Broadband ISP Fast.co.uk has joined BT (Infinity), AAISP and Eclipse Internet in becoming the latest provider to offer its own range of Fibre-to-the-Cabinet ( FTTC ) based up to 40Mbps fibre optic broadband packages from £21.99 per month.

Separately Fast.co.uk have also announced that a free ADSL router modem (Thomson TG585v7) will now be included with all new broadband accounts, except the FTTC packages of course.

FTTC 20GB - £21.99 (monthly)
Download Speed: up to 40Mbps
Upload Speed: up to 2Mbps
Download Cap: 20GB / month
Installation: £51.70
Contract: 12 Months

FTTC 45GB - £26.99
Download Speed: up to 40Mbps
Upload Speed: up to 10Mbps
Download Cap: 45GB / month
Installation: £51.70
Contract: 12 Months

FTTC 100GB - £49.98
Download Speed: up to 40Mbps
Upload Speed: up to 10Mbps
Download Cap: 100GB / month
Installation: £51.70
Contract: 12 Months

All packages come with no restrictions (other than the usage cap) and unlimited e-mail accounts (plus anti-virus/spam filtering). Using FTTC 45GB as a comparison, Eclipse charges £39.95 for a business focused service with a 50GB usage allowance (unlimited off-peak usage), a FREE installation and a FREE VDSL modem.

The alternative top-end BT Infinity product costs £24.99 and includes both a FREE installation, 5Gb Digital Vault with Auto Backup, unlimited Wi-Fi minutes and "unlimited" downloads. However BT is known to be quite tough on their Fair Usage Policy (FUP).

Fast.co.uk admits that FTTC "coverage is currently very limited", though over the longer run their service does appear to be cheaper than Eclipse's. However BT clearly lead the pack on price and we're sure that a lot of smaller providers will find it difficult to match what they offer.