BE Fibre Pre-Registration

I see BE has a new register interest page for BE FTTx.
http://blog.bethere.co.uk/2011/07/be-fibre-pre-regis...

And in case you missed their post on Fibre plans, here it is
http://blog.bethere.co.uk/2011/06/md-of-be-broadband...

was looking at plusnet but may have to wait for BE!

Sky won't be far behind, and their backhaul is nearly as good.

In reply to a post by bruce007:

Sky won't be far behind, and their backhaul is nearly as good.

Yes, if Sky launch FTTC then I might be persuaded to jump to them, despite the lack of static IP option.

Anytime+ should work well on fibre

In reply to a post by bruce007:

Sky won't be far behind, and their backhaul is nearly as good.

I'm not holding my breath on Sky or BE doing FTTC.
BE have only made wooly promises (about a trial and that they'd like to start a trial later this year), haven't really heard anything from Sky since their "trial" last year.

I think for Sky and BE, building out their own fibre network may be a future plan, but they can get in on FTTx pretty quickly with VULA, while hopefully still using their existing backhauls.

If that is the case we all will - we get decent FTTx competition and Sky/BE stop the users flocking away to Fibre providers.

And yes, Sky with Anytime+ over FTTx make for a compelling product choice. May almost be enough to tempt me away from BE.

Edited by bruce007 (Wed 13-Jul-11 09:43:40)

In reply to a post by bruce007:

I think for Sky and BE, building out their own fibre network may be a future plan, but they can get in on reselling FTTx pretty quickly, while hopefully still using their existing backhauls (may have something to do with VirtualLLU).

Well BE have said their solution won't include their own local fibre loops, so they will (when they eventually get round to it) use Openreach infrastructure to get from home to exchange, before branching out onto their own networks (presumably using their existing backhaul).
Sky haven't really said much apart from putting up a web-page about a trial (then never bothering to update it, so it just gives details of exchanges 'coming soon in 2010').
However; they've also started a different trial (for three months, apparently) where they will be using BT ducts & poles, but using their own fibres (so I expect we'll never hear from them again ).

Either way, Sky and BE/O2 have dithered for so long (with both only just ready for localised trials) I fear they may be too late.
By the time either of them are actually ready to roll out, most of us who can get FTTC will be locked into 18 or 24 month contracts with BT (or 12 months contracts with resellers), so if they don't act fast their initial take-up will be quite slow as most of the Sky/BE/O2 exchanges will have already been enabled for BT FTTC so people will only be able to migrate to Sky/BE/O2 in dribs & drabs as their contracts expire.

Given BE have already said their prices will be higher than their current offerings, they may be far too late to the party for attracting people away from BT Retail.
I see BE's main market as being those of us who didn't trust BT could offer an un-capped or un-throttled product (and went to resellers offering that for maybe £30 or £40 a month).

Sky can bundle Anytime+ (via their newer HD boxes, which have an Ethernet hook-up) so it will be easier for them to attract people away from BT with 'Vision+' (except for the "I don't know why, but I hate Rupert Murdoch" crowd).

Completely on the money, my cabinet will be on-line in september and I will be joining a FTTC ISP the day it becomes available so whatever the likes of Be eventually come out with it will be to late for me as I will already be locked into a contract with a new provider.

Exactly the same here (also September, although I remain to be convinced it will actually happen this time).
BE won't necessarily lose me immediately. If BT extend their free line install offer (due to expire the day before our exchange gets FTTC enabled - typical) I may well take a new line and continue my BE connection until I'm satisfied BT (or whomever I go with) can offer an un-throttled FTTC connection - although I fully expect even a throttled to death BT FTTC connection will still be significantly faster than my current 4.5Mbps service.
If BT don't extend their free line install offer, BE will lose me as a customer. I will be sorry to leave (what I believe to be the best ISP in the country) I'm not hanging around on a 4.5Mbps product, when FTTC is available, waiting for BE to dither and muck about with a limited trial.

In reply to a post by adebov:

Either way, Sky and BE/O2 have dithered for so long (with both only just ready for localised trials) I fear they may be too late.
By the time either of them are actually ready to roll out, most of us who can get FTTC will be locked into 18 or 24 month contracts with BT (or 12 months contracts with resellers),

Agree entirely. I was a happy bunny with Be, but in the end was tempted by the BT Infinity Unlimited offer. Although £28 a month, the first three months were/are free and I got a £50 cashback by going through my Quidco account. The £28 includes unlimited calls, which I was paying £5 a month for, meaning that Infinity is really costing me £23 a month. My Be package was at a spacial rate of £13 a month, so I'm paying £10 a month more. Given that the offers and cashback amount to some £140, the first 14 months of extra cost would seem to be paid for. That on an 18 month contract seemed too good to miss and, coupled with the fact that there was no real news as to when Be may venture into the fibre market, resulted in me making the move.

I have absolutely no regrets. The service is rock solid and the speeds are constant 24/7 (but I don't P2P).