VIDEO Demo of BT’s HyperFast 10Gbps UK Fibre Optic Broadband ISP Trial

The Superfast Cornwall project, which is working with BT to make superfast broadband solutions available to at least 80% of premises in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly by the end of 2014, has uploaded a video demo from its recent trial of a 10Gbps (Gigabits per second) capable “hyper-fast” fibre optic service using the latest XGPON (10G-PON) standard.

The video showcases the same Proof of Concept demo that we covered earlier this month, which saw BTOpenreach hook-up a business in Cornwall (Arcol) with the new service. However it should be noted that the trial wasn’t connected to the internet as, according to BT, “there is nothing that can be done on the web with 10Gbps“. Fair point.. for now.

The video once again confirms that BT has “no current plans to deploy this technology“, which won’t come as a surprise because most ISPs would struggle to afford the capacity for such a link. In any case it will be some years before 10Gbps becomes viable for home users on a truly national scale.

Ranulf Scarbrough, Director of Cornwall’s SuperFast Broadband Programme, said earlier:

“What is exciting about this trial is that these hyper-fast speeds have been obtained over the exactly the same fibre that carries BT’s fibre broadband services today. All we are doing is changing the electronics at either end.

This trial shows we are thinking and ready for the future even though there are no current plans to deploy this technology. A lot of this project is about future proofing – making sure that it’s not just the fastest speeds today but that we can continue to be at the cutting edge for five, ten, twenty years.”

BT’s current FTTP service offers broadband download speeds of up to 330Mbps (0.33Gbps), although it’s widely expected to reach 1Gbps within the next year or so. But FTTP technology only covers a tiny number of UK premises and most of the operators superfast broadband services are instead delivered via the slower FTTC solution (up to 80Mbps), which only takes the high capacity fibre optic cable as far as your street cabinet (FTTP takes it all the way to your home).

But from Spring 2013 home owners with FTTC lines (expected to reach 66% of the UK by spring 2014) will also be able to order FTTP-On-Demand, which will make FTTP available to them. The downside is that the installation costs for this “premium” product could range from the high hundreds of pounds to a couple of thousand (the cost of building /replacing a fibre optic line to your home). Credits to Recombu for spotting the video.