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TalkTalk joins FTTC trials
03 Aug 2009 | 14.10 Europe/London
The UK's biggest ISP has announced it has signed up to BT Broadband's fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) testing plans - along with some developments closer to home.
TalkTalk is the latest Internet provider to join the FTTC trials, which are bringing "up to" 40Mbit/s broadband to lucky residents living in London's Muswell Hill and Whitchurch in Cardif. The initial phase of testing, which started on July 1st, will be conducted at 5Mbit/s. It's expected that speed could be increased to 10Mbit/s or even 15 Mbit/s if they're successful, with the trials scheduled to run into January next year.
FTTC is supposed to mean speeds of "up to" 40Mbit/s with an initial upload rate of 2Mbit/s. However, while the technology could mean bringing fibre optic, light-speed internet to your street, it doesn't exactly bring it to your home - that job remains with those trusty copper cables we know and love. So, even though the cabinet maybe closer than the nearest exchange, some users involved in the trials will never see 40Mbit/s downloads. "As with ADSL technologies the speed that a customer gets is dependant on the distance from the green cabinets on streets," said TalkTalk. "95 per cent of people will be expected to get close to 40Mb."
Along with free broadband access with no usage limit, TalkTalk customers taking part in the FTTC fun and games should receive a new router and modem. In total, the ISP says it now has around 2.85 million people on its books in the UK, having recently announced it signed up 47,000 customers in the first quarter of 2009. As well as adding fibre to its diet, TalkTalk is quietly upgrading its infrastructure across the country.
TalkTalk has also revealed that it has opened discussions on joining Project Canvas, which follows television company Five becoming the outfit's first non-founding partner. And, although it's not clear exactly what form it would take as yet, the company says it's considering offering a TV-on-demand service in the future.
If the FTTC trials prove successful, TalkTalk plans to move to fibre-based broadband across its network. BT, meanwhile, has currently earmarked around £1.5 million for FTTC. It's still aiming to get 40 per cent of the UK fibred up by 2012.
Further details at [ISPreview] & [PC Advisor]
TalkTalk is the latest Internet provider to join the FTTC trials, which are bringing "up to" 40Mbit/s broadband to lucky residents living in London's Muswell Hill and Whitchurch in Cardif. The initial phase of testing, which started on July 1st, will be conducted at 5Mbit/s. It's expected that speed could be increased to 10Mbit/s or even 15 Mbit/s if they're successful, with the trials scheduled to run into January next year.
FTTC is supposed to mean speeds of "up to" 40Mbit/s with an initial upload rate of 2Mbit/s. However, while the technology could mean bringing fibre optic, light-speed internet to your street, it doesn't exactly bring it to your home - that job remains with those trusty copper cables we know and love. So, even though the cabinet maybe closer than the nearest exchange, some users involved in the trials will never see 40Mbit/s downloads. "As with ADSL technologies the speed that a customer gets is dependant on the distance from the green cabinets on streets," said TalkTalk. "95 per cent of people will be expected to get close to 40Mb."
Along with free broadband access with no usage limit, TalkTalk customers taking part in the FTTC fun and games should receive a new router and modem. In total, the ISP says it now has around 2.85 million people on its books in the UK, having recently announced it signed up 47,000 customers in the first quarter of 2009. As well as adding fibre to its diet, TalkTalk is quietly upgrading its infrastructure across the country.
TalkTalk has also revealed that it has opened discussions on joining Project Canvas, which follows television company Five becoming the outfit's first non-founding partner. And, although it's not clear exactly what form it would take as yet, the company says it's considering offering a TV-on-demand service in the future.
If the FTTC trials prove successful, TalkTalk plans to move to fibre-based broadband across its network. BT, meanwhile, has currently earmarked around £1.5 million for FTTC. It's still aiming to get 40 per cent of the UK fibred up by 2012.
Further details at [ISPreview] & [PC Advisor]
I thought BT were speeding up their deployment of FTTC and considering extending the deployment to more than 40%. So it really still 40% by 2012?
03 Aug 2009 | 16.30 Europe/London
As far as I'm aware, while BT may be speeding up deployment, its target's still the same.
According to a <a href="http://www.btplc.com/news/articles/showarticle.cfm?articleid={9cf87e6c-46cb-4fe6-b4cf-4602592b33f6}" rel="nofollow">press release</a> we have, dated July 9th:-
"The acceleration of BT’s plans will see 1.5 million homes have access to such services by early summer 2010. A million of those homes will have access by March, which is a doubling of the original pace of deployment.
"The plan is the first chapter in BT’s longer-term programme to make super-fast fibre broadband available to 40 per cent of the UK – or some 10 million homes - by 2012. The company has pledged to spend £1.5 billion – the UK’s biggest single commercial investment in fibre broadband – on this programme."
03 Aug 2009 | 19.27 Europe/London
Talk Talk have little option - if they don't embrace FTTC they'll see their unbundled lines revert to BT to get faster services. FTTx is a LLU killer.
04 Aug 2009 | 08.27 Europe/London
What about the other LLU operators? Sky (Easynet) etc.?
04 Aug 2009 | 15.12 Europe/London