UK Broadband Coverage Nearing 99.6%

Urban Weigl

From The Register:

UK DSL coverage reaches 90%
By Tim Richardson
Published Wednesday 19th May 2004 11:05_GMT

Nine out of ten UK homes and businesses can now get DSL broadband, according to the UK's dominant fixed line telco. Confirmation that BT has hit its "significant milestone on the way to universal broadband availability" comes a day before the company publishes its latest round of financial figures.

So far, BT has broadband-enabled 2,652 exchanges and has plans to upgrade a further 2,366 by next summer. If it achieves it goal, ADSL will be available in 99.6 per cent of the UK, said the company in a statement.

Last month BT announced it was scrapping its broadband pre-registration scheme after realising - at last - that there is sufficient interest in broadband after all.

The move is set to make DSL broadband available to almost all of UK homes and businesses by summer 2005, bringing the UK "significantly closer to universal availability".

Mr_Man

a decent regulator, a government with some idea of what its doing, and a company willing to look beyond the next five minutes, can do.....

God help us.....

M.

cgarvey

I wonder does that mean "available" as in eircom's terms or literally available, should the customer want it. 90% seems awfully high.. especially rural customers, etc.

.cg

Superman

ah pipe down! theres more important things fore the govt. to worry about than a few begrudging nerds giving out about not being able to download their anime fast enough.

Whats more important for the country (as a whole) better healthcare or faster broadband?

p.s. the answer is better healthcare.

Sorry if i'm beiung harsh to some of you's but far too many people ob these forums think broadband is the only important thing in life!

BigMoose

Personally I'd say the UK has better healthcare too - but that's not what this board is about... It's not a coincidence that people talk (moan) about broadband here.

oscarBravo

Originally posted by Superman
Whats more important for the country (as a whole) better healthcare or faster broadband?

What's more important, better healthcare or education? Better close all those silly schools. What's more important, better healthcare or roads? Abolish the NRA now! What's more important, better healthcare or cultural heritage? Get rid of the National Museum!!

Government is not a zero-sum game. Believe it or not, it's possible to have a country with decent healthcare and broadband.

watty

I can get a choice of doctors and I can go to Regional Hospital or St Johns. Compared with what I used to get in UK 25 years ago I would say Healthcare and schools, while not perfect, exist and mostly work.


However, not only can I not get Broadband (which I don't want unless it is down to €20 per month), I can't get ISDN.

Nor does Internet work on my analog line. A modern Digital Exchange and 900m of excellent copper wire. Eircom can't make it work and there is no alternate source now that Chorus lost their licence (amazingly their wireless loop worked for us error free at 49K analog for 2 years).

This is a forum special for Broadbanmd / internet connectiviy. There are other places to gripe about health / schools etc.


Eircom is a PRIVATE company, not a Gov. Semi state like Health/Schools anyway.

Mr_Man

BT announced profits to-day of £2.02Bn (pre-exceptional figure) which was an increase of 10% over the previous year. They noted that one of the main drivers of the increase was broadband takeup and they claim to have 2.5m BB users at this time.

Eircom please take note that it is possible to make money and provide a decent BB service at the same time.

M.

dieselfreak

All exchanges in the north, now have a RFS (ready for service) date set.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/business/story.jsp?story=522817

Gonzo

what percentage would we have here? prolly something crazy like 10% if even that?

spongebob

We have 1100 exchanges of which 220 ARE enabled or WILL BE enabled by March 2005. Thats 20% or so.

Some of the remaining 80% have Trigger Level Targets set for them of 120% of customers or some other risible figure. See the Comwreck site. I think thats another 150 or c 14% on top of the 20% .

Therefore 34% of exchanges nationally are operating under some form of Service or Target Date or Vague if Impractical trigger level which can not be reached in reality.

In the UK they recently abandoned Trigger levels and assumed that BB was in demand so why ask......which is probably why Eircom picked that time to Introduce such a system.

