Do fibre optic cables benefit standard BB packages?

[bryan]

Where I live we can now order fibre broadband up to 75Mbps but I don't need that much speed or even half of that so I was wondering if standard broadband packages benefit from fibre optic cables being installed or not? Currently I get around 3.5Mbps and would be happy with around 10Mbps. The green cabinet is only a couple of hundred yards from my home so surely I don't have to take a package that is way more than I actually need.

I recently had a problem with my BB (mentioned elsewhere on this website) when my Netgear router packed in after seven and half years and Sky refused to give me another router so I'm getting ready to move to another company, probably PlusNet once I work out what is the best package for me.

[Koala5]

If you opt not to get fibre broadband then no you won't benefit from the new fibre cables. You will remain connected to the old copper network all the way back to the exchange. The fibre network has cost a lot of money to install and they are trying to get the money back by charging people a premium to use it. Fair enough I guess.

[James_Mitchell]

Also standard ADSL & ADSL2+ needs copper to work as it doesn't actually work down fibre optic cables.

[RUNITDIRECT]

Also standard ADSL & ADSL2+ needs copper to work as it doesn't actually work down fibre optic cables.

vDSL needs copper cables too, the fibre is to the cabinet, the last loop is still copper.

[Saturday]

ADSL: copper or aluminium* from exchange to cabinet then copper or aluminium to the home

Fibre (FTTC): fibre from exchange to the fibre cabinet** then copper to the cabinet then copper or aluminium to the home

* if you're really unlucky
** fibre cabinets are placed next to or a few yards away from the "normal" cabinet and connected together

[Scubbie]

Most ISPs offer 2 download speeds through their FTTC bundles.

Sky currently has two packages:

1. SFU - up to 38mb
2. SFUP - up to 76mb

Whilst 75mb would be too much, and 38mb is still 4 times more than what you would like, SFU does offer a good alternative to putting up with 3.5mb down.

The 'up to' speeds are those quoted by Sky. They are speeds that at least 10% should be able to achieve. When you place the order you'll be provided with an estimate.

[Tezcatlipoca]

Most ISPs offer 2 download speeds through their FTTC bundles.

Sky currently has two packages:

1. SFU - up to 38mb
2. SFUP - up to 76mb

Whilst 75mb would be too much, and 38mb is still 4 times more than what you would like, SFU does offer a good alternative to putting up with 3.5mb down.

The 'up to' speeds are those quoted by Sky. They are speeds that at least 10% should be able to achieve. When you place the order you'll be provided with an estimate.

... plus the upload speed is far higher than what you get with ADSL.


There's no way I'd put up with only 3.5 Mbps ADSL if I could get Fibre.

[bubblegun]

Just to add, though not necessarily constructively, that the FTTC equipment in cabinets is capable of delivering an ADSL2+ connection which will give a faster speed than VDSL on some connections, especially with long line lengths from cabinet.

But currently BT Openreach do not offer this service so no other provider will offer this either.

At some point in the future this may be on offer but there are no timescales currently.

Sky were arguing for some sort of Fibre LLU scheme where they could offer different Fibre products for varying speeds/prices previously, but no confirmed details have been released thus far.

[Scubbie]

Having ADSL2+ from the cabinet would help many people who have otherwise very long lines from the telephone exchange as their speed would be measured from the cabinet.

Sadly, as you point out, neither BTO or BTW are currently offering this service.

As for gaining access to the Fibre cabinets, this appears to have gone cold in the public arena for the present time. The reports stated that Sky would like to be able to offer different connection speeds over FTTC and perhaps FTTP than what BTO mandates.

Obviously this would give Sky the possibility of leading the market if BTO continued to offer only their set speeds and Sky could offer something better. What was known was whether Sky would offer better speeds (up & down) or if they would offer speeds between the current 40mb and 80mb positions, or even if Sky were looking at improving the upload speeds.

With the recent developments in York, for example, where Sky are looking to introduce a new FTTP network in conjunction with City Fibre and TalkTalk, BTO's dominance could certainly come under threat now.