BT Bringing Fibre-Optic Broadband to 2.5m Homes

15/10/2009

Telecom firm BT is moving to increase the number of homes that will be able to get super-fast broadband using its network.

The company is making the investment as part of its £1.5bn next-generation broadband effort and will help it compete with cable broadband provide Virgin Media.

Current broadband down a phone line, called ADSL, can reach a maximum speed between 8 to 24 Mbps, depending on the provider used. All ADSL providers use at least part of BT’s network, where factors such as distance between the home and telephone exchange, and quality of the line, often lead to slower than maximum speeds.

In comparison Virgin Media can currently offer 50 Mbps broadband to homes serviced by its cable network, which uses different cabling and technology to deliver the service. The company is trialling even faster offerings too.

To eradicate the problem of telephone line length causing slow broadband, BT is installing fibre optic cables to street-side cabinets, leaving just the last few metres as regular copper phone wire. Fibre optics, which transmit signals using light rather than electricity, are less prone to interference, allowing data to delivered faster over longer distances. It’s bringing this to 10 million homes by 2012 and will allow it to deliver 40 Mbps broadband.

But 2.5 million lucky people will be getting fibre straight to their doorstep, giving them a chance to get 100Mbps broadband – that’s fast enough to download three music tracks every single second, or grab a 30 minute video from BBC iPlayer in around 30 seconds.

It doesn’t stop there, however, with BT claiming the technology could run ten times faster than that in the future, if there’s enough demand for it.

Of course, the places most likely to get this speed boost are built up areas where Virgin Media is present, but worry not, most of us should eventually get fibre to the cabinet at the very least.

What would you do with 100 Mbps broadband? Let us know; leave a comment!