BT Launch 152Mbps and 314Mbps UK Ultrafast Broadband (G.fast)

[V_R]

UK internet provider BT has today launched a new range of “ultrafast fibre broadband” packages to support both the latest hybrid fibre G.fast and “full fibre” FTTP technologies, which offer download speeds of up to 152Mbps and 314Mbps. On top of that there’s a 100Mbps “speed guarantee.”

Previously the ISP only offered a 200Mbps (20Mbps upload) and 300Mbps (30Mbps upload) service under the Infinity 3 and 4 tiers respectively, which made use of the operator’s Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) technology. However Openreach has been busy rolling their new hybrid fibre G.fast technology to 1 million UK premises, which forms part of an initial pilot and under ideal circumstances this service can reach a similar top speed.

On top of that Openreach has already moved to streamline the speed profiles of their FTTP and G.fast services in order to make the cost different between their wholesale 160Mbps (up to 152Mbps) and 330Mbps (up to 300Mbps) tiers as small as possible. Today BT have predictably become one of the first ISPs to take advantage of this by launching their new BT ULTRAFAST 1 and 2 packages to harness both G.fast and FTTP for the same price.

In terms of upload speeds, they appear to follow the wholesale tiers and thus BT Ultrafast 1 should offer uploads of up to 29Mbps and BT Ultrafast 2 should deliver up to 49Mbps.

BT ULTRAFAST 1 (up to 152Mbps)
PRICE: £54.99 per month

BT ULTRAFAST 2 (up to 314Mbps)
PRICE: £59.99 per month

Continue reading at ISP Review.


Thoughts? As I understand it the price includes line rental, so not as bad as it first appears, as long as you can get a decent increase with it.

 

[Ian]

I'd love to get on board with some of these faster broadband packages, but my VDSL speeds (20Mbps) are now only slightly faster than when I had ADSL2 (18Mbps). I'm right at the edge of our town, with a fairly long run to the nearest cabinet. I know that there are plenty of people with far, far lower lower speeds too.

Do you know if there is anything in the works to extend the reach of these new technologies? As even G.Fast won't improve connection speeds by much for people with a long distance to the cabinet.

I read about fibre to the node many years ago, but I've seen nothing on this since.

 

[V_R]

I don't know really tbh, longer lines are a bugger. Even Vectoring or the new 30a profile won't make much of a difference to longer copper lines.....

It would be interesting to see your detailed line stats, any idea how long your line is? Or how far the cab is?

Virgin not in your area? Time to move!

 

[Ian]

No Virgin Media here yet, although there are old Nynex fibre cables under the road - maybe one day!

Cab is about 1.5km away and here are the stats:

  ---------------------- ATU-R Info (hw: annex A, f/w: annex A/B/C) -----------
   Running Mode            :      17A       State                : SHOWTIME
   DS Actual Rate          : 19998000 bps   US Actual Rate       :  3779000 bps
   DS Attainable Rate      : 26281204 bps   US Attainable Rate   :  3790000 bps
   DS Path Mode            :        Fast    US Path Mode         :        Fast
   DS Interleave Depth     :        1       US Interleave Depth  :        1
   NE Current Attenuation  :       30 dB    Cur SNR Margin       :       11  dB
   DS actual PSD           :     7. 4 dB    US actual PSD        :     9. 7  dB
   NE CRC Count            :       23       FE CRC Count         :     4317
   NE ES Count             :        5       FE  ES Count         :     3859
   Xdsl Reset Times        :        0       Xdsl Link  Times     :        1
   ITU Version[0]          : b5004946       ITU Version[1]       : 544e0000
   VDSL Firmware Version   : 05-07-06-0D-01-07   [with Vectoring support]
   Power Management Mode   : DSL_G997_PMS_L0
   Test Mode               : DISABLE
  -------------------------------- ATU-C Info ---------------------------------
   Far Current Attenuation :       36 dB    Far SNR Margin       :        6  dB
   CO ITU Version[0]       : b5004244       CO ITU Version[1]    : 434db12d
   DSLAM CHIPSET VENDOR    : < BDCM >

 

[V_R]

Ah yes I remember you saying about Nynex before now. Seems they were bought out several times and are now what is VM, so its strange that VM don't make use of the cables that are already there. I wonder if they'd do anything if there was enough interest?

I'm kinda surprised there isn't a cab nearer than that, your not out in the sticks are you?

 

[Ian]

Ah yes I remember you saying about Nynex before now. Seems they were bought out several times and are now what is VM, so its strange that VM don't make use of the cables that are already there. I wonder if they'd do anything if there was enough interest?

I'm kinda surprised there isn't a cab nearer than that, your not out in the sticks are you?

I've spoken to VM about the cables, but they said they were no able to re-use them at the moment - but are looking at the street for future expansion. One day maybe

We're on the edge of a large town, so I think it's just because we're right on the edge that the cab is so far away.