My understanding of the NI scheme is not that it will result in 100% DSL coverage but rather 100%BB Coverage . If the exchange is too distant (thats over 6km away in the North) or if it is too small then the coverage will be provided with Wireless instead. The mimimum coverage package will be 512k. BT have contracted into that from the start.

As a joined up scheme for 100% Population Coverage the NI one has no parallel in the Western world in my opinion. Given the dispersal of the population in NI it may be reasonably accepted that the scheme will probably provide 96-97% Geographical coverage with a few black spots on top of the Sperrins and the Mourne and the Antrim plateau.

M

Ripwave

Originally posted by Mr_Man
Eircom please take note that it is possible to make money and provide a decent BB service at the same time.

Eircom already make lots of money.

The question isn't whether they can make money from broadband - it's whether they can make more money than they currently make on selling dialup to the same customers. eircom probably lose money when a customer switches from a "hi-price" line (€37.50 line rental plus €30 for 150 hours "Anytime" subscription) to a DSL line (€24.18 line rental plus €40 subscription). For ordinary analog users, the cash flow has probably increased, but when you consider that over 50% of all "call minutes" on the eircom network were data traffic in recent years, then there's a big downside. People who might spend €10-€15 a month on dialup aren't necessarily falling over themselves to switch to DSL at €40, but if eircom can't "sell up" these average users, then it might end up loosing out on revenue from those who were spending a lot more than €40 on dialup, who are likely to jump at broadband (where it's available).

seamus

Hmph...missed that.
Superman, no-one asked you to post here. If you've nothing useful to say, don't bother. You'll be banned next time.

KinSlayer

wonder will they reach a bit into the border counties

bk

Originally posted by Ripwave
Eircom already make lots of money.

The question isn't whether they can make money from broadband - it's whether they can make more money than they currently make on selling dialup to the same customers. eircom probably lose money when a customer switches from a "hi-price" line (€37.50 line rental plus €30 for 150 hours "Anytime" subscription) to a DSL line (€24.18 line rental plus €40 subscription). For ordinary analog users, the cash flow has probably increased, but when you consider that over 50% of all "call minutes" on the eircom network were data traffic in recent years, then there's a big downside. People who might spend €10-€15 a month on dialup aren't necessarily falling over themselves to switch to DSL at €40, but if eircom can't "sell up" these average users, then it might end up loosing out on revenue from those who were spending a lot more than €40 on dialup, who are likely to jump at broadband (where it's available).

That is one of the reasons FRIACO was so important for IOFFL. It reduced the gap between how much money Eircom made from dial-up and how much they made from BB. Thus Eircom suddenly became much more interested in BB.

Eircom would prefer you to be on BB rather then FRIACO. Because if you are on FRIACO and you have only one line, then you can't make or receive phone calls, which means less money for Eircom.

eth0_

Originally posted by cgarvey
I wonder does that mean "available" as in eircom's terms or literally available, should the customer want it. 90% seems awfully high.. especially rural customers, etc.

.cg

No, it means you can GET broadband on your phone line in over 90% of cases! I'd say only the most remote villages can't get it, I used to live in a fairly remote village (not even a pub!) in Co. Down and had 512k dsl (could have had 1mb if I wanted it, too).

The government in the UK have a target of 100% broadband coverage within the next 2 years iirc. Of course that includes cable and wireless services, but wouldn't it be great if Bertie et al took the same attitude!

btw NTL are now offering their 150k cable internet service for £9 a month. Stings, doesn't it

sceptre

Originally posted by eth0_
a fairly remote village (not even a pub!)

(which down here would be the yardstick for really really small)

gt94sss2

Originally posted by Muck
My understanding of the NI scheme is not that it will result in 100% DSL coverage but rather 100%BB Coverage . If the exchange is too distant (thats over 6km away in the North) or if it is too small then the coverage will be provided with Wireless instead. The mimimum coverage package will be 512k. BT have contracted into that from the start.

As a joined up scheme for 100% Population Coverage the NI one has no parallel in the Western world in my opinion. Given the dispersal of the population in NI it may be reasonably accepted that the scheme will probably provide 96-97% Geographical coverage with a few black spots on top of the Sperrins and the Mourne and the Antrim plateau.

