BT has made superfast broadband available to a further 80,000 UK premises.
More homes and businesses in Cheshire, Oxfordshire and Worcestershire can now sign up for superfast services, delivering speeds of up to 80Mbps.
In most cases people will be able to order FTTC (Fibre to the Cabinet)-based services from BT and other ISPs, including TalkTalk, Zen Internet and Sky, using the Openreach network.
George Osborne celebrated the latest milestone in Connecting Cheshire, which saw an additional 50,000 properties able to get superfast services. Meanwhile, Minister of State for Culture and the Digital Economy Ed Vaizey appeared at the connection of 20,000 properties in Oxfordshire.
George Osborne MP told residents of Lower Peover, Cheshire as he switched on the latest fibre broadband cabinet: “I’ve been a huge supporter of getting high-speed broadband across Cheshire on behalf of the people I represent.
“The work Connecting Cheshire and BT are doing, bringing additional fibre broadband to homes and businesses, is vital for the local economy. It allows people to work where they want and brings entertainment and knowledge to people and families at home.”
Cheshire received £2.12m from the government’s BDUK (Broadband Delivery for the UK) scheme in the hope 99 per cent of premises will be connected by the end of 2017 and 96 per cent by 2015.
Of the 10,000 premises covered by the latest Superfast Worcestershire rollout, more than 2,000 are in the city centre.
Councillor Simon Geraghty, Worcestershire County Council Cabinet Member for Skills, Economy and Infrastructure, said: “It’s a fantastic achievement to have extended the provision of fibre broadband to within reach of just over 10,000 premises in the county. In addition, our roll-out programme is currently three months ahead of schedule.”
FTTC provides top download speeds of 80Mbps, but like ADSL, the top speed you’ll get depends on your location; the further away you are from the green street cabinet that serves your home, the slower your speed will be.
BDUK contracts stipulate that everyone should get download speeds of at least 24Mbps, but because of the nature of FTTC, it’s impossible to say exactly what everyone will get.
A small number of places will be able to get FTTP (Fibre to the Premises) from BT. This delivers top download speeds of 330Mbps and speeds are not affected by distance. BT isn’t breaking down what will be available where today, but it’s working on overhauling its postcode checker. This should help consumers get a better idea of what’s available to them.
In the meantime, you can head over to SamKnows and enter your postcode for a detailed breakdown of what services are live in your area.
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