What is it?

Fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) is based on BT's 21st century network and brings faster broadband to both domestic and business users. Current ADSL broadband technology is limited by the distance you are from the exchange, the further away you are the lower your speed will be. FTTC brings high speed fibre to a cabinet near your premises which makes the length of the copper circuit shorter (The limiting factor in ADSL) as it only has to travel from your premises to the cabinet, the haul from there to the exchange is then over super fast fibre.

How fast?

Currently FTTC is capable of speeds up to 40Mb but BT is already working on doubling this speed to 80Mb in 2012

What equipment do I need?

Currently FTTC must be installed by a BT engineer. BT will provide you with an FTTC modem which will provide an ethernet connection. This can be plugged directly into the ethernet port on your computer bu we do not recommend doing this as it provides no security by way of a firewall other than the software firewall on your PC which is fallible. Your existing ADSL router cannot be used and will need to be replaced with an equivalent ethernet router. Business users probably already have a hadware firewall which has ethernet interfaces so the BT modem will be a direct plugin - We've always recommend our business clients to use Zyxel hardware firewalls and we are happy to report that these are 100% compatible with FTTC.

You should also be aware that your IP address will change. This will not be a problem for the majority of domestic users but business users with static IPs will need carefull planning to ensure a smooth change over.

How do I get it?

First your exchange needs to be upgraded to provide the service and the new cabinets need to be installed. BT are working as fast as they can to carry out this huge engineering task.

The best way to find if FTTC is available to you is to give us a call on 01280 817616. Give us the line number you want to have the service on (It needs to be a BT line) and we'll check for you there and then. If you are able to get FTTC we can start to process your order immediately.