ADSL broadband Most homes can access broadband through BT's copper-wire phone network. This type of broadband is known as ADSL broadband (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line). ADSL broadband is available to more than 99% of UK households - including Burley, though the broadband speed you'll be able to get will vary depending on where you live.
Local Loop Unbundled (LLU) ADSL broadband This is a type of ADSL broadband where ISPs install their own broadband equipment in BT telephone exchanges. Though the broadband ISPs still use BT wires, adding their own broadband equipment enables them to offer faster/cheaper home broadband. LLU broadband availability is limited to at most 80% of UK households, often in more populated areas.
This means there are often discrepancies between what broadband services are available with the same ISP. For example, TalkTalk offers cheap broadband (as in Burley) to its phone package subscribers in LLU areas, but elsewhere you must pay more for home broadband.
Copper cable
Both types of ADSL use the existing telephone network, which transmits the connection by using copper cable that is usually carried initially in underground ducts leading to roadside cabinets. From these cabinets the cable then either continues underground or is elevated by means of telegraph poles, eventually ending at the desired location. Sometimes, if the distance is quite short, the copper cable goes directly from the exchange to the premises. In any event, the copper cable starts at the telephone exchange and continues throughout to the premises.
Upload and Download speeds
Why is home broadband upload speed slower than download speed?
Most home broadband users download more than they upload, so it's more important for broadband download speeds to be faster, and this is the speed broadband ISPs usually advertise. Surfing from page to page, reading emails and watching online TV are all
downloading. Adding photos to a social networking site such as Facebook, or sending emails, are
uploading.
Internet connecting speeds
Broadband ISPs quote maximum download speeds, but your home broadband service will almost certainly be slower, particularly at busy times.
Broadband data transfer speed is measured in Kbps (kilobits per second – one kilobit is 1,000 bits) and Mbps (megabits per second – a megabit is 1,000,000 bits).
Most broadband packages have 'up to' speeds of 8Mbps, though up to 20Mbps is becoming increasingly
common. The actual home broadband speed you'll receive depends on a number of factors, such as how far your phone line has to stretch from the nearest telephone exchange, the quality of the line, and the contention ratio of the home broadband service (see below).
As a result, you may not always, or even ever, get the advertised broadband speed, particularly with those advertised as being up to 8Mbps or higher. ADSL broadband is a shared service. Therefore, the more people who are using it, the slower it will be. Most home users use their computers in the evening and at weekends, so connections tend to be a lot slower at these peak hours (i.e. 7pm to 10pm). The best time to use ADSL broadband is between 12am and 8am. Fibre optic cable broadband speed does not change during the day, making it a more consistent alternative.
Contention ratios
To make ADSL more cost effective BT ADSL services are 'contended' (shared). The usual contention ratios are:
– Home 50:1
– Business 20:1
This contention is applied within the BT network both locally with other users on your telephone exchange and within the BT network as it connects into your providers network.
What this means in the worst case is that you could be sharing a 500 Kbit/s connection with up to 49 other users. So if they were all using it at the same time 'theoretically' you would only get 10 Kbit/s (not very fast at all - in fact quite a bit slower than a normal modem).
However, in reality this scenario is very unlikely to happen and you should usually find it to be far faster than a modem connection.
ADSL relies on individual users not making unreasonable traffic demands on the network to provide fast access speeds for all.
This is why business broadband costs more than home use broadband as there are fewer users to share the line with.
Remember if you are not getting the speed you expect it can be due not only to the contention ratio but also to many other factors, including the capacity of the remote site you are accessing, and the quality and length of your telephone line from the local BT exchange.
How to check your broadband speed
By trawling through a search engine you'll find many providers to help you check out your Upload and Download speeds - just bear in mind that the results will only give the details for when you actually run the test, which will be influenced by any programmes you're running, and by the time of day that you run the test. To start with you could try
broadbandspeedchecker.co.uk (ignore the adverts). Simply click on the "Start Speed Test" button.
What is fibre broadband ?
Fibre broadband is a new type of broadband that is currently being deployed in the UK by BT (branded as "Infinity"), by Virgin Media and by other operators, which uses fibre optic cables to help increase the speed of your broadband connection. It is often referred to as 'super-fast broadband' or 'next-generation broadband' as it offers faster speeds than have been available to date using older generation networks. It is available to both home and business users. Instead of copper cables, fibre optic cables are used - they're much
stronger than copper cables, lighter and thinner, although more expensive. However, they allow for more bandwidth to be transmitted, and at the speed of
light. There are generally two types of fibre broadband connections:
Fibre To The Cabinet (FTTC)
Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) involves running fibre optic cables from the telephone exchange to the street cabinets, which then connect to a standard phone line to provide broadband.
This is combined with a copper cable from the cabinet to the home or business which uses VDSL or similar technology that can deliver much faster speeds over shorter distances. This is the method that will be used in Burley.
