No more development of ADSL technology?

Am I correct in thinking that BT is no longer investing in new/improved/updated ADSL technologies now that it's pushing Infinity so hard?

In other words, are those with no prospect of getting fibre anytime soon not going to see any further improvements to speeds of their ADSL connections?

Edited by parish (Mon 30-Sep-13 14:13:27)

ADSL has hit its tech Zenith with ADSL2+, the faster variants are VDSL2 which is being deployed via the cabinets.

If you are actually asking will BT Wholesale roll-out ADSL2+ to more exchanges? Probably, but not all 5,600, as the FTTC/P roll-out does not require every exchange to support the backhaul as you can have one larger town serving a dozen smaller exchanges.

TalkTalk has ADSL2+ rolled out already to 96% of UK households, so is a lot larger than the BT Wholesale ADSL2+ market already. In short only 4% are not able to benefit from ADSL2+

BT's investment is into the wholesale GEA-FTTC and GEA-FTTP platform operated by BT Openreach. BT Infinity is merely the brand of the BT Retail product operated over this system - it sits on top of wholesale products available to (and used by) other ISPs from AAISP to Zen.


In most cases, line length (and, to a lesser extent, condition) sets a ceiling on achievable ADSL2+ performance - the technology is capable of more but the line limits the available speed.

In a minority of cases, VDSL2 (the same technology used for FTTC) could be used at the exchange to provide faster speeds. However, VDSL2 at the exchange is essentially prohibited by the Analogue Network Frequency Plan, because it would cause compatibility issues with ADSL from the exchange.


Research and development is primarily focused on faster speeds from short lines - improved FTTC and pushing fibre even closer to the end user (Fibre To The Distribution Point and FTTP).

If faster ADSL became commercially available, I think it would be hard for BT Wholesale and the LLU ISPs to justify investing it it, considering that ADSL is typically a narrow margin product that many consumers wish to leave behind for faster fibre-based speeds when available. However, I appreciate this commercial and technological reality is not good news for those falling outside the footprint of fibre-based services.

The best hope of faster speeds from ADSL is bonding multiple lines. This is available now if you are prepared to pay for it - I'm fairly sure it's a standard product from AAISP.

Thanks chaps. Confirms what I suspected. At ~5km line length (~50dB line attenuation downstream) I'm not ever likely to see any better than my current ~4Mbps on plain old ADSL until/unless FTTP is rolled out around here.

That's rather depressing! We are similarly ~6km from the exchange and not scheduled for fibre upgrade. However SuperFastEssex have assured me that BT is investing in technology and so those (like us) whose Better Broadband is to be upgraded at the end of the project in mid-2016 will benefit from these advances - to quote:
"BT are currently developing new alternative technologies, and the ‘uplift’ premises are positioned towards the end of the project to ensure the best technologies possible are brought to you – and this technology is developing and improving all the time."
I must admit I'm skeptical about this assurance, but can anyone enlighten me as to what technological advances BT is talking about, as ADSL is not being enhanced?

I believe BT has part of the 4G spectrum, which they plan to use for broadband. This could be what they are moving towards in some cases. Other than that "alternative" technology, there can only be FTTC or FTTP (as far as I am concerned).

Also, 2016 is still some time away. Many things could change by then.

4G or white space or smaller VDSL2 hardware e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQwJ73TinOA Yes a marketing type video, but you get a good idea of the size.

Cornwall looked at a 48 line (ECI I think it was) unit that could be pole mounted.

The technical solutions are all there it is just getting the price down to a sensible level.

It may be a "marketing type" video, but it was interesting nonetheless.

Are they currently putting this technology to use, or is it in the pipeline? Because I have never actually seen any of these before.

There might be one in Cornwall, but they exist as kit that can be bought and installed.

The reality is that to get value for money from the projects that the easier to solve with current en-masse products are being deployed. Towards the end of the projects the more custom solutions will start to appear,

This video above (youtubes) by the girl make me laugh over that firework kits (dangerous to kid life)