How fast can the cabinets go?

Curious what the theoretical maximum speed the BT cabinets can support?

For example if BT decided to supply say 120/30 in addition to 80/20 can the cabinets do it? And is there a reason why it has to be fixed rate, and not just maximising the line like the old ADSLmax did.

ADSL Max did not maximise the line . It was capped at 8128/448kbps though there was an option not all ISPs offered of 8128/832kbps.

8Mbps is 8192kbps.

80/20 isn't a fixed rate anyway, as I'm sure you realise. It's just a product cap, enabling different speed products to be offered at different prices.

The theoretical maxima are shown in the VDSL2 table on this page. Openreach use Profile 17a. The rest of the reduction from the theoretical maximum will be down to a number of factors, mainly technical in order to provide a fairly stable and economically viable service.

I doubt if, apart from G.FAST, they will offer anything faster as the priority now seems to be FTTP. Which in the end will replace FTTC almost everywhere anyway.

Thanks for that link, Bob. I wonder why Openreach aren't using VDSL2-Vplus...

Because!

They have no proper reason not to?

Edited by deleted (Tue 02-Oct-18 15:59:04)

BT chose to go G-Fast which if nothing else reduces the line length as the G-Fast pods are attached to the PCP therefore eliminating travel from the DSLAM to the PCP which can add up to 50m or so to the path length.

Right, but surely Vplus would benefit more users, especially for those who are too far from the nodes?

Edited by deleted (Tue 02-Oct-18 17:08:38)

The table Robert referred to suggests that Vplus is good to around 250m. Which isn't so different from G-Fast which by its nature has a shorter path length since it removes the copper link between DSLAM and PCP from the equation.

Of course, the DSLAM already has fibre and power whereas both need to be supplied to the PCP. OTOH since only a subset of the lines served by the DSLAM would benefit fewer ports/line cards need to be provided for G-Fast whereas possibly all would need to be upgraded for VPlus.

Edit:
I should mentioned that I have no knowledge or experience regarding either VPlus or G-Fast other than that I've read here and elsewhere.

Edited by deleted (Tue 02-Oct-18 17:32:34)

I usually find that cabinets are going as fast as they can prior to being fixed, probably as fast as about 60 mph on the back of a flatbed. I imagine they could go a bit faster and still be intact. They tend not to move once they�re in place.

They can burst to quite a lick when hit by a wayward car