Home
 » ISP News » 
Sponsored Links

Openreach to Test XdB Speed Boost on ECI FTTC “Fibre Broadband” Lines

Saturday, Sep 23rd, 2017 (7:14 am) - Score 4,088

Some users of Openreach’s (BT) ‘up to’ 80Mbps capable Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC / VDSL2) broadband lines, specifically those stuck on troublesome ECI based street cabinets, may soon benefit from a speed boost when OR attempt to adopt a default target downstream noise margin of 3dB.

The SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio) of a standard VDSL2 or ADSL based broadband line (most consumers in the UK have one of these two) reflects the balance (measured in decibels) between the useful information coming down a line (good signal) and unwanted interference (bad signal / noise).

The default target downstream (download speed) noise margin on Openreach’s VDSL2 (FTTC) lines was previously set at 6dB, but by dropping this to 3dB you could deliver a free speed boost to stable copper lines (especially very short ones). Speed increases of up to 9Mbps have been spotted on some shorter lines, although not all lines will benefit.

Regular readers may recall that this upgrade has already been rolled out across Openreach’s Huawei based FTTC network (full details) but, as is almost customary, their ECI based estate of street cabinets threw up a few problems and sadly couldn’t benefit.

The good news is that the operator has been developing a solution for ECI kit and they’ve now informed ISPs that a Proof of Concept is ready to be tested on a subset of related FTTC / VDSL2 lines, which will take place from 20th October 2017. PoC’s are typically designed to test new technical solutions and do not usually reflect a large trial (although a larger trial may follow later if the PoC works well enough).

Tags: , ,
Mark-Jackson
By Mark Jackson
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 and .
Search ISP News
Search ISP Listings
Search ISP Reviews

Comments are closed

Cheap BIG ISPs for 100Mbps+
Community Fibre UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
Virgin Media UK ISP Logo
Virgin Media £24.00
132Mbps
Gift: None
Shell Energy UK ISP Logo
Shell Energy £26.99
109Mbps
Gift: None
Plusnet UK ISP Logo
Plusnet £27.99
145Mbps
Gift: None
Zen Internet UK ISP Logo
Zen Internet £28.00 - 35.00
100Mbps
Gift: None
Large Availability | View All
Cheapest ISPs for 100Mbps+
Gigaclear UK ISP Logo
Gigaclear £15.00
150Mbps
Gift: None
YouFibre UK ISP Logo
YouFibre £19.99
150Mbps
Gift: None
Community Fibre UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
BeFibre UK ISP Logo
BeFibre £21.00
150Mbps
Gift: £25 Love2Shop Card
Hey! Broadband UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
Large Availability | View All
The Top 15 Category Tags
  1. FTTP (5472)
  2. BT (3505)
  3. Politics (2524)
  4. Openreach (2291)
  5. Business (2251)
  6. Building Digital UK (2234)
  7. FTTC (2041)
  8. Mobile Broadband (1961)
  9. Statistics (1778)
  10. 4G (1654)
  11. Virgin Media (1608)
  12. Ofcom Regulation (1451)
  13. Fibre Optic (1392)
  14. Wireless Internet (1386)
  15. FTTH (1381)
Promotion
Sponsored

Copyright © 1999 to Present - ISPreview.co.uk - All Rights Reserved - Terms , Privacy and Cookie Policy , Links , Website Rules , Contact
Mastodon