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Fibre optic business broadband

Our Broadband Expert says...

Although they give you the same download and upload speed, far lower contention ratios than standard business broadband lines and guaranteed speeds even at peak times, Symmetrical Digital Subscriber Line (SDSL) connections can cost over £200 a month for a 2Mb connection - a cost that few small businesses can afford.

However, the launch of a new generation of superfast fibre optic broadband means that a growing number of far more affordable alternatives are fast becoming available.

Fibre optic broadband

Using fibre optic cables instead of the old copper wire telephone lines allows broadband providers to offer far faster speeds than ever before.

Depending on the kind of connection you have - either fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC), where fibre optic cables deliver broadband to your telephone street cabinet, or fibre-to-the-home (FTTH), where the cables run direct to the premises - you can get speeds of up to 40Mb, 50Mb or even a whopping 100Mb.

BT fibre broadband

Last month BT Broadband (www.BT.com) launched its fibre optic business broadband packages, offering speeds of up to 40Mb broadband to around 500,000 locations at the end of February.

This is set to rise to 2.5 million homes and businesses by summer 2010 and by the end of the year around four million people should be able to connect to BT’s superfast broadband network.

BT has committed to extending its superfast broadband coverage to 40% of the UK - some 10 million homes and businesses - by 2012.

BT has said that fibre optic customers will get an average of 30Mb and at least 15Mb.

BT’s fibre business broadband packages will come in two tiers; Business Total Broadband Fibre and Business Total Broadband Fibre Plus, starting at just £30 a month for speeds of up to 40Mb and 2Mb uploads on a 24 month contract. If you want a shorter commitment, you can sign up for just 12 months, though you'll have to pay £25 a month.

Fibre Broadband Plus, which comes with upload speeds at up to 10Mb, starts at £45 a month on a 24 month contract, £50 a month on a 12 month plan.

All packages come with “unlimited broadband” subject to a fair usage policy, and a £75 connection fee applies.

Eclipse fibre broadband

Eclipse Broadband (www.Eclipse.net.uk) is also set to launch its own fibre optic business broadband packages, which will go live on 12 April.

Its two packages, simply named Eclipse Fibre and Eclipse Fibre Pro, will have the same specs as BT’s offerings, with speeds of up to 40Mb, and either 2Mb or 10Mb uploads depending on the package you choose.

However, both packages come with set download allowances, albeit with generous limits with free overnight downloads. The Eclipse Fibre package has a 50GB monthly peak-time download allowance, while the Fibre Plus package comes with a 60GB limit. You get free, unlimited downloads between 11pm-9am.

Eclipse is being a bit more cautious than BT and guaranteeing a 12Mb throughput rather than 15Mb.

Virgin Media business broadband

Virgin Media (www.Virginmedia.com) already uses fibre for its entire cable network, which currently covers around 51% of the country.

This means that if you can’t currently get fibre broadband from either BT or Eclipse, you could sign up to one of Virgin Media’s cable business packages. The ISP currently offers 50Mb broadband to its home broadband customers, and although you can only sign up to a 20Mb package as a business user, Virgin Media will be rolling out 50Mb to business customers.

Virgin Media has also announced that it will be launching a massive 100Mb broadband service later in 2010, though prices have yet to be revealed.

Small-scale fibre optic broadband

A growing number of cities across the UK are developing their own fibre networks, whether independently or through private companies and it’s a good thing to look into if you can’t get superfast broadband from a big provider where you live.

Fibrecity in Bournemouth, for example, allows service providers to use its fibre optic cable network to offer superfast broadband, home phone and digital TV services. Using FTTH technology, it offers packages starting at 25Mb and going up to a massive 100Mb, “with some packages offering the ability to boost speeds to 1Gb, a first for the UK residential market,” says Fibrecity.

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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