telemach
Casual Member
I was talking to a friend who lives on Fitzjohn’s Avenue, London NW3 earlier, who (according to Ofcom’s broadband checker) can still only get ADSL, 15Mbit/s down, 1Mbit/s up.
However, g.network allows registering interest.
On exploring their packages, I noticed that all but the top tier is asymmetrical, e.g. 900 down, 300 up.
The same is true for other providers like Hyperoptic, whose 50 down package only offers 5 up, or BT.
By contrast, providers abroad typically only offer symmetric speeds, e.g. the 0.5 / 1 / 2 / 5 Gbit/s packages from AT&T, Verizon or 3BB.
Over copper lines, I understand that physical constraints mean asymmetrically splitting capacity better serves a typical user’s use case.
However, for fibre, there is no such constraint.
So my question:
Why are (true) fibre broadband connections in the UK still offered with an asymmetrical speed profile?
However, g.network allows registering interest.
On exploring their packages, I noticed that all but the top tier is asymmetrical, e.g. 900 down, 300 up.
The same is true for other providers like Hyperoptic, whose 50 down package only offers 5 up, or BT.
By contrast, providers abroad typically only offer symmetric speeds, e.g. the 0.5 / 1 / 2 / 5 Gbit/s packages from AT&T, Verizon or 3BB.
Over copper lines, I understand that physical constraints mean asymmetrically splitting capacity better serves a typical user’s use case.
However, for fibre, there is no such constraint.
So my question:
Why are (true) fibre broadband connections in the UK still offered with an asymmetrical speed profile?