Fibre-to-the-Cabinet broadband uses fibre optic cable from the local telephone exchange to connect to the nearest street side cabinet (usually within a few hundred metres) which serves your property. BT Openreach will usually install a new (green) cabinet adjacent to or near the existing 'green cabinet' which serves your phone line connection. The new cabinet will house a VDSL2 capable DSLAM (a mini-version of what currently provides your ADSL broadband service) to which your phone line will be connected. As the cabinet is close to your property and also uses newer VDSL2 technology, the speed of your broadband is usually much higher. Speeds of up to 40 Mbps are advertised.
Fibre To The Home / Premises (FTTH or FTTP)
Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP), also often referred to as Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) provides and end-to-end fibre optic connection the full distance from the exchange to the building and can deliver faster speeds than FTTC as there is no copper leg at all. Speeds of up to 100 Mbps are advertised.
The problem is cost - FTTH is much more expensive to install than FTTC as the fibre has to be laid much further and all installed by hand. While FTTC terminates in BT's street cabinets, FTTH requires the line to run right up to people's doorsteps and on inside individual premises - requiring Openreach engineers to get on their knees and rod and rope cable through street sub-ducts - or hang it overhead from telegraph poles. Currently this is not an issue for Burley residents, as we haven't been offered this service - however, if we were, then there would not be an option to have one or the other, as BT's policy seems to be that either you'll get FTTC or FTTH, without the option to choose which. The condition on being a winner in BT's "Race to Infinity" is that they'll provide (subject to survey) Fibre To The Cabinet - anything else would be a complete bonus.
Who will get Superfast Broadband ?
This is something that will be decided by BT when the survey has been completed. We don't expect every location to be enabled with the upgrade, as commercial considerations have to be factored in, not least of which is the viability factor and the anticipated return on investment, but we're quietly confident of reaching an acceptable level of dispersement throughout the area.
Do we ALL need Superfast broadband ?
Probably not. If all you use the internet for is to send and receive the occasional e-mail, or perform limited searches then you might be better just sticking with your present ADSL connection, as there will naturally be a cost involved in upgrading to the new service. You will, however, be missing out on all the new opportunities that
Superfast broadband presents.
When can Burley expect to get it ?
Having been included in the winning entries for BT's "Race to Infinity", the Burley exchange has leapfrogged into an accelerated upgrade of the telephone exchange; prior to our success in the competition we were scheduled to be upgraded sometime between 2015 and 2020.
We will now be upgraded on, or by, Spring of NEXT YEAR (2012).
So what happens next ?
Openreach (the installation company which is part of the BT group) will be involved in conducting a survey of the current facilities within the current exchange, and of the various roadside cabinets, as well as the location and condition of the underground ducts which at the moment carry the old copper cables, all of which they own. They will need to plan on where to install the new fibre optic cabinets (which need power) and devise a rollout plan of what goes where - and when. So far, the iBurley team has been communicating with BT Retail, which is the Service Provider that is financing the upgrade. The company that is conducting the survey, and which will determine the rollout of Infinity is BT Openreach - over the next few weeks the iBurley team is hoping to establish a dialogue with Openreach. As the upgrade is a commercial venture there will naturally be a limit to what is made public, but it is hoped that there will be a basic understanding of the situation over a period of time. As soon as more details are released, this page will be updated.
The iBurley team, together with an enthusiastic community-spirited band of supporters, succeeded in promoting the Burley exchange into the top ten of last year's BT Race to Infinity, thus bringing forward an upgrade to its broadband service - Superfast Broadband, carried over fibre optic cabling. It was initially envisaged that this would benefit 90% of Burley in Wharfedale and Burley Woodhead premises, enhancing connection speeds considerably. However, partly due to iBurley's very close working relationship with Openreach, BT Retail and their PR agency, along with benefits gained from implementing emerging technology, this scenario has now changed somewhat. Here are the new projections:
100% of premises will receive an increase in speed
1.8% of premises will receive between 2Mb and 15Mb
98.2% of premises will receive SuperFast Broadband speeds of over 15Mb
It can reasonably be assumed that the upgrading of the Burley exchange was the catalyst for BT's decision to also include Ilkley and Otley in an upgrade, although not of the same magnitude as Burley.
After having now conducted the necessary surveys, and already laid the fibre optic cable from the more modern Otley exchange into Burley (bypassing our exchange completely) the next stages, based on a staggered rollout, are:
Laying the fibre optic cable to new cabinets - December 2011 to March 2012
Laying fibre optic cable directly into (selected) premises - December 2011 to July 2012
A new process has been under test at three exchanges, allowing a replacement fibre optic link from the local exchange into existing local premises already served by copper cable.
Burley will be the very first exchange in the country to be utilising this new method
December 2011 to May 2012
Meanwhile, Openreach will be applying for planning permission to install their new cabinets (which, unike the present ones, need power) close to the cabinets already serving the copper wire network. It is anticipated that the new installations will start to go "live" in April/May of 2012.
Currently it is not known whether TalkTalk will be taking up the option to extend their current fibre optic network, nor if any other providers intend to piggyback on the BT one. NB - Please bear in mind that the service will be available, but that subscribers wishing to take advantage of it will need to sign up for it with the relevant provider. As soon as the iBurley team is aware of further developments in the rollout the information will be posted on this website, and an update will also be included in the Spring edition of the Newsletter.