a great bargain, even if it only offers the two 3.5-inch bays over the four in the other example. It makes a lot of sense to use Intel's N150 chip inside a NAS; it is more than capable of doing what the ZimaBoard 2 is intended for, media streaming and backup. It also looks like the IceWhale Technology staff are quite active in the official forums helping people with issues they come across with ZimaOS and the devices, peer support seems to be good as well, I was quickly able to find why I was not able to create a new Storage Pool in ZimaOS v1.6.1 even though that is quite a serious bug, hopefully it will be fixed in the next update. If you are comfortable with the command line and Docker, you'll be fine. You can do great things with this hardware. This was my first time with ZimaOS. It seems a bit barebones in comparison to the likes of Synology DSM, TOS, and UGOS, but it has a ton of apps to get you started with your home or small business NAS. Where to buy As of publishing, IceWhale Technology is running a discount of up to 5% for the Starter Kit. If you opt to get just the ZimaBoard 2 itself, it does come with a SATA Y-Cable, so you will be able to connect up to two 3.5-inch HDDs to it. ZimaBoard 2 1668 Starter Kit for $534.50 on Amazon US (was $548.60) ZimaBoard 2 832 Starter Kit for $372.88 on Amazon US (was $390.60) Zimaboard 2 1668 (16GB+64GB) for $419.90 on Amazon US Zimaboard 2 832 (8GB+32GB) for $359.90 on Amazon Disclosure: IceWhale Technology provided a free sample without any editorial input or review pre-approval. Good to know The Amazon link is U.S. specific, and not available in other regions unless specified. We only use first-party seller links (at the time of article publishing); ensure that you purchase from a first-party seller link only. Check out Today's Deals on Amazon | or our recent tech deals. Become a Prime member (for Students or SNAP) via Neowin Get Prime Access - Prime for half price (for qualifying Medicaid, EBT, SNAP) Subscribe to Prime Video, Audible Plus, Music Unlimited or Kindle Unlimited via Neowin As an Amazon Associate, when you purchase through links on our site, we earn from qualifying purchases.

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