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UPD BT Extends the UK Coverage of its Long Reach BET 2Mbps Rural Broadband Tech

Posted: 14th Jun, 2011 By: MarkJ
uk urban versus rural broadband mapbt openreach logoBT has quietly extended the coverage of its costly Broadband Enabling Technology (BET) to an additional 5 telephone exchanges in remote and rural parts of the UK. BET allows an ISP to deliver fixed line broadband speeds of up to 2Mbps (Megabits per second) to homes and businesses that reside up to 12km away from their local telephone exchange.

Comparable ADSL (up to 8Mbps) and ADSL2+ (up to 24Mbps) based broadband solutions, as offered by most internet providers, tend to suffer significant performance and reliability loss after a distance of around 6.5km. As a result BET's ability to deliver broadband over almost double the distance gives it a significant advantage in rural locations.
BT's Latest BET Enabled Exchanges (Effective from 13th June 2011)
• Portsoy
• Barr
• Aboyne
• Inverbervie
• Auchenblae
BET itself is based off Symmetric Hi-Speed Digital Subscriber Line (SHDSL) technology, which has been around for awhile and is a cousin of the more familiar Symmetric DSL (SDSL) service for businesses. SHDSL combines elements from ADSL to work using frequencies that are not as prone to deterioration over distance.

However, BET is by no means perfect. It's top speed of 2Mbps, while better than many rural homes are currently able to receive, is still way behind the times and only just meets the governments Universal Service Commitment (2Mbps for all by 2015). BET also requires an additional copper pair (effectively two phone lines) for the full speed of 2Mbps, otherwise the maximum is just 1Mbps.

Perhaps the biggest problem with BET is its cost. A single BET connection will set you back around £1,094 +vat, which doesn't include the usual ISP monthly fees and other setup costs. As a result many of the largest providers have refused to offer the service, with some suggesting that it would be better value to deploy superfast fibre optic broadband solutions instead.

At present the only ISP we know of that is actively offering BET is a little known provider called Scotnet. Despite focusing upon Scotland, Scotnet should also be able to facilitate installations in any location where BET is present.

UPDATE 15th July 2011

Two more telephone exchanges have now also been enabled for BET in Ettrick Valley and Longformacus.
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