Utilisation of BT's 21C Service VLANs is continuously monitored to ensure that customers are receiving the correct level of service. S-VLANs are adjusted to maintain the correct levels of service. This is achieved by referencing each VLAN's utilisation to tailored planning rules to determine when we should take action to 'cool' the VLAN. The planning rule parameters are intended to operate so that the changes are implemented before the level of service is compromised .

There are the best part of 34,000 SVLANs in the UK. Quite a complex task I would think as you have to project future growth etc and ensure the correct physical assets are in place.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

As of today, 20 January, the Openreach price list shows:-

Up to 330Mbit/s/30Mbit/s 01/05/2014 Base installation 750.00 Annual rental 1,188.00
Up to 500Mbit/s/165Mbit/s 20/01/2017 Base installation 1158.00 Annual rental 1,392.00
Up to 1000Mbit/s/220Mbit/s 20/01/2017 Base installation 1158.00 Annual rental 1,692.00

All plus the same (unchanged) distance related charges and Vat.

The new products are not showing on native FTTP.

What distance away from something a (pod or cabinet?) for this product?

How do they cost up the base installation price?

Why is the base installation price for the 330/30 £408 cheaper than both the 500/165 and 1000/220 products? Surely the base price for the actual installation should be the same no matter what speed the line is going at?

Do you order new capacity if for one evening a VLAN fills up to 75% of capacity (or pick your threshold of choice), when its previous peak has been a lot lower?

Large online streaming events are not every day, but large sporting events are still pushing peak capacity sometimes.

Add to this the costs of the upgrades and it gets interesting. Hence why CityFibre is keen to push its dark fibre for site to site links in its metro network, i.e. once you have the fibre send a single wave of 1 Gbps or multiple waves giving you much faster options, difference being cost of the hardware you put on each end.

I don't see that the distance from the cabinet matters re the technical side - it's basically and identical product to FTTP. Installation-wise the base distance charges are the same as for the pre-existing FTTPoD.

Seeing as the 500Mbps and 1Gbps products have the same higher base cost, the kit at some point is probably different in order to drive the line faster. Or Openreach are simply charging by more for a "better" product. That's what marketing is about.

Similarly re the base price for the 330/30.

Unfortunately, I have absolutely no idea how BT Wholesale manage or project the VLAN capacity. I believe Dave at Plusnet gave some clues a while back as to how things work. I don't think a VLAN will be reported 'hot' from a one off event, I suspect it would need to repeated over several days. In most cases though, the solution is virtual so quick and simple.

I know BT Wholesale are reminding ISPs about anticipated major internet 'events' months ahead so they can order their capacity increases in advance. There always used to be things like Apple making the new iOS available for download which would see a large spike in demand.

At the same time, it's a hard challenge for BT Wholesale as they need to project general demand increases. Then on a regional level, they need to know when new areas are going live with new FTTx services. This all needs to be forecast months in advance due to the lengthy timescales for ethernet services these days.

Same goes with GEA-FTTP. The up to 330/30 services are £92 for the installation and the 500/165 and 1000/220 are £500 for the installation (but it's reduced to half price for this year to £250).

I wonder if Openreach are deploying 10G-PON for those ordering the fast speed variants?

Edit: Doing a bit more digging - it states that the 500/165 and 1000/220 services are "are not supported on ECI ONT�s" and that FVA is not available with those speed variants (FVA is Huawei only as well).

Edited by deleted (Sat 28-Jan-17 13:29:38)

In reply to a post by AndyHCZ:

It has nothing to do with market segmentation, there is no demand for symmetrical speeds at consumer level.

The demand is coming from the downstream and we will see a greater split between the down/up ratio in the years to come.

How can you say that? no demand my arras

You have evidence there is demand?

Not one single ISP is pushing or has pushed for higher upstream speeds at any of the meetings with BT Wholesale and Openreach. Downstream on the other hand...

Thanks Andy.

It looks to me more and more that Openreach dropped a clanger opting for ECI as the alternative GEA equipment supplier. Messy on FTTC and now rather poor on FTTP.

Certainly looks that way. I understand the choice of two suppliers on such a big contract, but you also would have had the likes of Alcatel who are up there with Huawei. I guess it came down to cost at the end of the day.