BT are now trialling 512K ADSL "as far as 10km" from the exchange

There are also other parts of the UK, which will be getting the same 100% coverage (i.e. the North East of England) and where ADSL can't be provided, Wireless will be used.

This is all on the way to BT achieving 99.6% ADSL coverage (by households) and they are looking at other options for the areas they are not ADSL'ing

Regards
Sunil

Moriarty

Threads merged.

spongebob

Originally posted by gt94sss2
BT are now trialling 512K ADSL "as far as 10km" from the exchange

There are also other parts of the UK, which will be getting the same 100% coverage (i.e. the North East of England) and where ADSL can't be provided

Sunil

We had heard of the Milton Keynes trial . Typically Irish ADSL (Alcatel Kit) works no further than 4 or 4.5km from the exchange as configured by Eircom but that will change eventually.

ADSL cna be provided anywhere but if distance is an issue some form of Remote Concentrator is needed that is ADSL compatible. Give the state of Irish lines , 40% of all lines on the West Coast are Pairgained, a Remote Concentrator will solve nothing as the copper network is far too decrepit.

An interesting contrast is that the BT network was deemed suitable for the provision of 28.8k UNIVERSALLY as a mimimum speed on an Analogue Line when the most recent USO was poublished in July 2003. This went up from 2.4k in the previous USO and reflected to some degree the progress made in the removal of Pairgain (also known as DACS or Carrier Line) Devices over the 1999-2003 period. This was thanks to the strong and clearheaded regulator (Oftel / Ofcom) in the UK in that time.

In Ireland the USO speed went from 2.4k in 1999 to 0k Universally in July 2003 and has remained there since. The decripitude of the Copper network is now a state secret and the Regulator (Comreg) has recently stopped answering questions on the subject of the USO and/or Pairgains ......irrespective of who asks and why .

Email tom.butler@comreg.ie to find out what the latest fudge is over there .

M

gt94sss2

Originally posted by Muck
ADSL cna be provided anywhere but if distance is an issue some form of Remote Concentrator is needed that is ADSL compatible. Give the state of Irish lines , 40% of all lines on the West Coast are Pairgained, a Remote Concentrator will solve nothing as the copper network is far too decrepit.

An interesting contrast is that the BT network was deemed suitable for the provision of 28.8k UNIVERSALLY as a mimimum speed on an Analogue Line when the most recent USO was poublished in July 2003. This went up from 2.4k in the previous USO and reflected to some degree the progress made in the removal of Pairgain (also known as DACS or Carrier Line) Devices over the 1999-2003 period. This was thanks to the strong and clearheaded regulator (Oftel / Ofcom) in the UK in that time.

In Ireland the USO speed went from 2.4k in 1999 to 0k Universally in July 2003 and has remained there since. The decripitude of the Copper network is now a state secret and the Regulator (Comreg) has recently stopped answering questions on the subject of the USO and/or Pairgains ......irrespective of who asks and why .

Hmm - interesting

Your "pairgain" device is similar to what BT deploys here in the UK,when it has no spare copper for a new line - though as you say we call it DACS - and like Eire, DACS lines can't support xDSL services. Its nowhere close and never has been near 40% of lines though!

BT have never liked installing them - as they cost more than just installing a new line (unless it requires a substantial cable laying etc)

The state of the network in Eire sounds terrible!

In fact, DACS are removed automatically as part of the UK ADSL order process by BT.

As for the change to the UK USO:

1. DACS lines/devices currently deployed can support internet connections of up to 33.6K (hence the lack of objections to raising the USO target to 28.8K). BT do have (well trialled) DACS devices which supported v.90/56K modems but appear to have decided against deploying them.

