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Articles for Category Tag - Openreach

One UK Village’s Roller-Coaster Ride of USO Broadband Costs

18th October, 2020 (21 Comments)

The long running saga of trying to get a new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband service installed across the village of Pandy in Wales is one step closer to a solution. But its plight also helps to highlight how difficult it’s been for some areas to harness the new 10Mbps Universal Service Obligation (USO).

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Vodafone UK Discounts FTTP and FTTC Home Broadband Plans

17th October, 2020 (28 Comments)

Mobile operator and ISP Vodafone has just introduced a number of discounts to their FTTC (Superfast) and FTTP (Gigafast – Openreach and Cityfibre) based broadband packages, which reduces the monthly price on their superfast plans and offers several months of free service on their gigafast options.

ISP Sky Broadband UK Opens FTTP for Existing Customers

17th October, 2020 (31 Comments)

Over the past week we’ve noted that Sky Broadband appears to have started making their new Openreach Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based “Superfast” (59Mbps) and “Ultrafast” (145Mbps) broadband package available to existing customers, after initially only appearing to launch it for new subscribers.

Ofcom Considers Bringing UK Copper Line Retirement Forward

15th October, 2020 (12 Comments)

The seemingly rapid progress of Openreach’s (BT) move to replace their old copper phone services with a new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband ISP network has today prompted Ofcom, the UK telecoms regulator, to reconsider their time-line for the withdrawal of copper services.

Ofcom Opens Probe into BT Compliance with Broadband USO UPDATE

15th October, 2020 (20 Comments)

Ofcom has this morning opened an investigation to examine whether or not BT is complying with their obligations under the new UK Universal Service Obligation (USO), which requires them to help deliver at least a 10Mbps broadband download speed, upon request, to those in poorly served areas.

H1 2020 BDUK Take-up Data – UK Superfast Broadband Rollout

11th October, 2020 (40 Comments)

The Government’s £1.8bn Building Digital UK project has now helped to extend “superfast broadband” (24-30Mbps+) ISP networks to 5,293,139 extra premises since 2012 (up by 62,665 over the past 6 months) – about 390,000 of these are FTTP – and the latest take-up data to June 2020 reveals strong demand.

Telecoms Engineers and ISP Staff Get Queen’s Birthday Honours

9th October, 2020 (18 Comments)

The annual Queen’s Birthday Honours (2020) has just been published and it includes some figures from the United Kingdom’s broadband and telecoms sector, such as two Openreach (BT) engineers who have secured an MBE (Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) for their services.

Government Pledge to Help Tackle Huge Broadband USO Costs UPDATE

9th October, 2020 (45 Comments)

The UK Government’s Digital Minister, Matt Warman, has called on Ofcom and BT to find a “resolution” to the situation with the new Universal Service Obligation (USO) for broadband, which results in some homes being quoted tens or even hundreds of thousands of pounds to get a 10Mbps+ capable ISP connection.

North Yorkshire UK Targets 97% Superfast Broadband Coverage

8th October, 2020 (6 Comments)

The North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) will next Tuesday vote on a key decision to award the contract for Phase 4 of their Superfast Broadband North Yorkshire (SFNY) project, which is worth £12.5m and predicted to push local “superfast broadband” (30Mbps+) coverage up to 97% (currently 92%).

Openreach Add 51 Areas to the Copper Phone to Fibre Migration

5th October, 2020 (40 Comments)

Openreach (BT) has today named the next 51 UK exchange locations where they intend to move way from their old copper-based analogue phone (PSTN / WLR) services and on to a new all-IP network, which will apply in areas that receive over 75% coverage via their Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network.

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BT and TalkTalk Row Over FTTP Discounts and Competition Rules

5th October, 2020 (5 Comments)

The CEO of low-cost broadband ISP TalkTalk, Tristia Harrison, has criticised BT (Openreach) for not signing long-term discount deals (wholesale) to help boost access to their Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network. On the flip side BT is reportedly concerned that being too generous could breach UK competition rules.

BT’s UK Redundancy Plan Triggers Threat of Strike from Union

3rd October, 2020 (47 Comments)

The Communications Workers Union (CWU) has threatened possible strike action against broadband and mobile giant BT after details of the operator’s plan to slash redundancy payments in half were leaked, which comes as many jobs are being lost due to the operator’s new office re-location strategy (closing many existing sites).

copper vs fibre optic openreach engineer

9 Attacks on Openreach Cables in London Prompt £20k Reward

1st October, 2020 (11 Comments)

Back in August we reported on a spate of copper telecoms cable thefts (Metal Theft) in East London, which had disrupted broadband ISP and phone connectivity on Openreach’s (BT) UK network for those living nearby (here). After a ninth attack the reward for information has now been raised from £1k to £20k.

Q2 2020 Progress Update on Wales BT FTTP Broadband Rollout

30th September, 2020 (14 Comments)

The Welsh Government has issued a progress update on their £52.5m Phase 2 Superfast Cymru contract with BT (Openreach), which is deploying a gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network to cover a further 39,000 premises. The data to June 2020 shows that 9,895 have so far been completed.

Openreach Tweak Guidance on FTTC Speeds for Lift and Shifts

29th September, 2020 (15 Comments)

Openreach (BT) has issued some interesting new internal guidance to its UK engineers for handling Lift and Shifts (i.e. moving a line to a new DSLAM port) on Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC / VDSL2) based broadband cabinets, which now allows ports to be used if the max line speed is above 72Mbps.

Clearing Up Confusion Over the BT FTTP Digital Voice Transition

26th September, 2020 (44 Comments)

Some of those trying to take one of UK ISP BT’s ultrafast Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based home broadband packages have been left confused by how the provider is handling the transition to their new VoIP style ‘Digital Voice’ service, which stems from the fact that it isn’t yet available to every Openreach based full fibre line.

ISP EE Launches UK Gigabit FTTP Home Broadband Packages

25th September, 2020 (37 Comments)

Mobile operator and UK ISP EE have just launched their own range of Home Broadband packages on Openreach’s new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network. Most of the prices tend to mirror their existing FTTC and G.fast based plans, except the top 900Mbps+ tier.