BT's superfast broadband network 'risks being empty'
 

Re: BT's superfast broadband network 'risks being empty'
 

Hah. Infinity signing up nearly 100K customers per quarter, and that's not including the 50 other providers also running FTTC services on the same network.

Course they argue it's twice the cost, but then it's over four times faster, and probably closer to seven times on average -

Re: BT's superfast broadband network 'risks being empty'
 

ISP demanding access to BT network for less money. There's something that doesn't happen often.

Re: BT's superfast broadband network 'risks being empty'
 

Talktalk are the type of company that would merrily dump thousands of users onto the same network without bothering to ensure capacity for them was there. They should merge with Virgin really.

Re: BT's superfast broadband network 'risks being empty'
 

If BT are investing £2.5bn into their network then they should get to set the prices.

Re: BT's superfast broadband network 'risks being empty'
 

Don't forget that a huge lump of that was a grant from the government.

VM also got a grant that they are using to upgrade their network. However they should be using it to sort out reliability problems on their aging network (especially replacing all the aluminium cables that some idiot decided to use years ago). Otherwise they will just end up losing more and more customers to BT's brand new (and probably far more reliable) service.

Re: BT's superfast broadband network 'risks being empty'
 

I guess so. Dont forget BT have a lot of aluminium still in their network as well which when used with the FTTC can have quite an effect on the speeds.

Re: BT's superfast broadband network 'risks being empty'
 

Zero of that is a grant from the government, any BDUK funds are in addition to the £2.5bn and are to plug gaps in the coverage above the 66% of population BT are planning to fund with the £2.5bn.

---------- Post added at 09:21 ---------- Previous post was at 09:20 ----------

Not so much, the issue was really joints between copper and aluminium. There will be a single copper-aluminium joint due to the tie pair between MSAN and PCP but it won't be as lethal as it was for standard DSL.

---------- Post added at 09:25 ---------- Previous post was at 09:21 ----------

Virgin Media aren't using a government grant to fund the >£100mln network upgrade. It's coming out of their own pockets.

Virgin have always, in common with every other cable company, used copper coated coax cores, not solid copper, and the land lines aren't an issue as they only need to carry telco, not broadband.

So far the BDUK funding and local grants have gone to BT and a couple of smaller operators and been used for bespoke local FTTC/P networks, wireless, and enabling Openreach cabinets previously considered unviable and not a part of the original £2.5bln spend.

The only involvement I've seen Virgin have is in their commitment to use the Fujitsu FTTP network which has seen bids for BDUK funding.

Re: BT's superfast broadband network 'risks being empty'
 

I thought Fujitsu pulled out of the FTTP business recently?

Re: BT's superfast broadband network 'risks being empty'
 

Not so much.

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php...uk-cities.html

Re: BT's superfast broadband network 'risks being empty'
 

Ah. It was just the BDUK stuff they pulled out of.

Re: BT's superfast broadband network 'risks being empty'
 

Re: BT's superfast broadband network 'risks being empty'
 

"may" and "signs" ;)

Re: BT's superfast broadband network 'risks being empty'
 

I'm afraid you are wrong on this one. I have had it direct from the horses mouth. NTL and BT both used aluminium cables for some of their network when the price of copper was high.

Re: BT's superfast broadband network 'risks being empty'
 

Did the aluminium cable cause any problems with voice? That's all there was when it was used and it was a lot cheaper than copper. I don't think you can blame BT (or was it Post Office Telephones then) for not having a crystal ball or examining goats entrails.