2. The original 2.4K was choosen as that's the minimum needed to get a fax to work properly

3. I would have to check, since its a long time since I drafted a reply to the last OFTEL USO consulation, but the USO speed in Eire can't be zero - as 2.4K is specified in a EU Directive somewhere as they were trying to standardise a minimum USO across Europe (the UK USO exceeds the EU version)

Regards
Sunil

spongebob

Originally posted by gt94sss2
Hmm - interesting
Your "pairgain" device is similar to what BT deploys here in the UK,when it has no spare copper for a new line - though as you say we call it DACS - and like Eire, DACS lines can't support xDSL services. Its nowhere close and never has been near 40% of lines though!

In Ireland they are deployed instead of Copper. The worst of them are 8:1 or 16:1 and support speeds of 12-16k .

BT have never liked installing them - as they cost more than just installing a new line (unless it requires a substantial cable laying etc)

George Soros loves them. It means he makes more money from Eircom.

The state of the network in Eire sounds terrible!

Verdigris would be an apt description. Thats why metrics on the Network have been classified as a state secret like exchange location for example. You cannot FoI them.

In fact, DACS are removed automatically as part of the UK ADSL order process by BT.

ROTFLMAO . Not here. You simply fail and then Eircom and Comreg tell you they can 'do nothing about it' .

As for the change to the UK USO:
1. DACS lines/devices currently deployed can support internet connections of up to 33.6K (hence the lack of objections to raising the USO target to 28.8K). BT do have (well trialled) DACS devices which supported v.90/56K modems but appear to have decided against deploying them.

16-20k would be an OK Pairgain . It can be less though. A Good pairgain is about 28.8k .

2. The original 2.4K was choosen as that's the minimum needed to get a fax to work properly

Not quite. It was 2.4k Full Duplex for data and 9.6k Half Duplex for Fax in the 1999 USO which was the same in both the UK and Ireland.

3. I would have to check, since its a long time since I drafted a reply to the last OFTEL USO consulation, but the USO speed in Eire can't be zero - as 2.4K is specified in a EU Directive somewhere as they were trying to standardise a minimum USO across Europe (the UK USO exceeds the EU version)

The 1999 USO directive from the EU ISTR. Comreg have completely ignore both that one and the 2002 Directive which muttered something about universal "Functional Internet Access" . Comreg refused to enforce the 2.4k Full Duplex rate while it was the legal status quo.

As Comreg simply don't give a damn they included the muttering about ' Functional Internet Access' in the USO but promptly set the speed at 0k with a verbal sleight of hand. Comreg said that specifying a minimum bitrate (even one lower than 2.4k) .

"Would Not Be Helpful At This Time"

When they replied to the IrelandOffline 'reply to consultation' during the USO consultation process in 2003 .

The feckers won't even tell us if it is 0k Full Duplex or 0k Half Duplex.

We would simply love it if a competent regulator like Ofcom came in, took the whole lot over, and conducted ritual plank walking gigs into the Liffey at low tide by way of announcing the takeover

M

Mr_Man

Muck,

do you not think the Liffey has enough problems without putting that load of sh*te in it......?

M

sceptre

I've split off the stuff about Comreg's non-definition of "functional internet access" in the USO to this thread. Not that it's entirely irrelevant but I suppose it's gone on long enough.

spongebob

Anyway. Comreg have other REALLY IMPORTANT things to do rather than define Functional Access in a meaningful way .

While Ofcom threatens BT with breakup, resulting in an LLU Monthly Rate of about €9 or so within weeks , our lot have decided that LLU needs to be explored in a leisurely manner and most certainly not by promptly reducing the current LLU rate which is the highest in Europe as is the line rental.....Eircom would laugh at them if they threatened a breakup rather than the risible accounting separation regime they run at present.

Remember Comreg asking these questions in March including this Classically inept Comregology on page 7 .

Comreg seeks information regarding the cost of telephone poles, installed, with appropriate fittings (e.g. footrests, cable brackets). The cost should be the average cost, bearing in mind that some poles will require lateral supports/bracing. Please specify the proportion of such supported braced poles allowed. Please also specify the type of pole for which costs are supplied (e.g. diameter, length, material and finish treatments {if any}).

There were very few answers to that consultation, we have given up on them

M