Fibre finally available to order, but max speed 330/50?

Hi,

About 4 months ago I spotted openreach in my garden, putting fibre up the pole, CBT etc. Since then... I've unashamedly checked the checker every day. Today it has changed to

WBC FTTP Up to 330 Up to 50 -- Available 1 Stage

and I have confirmed I can order it via the various ISPs with a max speed as above. Is this likely to be the top package or should I give it a few days to see if it hits 900 or whatever the top is as that was the package I originally wanted.

Thanks

It depends how much you want FTTP now.

It might be that it changes in a couple of days, as database updates are finalised.

If not, the most likely explanation is that BT Wholesale doesn't have enough cablelink capacity at your local exchange to offer higher speeds. It might be upgraded in weeks, or months. An ISP which uses a different backhaul network may have higher capacity there already: try Talktalk and Zen (who can use TT backhaul). If they offer you 500M+ then this is probably the explanation.

A less likely explanation is that your area uses ECI OLTs. Last I heard that is only about 50,000 properties - less than 1% of FTTP footprint - and unlikely to be growing. But it's not completely impossible that if there was already an ECI OLT in your head-end exchange, you've been hooked up to a spare port on it.

Personally I have 300/50 and am very happy with it. This is ten times faster, both upload and download, than I had on FTTC. Downloads run at about 40MB/sec and are already faster than the local machine can unpack and install them. I see no point paying more. My main machine is ethernet-cabled up, but higher speeds are also likely to hit bottlenecks in your wifi.

Edited by candlerb (Fri 12-Nov-21 11:05:38)

Thanks for the very informative post. The rollout in my area is one of the new areas they added to the rollout plans last year or whatever, I don't know if that's useful at all. Relevant post https://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/8797-openreach-a...

On checking BT only offer me the 150 package, where as Zen offer 300 package.

I had the same/similar - bisiness users could only order 300/50 whereas resisdential could get 1000/220. I had to go for the 300/50 whereas neighbours have the 1000.

BT have given me an option to upgrade for a small extra cost but 300 seems to be totally adequate - I'll just wait until contract renewal.

If you are desperate - get the best you can from your chosen provider and then see if an upgrade comes along.

In reply to a post by Xuse:

On checking BT only offer me the 150 package, where as Zen offer 300 package.

BT removed the 300 package from sale so that sounds about right.

Try Sky/Talktalk as both don't use BT Wholesale. If they both offer the 500Mb package then the issue is with BT Wholesale.

In reply to a post by j0hn83:

In reply to a post by Xuse:

On checking BT only offer me the 150 package, where as Zen offer 300 package.

BT removed the 300 package from sale so that sounds about right.

Try Sky/Talktalk as both don't use BT Wholesale. If they both offer the 500Mb package then the issue is with BT Wholesale.

Ah! Good to know. Sky/Talktalk say FTTP is not available.

EDIT: I'm checking postcodes all around town (even quite a distance away and they're all showing the same as 330/50.

Edited by Xuse (Fri 12-Nov-21 19:04:00)