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Eclipse join 40meg FTTC broadband service providers
Friday 19 February 2010 14:06:37 by John Hunt

Eclipse Internet are the latest broadband provider to launch a range of broadband products based on the BT fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) technology that has so far seen a slow take up with service providers. This isn't too much of a surprise as not many exchanges are actually enabled for the fibre service which sees fibre run to street-side cabinets. There will likely be a spurt of take up once availability has increased.

The Eclipse products are set to go live on the 12th of April and will give users a maximum speed of 40meg, but with a guaranteed throughput of 12meg. Two products will be available - Eclipse Fibre and Eclipse Fibre Pro which see a difference in the usage allowance and the upload speed. Eclipse Fibre comes with 2meg upload and a 50GB usage allowance, Fibre Pro has a 10meg upload speed and a 60GB allowance. It's also worth noting that these broadband packages are aimed at the business user rather than home users.

To see if you can get it, register on the Eclipse website.

[ Topic: Internet Service Providers | 20 comments | link to this item ]

Comments

Posted by otester about 1 year ago
These usage allowances are pathetic.

24Mbps LLU > BT FTTC.

Virgin will be the dominate provider in areas with both them and BT FTTC.

Posted by Zadoc about 1 year ago
Let me save people the trouble of looking. Here are the rather vital statistics:

Eclipse Fibre - £39.95 per month
50GB usage allowance

Eclipse Fibre Pro - £49.95 per month
60GB usage allowance

It's laughable. £40 for 2 hours 46 minutes of full speed access! FTTC is due to be rolled out here in the Summer, but none of the packages available so far are anywhere near competitive with ADSL2+ LLU. Pay the costs of installing fibre, and suffer the problem of no extra backhaul. Ridiculous.

Posted by chrysalis about 1 year ago
The usage allowances seem a bit low, but I got no objection to the price as long as its completely unshaped/throttled/uncongested traffic.

Posted by nmg196 about 1 year ago
Prices seem OK to me. Four times the download allowance I've got now for less than twice the price. But connected at 8 times the speed I get. If it was in my area, I would sign up right now! It only looks unreasonable if you compare it with ultra low-grade providers like TalkTalk.

Posted by GMAN99 about 1 year ago
<gasps> Eclipse Fibre Pro is only £24.99 from BT (Infinity Option 2)?? with no fixed usage allowance just "Fair use".

I know this are aimed at business users but still... what is the extra benefit better SLA's. I'd take my chances with the BT version if I had the choice (which I don't)

Posted by timmay about 1 year ago
OMG have you seen the price of just a normal 24Mbps with 50GB allowance from Eclipse! ... £30.60!

Posted by rian about 1 year ago
Crazy price. Why business user need this?

Posted by _TRIaXOR_ about 1 year ago
Eclipse Fibre comes with 2meg upload and a 50GB usage allowance, Fibre Pro has a 10meg upload speed and a 60GB allowance.

Um, I think I'll stay with my LLU connection thanks, 20/1.5Meg with Unlimited Usage allowance.

Putting such crazy usage allowances on FTTC is like giving someone a ferrari with no engine in it :-/ useless!

Posted by brutos about 1 year ago
LOL LOL BT FFTC vs Virgin Fibre LOL LOL

I know who i would choose.

Posted by otester about 1 year ago
Best FTTC option is AAISP.

But with unmetered LLU for £15, not really competitive is it?

You could double up 2 lines, £30 a month, extra £10/£20 per month would cover the expensive router required.

Posted by tommy45 about 1 year ago
I will be expensive at first,but will become cheaper as it becomes more popular and available to nearly anyone who wants it,
But i agree no point in having a fast connection if they wanna cap you,ect

Posted by TonyHoyle about 1 year ago
50GB is just silly on FTTC. You can download a GB in about 4 minutes. I've done 300GB in 2 weeks, and that's not exactly stressing it..

Posted by maniac886 about 1 year ago
My local exchange has been FTTC enabled since mid January. I don't mind paying £35 + a month as long as there are no stupidly low download limits. Eclipse's limits are just ridiculous, who wants up to 40Meg broadband with a download limit of 50/60GB!

Posted by otester about 1 year ago
@maniac886

£60 for AAISP's FTTC, low peak download usage, but 500GB for off-peak and extra is charged per 100GB.

Posted by maniac886 about 1 year ago
@ otester

Thanks for the info. I have actually looked at AAISP before. Unfortunately as the broadband is used both peak and off peak AAISP would be very expensive for me as they charge a fair wack on peak usage. I download around GB a month so unfortunately I have to rule BT out at the moment as I think their limit is 100GB and they throttle quite heavily if you go over your limit.

I am going to wait and see what the other providers come up with in the next few months. I don't think they will be able to come close to BT's low monthly cost though!

Posted by Guest_Again about 1 year ago
I will happily wait for Be* speeds to increase, rather than touch 'anything' eclipse the prices quoted aren't worth it, especially with its caps,or, throttled speeds.
No contest.

Posted by otester about 1 year ago
@maniac886

If you only download a GB a month then why do you want such a fast connection anyways?

Just XILO (assuming you're on a Market 1 exchange).

Posted by maniac886 about 1 year ago
@ otester

Sorry that was a typo, I actually meant 150GB a month.Think Xilo may be releasing something soon so will keep an eye out on their website.

Posted by adebov about 1 year ago
@ All the people complaining 50 or 60GB a month isn't enough.....

It isn't if that's the total allowance, but have any of you noticed the "Unlimited Usage 11pm - 9am" statement on the Eclipse website and the "12Mbps Guaranteed throughput" note?
The only problem is they don't quote any FUP.
So; depending on how strict they apply their FUP you could get anywhere between begger all and 11TB off peak allowance.

Posted by adebov about 1 year ago
....Assuming 12Mbps throughput.