EE UK Set to Cut BT Wholesale Out from Slower Broadband Packages
Mobile and broadband ISP EE (BT) has confirmed to ISPreview that the approach they currently take on their top 1.6Gbps speed Full Fibre (FTTP) package, which partly cuts BT Wholesale out of the equation, is set to be adopted across their slower tiers too (900Mbps and lower). But customers aren’t expected to notice any real difference.
In the past it used to be the case that BT and EE’s consumer focused broadband packages were based on BTW’s products, but this changed after Openreach launched their faster 1.2Gbps and 1.8Gbps tiers (usually advertised as average speeds of 1000Mbps and 1600Mbps, respectively). This is partly because BTW still doesn’t offer any consumer-focused FTTP products faster than 1Gbps (900Mbps) for UK ISPs.
Instead, EE’s fastest package largely took the 1.8Gbps (sold as 1.6Gbps) wholesale product directly from Openreach and seemed to then have deployed their own platform to support it (this still seems to involve some of BTW’s network, just not the 1.8Gbps wholesale product). But the technical specifics of exactly how this is all arranged remains a little bit subject to speculation (the ISP has not provided many official details when asked).
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The latest development is that EE appear to now be planning to adopt the same approach they took for their 1.6Gbps package and spreading it out to their slower speed services. A spokesperson for the BT Group confirmed that they would be making such an internal change, although this is perhaps only interesting from a technical standpoint, since it’s not expected to have any impact on customers or their service (i.e. you won’t notice a difference).
The change is currently in trial and is expected to be rolled out in the very near future, although BT/EE hasn’t provided a detailed timescale. But we assume they wouldn’t be deploying it more widely if they didn’t see some advantages in cost or efficiency of service delivery, particularly as BTWholesale can already directly serve products with speeds up to 1Gbps (900Mbps average). In theory, putting all customers on the same approach could also solve some issues around internal package migrations and upgrades, which have occasionally cropped up due to the split of platforms.
ISPreview understands that the plan is for both existing and new customers to move seamlessly onto the new platform, with changes happening remotely.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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Be interesting to see if this will eventually allow EE customers on 900 and lower to upgrade to 1.6 speeds without doing a cease and reprovide.
I hope so too stuck with EEs 900mbps although if it doesn’t i might be tempted to switch to Zens 1.6gbps
I should hope so . I did about 4 months ago – happened overnight.
I was told they didn’t use BTO but I didn’t believe it until now.
What will happen to EE TV? This isn’t currently offered on 1.2/1.8Gbps packages
I’ve said before and I’ll say it again. I do not see any technical differences on the 1.6 lines I’ve got access to. Even when you couldn’t order EE TV, multicast still worked. It is good to see that “EE” suggest it’s a change that no one will notice as I don’t think there will be any actual change aside from internal processes and politics.
My guess is that BT Group has decided that the network that (formerly?) was BT Wholesale’s responsibility will now be shared between them. By now I’d expect the bulk of the “wholesale” traffic to be for the BT brands anyway, so it probably makes sense for the retail arm to have more of a say in its operation. There’s no way they’ve perfectly replicated a separate national network at great expense without anyone seemingly noticing.
One wonders if Ofcom has had input but I guess there isn’t much to say. This isn’t 2005, anyone who can get OR FTTC or FTTP is able to access alternative wholesale networks, and the ISPs that used to rely on BT Wholesale have either built their own equivalent networks or now use a mix of wholesalers.
@Ivor
EE TV has never been available on the 1.6 packages, just 900 or lower. Bizarrely the only TV available to order with this package through EE is Sky Stream. Surely this will have to change given lower speeds will be managed in the same way.
I’m sure there’s a great reason BT wholesale is dragging its feet on those faster products at the same time BT wanted to make EE a significant player in consumer broadband.
It’s def not going to be helpful when it means smaller players can’t really roll a platform to offer the faster speeds and thus means customers move to EE for them.
Def not that at all. Certainly no intentional plan there.
So in laymans terms, BT in guise of EE are keeping products above 900mbps to themselves as BTW don’t offer it, therefore other ISPs are locked out from oferring those higher speed tiers?
If so,expect Ofcom to wake up after their nap and throw the book at BT after other ISP complaints.
I can order OR 1800/120 from IDNet so it’s clearly not an insurmountable problem for smaller players
I suspect IDNet are getting it via Zen.
Yes, anyone with an alternative to BT Wholesale should be able to. Openreach sell to anyone and that anyone can resell as they see fit.
I know Zen offer a wholesale 1800 product and nothing stopping PXC, Vodafone and Sky from doing so.
It’s dodgy having EE buy from Openreach and deliver to BT Wholesale equipment but not a regulatory matter as far as I know else complaints would’ve already gone in.
Sky’s solution it seems was to put faster speeds on a different wholesaler, although of course they wont be able to do that everywhere.
No, other ISPs aren’t locked out, they just can’t buy the aggregation and backhaul from BT wholesale, yet. That’s no problem for altnets who don’t use those products to aggregate their own networks, and it’s not much of a problem for networkless ISPs who use Openreach because there are multiple wholesale providers.
Last mile access was the most significant competitive hurdle in UK broadband which is why the focus of regulation is on Openreach. Backhaul is much less of an issue because there are multiple large players and it’s possible for CPs to provide their own.
I don’t think Ofcom will be interested.
