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back to article BT boss to Oz: we're wonderful and so is copper

BT's boss has taken the opportunity during a visit to Australia to heap praise on his company's domestic broadband rollout, and antipodeans are lapping it up, with the local network builder promising to share information about how to build “superfast broadband”. In a drop to the Murdoch organ The Australian, nbnTM boss Bill …

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  1. Thorne

    Total waste of time

    "He also claimed that BT is getting – present tense – 500 Mbps through its copper infrastructure"

    While I'm getting 100mb right now, should the hardware at each end get upgraded, I could get 1gb or more.

    Getting 500mb through copper is good but they don't say how they get it. Odds are it's right next to the node and only has a tiny distance of brand new copper to use. Considered Australia has massive distances of poor quality copper, the number of people that could get 500mb you could count on one hand.

    Fibre is the only way to go due to the laws of diminishing returns.

    5 0 Reply
    1. James 100
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      Re: Total waste of time

      I think the 500Mbps stuff is "FTTDP", the final step between FTTC (where the actual fibre stops a street away in the nearest green street cabinet) and FTTP - bringing the fibre right into the street or equivalent, at the BT DP (Distribution Point).

      I get the impression BT have found the worst problems in FTTP are the final few feet, getting through people's gardens or driveways and into the home itself, so bringing fibre up through their own ducts and stopping just short makes sense for now on existing sites.

      For any new-build development, FTTP makes more sense than running new copper wire - and, to be fair, Openreach seem to be facilitating this for house builders who cooperate, providing them with all the bits and information so they can pre-fibre new homes while building them - but replacing existing copper is a bigger job.

      I actually have the option of 330 Mbps FTTP where I live now - for £1k or more in installation, plus a three year contract to pay about four times the price I pay now for 80 Mbps FTTC. Not really very appealing. In time, of course, regular FTTP services will be much more common thanks to new-build sites, but in the meantime I'm glad we have FTTC.

      0 0 Reply
  2. John Tserkezis

    "3. It's vital to ignore criticism over the cost or speed of the rollout."

    Well, at least it appears the NBN certainly has THAT point down pat.

    0 0 Reply

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