If the rules of the earlier trial announcements still apply it was designed to entice people away from ADSL, rather than a cheaper option for people already on FTTC.

Call it an experiment to drive take-up and see if areas can be cleared of ADSL so VDSL2 can borrow the frequencies and get better performance as distance increases.

In reply to a post by NPR:

I'm only syncing at around 23Mbps up 0.6Mbps down on a 55/10 product.

Those are surely the wrong way round?

Assuming they are, then 18/2 would make no difference to the upstream and remove 5Mbps from the downstream. After that it is value judgement by you. The good bit is you should sync at the full 18Mbps down with unchanged up.

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

A 'sim provide' in my neck of the woods, is a simultaneous provide, line and FTTC jumpering in the same visit.

I just noticed that the original trial specified that 'sim provides' were not acceptable - presumably trying to focus on upgrades, rather than new orders.

Presumably we see the separate table entry because BT have decided that it will be acceptable for new orders in some places, and unacceptable in others.

FTTPod &
FTTPod2?
they are outdated and on copper wiring?
I think you need to educate yourself a little better.

Mahenta shows this available on my cabinet. cabinet is full so showing unavailable on btw checker.

18x2 Sim Availability has now changed to Yes on my line ... do we expect any suppliers to offer a cheaper package now?

Mine also shows it as available, but the column before it, "WBC FTTC 18x2 Provide Availability" is blank. ?

Does that mean Openreach can do the install, but there is no ordering system ?

Remember Openreach and BT Wholesale are different, so Openreach may have it all sorted, but BT Wholesale may still be tinkering.

Slightly different story in Northern Ireland of course.

I did wonder that, but BT Wholesale are the ones saying it is available .

if it comes to a cab that cab will be shown on the checker when its appropriate

Last time I heard, it was still in trial by Openreach, not taken up by Wholesale, and being used by an LLU provider. It was also limited to certain cabs, and to people with ADSL speeds below a threshold ... so was only available for migrations from ADSL and not for new provides or sim provides).

BTW didn't take part in the trial because, IIRC, it was a limited set of cabs.

Interesting that those columns are for WBC products. It suggests that BTW are going to make use of the products sooner or later.