The official BT Wholesale Broadband Checker has received a small but interesting update and is now showing the operator’s top 1000Mbps download (220Mbps upload) tier for their Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network, which Openreach are busy rolling out to 3 million UK premises.
Openreach actually launched their Gigabit “full fibre” tier, as well as a 500Mbps (165Mbps upload) option, all the way back in 2016 (here). Both tiers are priced and aimed more at premium business connections but by default only attract a 12 month contract. On top of that they won’t yet be available in every location where their FTTP technology has been rolled out.
The fact that a major wholesale supplier like BTWholesale has now picked up the product may slowly increase the number of ISPs that will offer it, although issues with capacity, demand and cost may yet limit uptake. The two faster tiers cost £505 +vat for connection (one-off) and the monthly rental is £90 +vat for 500Mbps and £135 +vat for a full Gigabit (data-only service). The prices are effective from 1st June 2018.
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The pricing is obviously dramatically more expensive than most alternative network providers are charging for a 1Gbps connection to the home and that’s before we even add extras at the ISP (VAT etc.), although Openreach’s optical fibre network faces some very different challenges and regulatory barriers to those of the more nimble AltNet ISPs.
In the meantime any residential users who want ultrafast will prefer the much more affordable 330Mbps tier, which on BT’s own retail platform only costs about £59.99 inc. VAT per month with a £59.99 setup charge (one-off). In fairness it’s not like the vast majority of consumers are going to need all of that speed anytime soon, let alone 500Mbps or 1Gbps.
Credits to Thinkbroadband for spotting the BTWholesale news.
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