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When will I get BT Infinity?

Our Broadband Expert says...

Using its new fibre optic broadband network, BT broadband (www.BT.com) has started offering speeds of up to 40Mb broadband packages known as BT Infinity.

It began rolling out the new network in January 2010, with the aim to connect four million homes and businesses to the network by the end of the year. BT has pledged £2.5billion to bring its next generation network to two-thirds of the population by 2015.

Although BT has been connecting premises at a rate of 100,000 a week, some parts of the country will have to wait longer than others to be connected.

What is BT Infinity?

BT uses fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) technology for its BT Infinity network. This means that the fibre optic cables run as far as the street side telephone cabinet on your road, with copper wires connecting the cabinet with your home.

This means that although you'll still get significantly faster download and upload speeds than you currently get with an ADSL copper wire connection, there will still be some speed loss. BT is advising customers to expect speeds of at least 12Mb. It also offers really fast upload speeds at up to 10Mb on the top package.

The superfast broadband offered by BT Infinity means that you can share your home connection without having to compromise on speed. You can download music in seconds, TV programmes and movies in minutes and enjoy the very best that the internet has to offer.

Cheap superfast broadband

BT’s Infinity packages are the cheapest fibre optic broadband deals on the market, starting at less than £20 a month, plus a £50 connection fee.

Customers who bundle their fibre broadband with anytime home phone calls can save even more - bringing the monthly cost down to as little as £17.99 a month with a £25 connection fee.

You’ll also need to pay line rental to BT at £13.29 a month - though you can cut this down by paying for a year’s line rental in advance.

Vote for faster broadband

BT launched its Race to Infinity competition in October 2010, urging Brits to register their interest in superfast broadband. This means that you and your local community can influence your chances of getting a fibre optic upgrade - even if you're not already on the list.

BT isn’t automatically going to upgrade telephone exchanges with less than 1,000 premises - and although you won’t be able to win the Race to Infinity if you live in one of these areas - BT still wants to hear from you.

“If 75% of your exchange registers, BT will engage with your community to see what we can do in your area,” says the provider on its website.

BT Infinity alternatives

Virgin Media's (www.Virginmedia.com) established cable network is the biggest rival to BT’s Infinity network. It already offers speeds of up to 50Mb broadband and will be offering even faster speeds of up to 100Mb broadband to its 12.7 million customers by the end of the year.

Research by Ofcom in July 2010 showed that Virgin Media’s cable packages were significantly faster than ADSL competitors - with its XXL 50Mb package delivering between 33.4Mb and 47.4Mb.

It is also one of the only packages to offer genuinely unlimited downloads, with no fair usage policy or traffic management.

BT is also opening up its network on a wholesale basis so that other providers can also offer faster packages. Which? Best Buy Zen Internet (www.Zen.co.uk) already offers fibre optic broadband packages using BT’s network, and cheap broadband giant TalkTalk broadband (www.Talktalk.co.uk) has also confirmed plans to offer packages over the superfast network.

NB Best buy tables (orange background) are always current.

Examples in the text of the article (white background) are correct at time of publication.

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