BT video highlights extent of Superfast Cornwall’s fibre broadband reach

The BT-backed Superfast Cornwall project is over; 95 per cent of the county can now get next-gen broadband services in their home or office. 

Of the 258,000 properties in Cornwall that BT’s passed, roughly 173,000 places can now get FTTC (Fibre to the Cabinet) services, providing download speeds of up to 80Mbps. The remaining 85,000 can get FTTP (Fibre to the Premises) which provides top download speeds of 330Mbps. 

As the video below points out, Cornwall can currently boast one of the biggest FTTP footprints in the country. This is significant because bandwidth over FTTP lines doesn’t decrease over distances, meaning if you can get it (and afford it) you’ll be able to get 330Mbps down and 30Mbps up regardless of where your home or business is. 

FTTC broadband can provide download speeds in excess of what you can get from traditional ADSL lines, but the speed you’ll get depends greatly on your proximity to the green street cabinet. 

The story doesn’t end there though as Cornwall Council plans to roll out superfast services to 99 per cent of the county by March 2019. 

BT has also been experimenting with G.fast and Fibre on Demand. Trials of G.fast (pronounced ‘g dot fast’) in BT’s labs have shown that download speeds of over 700Mbps are possible. BT is now testing this out in the wild in a number of locations and could roll it out commercially within the next few years. 

Fibre on Demand is currently a business-only service that lets companies pay for the copper last mile of a Fibre to the Cabinet line to be replaced with fibre optic cable, turning it into a full FTTP link. This service was launched last year but was canned, following criticisms over installation and service costs. It’s been revived under the separate Superfast Cymru project in Wales and is currently being tested with a number of ISPs including Zen Internet. 

Until (or even if) these technologies hit the market, you’ll only be able to get one of two types of connection in Cornwall for the time being. 

Update: BT spokespeople contacted us to clarify coverage figures. The piece has now been updated.