BT Infinity

[#1]

Having just gone ADSL2+ and doubled my speed to 2.2 mb, BT have started putting in new cabinets (Perton near Wolverhampton - served by the Tettenhall exchange).  After a bit of research they are the fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) cabs to support BT Infinity and up to 40 mb download speeds starting around 30th June 2010.
I've asked PN if they have plans and they have a trial only at this stage.  No idea of packages or prices.
PN need to move with exchanges not with national policies.  TalkTalk and O2 are going to pip them again if they are not careful.  Will BT lease access?  Will OFCOM make them discount the price to competitors?  BT don't currently have an Infinity and Talk package or competitive pricing.  Get in there PN!  Go Go Go.

[#2]

Quote - from wikipedia......
Infinity,  is the name for a collection of ideas about things which never end.
Hmm..... BT Infinity? 
wonder how far it will go live up to it`s name 

[#3]

PN seem to 'rarely' get left behind.
A quick look around the forum you can see information on the FTTC trials that PN are doing, and people asking to be part of other trials
(just like PN did with ADSL2)

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Will BT lease access?

Yes - more than likely, just depends on price competitors are willing to pay.

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BT don't currently have an Infinity and Talk package or competitive pricing

Its new... People who cant get cable, this is by *far* the quickest thing they can get via their phoneline. Why would BT make it stupidly cheap - when they can charge similar rates currently as people like virgin media. THEN when the fibre network expands, and other people start to use it - they drop their prices.
They get a high revenue from higher prices. then they can lower the price to get a higher % of market share.
Win win ?

[#4]

Some areas near here [Edinburgh], you just place your order with BT,
and 14 days or so later FTTP 40meg down, 10meg up - £25-£29.
Phone calls, TV are [£] options.
Just live in Edinburgh Dean or Stockbridge, about one or two more
exchanges per month rollout over the next 6months are planned.
The engineer thatcame here the other days and fixed me up with
NTE5 BB/voice splitter socket has been installing across town.
T.
{maybe a few new PN products under consideration/wraps, who knows}

[#5]

I can agree with you all, fortunately.  There is no way I'm paying the minimum £24.99 for BT Infinity, plus £11.49 + calls or call package.  It's over £40!
What i'd like to see is ADSL or ADSL2+ delivered via the FTTC.  I would then have a speed much nearer to 8 mb or 20 mb respectively because my noise and attenuation would be better and at no extra cost.  If fibre comes to the cabinet what is the point of the parallel copper?

[#6]

The parallel copper is needed so that the phones still work in times of emergency (power cuts etc).
The copper can carry power for voice communication over the copper lines.
BTW if 40Mbps = infinity, what should I call 100Mbps connections?

[#7]

superior

[#8]

Hi all,
Yes, there is plenty of activity at the moment with regards to trialling such products. It is essential we do this and get this right before jumping the gun and releasing a product before we know what it is capable of, ergo allowing us to set expectations with our customers and to gain a better understanding of its related processes for provisioning and faults.

[#9]

A Fox is Evil, 100 Mbps would be called "Buzz".  That's "to infinity and beyond!"
Adam, I'm not sure about all the trialling and capability studies.  BT will have it running on my exchange from 30th June, at least to their own customers.  Your non BT related competitors will also likely be nearly ready too, renting the FTTC stage to deliver fast connections. If you want to test something BT has already tested I suppose we can wait or transfer on a MAC.  Cost is the key, do it fast, do it now and do it cheaper! BT is your parent, why can't they show you how to do it?

[#10]

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Cost is the key, do it fast, do it now and do it cheaper!

I disagree. Do it when the PlusNet infrastructure can handle it, when the system is ready for it, and when the CS team are capable of being able to handle enquiries about it.
Do it properly, that is the most important thing....

[#11]

agree with you there mat. if PN was to rush the release of fttc then those new fttc customers would get sick of feeling as thoe there on a trail and still paying for the service due to BTw and PN not having fully tested all the systems out

[#12]

Nah,  BT have tested it and are using it already both in their original trial areas and in those rolled out since. For once they are doing something cutting edge to bring our speeds up to those in Western Europe and to Virgin/Telewest standards and beyond.
I don't want something that is flaky and unreliable, so I understand the caution but it is OTT.  I want PN to piggyback on BT's experience, not start from scratch.  If BT own PN surely they can paternally pass on the techie stuff (equipment specs, enquiry scripts etc) while PN stock up on vDSL modems and working out a price.

[#13]

If you want to jump on the bandwagon before the wheels are bolted on- im sure BT will be happy to accept you as a customer.

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If BT own PN surely they can paternally pass on the techie stuff (equipment specs, enquiry scripts etc

AFAIK this happens constantly from Openreach, to everyone - not just PN. (afterall, they want companies to keep paying for their service, rather than use another wholesaler like Be)
With the massive recent growth in customer numbers, id prefer them to ensure they have enough things like: Ellacoyas, to handle the *10x average speed* extra load being placed on them. And they have enough backhaul bandwidth to cope with a massive increase in bandwidth used...
but ofc, thats just my 2p. would be interesting to hear other peoples views on this tho.

[#14]

hopefully if i can get bt retail or PN to do a nice deal on a new phone line and whack fttc to this address, which checkers are now saying can get 15mb down and 6 up i will be running fttc along side this 63db atten adsl post office connection.
Got to say tho that BT's fttc unlimited (FUP) product for 25 quid is looking nice at the moment, tho i have not researched what/if traffic shaping ect there imposing on that product

[#15]

i agree asbo. However the thought of having to deal with BT Customer service at some point is quite a turn off..
BT Broadband usage policy
Note that it is no where near as open as PN as to what will be shaped, just tells you expect poor speeds from P2P and if your a "Heavy user", as far as i can see - it only quotes "Heavy users" as being the top 1% - but no quantifying with numbers and figures makes it more difficult to get an idea of what BT mean.