1Gb nationwide?

So over at ISPReview the stirrings of Labour Digital, who advise on Labour Party digital technology policy, have been highlighted. Perhaps notably -

5. The UK should target nationwide access to 1 Gbps broadband in homes, businesses and public buildings, with 10Gbps services for tech-clusters, as early possible in the next parliament. It is only through universal access to world class internet facilities that the economic and social benefits of the digital economy can be captured by all citizens.

Although fixed line is the primary mechanism for broadband deployment, Government should also embrace wireless and satellite mechanisms where necessary to speed delivery of its targets.

Of course this is not official policy, but perhaps it's the start of something. Full list of 82 recommendations here (Google Docs document - list of recommendations in appendix).

Edited by Spud2003 (Wed 24-Sep-14 18:42:08)

Notice the last few words and the fact that satellite cannot get near 1 Gbps yet, and wireless would struggle unless mast density was very high.

Had read through it, and put it aside from the news to-do list until such time as it gets talked off as policy rather than a wish-list for what some in party would like.

"Nationwide access" ... "as early as possible" ... "in the next government" ???

Have they decided elsewhere that they want to change the maximum term of government from 5 years to a couple of decades?

The only thing it is the "start of" is the run up to the next election when all manner of promises are made - and swiftly forgotten about later after the election.

In reply to a post by zom22:

The only thing it is the "start of" is the run up to the next election when all manner of promises are made ...

This isn't a "promise" or an official policy but all official policies start some somewhere ...

So supposing a area already has FTTC, to get FTTP do they just run a cable from the cabinet to your house or is a different cabinet or something needed? What I am getting at is what would be needed to upgrade somewhere which has FTTC to make it a 1 Gbps FTTP connection.

Watched Nick Robinson tonight ask Miliband why there was no mention of the National Debt and other monetary questions during Milibands speech at the Labour party conference. The answer was basically that he (Miliband) gave his speech from just a few headings and it was essentially what came to mind at the time. In other words he forgot about little things like money and funding..... 1GB universal broadband would be great but would cost a great deal too and I would be amazed if it happened (though delighted) so I expect such wonderful wishful thinking will quietly be forgotten when the cost is actually looked at.

In reply to a post by astateoftrance:

So supposing a area already has FTTC, to get FTTP do they just run a cable from the cabinet to your house or is a different cabinet or something needed? What I am getting at is what would be needed to upgrade somewhere which has FTTC to make it a 1 Gbps FTTP connection.

1Gbps FTTP isn't of course on offer at the moment, but 330Mbps FTTPoD is available in several FTTC areas, subject to survey.

It doesn't run from the cabinet, but from the nearest "aggregation point" to the premises. There is a price list.

If you are interested, start digging re where you are .

Edited by RobertoS (Wed 24-Sep-14 22:56:10)

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

If you are interested, start digging re where you are .

I mis-read that to understand you were advocating a self-install of fibre ala B4RN: dig the fibre in yourself!

you mean the debt thats been overhyped by this existing gov?

whilst I agree it wont happen, lets not scare ourselves out of spending money.

LOL
Something along those lines occurred to me when reading the Preview. It amused me, but wasn't intentional.

They cant provide all of the UK with basic fibre so what chance is there of providing 1Gb.

Ed Millaband is a prize oaf

It is fine but WHO PAYS?

And do not say government of ISPs as that can never happen. The customer will ultimately pay, either directly or if "government funded" through higher taxes.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Notice the last few words and the fact that satellite cannot get near 1 Gbps yet,

I can run a 50 Mbps satellite link - the equipment needed though is rather expensive. Moving to 100Mbps - just cost. Getting Gb to a sensibly terminal almost impossible (at present).

In reply to a post by MHC:

It is fine but WHO PAYS?

And do not say government of ISPs as that can never happen. The customer will ultimately pay, either directly or if "government funded" through higher taxes.

given we currently been under taxed (based on historical data) it wouldnt be the end of the world if taxes increased, in fact its needed as more and more things are hitting critical levels of funding.

But quite easily it could be funded simply by removing expenditure elsewhere. Who knows, but taxes dont always need to increase to fund something, ultimately if a prime minister wants something funded it will be.

I have not heard of this in any mainstream news tho, I dont think it will even happen.

The extra spending on the NHS they mentioned is a mixture of extra taxation and money clawed from other things.

I find it concerning the first thing on your mind is worrying about your own bank balance.

Ok, thanks. I would like FTTP as I am sure most people here would but my question is more to just understand what work is involved in upgrading an area that has FTTC to make it able to get a 1 Gbps connection.

At the moment I get around 6 Mbps on ADSLMax, if we get FTTC here next year as planned then I should get pretty much the max speed. So a 80/20 or even 40/10 connection should keep me happy for a while.

Now TalkTalk have a few things to say about FTTP coverage -

The boss of TalkTalk�s business division, Charles Bligh, has confirmed that the ISP ultimately wants 50-60% of homes in the United Kingdom to connect via their new ultrafast 1000Mbps Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network. But in order for this to work Bligh admits that take-up will need to be 30-40% or higher and the cost per home must be below £500. Difficult.

Rest of article...

The BBC are also reporting the 1 gig testing:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-29360758

That's all fine and well, but they should pull their fingers out and complete the rollout of FTTC first.

In reply to a post by Undisputed:

That's all fine and well, but they should pull their fingers out and complete the rollout of FTTC first.

They should be ensuring 100% can get Fibre before they do anything.

Well, when people think of 1Gb connections they normally think of FTTP, not fibre+copper.

I already get gigabit speeds on copper, with no fibre in sight.

Unfortunately it is all on ethernet on cat 5e cables, limited to inside the house

In reply to a post by WWWombat:

I already get gigabit speeds on copper, with no fibre in sight.

Bah, it's probably copper-clad aluminium. I think Romanians are big on Ethernet Internet provision ...

In reply to a post by RossMcG:

In reply to a post by Undisputed:

That's all fine and well, but they should pull their fingers out and complete the rollout of FTTC first.

They should be ensuring 100% can get Fibre before they do anything.

I agree with RossMcG here, we was down for FTTP that was started back in 2011, we even got to a point where we had the manifold fitted in the pit by our phone pole, and along with loads of others all to then become not viable, and having this new 1Gb Fibre+Copper even if the provider caps it at 50Mbit (40/10) 100Mb (80/20) or what every the subscriber pays for, at least the homes that are stuck with appalling speeds for the last several + years, that wasn't viable for fibre could then get fibre this way.

We even loose loads of speed (which we don't have much as it is) when it rains and have lost connection a couple of times over the years due to the rain, this is being looked into by our provider which doesn't look promising at the moment.

So I think by the time when this becomes public testing then the homes that would benefit the most and still viable for this new install should be asked first.
So we would probably not be a part of that public testing due to there are homes with worse off broadband than us, would be nice to test it once available.

Then when ready for retail they should run installs along side FTTC etc rollouts and all the homes that are currently not viable should be bumped to the top for this new rollout.

Also a lot of the current not viable homes may become viable later on anyhow, but at least those that are still not by then should be prioritised raising the average broadband speed for the UK etc.

That's what I think.