Changes to wholesale checker

I've noticed this morning that the wholesale checker now shows two ranges for FTTC, although they are currently both the same at the moment.

Featured Products Downstream Line Rate(Mbps) Upstream Line rate(Mbps) Downstream Range(Mbps)


Availability Date
High Low High Low
FTTC Range A (Clean) 36.1 36.1 6.1 6.1 -- Available
FTTC Range B (Impacted) 36.1 36.1 6.1 6.1 -- Available

WBC ADSL 2+ Up to 12.5 -- 10 to 14.5 Available
WBC ADSL 2+ Annex M Up to 12.5 Up to 1 10 to 14.5 Available
ADSL Max Up to 8 -- 7 to 8 Available
WBC Fixed Rate 2 -- -- Available
Fixed Rate 2 -- -- Available
Other Offerings
Fibre Multicast -- -- -- Available

For FTTC Ranges A and B, the term "Clean" relates to a line which is free from any wiring issues (e.g. Bridge Taps) and/or Copper line conditions, and the term "Impacted" relates to a line which may have wiring issues (e.g. Bridge Taps) and/or Copper line conditions.

Throughput/download speeds will be less than line rates and can be affected by a number of factors within and external to BT's network, Communication Providers' networks and within customer premises.

Perhaps this is in readiness for self installs.

Edited by R0NSKI (Sun 17-Nov-13 11:15:32)

I was curious what the term 'Bridge Taps' meant so asked my friend Google.

Here's a link to the Wikipedia page on the subject.

Probably also reflects ability for remote testing to show presence of bridge taps, which usually means extensions in the home, so yes a good indicator for self installs

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Probably also reflects ability for remote testing to show presence of bridge taps, which usually means extensions in the home, so yes a good indicator for self installs

Extremely fast analysis though - it only took a second to check my phone number. Maybe it would have been longer if I had "bridge taps"?

Edited by 4M2 (Sun 17-Nov-13 12:05:25)

At a guess, the clean figure is based on a theoretical calculation taking into account cable types and lengths, whilst the impaired figure is based on the most recent measurement of the actual line parameters.

Good to see they specify these are line rate rather than throughput. Most of us have always thought this, but it has sometimes caused confusion by not being clear.

It's a bit worrying to see my estimate, that used to be above 50/11 Mbps is now 36.1/6.5 Mbps against my current 59.4/14.4. That's 70%/45% !!

In terms of UK FTTC it means wiring terminated across the pair before the faceplate filter.

Why they removed FTTC on my telephone number (the old one use to say FTTC available in 30th November 2014) but it now disappear?

Not happy about this.

Edited by adslmax (Mon 18-Nov-13 10:04:51)

In reply to a post by adslmax:

Why they removed FTTC on my telephone number (the old one use to say FTTC available in 30th November 2014) but it now disappear?

Not happy about this.

This is nothing to worry about, I've seen it happen many a time on the cabinets I've checked. Sometimes it seems to happen shortly before the cabinet goes live. Other times it just disappears not to reappear for a long time.

No idea why it disappears though.

That's pretty stupid. Sound like BTW are unfit purpose to run the site checker.