Thread resurrection. Not much changed it would appear. Any changes rumoured?

Seems like Openreach have firmly shelved any near term plans of an XGS-PON offering.

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

Thread resurrection. Not much changed it would appear. Any changes rumoured?

Seems like Openreach have firmly shelved any near term plans of an XGS-PON offering.

The XGS-PON trial closed for new orders back in January.
It was only available to businesses and only in certain locations I believe.

https://www.openreach.co.uk/cpportal/updates/briefin...

Well that’s the end of that for now I guess. Still tweaking the product at least for business it would appear...

https://www.openreach.co.uk/cpportal/updates/briefin...

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2021/03/openre...

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

Well that’s the end of that for now I guess. Still tweaking the product at least for business it would appear...

https://www.openreach.co.uk/cpportal/updates/briefin...

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2021/03/openre...

ISPReview have somewhat mixed 2 separate things there.

It looks like it has nothing to do with XGS-PON and is simply a trial allowing a business to be more flexible with ONT location.

They aren't taking orders for XGS-PON at present so a trial allowing an ONT to be installed further away would be useless if it was related to XGS-PON.

Symmetrical and XGS-PON aren't mentioned in the briefing.

Edit: changed the wording of some parts of my reply.

Edited by j0hn83 (Wed 21-Apr-21 17:07:02)

It looks like mention of XGS-PON was made by Mark in passing / as an intro to the potential for “FTTP For Business (aka FTTP Advanced)” as a future service offering. This is a build up / precursor to that but not specially about XGS-PON at all.

The last two paragraphs he sums up as;

“By the sounds of it the Advanced Provision Trial will help Openreach to test some new and more complex installation scenarios on business and public sector sites, which will adopt some of the same things that you might normally expect to see from an Ethernet (EAD) install rather than FTTP.

For example, at present a regular FTTP installation comes with two options – Standard and Premium. One of the differences here is that a Standard install will see Openreach place the Optical Network Terminal (ONT) on your wall, usually within 10 metres from where the fibre enters your building (house etc.). A Premium installation extends this to 30m, but the new Advanced trial can do up to 100m (subject to survey).”

So it’s pretty clear (to me at least) that this trial has nothing to do with symmetric or 10Gb FTTP service but merely to add another dimension of flexibility into the provision of FTTP for business within the premises, much as you can do with more premium EAD type services.

What’s your take on it? Have you got access to the OR portal with the briefing notes? I can’t see it myself as I don’t work for a CP.

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

What’s your take on it?

Pretty much what you just said.

It appears to just be a trial of a new, more advanced/flexible deployment method for businesses, allowing the ONT to be installed much further from the entry point.

The fact this trial has started after the XGS-PON trial has closed for new orders suggests this has nothing to do with XGS-PON/symmetrical services (for now at least).

Of course there's no reason this advanced provisioning/deployment method can't be used with any future XGS-PON trial / fully launched product, but it doesn't appear to be directly related to it.

Have you got access to the OR portal with the briefing notes?

Not personally, but I know a couple people that do.
Neither are willing to paste me the briefing notes in full, but both are usually happy to answer any queries I have about them.

I'm informed there's no mention of XGS-PON or symmetrical services in this particular briefing, which makes sense with that particular trial being closed to new orders.

There is of course no reason why Openreach couldn't do symmetrical now, which I think is people really asking for higher upload speeds. On GPON upload is at half the speed of total download speed (2:1), so if a 1:1 symmetrical service is offered it means upload is twice as contented locally, but no reason why 1000/500 couldn't be a product, as that sees the same theoretical contention on both up and down.

At the moment the issue is really that Openreach are protecting sales of their leased line solutions. For example, Openreach price the FTTP1000/115 product at £378.00. They also do a FTTP product with double the upload speed (1000/220), and in order to get another 100Mbits/s on the upload, you have to pay over double the price at £969.00.

It is less about the technology and contention ratios, more about money I think.

In reply to a post by E300:

At the moment the issue is really that Openreach are protecting sales of their leased line solutions. For example, Openreach price the FTTP1000/115 product at £378.00. They also do a FTTP product with double the upload speed (1000/220), and in order to get another 100Mbits/s on the upload, you have to pay over double the price at £969.00.

Plus a £500 connection fee.