In this modern age, we are reliant on broadband for our business. It dictates the speed of which we are able to respond to our customers and how productive our staff can be.
We have also by nature become less patient with advancements of technology and even though broadband enables us to respond speedily, it is also subject to restrictions.
How many times have you been in the flow of working and then the internet starts freezing? Or your emails won’t send, so you hit the send and receive 20 times in frustration? Or if you are uploading a file/video and it fails or takes ages?
Think about how many times that has happened and how much time that has taken.
Imagine if there was something that would speed it all up for us? That’s where Ultrafast Broadband comes in.
What is Ultrafast broadband?
Superfast broadband is anything above 24 Mbps and Ultrafast is anything over 100Mbps.
There are two options for Ultrafast broadband: G Fast and Fibre to the Premise (FTTP.)
G Fast is essentially Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC), its where a street cabinet (green cabinet) has had an additional cabinet attached with fibre optic cables. Between the Exchange and the Fibre Cabinet it is fibre, then from the cabinet to the premises, copper cables that used to be used for voice calls are used. Their performance targets are between 150 Mbit/s and 1 Gbit/s.
Fibre to the Premise (FTTP) is where fibre optic cables are used from the Exchange directly to the premises, no need to go to a green cabinet.
What’s the difference between G fast and FTTP?
Apart from the physical differences in the cables used, there is very little bar which is the best choice for you. Essentially it boils down to your locations, most often you have the option for FTTP or G Fast but not always both. FTTP is certainly the best option if you are based in a rural location.
Both options are being rolled out, slowly.
Due to a recent visit to a conference called Comms Vision where the future of connectivity was discussed, it seems that FTTP and G Fast will become the standard broadband option, specifically, FTTP. FTTP is a large project and BT are focusing their efforts elsewhere, however, the likes of smaller companies (in comparison to BT) are making their main aim to make certain cities to be completely FTTP.
Another key thing was that if you have G Fast available now, you are unlikely to be prioritised for FTTP.