Sky will be looking to run trials of fibre-optic broadband

[James_Mitchell]

No sign of anything fibre related where I live here. There's very few exchanges in the East Lancashire area that either have anything fibre related or have even have a go-live date.

East Lancashire does seem to be a fibre black hole area (although cable is available in some towns).

I'm not particularly bothered though as I'm quite happy with Sky LLU broadband anyway.

[Scubbie]

Lancashire County Council has been doing something to address this issue:

Lancashire could be getting fibre broadband one year before the national target | BroadbandWatcher

[mi3fbt]

I can confirm that Sky are running trials On FTTP with selected staff members... The reason for the trials are to ensure that there is no major issues if sky decide to bring this product out. From what i have heard, if all goes well, sky could introduce this product as early as next year... And just to put someone else right, BTO use FTTC. Sky are looking more toward FTTP rather than FTTC. And sky are also hoping to have Sky broadband connect customers upgraded as soon as 2012 (I have already saw a lot of exchanges upgraded this year alone... If you are a connect customer and want your broadband upgraded then just call and ask sky to do a check on your broadband status and see if the upgrade has been completed... so that means, no more capping broadband usage (and everybody says in unison) YAY.... lol..

[Scubbie]

Sky are looking more toward FTTP rather than FTTC.

This is interesting as it means a huge investment across the whole network. Currently most exchanges which have been upgraded are only capable of supporting FTTC. I trust that Sky are working around this issue.

If you have any specific news on this, it would be nice to know.

Early on in this thread it has been mentioned that Muswell Hill was an area used for testing Sky with FTTC.

Other staff members across the country were also placed on FTTC trials.

Currently many Sky subscribers on the South Harrow telephone exchange are on an FTTP trial. This was started last summer and little news on this has been made since then.

And sky are also hoping to have Sky broadband connect customers upgraded as soon as 2012 (I have already saw a lot of exchanges upgraded this year alone... If you are a connect customer and want your broadband upgraded then just call and ask sky to do a check on your broadband status and see if the upgrade has been completed... so that means, no more capping broadband usage (and everybody says in unison) YAY.... lol..

Since 2/3rds of Sky broadband subscribers are on this package, this will be excellent news for them.

Certainly Sky has been busy upgrading exchanges over the past year, and this news has been shared on this forum, but with a total of around 5,600 telephone exchanges in the UK to upgrade, Sky has only enable 1,770 (according to SamKnows) to date.

Whilst this represents most of the larger exchanges, it does mean that many Connect users are still out of reach of Sky's LLU services.

[Isitme]

Sky are looking more toward FTTP rather than FTTC

Maybe I am a bit pessimistic, but I can't see this happening, except maybe in the case of blocks of flats. The cost of supplying FTTP, even if they are only actually supplying the part from the home to the cabinet, would be horrendous. Far more than laying fibre from the cab to the exchange.

As for all Connect users being upgraded by next year, that is really pie in the sky (forgive the pun) Many of the exchanges were enabled before Sky took over, and in all the years since, they have only managed to bring the total up to a bit below 1800. A bit less than a third of the total number of exchanges in UK. I think it is more likely they will move users from ADSLMax to ADSL2+, where it is available, in exchanges they have not enabled themselves. The number of these is growing much faster than those enabled by Sky.

[deadman1984]

im not gunning my hopes up but i would be shocked and amazed if sky did do fttp thats fibre to the premises or premisis isnt it

[Kona Owner]

If sky do all the infrastructure for FTTP then they might as well go the way of Virgin, they wont need satellites anymore.

[Mystic Eddy]

If sky do all the infrastructure for FTTP then they might as well go the way of Virgin, they wont need satellites anymore.

I guess it's something they'd consider if they are indeed going down this route. It would soon add up to savings eventually as they wouldn't have to pay SES Astra for transponders, as well as other associated costs. I could see the existing telecoms companies screaming from the roof tops that it should be an open network, but Virgin would have to open theirs up for that to happen surely!

[Scubbie]

I appreciate the costing basis, but there are many locations that cannot have both Sky or Virgin for different reasons.

Whilst a dish could technically be connected to most homes, local planning reg, or where the building is listed, prevents many from having a dish installed.

As for Virgin, I can's see them running a cable to a single farm in the middle of Dartmoor in a hurry. Selsey in West Sussex has plenty of people who would love to get Cable. Unfortunately it means running the trunk over a river and Virgin hasn't wanted to do this.

There are lots of examples across the country where Virgin has purchased the rights to cable up an area which would be profitable for them, but they have failed to do so by specified deadlines. This may be because a previous company, which Virgin/NTL bought out signed the original contracts, but the contract should still be enforced and often they haven't been.

I know that Astronomers would prefer that no one broadcast anything over the airwaves. This would enable them to study the Cosmos in more detail.

At least the current choice allows for both options to be made available.

[James_Mitchell]

I personally believe over the next few years, mobile broadband will over-take fixed line broadband in the UK.

Mobile broadband seems to be evolving much faster than fixed line broadband. LTE offering download speeds in excess of 100Mb is not that far away. O2 announced the other day plans for the biggest LTE trail to date (25 mast LTE trial in London next year)

A lot of the infrastructure is already in place for mobile broadband (masts etc are already in place). It's much cheaper just adding new kit to existing masts than having to dig up roads and install cabinets etc. etc.