BT Infinity

BT Infinity is a broadband service in the United Kingdom provided by BT Retail, the consumer sales arm of the BT Group. The underlying network is fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC), which uses optical fibre for all except the final few hundred metres to the consumer, and delivers claimed download speeds of "up to 76 Mbit/s" and upload speeds of "up to 19 Mbit/s" depending on package selected.[1] The fibre terminates in a new roadside cabinet containing a DSLAM, from where the final connection to the customer uses VDSL2 technology.

Ofcom data gathered in November 2014 indicated that only 1% of 76 Mbit/s and 15% of 38 Mbit/s customers received the advertised speed.[2]

Deployment

Following a technical trial involving 50 homes in Foxhall, Ipswich, in January 2009,[3] and operational pilots at the Muswell Hill, Whitchurch and Glasgow Halfway telephone exchanges, the service was launched commercially on 25 January 2010.[4] When it was announced, BT expected 4 million customers for the service by the end of the year. Infinity forms part of BT's £1.5bn plan to make superfast broadband available to 40% of the UK by the summer of 2012, using FTTC and FTTP services.[5] Previously, the only major provider of domestic super fast broadband in the UK was Virgin Media's hybrid fibre-coaxial service.[6] It should be noted that neither Virgin Media nor BT's 'up-to 76MBit/s' Infinity actually use optical fibre to supply super fast broadband to the home, but rather still rely on copper, which can be sensitive to electromagnetic interference. BT Infinity does however have a 'fibre to the home' product available.[7]

Wholesale competition

The fibre infrastructure is installed and maintained by Openreach, and is available for use by non-BT ISPs either directly from Openreach,[8] or from BT Wholesale as part of the WBC product family.[9]

Demand

BT Retail ran a competition called "Race to Infinity"[10] in the autumn of 2010 to assess demand for the Infinity product in 2495 mostly-rural communities. The winners would be the 5 areas served by a telephone exchange that received the most percentage votes out of its "total connections" by 31 December 2010.

BT announced on 3 January 2011 that 6, not the originally planned 5, areas would receive Infinity by early 2012.[11] The six winning areas were: Whitchurch, Hampshire (104%); Caxton, Cambridgeshire (103%); Madingley, Cambridgeshire (102%); Innerleithen, Scottish Borders (101%); Blewbury, Oxfordshire (99.8%); Baschurch, Shropshire (95%).

Voting surpassed 100% in several areas because new places had been built and residents without landlines connected to the area's exchange could vote - and were encouraged to do so by very active locally-run volunteer campaigns.[12]

In addition to winning Infinity, each of the six winning areas are to receive £5,000 of computer equipment for a local community project.[13] BT originally planned on awarding the prize to just 1 of the top 5 winners.

As of February 2015, many properties in the small village of Baschurch were still waiting for BT to install BT Infinity.

An area's exchange had to get a minimum of 1,000 votes in order to enter the competition; any area whose exchange reached 75% would be actively engaged with by BT for an upgrade. Two exchanges outside the top 6 winners achieved over 75%: Marton, Warwickshire; and Capel, Surrey.

On 2 February 2011, BT announced that all 10 exchanges would be upgraded.[14]

In March 2012, BT announced that they would be upgrading all of their packages to take advantage of their newer and much faster 100Mbit/s fibre-optic technology. Areas are expected to be upgraded within the upcoming months.

On 25 September 2012, BT announced 163 new fibre exchanges. They are all expected to be activated sometime during 2013.[15] Among the list, is Blackpool, Lancashire, Desford, Leicestershire, Earl Shilton, Leicestershire, Oakengates, Shropshire, Skegness, Torquay, Cowdenbeath, Fife, Christchurch, Dorset, Buckhaven, Fife and Dursley.

In December 2012, BT had begun the first real-world tests of newer XGPON technology, developed by BT and ZTE collectively, to allow superfast fibre-optic broadband up to 10Gbit/s (10,000Mbit/s). The testing is currently being held at Arcol UK in Cornwall and will operate in tandem with its current 330Mbit/s downlink package.[16]

On 13 February 2013, BT announced 99 new fibre exchanges. They are all expected to be activated by the end of 2014.[17] Among the list, is Beamish, Birtley, Tyne and Wear, Darlington, Coatbridge, Grimsby and Yapton.

Criticism

BT have received objections to the siting of various road-side boxes that are being installed for BT Infinity. Objectors are not opposed to the new technology, but propose that better locations could be found for the boxes. The green BT Infinity boxes are similar to existing street side cabinets but are taller and wider than existing units, with some models being 1.6 metres (5.2 ft) tall.[18][19]

BT has also being widely criticised for upgrading telephone exchanges to support BT Infinity but then failing to upgrade all 'less profitable' cabinets. BT does not make cabinet upgrade plans public knowledge.[20][21]

See also

References

  1. ↑ BT Infinity Product Page BT Retail, accessed 2012-04-21
  2. ↑ Sebastian Anthony. "Only 1 percent of “up to 76Mbps“ customers actually get 76Mbps from UK ISPs". arstechnica.co.uk. Ars Technica UK. Archived from the original on 20 June 2015. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  3. ↑ Superfast Broadband Programme Update, BT, published June 2009, accessed 2010-10-27
  4. ↑ BT launches new Infinity broadband service V3, published 2010-01-21, accessed 2010-10-27
  5. ↑ BT launches BT Infinity superfast broadband at a competitive price BT, published 2010-01-21, accessed 2010-10-27
  6. ↑ BT Infinity Fibre Optic Broadband Comparison, accessed 2010-10-27
  7. ↑ http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/36968/~/how-is-bt-infinity-fibre-to-the-home-installed
  8. ↑
  9. ↑
  10. ↑ Race to Infinity Retrieved 11 January 2011
  11. ↑ "BT broadband race winners announced", BBC
  12. ↑ "WE WON! Top in the UK for Rural Broadband!", Whitchurch.org.uk
  13. ↑ "…and now we WIN £5000!", Whitchurch.org.uk
  14. ↑ "BT Expands Free UK Superfast Broadband Upgrade from 6 to 10 Communities", ISPreview
  15. ↑ "BT announces 163 new fibre exchanges", Techbeast.net
  16. ↑ Updated 20:23 23 Nov 2012 by Chris Smith (2012-11-23). "BT trialling 10-gigabit per second broadband in Cornwall". T3. Retrieved 2013-07-04.
  17. ↑ "BT reveals latest phase of fibre roll-out". Btplc.com. Retrieved 2013-07-04.
  18. ↑ conservationists battle bt over broadband cabinets, published 2 July 2010, accessed 11-11-2010
  19. ↑ The BT broadband boxes that have muzzled the Muswell Hill fibre trial, published 1 September 2010, accessed 11-11-2010
  20. ↑ BT Infinity ‘Blackspots’ & Why No Fibre Optic For Me! Accessed 18 July 2013.
  21. ↑ Why doesn’t BT come clean over fibre cabinet notspots? Accessed 18 July 2013.
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