BT broadband Guides

BT 80Mb broadband

Tuesday 03 April, 2012

By Garnet Roach

In 2012 BT is set to double the download speed of its fibre optic broadband service.

The UK’s biggest broadband provider, BT broadband (www.BT.com), has been busy laying fibre optic cables to bring lightning fast broadband to millions of homes and businesses.

At present, BT Infinity - and the providers that use BT’s fibre network - can offer speeds of up to 38Mb. But BT plans to double this in 2012.

This would also see BT’s fibre optic upload speed double.

At the time of writing, BT covered around five million homes and businesses with its fibre network, but an investment of £2.5billion is set to see this grow to two-thirds of premises by the end of 2014.

Fibre technologies

These speeds are delivered using a technology known as fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC), where the superfast cables run from the local telephone exchange to the green cabinet on your street. From there, traditional copper wires carry the line to your home.

While this will still give you superfast broadband, the copper element of your connection means that you could still lose some speed - especially if your home is far from the nearest street cabinet.

It is FTTC that currently delivers 38Mb broadband.

However, BT is also set to launch another fibre optic broadband technology in 2012 known as fibre-to-the-home (FTTH). Like the name suggests, this involves running the fibre optic cables direct to your home offering you even faster speeds.

FTTH will launch with speeds of up to 100Mb broadband, says BT, but it is also trialling even faster 1Gb connections using this technology.

Actual broadband speeds

As well as offering very fast advertised speeds, BT Infinity also manages to deliver superfast speeds. When telecoms regulator Ofcom tested broadband speeds in November 2011, BT managed to deliver an average 36Mb over its fibre lines. To put this in perspective, the national average was just 6.8Mb.

It also delivered the fastest actual upload speeds at almost 9Mb. And, as impressive as these speeds may seem, they are only set to get faster when BT begins offering 80Mb broadband.

Other providers including TalkTalk broadband (www.Talktalk.co.uk), Plusnet broadband (www.Plus.net) and Eclipse Internet (www.Eclipse.net.uk) also use BT’s fibre network to offer their customers faster speeds. As time goes on and the roll-out continues, other suppliers will no doubt join this list.

Virgin Media cable broadband

When it comes to superfast broadband, Virgin Media (www.Virginmedia.com) is BT’s biggest rival. Using its cable network, Virgin Media is able to offer superfast speeds of up to 100Mb, as well as delivering on its promises with customers enjoying 90-96% of their advertised speed.

Its cable broadband packages performed exceptionally well in Ofcom’s speed tests:

• The 10Mb broadband package delivered an average 9.5Mb
• The30Mb broadband package delivered an average 31Mb
• Virgin Media’s 50Mb broadband averaged 48.4Mb, or 97% of the advertised speed
• The new 100Mb service was not included in the research because it did not have enough customers at the time. It has now reached over 6.5 million homes and will cover the full network by mid-2012

Virgin Media’s cable network only covers around half the country, so you need to run a postcode search to make sure it’s available in your area.

Why get superfast broadband?

There are three main reasons why you might want to upgrade to a superfast broadband package:

You've got a big household. If you've got kids that want to get online, while you watch the BBC iPlayer and your partner works from home, a fibre broadband package is the perfect solution. You'll all be able to do exactly what you want online, without suffering slow speeds - even at peak times.

You're a heavy downloader. If you like to really make the most of the internet, with online gaming, movie downloads and series catch-ups of your favourite shows, then the fast speeds and typically high download allowances offered by fibre optic broadband packages will suit you down to the ground.

You work from home. If you run a business from home or like to connect to the office without actually going into the office, you should definitely consider an upgrade - business users often make the most of the faster upload speeds offered by fibre. You might be able to boost your speed without paying any extra - BT Infinity starts from £18 a month when you take line rental at £14.60.

BT Infinity packages

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