Super-fast broadband trickles out
Published: 08 Mar 2005 15:45 GMT
BT is on track to start testing significantly faster broadband services next month, but only a small fraction of UK Internet users will be able to take part.
BT Retail announced on Monday that it is engaging in the wholesale trials of 8Mbps ADSL services, but that these high speeds will only be made available to its own staff — cutting down the number available to actual consumers.
"The first phase of the trial will be internal, but future information on customer involvement will be issued in the near future," said BT Retail in a statement on Monday. A spokeswoman added that BT Retail expected that more lines would be included in the trials this summer.
BT Wholesale generated significant interest when it announced back in February it was planning to test its ADSL services at speeds up to 8Mbps, compared to its current maximum speed of 2Mbps. But just 2,000 lines in Greater London and Strathclyde will be tested in the first phase of the trials, it emerged last week.
These trials will run for up to 12 weeks, from April, but the rest of the UK will have to wait until at least the second half of 2005. Even then, many people will live too far from their local exchange and will be stuck with slower speeds.
PlusNet surprised some rival ISPs last month when it announced that it was moving to a usage-based charging model in response to BT's trials. From April it will bill its users according to how much data they use, regardless of the speed of their line.
In February, PlusNet appeared to give the impression that 8Mbps services would soon be widely available with Marco Potesta, PlusNet marketing director, insisting that "speed will no longer be a factor in how people buy broadband."
The word from BT now, though, is that PlusNet may have jumped the gun.
"PlusNet was a little premature, as BT hasn't said which regions were included in the trial," said one BT Wholesale insider.
On Tuesday, a PlusNet spokesperson admitted that the 2,000 trial lines was a "lower number than anticipated", but predicted that this would increase beyond April.
Did you find this article useful?
55 out of 99 people found this useful
Digg
Slashdot
Del.ici.ous
Stumble
Reddit
Full Talkback thread
3 comments
-
"Internet users keen to get 8Mbps broadband need t... Anonymous -
I think high speed broadband is a good idea and st... Duncan Thomas Sherrington
-
Very goo point. That's why I use Bulldog's 8M... Michael Batty