Never understand why you can’t order via Openreach? I do honest think Ofcom should bring Openreach as their own ISP rather than useless BTWholesale.
Sky, Vodafone, TalkTalk, Zen, etc go straight to Openreach. Just you need equipment in the headend exchanges to do this as Openreach don’t have any national network to collect all the exchanges together.
My understanding is that an ISP has the choice of ordering from Openreach or a wholesaler such as BT Wholesale. Isn’t it up to the ISP to decide where they want to connect (OHP or BTW AP for example) and how much of the backhaul the ISP wants to provide? Isn’t that how it works?. I will welcome any clarification.
You can’t order from BT Wholesale either unless you are an ISP.
Does anyone know what proportion of GEA Handover exchanges have BTW as the sole provider of wholesale backhaul?
My former employer had (expensive!) low-level access to the (now defunct) Samknows database; you could run a query, giving a list of exchanges for each wholesaler, together with distances to non-served exchanges, to help work out the cost of private circuits.
Is there an up to date public source of similar info?
Zen sent us a list of theirs, since we were a Zen reseller.
Do any others actually publish lists of exchanges in which they have a presence.
T.I.A. to anyone who is able to give relevant info.
BTW’s current offering is arguably a restrictive practice; I wonder if Offtoss, sorry Ofcom, will notice?
None.
When I last looked at this every handover point had multiple providers available. I doubt it’s got worse.
I had wondered if the Isles of Scilly might qualify as Openreach designates the Scillonia exchange as an OHP (not child/subtended) and is to be retained after the closure programme. Surely the smallest such location anywhere on the network.
Sky claim to be able to offer 900Mbit FTTP to an IoS address and I would very much doubt it’s on BT Wholesale. BT did install (repurpose) an undersea cable as part of Superfast Cornwall so it wouldn’t be all that surprising that they’ve bought capacity and are having it piped through to a Cornish exchange where they already have a PoP.
Me sipping my tea with brsks 2GBPS connection for half the price ee gives its 1.6gbps for. I honestly believe more of us should go for altnets to create competition with these mainstream providers.
Taimoor who is that with ?
Who are you with?
He literally does say “brsk”, but you have to be in their covered areas
Thats fine for people who have brsk available to them not everyone has them or other altnets available.
I have noticed a lot more downtime on the brsk network than the btw/openreach connections though/
With BTs main consumer brand moving away from BT Wholesale, I do wonder how long it’ll have left. With a reduced number of users it won’t be as cost efficient, which may drive away other ISPs
They aren’t moving from BT Wholesale. Looks like the only thing that’s happening is they buy the tail from Openreach instead of Wholesale. Still goes to the same Wholesale equipment in the exchange. Still goes along the same Wholesale routers, switches and links on its way to the wider Internet.
Beginning of the end for BTW it seems.
They also said that about plusnet and bt retail.
The EE/BT provisioning mess did my head in when I could get 1.8Gbps from EE/Vodafone, but not any other third-party ISPs like IDNet, Zen, etc.
Repeated requests from various parties to explain why simply amounted to “because”.
And yet OpenReach/BT/EE wonder why many of their customers run to alternatives the first chance they get.
Instead of ranting about BT, you should ask those other ISPs why they have not done the legwork to offer those new *Openreach* services yet. It has nothing to do with BT Wholesale or BT’s retail brands.
Openreach allow all of their customers to buy 1.8G services (with possible exceptions in the areas stuck on ECI kit – unsure if they’ve finally ripped it out yet). Zen must not have been ready, and according to another comment, IDNet use Zen as their wholesale partner. So that would explain that.
This problem would also exist in the altnet world. Can Sky serve every Cityfibre customer yet?
Zen and IDNet both offer 1.8 over the Zen backhaul network.
Some on longer standing FTTP are restricted to 500 Mb on Zen’s backhaul.
They aren’t obliged to offer it anywhere though and their websites make clear what’s available to an address. A random residential complaint isn’t going to make Zen spend £600 on a cablelink and, depending, a few grand on a new switch.
I went to EE asking for any full fibre connection over 1k MB/s. After checking my postcode, 90 MB/s was the maximum speed I could buy and it is copper they installed. Everyone is saying that full fibre to my street isn’t available but I feel like I am the only house on my street with copper connections. I live in a 4 flat HMO and the other 3 flats have optical cables. I feel so scammed as I believed it was full fibre that is more reliable and faster. Even though we have 90 MB/s internet, speed tests indicate we always get 30-36 that is not even meeting the guaranteed minimum speed. Only reason I didn’t complain for a refund was that it was cheaper and faster than the Three 4G WiFi that it replaced. Buy the way, I had to pay Three for another 5 months because EE claims to pay any early termination fees was a lie, my 4G WiFi wasn’t supported. But they would as usual tell you after signing the contract. EE and Three are 2 companies that I will never use again.
I suspect the buyout from other providers does not apply too mobile networks. Anyone with a different experience would be good to hear from.
I really can’t comprehend the stress over a 1.8Gbs or 1.6Gbs product when its being sold on GPON, a 2.4Gbs downstream core. Shared with 32 others.
The next post will be about a contended performance on a product sold at a few tenners a month grumbling it’s not performing at 1.8Gbs every second speed test.
If you were paying for 1.6Gbps, you would hope 32 others weren’t on at the same time! 🙂 — unlikely i know.
EE are no longer advertising the 1.6 speeds, they are just advertising this as 1gbs with a 1gbs guaranteed speed