Broadband Guide

BT 100Mb broadband

Monday 31 January, 2011

By Garnet Roach - garnet@consumerchoices.co.uk

BT (www.BT.com) is trialling a new broadband package that will deliver speeds of up to 100Mb - opening up a whole new online world.

BT’s 100Mb broadband package will go live this spring, using fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) technology to bring you the very fastest speeds. This means fibre optic cables, which allow more data to travel at much faster speeds, are run directly to your home, with no traditional copper wires at all.

Because your entire connection - from BT to your home - will be made up of fibre, you'll be able to get much closer to your advertised speed than with a traditional home broadband line.

Superfast speeds

Speeds of up to 100Mb mean that you’ll be able to download music tracks in seconds and movies in minutes.

But BT’s new superfast broadband package will also offer uploads at a whopping 30Mb - faster than anything else on offer at the moment - so you'll be able to upload videos and send pictures at faster speeds than ever before.

What can I do with 100Mb broadband?

BT says: “Consumers already use today’s broadband extensively to share their lives - sharing photos, watching films and networking with friends.

“Superfast broadband’s additional bandwidth - both upload and download - will enable consumers to take their digital life one stage further; sharing high-quality video footage in addition to pictures becomes possible, as the time taken to upload content is dramatically shortened.

“The experience of watching films in high-definition (HD) is dramatically improved on both PCs or on the main TV with BT Vision,” adds the provider. “For gamers, superfast broadband offers a superior experience, allowing quicker responses which could help improve gaming performances.”

As well as the huge benefits for private businesses, for whom the internet is of ever-increasing importance, BT says that government and health services would even be able to offer social benefits - such as video appointments for the elderly - as more people sign-up to superfast services.

Can I get BT 100Mb broadband?

BT’s 100Mb broadband service is still in the trial phase, but the provider plans to launch packages later this year.

BT is investing £2.5billion to bring fibre optic broadband to two-thirds of the UK by 2015, and around 25% of this network will be made up of FTTH connections.

BT 40Mb broadband

BT already offers two 40Mb broadband packages to customers connected to its BT Infinity network. BT Infinity Option 1 and Option 2 use fibre-to-the-cabinet technology, rather than the faster FTTH service.

More than four million homes and businesses could already get online with BT Infinity at the end of 2010. To find out if it’s available in your area, simply visit www.BT.com/Infinity.

So although you will have a fibre optic connection, the cables will only run as far as the green streetside telephone cabinet. From there, copper wires will connect your home to the internet.

Because of this, you might still experience some speed loss, though BT says that you should receive a minimum download speed of 12Mb.

Virgin Media 100Mb broadband

BT isn’t the only provider to be speeding ahead with superfast broadband. Cable provider Virgin Media (www.Virginmedia.com) already offers speeds of up to 50Mb broadband to more than 12 million homes across the country - and is now rolling out 100Mb across its network.

The supplier plans to offer its fastest package to its entire network, which covers around 51% of the country, by mid-2012.

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