FTTP trial information
What is the trial?
BT Openreach has chosen Milton Keynes to run a trial of 100Mbps fibre optic based broadband. The service went live with triallists as of 20th July 2010.
The trial is currently running only from the Bradwell Abbey exchange. However this exchange covers nearly 30,000 properties, homes and businesses. See here for an approximate coverage map within MK, or check your phone line's connection directly. See the bottom of this page for the latest on whether your property can, or is, being served by FTTP.
Latest news as of December 2010 - the trial has been extended to run to July 2011.
FTTx - FTTH/FTTP/FTTB - what's the difference?
Generically the whole group of fibre technologies are referred to as "FTTx" - Fibre To The (wherever). The other terms, "H" for "Home", "P" for "Premises" or "B" for "Business" are all used interchangeably by different companies and organisations at different times. In short, they're all the same; fibre optics delivered from the exchange straight to your router inside your home or business premises. FTTP promises to achieve up to 100MBps speed.
But what about FTTC?
FTTC refers to a slightly different technology - Fibre To The Cabinet. This is where the fibre optics run from the exchange to the local (green) cabinet, on your estate or in your village. From the local cabinet and into your home or business premises, the broadband is still connected with a copper cable. FTTC promises to achieve up to 40MBps speed.
FTTP known provider list
The following providers are participating in the FTTP 100MBps trial. Contact them directly for more information. MK BAG does not endorse any particular ISP.
Andrews & Arnold (AAISP)
BT (from October 2010, no
pre-registration possible)
Plusnet
Zen
What if my ISP isn't listed here?
If your ISP isn't listed here, it's purely as we don't know that they are participating. Contact us and let us know. We'll add more links as we discover them.
How and where do I find out more about the trial?
BT's Next Generation Access forum
MK Council article on the trial
Plusnet FTTP forum
Thinkbroadband forum
Zen fibre
newsletter
What if my area isn't covered by the trial, or any fibre upgrades?
Openreach has an official stance on this, focussed on the Woburn Sands exchange, but applicable to any other exchange in this situation in Milton Keynes.
Unfortunately a date for fibre super-fast access availability
from Woburn Sands exchange has not yet been announced. Openreach
will be announcing additional exchanges to its rollout plans over
the course of the next few months and you may wish to check the
“Where&when” list on its Super-fast Access microsite at
www.openreach-communications.co.uk/superfast/ for the
latest news of rollout plans.
Openreach does not generally have a direct relationship with end
customers and it would not be appropriate therefore for Openreach to
engage in a dialogue about fibre rollout decision-making. Openreach
deploys its communications infrastructure in accordance with a
number of topographical, commercial and technical criteria. It also,
crucially, takes a steer from communications providers which have
the direct relationship with end customers as to where rollout fits
into their strategic plans. It may be therefore be fruitful for
direct enquiries and requests to be directed to your communications
provider of choice to allow them to develop a clear picture of
demand in any one area so that they may influence the rollout of
next generation access by Openreach. To this end, you may find the
following news link of use to demonstrate this concept to those who
are interested:
http://www.btplc.com/news/Articles/ShowArticle.cfm?ArticleID=7E8B7274-0694-46E0-BFF1-DC63FCC6F590
I think I should be able to get on the trial - but can't seem to?
This is applicable to residents on Bradwell Abbey exchange, such as those in, but not exclusively limited to, Broughton and Broughton Gate. PlusNet posted an update in December 2010 on the current situation:
The Bradwell Abbey exchange serves around 30,000 properties,
BT's original plan was that FTTP would be available to around half
of those. When they started the build the realised that some of the
areas weren't going to be possible for various reasons. They
announced that the rollout is complete a few weeks ago with coverage
to about 10,500 of the properties.
Sadly that means that 4,500 of the properties that were
originally going to be able to get FTTP have been removed from the
trial area and another 15,000 can't get it either because they
weren't included in the first place. I know when we were first
looking at the trial nearly everyone that was expressing interest
turned out to be in the areas that weren't being done.
BT have said that at some point they are likely to review the
area and see if they can do FTTC in the areas they missed but that's
unlikely to be any time soon.