ISP TalkTalk Trial UK FTTP Ultrafast Broadband via Openreach

Last month UK ISP TalkTalk promised that they would launch a new range of ultrafast broadband packages “before the end of the calendar year“, which for the first time would be based off Openreach’s (BT) new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network. The first customer trials are now quietly going live.

At present if you want “ultrafast” (100Mbps+) speeds from TalkTalk then you can either take their hybrid-fibre G.fast based packages from Openreach (covers around 2.5 million UK premises) or, if you’re very lucky, you might be reached by one of the limited FTTP deployments under their own independent FibreNation network sibling (i.e. York, Dewsbury, Harrogate, Knaresborough and Ripon).

Despite this TalkTalk has recently indicated that they want to maximise their “full fibre” coverage by adding Openreach’s FTTP network into the mix (covers around 2 million premises). This is an important move considering that they are also reportedly in the process of trying to sell FibreNation to Cityfibre (here), although TalkTalk will probably retain some degree of preferential wholesale access in any sale.

In any case we’ve been eagerly awaiting news of TalkTalk’s first Openreach based FTTP packages. In keeping with that some of their customers have recently informed ISPreview.co.uk that they’ve been invited to a new 6 month trial of a related “Future Fibre Broadband” product and we now have some solid details.

Guy Miller, TalkTalk’s Fibre for Everyone Director, told ISPreview.co.uk:

“TalkTalk has long been a champion of full fibre so customers can benefit from faster, more reliable services. Following our successful rollout of fibre to the premises in York through FibreNation, we are delighted that we are now bringing better connectivity to more customers using the Openreach network.”

At the time of writing you won’t find any public package details or prices for the new “Future Fibre Broadband” product on their website and that’s because they’re currently only inviting a selection of existing TalkTalk customers to trial it, absolutely free, for the next 6 months. The trial invites include the following package description (this appears to be based off Openreach’s 330Mbps [50Mbps upload] tier).

Future Fibre Broadband
* Guaranteed speeds of 100Mb/s
* Possible speeds of 300Mb/s
* Our most reliable connection yet
* Free and easy set up
* No obligation to keep it after 6 months
* Keep your current line and contract alongside the new free connection

Separately we understand that partners on the TalkTalk Business platform are also in the process of gaining access to the new service and as a result we’d expect to see more ISPs offering related packages in the coming months. At present the ISP only seems to be doing this as a data-only product but in the future it will be accompanied by a new IP voice (VoIP) style solution for calls.

Despite the description above, we understand that TalkTalk will also offer a package based off Openreach’s 115Mbps tier and they appear to be testing even faster speeds (above 330Mbps). We view such testing as a reference to Openreach’s planned launch of a new 550Mbps and 1Gbps product for consumers, which is due to go live on 23rd March 2020 (here).

At present there are no confirmed details on what router (TT Wi-Fi Hub?) will accompany the trial or when a final product may emerge, although the new trial takes us up to about the middle of 2020. Naturally you’ll need to be covered by Openreach’s FTTP network in order to benefit.

UPDATE 1:37pm

TalkTalk has confirmed that everyone on the trial will be offered their Wi-Fi Hub router.