100Mbps fibre connections heading to a town in Autumn 2008
Wednesday 23 January 2008 14:32:09 by Andrew Ferguson
H2O Networks is a name usually associated with business grade fibre connections, in fact it is this business that is likely to decide which of the towns out of Bournemouth, Northampton and Dundee will get a residential fibre based service first. The promise of a 100Mbps fibre connection to homes by Autumn 2008 is tantalising. The level of interest from consumers though will heavily depend on price and types of service available.
H2O Networks use the sewer network as the main ducting to link premises which means the cost of deployment is something like 20 to 30% of the cost of a traditional fibre roll-out. This is mainly since it avoids the need for road digging with its attendant disruption, costs and delays as permission is obtained.
According to the item at BBC News Online we may see roll-out starting in September 2008 and take around 18 months to complete. The long term plan being to expand to 14 other towns in the next five years. H2O Networks is not planning to set itself up as a traditional service provider but is in talks with providers who will offer their services across the network and links to the outside world.
If this solution proves popular then it could signal the start of an explosion in competing fibre networks as companies race to get their networks into the ground. Perhaps another replay of the original cable network roll-out is about to start.
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Bournemouth, Northampton and Dundee - all Virgin Media areas.
The same company albeit on a smaller scale has been offering 100Mb fibre for a while already... see my old post here for the low down...http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=general&Number=3206192
I assume the service must be pretty reliable if they are now going to roll it out to a town (whats the betting as its they choose Dundee ;) ) I personally hope it ends up being popular, price per month will be a factor, lets hope the area they choose are not blinkered individuals that expect it to cost 10 quid like some other mickey mouse broadband product. Good luck to them i say.
quote"If this solution proves popular then it could signal the start of an explosion in competing fibre networks as companies race to get their networks into the ground."
Yep, i wonder what BT will say if in six months they start planning fibre? Didnt they say the cost is too much?? As ive said before i bet they find the money quick enough if this takes off and other companies start to get in on the act countrywide and taking a bit of the naff 21CN business.
It is a bit annoying (I have interests in Dundee) that they continually choose locations that already have very good communications for trials like this.
Dundee already has ADSL, unbundled xDSL, Virgin Media (20mbps - 50 "comming soon").
I suppose as a trial it is fine, but I don't really see how it is a great idea when people already can get 20mbps connection at that location.
Thier local access network might be in the Sewer pipes, but I wouldn't mind betting their backhaul from these out of the way towns connecting them to the rest of the internet uses standard duct and fibre routes wholesale from one or more telco's.
BT doen't really have a good reason for not rolling out a national access fibre network in the last mile, after all they have more duct in the ground than any other UK operator. So it can only come down to money or rather squeazing the last drop out of the exsisting copper network.
i live in Dundee and cant get anytype of phone line broadband, i have just missed out on that survey for broadband. The reason I cant get broadband is that I am on fibre optic and BT says it would cost to much to replace with copper. So it will be interesting to see the outcome of this company.
http://www.bournemouth.gov.uk/business/Contracts/contract_view.asp?id=192
perhaps, but they did all this waffling when they did the county council deal a few years back...and the council were trumpeting the potential for business access...i have the spam somewhere.
100mpbs through the sewer to my door...do i hold my breath or not?