| Posted: Monday 19th April 2004 by
Sam |
BT Wholesale have this morning announced that they will be trialling broadband above and beyond the current 60dB signal attenuation limit (approximately 6km line length). The trial, being conducted with the Milton Keynes Broadband Action Group, will involve 1,000 end users on a first-come first-served based in Milton Keynes (01908 dialling code). Some 18% of phone lines in Milton Keynes are currently unable to receive broadband ADSL, so this will be welcome news for many in that area.
These trials have come about following research by BT labs at Adastral Park, and internal trials with BT employees in various locations.
Service providers have until May 10th to register their interest in participating in the trial, with a list of those due to be involved being released the following day (May 11th). The installations, which may require an engineer visit, are due to commence on June 1st. Providing that this trial is successful, BT intend to launch a solution this autumn. Those participating in the trial will be pleased to hear that once the trial is completed, you can opt to keep the service, which will be charged at the standard rate.
Whilst this trial is only for the 500Kbps products (IPStream and DataStream), BT are apparently also looking at ways of extending the reach of their 1Mbps and 2Mbps products. Rumour has it that they're also looking at alternatives to the copper-overlay solution in TPON areas.
It is interesting to note that the press release on the Milton Keynes Broadband Action Group website mentions "10km line length and beyond". Rumour has it that ISP's are being told differently, with a figure of 7km being quoted. You have to wonder why there's such a large disparity between the two figures.
Update (3:56pm): After a number of people contacted me regarding the 7km figure, I contacted the BT Wholesale press office for an answer. They confirmed that service providers were being provided with the 7km figure, although this is expected to be the minimum increase and is subject to the results of the trials. The response also stated that they will not be limiting the trials to any particular dB loss or line length - all lines will be considered.
Quote from BT Wholesale Press Office, 15:26 19th April 2004
By testing service delivery on any line loss level we should be able to identify what the appropriate cut off would be. We're not saying 65dB, 70dB, 75dB is the number we're looking for - we're saying the trial should tell us what the appropriate level should be.
The service provider Q&A; says we hope to be able to increase reach to at least 7km, but clearly that's all subject to the results of the trial.
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