Will FTTH become a reality with this new Openreach ruling?

Is it likely that FTTH will become a reality for everyone willing to pay a hefty connection charge? Also how much is this charge likely to be?

It used to be available as FTTPoD to a small number of trial exchanges. But, OR withdrew it. FTTPoD is currently available in Wales as far as I know.

OR are reportedly looking at a new method of doing it that could be more palatable but at present nothing has been announced.

The old solution had an install charge based on distance that was pretty hefty. It also required a minimum 3 year contract on the top FTTP 330/30 product which was pretty pricey.

In reply to a post by ian72:

It used to be available as FTTPoD to a small number of trial exchanges. But, OR withdrew it. FTTPoD is currently available in Wales as far as I know.

It's reported as available where I am in Cornwall, though I doubt anyone will take it up at current pricing (assuming that it is actually available).

There's also good amounts of actual FTTH around here too, but not my road

I actually think it was Wholesale who revoked it, preventing ISP's from being able to order it.

They're looking at connectorisation as a method of delivering FTTP. There's a new trial starting up soon (can't remember the name of the place) that was discussed at the UKNOF not so long ago. I think it will be focusing on using different, more efficient methods to roll out FTTP. I suspect FTTPoD will resurface in 18 months or so once the BDUK work starts to come to a close.

The FoD2 trial seems to be running in parallel with the G.Fast trial in Huntingdon.

Some information on the TBB blog:
http://blog.thinkbroadband.com/2015/09/g-fast-and-fo...

The old pricing took into account how long it used to take to install FoD with the previous techniques. If FoD2 becomes viable, I'd expect some price changes.

The Cornish and other Openreach native FTTP locations around the UK has same price structure as FTTC i.e. the up to 38 Mbps download service is same wholesale price and same on up to 76 Mbps, only the 100, 200 and 300 Mbps versions vary in price.

For consumer market provider choice is more limited than for FTTC, i.e. mainly BT Retail, Zen Internet and Plusnet.

The FoD service is a different price and speed structure, with it always been assumed to be more of interest to small business. Might know more about FoD2 in a few weeks or might not.

How much it will change FTTH availability depends a lot on what the other operators decide to do, and how long consultation processes take to iron out all the kinks in price and working practices, i.e. this is not an overnight thing.

Duct and pole sharing has already been possible since 2009, just cumbersome and not cheap enough, so this is almost a version three of that PIA product.

From tracking the roll-outs from both Openreach and others usually finding more FTTP each week, but needs a lot more work from everyone to ramp up volume if we want to see 5%, 10% and higher availability. Then if this also overlaps largely with the Virgin Media footprint it may prove popular with a section of the public and business but do little to improve basic coverage levels.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

The Cornish and other Openreach native FTTP locations around the UK has same price structure as FTTC i.e. the up to 38 Mbps download service is same wholesale price and same on up to 76 Mbps, only the 100, 200 and 300 Mbps versions vary in price.

For consumer market provider choice is more limited than for FTTC, i.e. mainly BT Retail, Zen Internet and Plusnet.

The FoD service is a different price and speed structure, with it always been assumed to be more of interest to small business. Might know more about FoD2 in a few weeks or might not.

I know that native FTTP pricing is sane, I was referring to FoD though. Unfortunately I live only a few minutes from a native FTTP area. If there was actually a sizeable rollout, rather than the odd section of a village, handful of people in the middle of nowhere, or the odd pole that FTTC can't be made to work for, I'm sure ISP adoption would rapidly increase. BT treats it like a joke so it's not unsurprising to see that no one retails it.

I meant that for my cabinet/exchange, BT reports FoD as "available" - even if it actually isn't (and very very expensive, even for business)

Edited by deleted (Thu 25-Feb-16 14:34:51)