 

[TriplexDread]

I would have thought if they decide to use the already installed conduits they will renew the cables. The ones already there are what....20-25 years old now? Based on Nynex

AS for the cabinets, if they decide to run new cables to the node they could also install a new cabinet aswell and run several Gbit pipes to it to help support future expansion in your area?
Actually installing a cabinet takes a few days, it's the configuration that takes the time. Least that's what the situation it was like round corner from me.

Time will tell Ian. I'm sure they have plans and enough prospective customers, just not enough to begin work

 

[Captain Jack Sparrow]

Hi all,

Do you know if we would need a new modem to adopt this when it rolls out? Currently I'm on Infinity 2 with 75Mb down and 16Mb up, with the HG612 Huawei modem. This is connected to a Sophos UTM120 appliance which acts as the router.

I don't want to replace the modem, as we wouldn't be able to use the UTM120 appliance (it needs a PPPoE device).

- Capt. Jack Sparrow.

 

[TriplexDread]

Surely if you do they will provide it?

I don't deal with BT, I have enough issues with VM, but at least VM do provide free hardware when and if needed

 

[Captain Jack Sparrow]

Surely if you do they will provide it?

I don't deal with BT, I have enough issues with VM, but at least VM do provide free hardware when and if needed

Whilst I know that they would provide CPE hardware, I was specifically asking whether anyone knows if it'll be a separate modem and router combo.

I have a Huawei HG612 VDSL FTTC modem, which allows me to use whatever router I like. For G.FAST, something similar to this would be the ideal solution.

However, I have learned that BT no longer issue these modems for new FTTC deployments. Instead, they now provide the atrocity that they call the "SmartHub". This has a VDSL modem integrated, so you would lose the freedom to use your own router.

Rumor is that for early adopters of G.FAST, it will use the Huawei MT992 (external link, Huawei).
It looks identical to the Huawei HG612, apart from the missing LAN2 and BBU ports.
(EDIT: Answered my own question. Added information about the Huawei MT992!)

Huawei MT992

We're in the rollout zone for G.FAST, but our street cabinet has not yet been upgraded to G.FAST yet and BT said that they can't provide any details or timeframes yet as it's still in the very early stages of deployment.

I'm currently on BT Infinity 2 and the speed is more than acceptable (pictured below), but it's not amazing either. I am looking forward to the G.FAST rollout.

- Capt. Jack Sparrow.

 

[V_R]

Yes, it seems the style now it so ship customers average (at best) integrated modem/router combo units now. I will use my HG612 until it dies or I find something better. I do read good things about some of the Zyxel stuff over on the Kitz forums though.

How far from the cab are you CJS? Has your local cab had the G.Fast pod installed?

 

[TriplexDread]

Have you thought about maybe an Unlocked firmware for tweaking?
Touchy subject for some, but they are available

Kitz is a good site. Not been on there for years but there are others which provide massive amounts of info.
Don't ask me which. It was years ago I was there and besides I don't want to get told off

 

[V_R]

Not sure if that is aimed at me or Jack, but yes, that is what I do. Unlocked HG612 and Merlin FW on my new Asus RT-AC86U.

Unlocking the HG612 means you can get access to very detailed line stats and use something like DSL Stats to graph and record the stats. See my Raspberry Pi thread for more.

 

[TriplexDread]

It was originally aimed at Jack, but an answer from yourself is fine

 

[Captain Jack Sparrow]

Yes, it seems the style now it so ship customers average (at best) integrated modem/router combo units now. I will use my HG612 until it dies or I find something better. I do read good things about some of the Zyxel stuff over on the Kitz forums though.

How far from the cab are you CJS? Has your local cab had the G.Fast pod installed?

Hi VR,

It's at the top of our road so around 150-200 metres. As we already get the full VDSL speed (or near enough), the copper line should be good enough for G.FAST.

Have you thought about maybe an Unlocked firmware for tweaking?
Touchy subject for some, but they are available

Kitz is a good site. Not been on there for years but there are others which provide massive amounts of info.
Don't ask me which. It was years ago I was there and besides I don't want to get told off

AFAIK, it's not possible to unlock the BT Home Hub 4, 5, or SmartHub at present, and I won't discuss this either. I previously did unlock the Huawei HG612 modem in order to access the web interface on it, but BT somehow force-updated it so it became locked again. All that effort wasted!

Even if it was possible to unlock the BT Hub, I still wouldn't use it.
An unlocked BT Hub (or any 'consumer' level router) would not be able to provide anywhere near the level of functionality that the Sophos XG Firewall can. VLAN support and HTTPS inspection are examples of features which I consider as a 'must have'.
Remember that this is an enterprise level product which has been made available for free to home users, albeit with a 6GB RAM limit. The Sophos UTM120 (official hardware) appliance which I currently use, only has 2GB of RAM, and this can't be upgraded, so I am not affected by this limit.
There was a steep learning curve in order to get the hang of the Sophos XG interface, but I think I'm nearly there.
It's really good. Probably the network appliance I've ever used.

This is why I want BT to supply the modem separately for the G.FAST deployment.

- Capt. Jack Sparrow.

 

[V_R]

You could try using something like one of the ZyXEL modems? Seems to be good solid performers, access to stats etc.