UPDATE3 Wireless ISP Relish Start 1Gbps “Full Fibre” Home Broadband Package

In a curious move Relish Wireless, which is a fixed wireless ISP in London and Swindon that was acquired by Three UK, has updated their website to offer a new range of “Home Fibre” broadband services that claim to offer a “full fibre experience” with ultrafast download speeds from 50Mbps to 1Gbps.

Apparently the new service can be installed within 5 working days, comes with no hidden charges or installation fees, includes “unlimited” usage (an ‘Acceptable Use Policy’ may apply), a 12 month contract, a “Home Hub” router (BT will surely love that name choice) and the site says “no landline needed“.

Furthermore the website promises that customers will “enjoy the full fibre broadband experience with ultrafast download speeds up to a whopping 1Gbps” (an asterisk notes that 1Gbps speed connections to a single device can “only be achieved through a wired connection”). Otherwise the three primary packages being promoted are as follows.

Relish Home Fibre Unlimited 1Gbps
£70 inc. VAT per month

Relish Home Fibre Unlimited 250Mbps
£40 per month

Relish Home Fibre Unlimited 50Mbps
£25 per month

The fact that the service can be installed within just 5 working days indicates that the network must already be present in order for it to be taken, which would be fine for their fixed wireless infrastructure but all the talk of “full fibre” makes us confused as to whether or not this is potentially a FTTP/H product.

We did run a coverage check on some known Openreach FTTP postcodes but came up empty, while known wireless postcodes for Relish’s network produced much lower estimated speeds (“up to 20Mbps” etc.) than the above packages are claiming (the latter is what we’d expect from their old wireless packages, but not the new service).

Relish’s existing wireless network has struggled to achieve its originally advertised 40Mbps peak and so it would take a major upgrade to turn that around. Three UK have previously hinted at their plans to use Relish, which they purchased from UK Broadband Ltd. (PCCW) earlier this year, to foster a national fixed wireless network that could serve 40% of the UK population but so far there have been no further updates (here).

Under the above proposal Relish could harness their primary 3.5GHz to 3.6GHz spectrum bands (they also own a bit of spectrum in the 3.9GHz, 28GHz and 40GHz bands) in order to support such a service. Three UK has also hinted that they may use some of this for a future 5G product.

At this point we only have the information on their website to go off, which leaves more than a few unanswered questions and we are chasing the provider for details.

UPDATE 3:57pm

I’ve been reminded that Relish Networks Plc used to be Keycom, who built the Vision Fibre Media install in various places (e.g. 1Gbps FTTP/H for residents of the Kings Chelsea development in London and student accommodation in York etc.). As such it’s possible that the new service may reflect an expansion of that work.

Relish has promised to respond to our query and we’re still waiting.

UPDATE 4th Oct 2017 – 7:49pm

We have had a response from Relish, albeit a rather curious one and none of our other questions were answered. Instead it looks like we now have to run our queries through another PR department at ‘Relish Networks’.. hay ho.

A Spokesperson for Relish told ISPreview.co.uk:

“The Relish fibre package has been available on relish.net since early May 2017. This product is provided by PCCW Global Networks (UK) plc, who used to be part of Relish prior to its purchase by Three UK. There is a license agreement in place between Three UK and PCCW Global Networks (UK) plc, for the fibre service to be featured on the relish.net website up until the end of 2017.”

ISPreview.co.uk ran a detailed update of our ISP database between June or July and during that sweep there was no obvious sign of their fibre package, but it may have been hiding. So far as we can tell this service is a reflection of the FTTP/H network being offered via the Media Force and Keysurf platforms under Relish Networks, but nothing is terribly clear.

UPDATE 5th Oct 2017 – 12:44pm

According to Relish Networks, the service is indeed a FTTP/H solution using GPON and it’s been successfully trialled in a few buildings. The sites in London where the service is now available are at Drayton Park N5 and Hornsey Street N7.

However, Relish Networks says they are looking to make the service available at other sites over the next few months and beyond. The operator also continues to offer superfast wired and WiFi broadband solutions to consumers and businesses in multi-tenanted accommodation.

Apparently their home fibre products will be marketed under a new consumer brand once the transition away from the Relish brand has been completed at the end of 2017 (as per the aforementioned statement).

In addition, the router being used for this service is a Zhone ZNID 2726A1 GPON ONT. The 2726A1 supports four Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports, five internal antennas that provide WiFi over both 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz (802.11ac), two voice ports and one USB port.