I would say that as this rolls out it will be availible to all for sure .

Aye, i think once FTTC goes live the next thing will be the roll out od ADSL2+ on most exchanges which will provide a futher boost for most people.

Some official Openreach news here - http://www.openreach.co.uk/orpg/news/productbriefing...

On 3rd December 2009, Enterprise Minister, Arlene Foster announced an investment totalling £48million in Northern Ireland�s telecommunications infrastructure. Minister Foster stated: "Following a competitive tender exercise, I am pleased to announce that the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI) has entered into a contract with BT for further development of Northern Ireland�s telecommunications infrastructure, specifically the provision of Next Generation Broadband Services.� The Minister continued: �This project is designed to deliver on the key Programme for Government objective to ensure 85% of businesses in Northern Ireland will have access to next generation broadband speeds by 2011.�

As a result of the Next Generation Broadband (NGB) project 1,175 new fibred (FTTC / VDSL) cabinets will be provided across 166 Northern Ireland exchange areas during the next 18 months.

Openreach is delighted to announce that the 1st phase of the NGB Project will go live on 30th April 2010. The initial 299 cabinets will be ready for service on that date � full details will be available on Openreach�s Enhanced Managed Line Characteristics Dialogue Service (eMLC) from 29th March 2010. We apologise for the relatively short notice period for this announcement, but we will endeavour in future to provide greater notice in accordance with normal notification periods for Phase 2 (end July 2010) onwards.

Damn, 299 cabinets ready by 30th April. BT have been working harder than i thought.

Im gathering the eMLC is basically the fancy name for the FTTC line checker, in which case we may get more accurate results after 29th March.

Just got this responce from DETI

The objective of the contract is to provide improved services for businesses in Northern Ireland in the delivery of a Programme for Government target. It is not targeting domestic users specifically. The systems, and the website checker, have been set up reflect this Programme for Government objective.

As cabinets are enabled BT will inform the Communications Providers/Internet Service Providers, who buy services from BT, that services are now available from the upgraded cabinets. It then becomes a matter for the CP to decide if they wish to offer services from that cabinet. This is a new set of products for the CPs to consider so it is an emerging market. On the plus side the wholesale products are the same products as those offered on a national UK basis so we expect the ISPs to start taking orders. Naturally DETI will be reviewing this to see if services are taken up by CPs at the wholesale level and the types and range of services on offer.

As I mentioned previously it will be a matter for the CPs to decide if they wish to offer services. We hope that consumers will have a choice of providers. However we cannot recommend any specific service providers as it is a changing market and lists supplied now are likely to become out of date vary quickly. However a number of websites that have been set up to assist consumers select a service providers including www.ofcom.gov.uk/broadbandcode www.thinkbroadband.com, www.comparebroadband.com

Just checked the Faster BB NI site and got the following result:

The cabinet serving your postcode is due to be upgraded in the Next Generation Broadband project and will be ready for service by 30 April 2011 providing a minimum speed of 2Mbp/s Please contact your service provider for more information.

This is good news as the cabnit is just across the street

You biz user ?

Both!! I work from home and have a seperate business DSL line for access into my employers network. I am more interested in what will be offered for residential. I cannot see ISP's not jumping on and offering out new services!!

There is nothing in the contract for this roll out to prevent faster speeds to everyone.

I see they have updated the site it now shows what cabinets and were will be upgraded .

http://www.fasterbroadbandni.com/

Interesting. They are going into great detail by posting the cabs too.

I don't think the cab I'm on is included in this rollout though unfortunately. Might double check to see exactly where its located.

I really hope this is not just for business users.

FMcS