VoiceHost ‘Superfast’ Broadband is our new range of unshaped ultrafast internet products. Using the Openreach Nationwide FTTP* and G.Fast* footprint which is ever-growing and at the time of writing; currently available to circa 2million premises and homes across the United Kingdom.
*Availability varies and is dependent on the exchange technology.
Broadband speeds of up to 330Mbps can be delivered using both G.fast and Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) technologies which Openreach state is on track to reach 3 million homes and businesses by the end of 2020.
Openreach plans to reach a total of 5.7 million properties using G.fast, and also wants to extend its FTTP rollout to 10 million premises by the mid-2020s.
Frustratingly there is no master list of currently enabled areas in the open public domain so the only way to check is via our Broadband checker. However, these are the areas they publicly released last November:
Acomb, Addiscombe, Aintree, Ascot, Bargoed (Cardiff), Barking, Barnsley, Beckenham, Beulah Hill (Croydon), Blackpool, Bootle, Bradford, Broadwell, Canonbury, Chingford, Colchester, Colindale, Dalton in Furness, Daubhill, Deal, Dover, Downloand (Croydon), Earley, Eastbourne, Eastleigh, Enfield, Faversham, Felixstowe, Feltham, Forest Hill, Godalming, Greenwich, Hamilton, Harlesden, Hatch End, Healing, Hendon, Hitchin, Hyde, Kemptown, Kentish Town, Kenton, Leicester Central, Leytonstone, Lincoln, Littlehampton, Llanrumney, Lords, Lower Holloway, Malden, Midland (Birmingham), Mill Hill, Moss Side, North Wembley, Northampton, Oldham, Pendleton, Plympton, Ponders End, Prescot, Primrose hill, Purfleet, Rainham, Rock Ferry, Rushey Green, Staylbridge, Stamford, Stoke City, Sydenham (Croydon), Teddington, Tewkesbury, Tranent (South East Scotland), Upper Holloway, Urmston (South Manchester), Wallington, Waterloo, Wembley, West Kensington, West Wickham, Willesden, Worthing Central.
"VoiceHost is offering packages of up to 330Mbps to customers in enabled areas."
What is G.Fast?
G.Fast is a way of bringing the fiber from the telephone exchange that extra step beyond the 'Green' street cabinets to a pole (PCP) that's closer to your premises or property. This reduction in the amount of copper in the line means a more stable and much faster connection (up to 330Mbps).
You still need a traditional phone line for the service to run on like FTTC and ADSL.
Openreach has chosen to offer G.Fast as it means less expense and disruption than running fibers directly to your door.
It's worth noting that as there is still copper in the line that speeds will vary according to line length with will mean people with long lines won't get to reap the benefits.
What is FTTP?
FTTP is a full-fibre connection directly to your premises. As there's no copper line used in the connection you won't need a copper line for the service to run over. Copper lines get more faults and suffer interference so you'll have a more stable and superior connection.
FTTP can offer up to 1Gbps connections so you'll have access to serious capacity by even the most data-hungry standards.
Finally as FTTP speeds isn't something that's affected by line lengths in the same way as copper, so anyone regardless of the distance can achieve the full capacity of the connection.
How does it compare?
Ofcom’s latest data was compiled by its research partner SamKnows from 4,918 residential broadband users who volunteered to have monitors installed on their home routers. It appears to show that, for the first time, the average download speed in the UK is now over 50Mbps, up 18% in 12 months to 54.2Mbps.
| Technology | Download | Upload | Analogue line required | Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ADSL | 8 Mbit/s | 0.8 Mbit/s | Yes | Internet data is passed through copper cables, which travel from the telephone exchange to the premises. The speed you receive will depend on how far away you are from the telephone exchange and the further away from the exchange you are, the more the signal will deplete. Copper cables mean speed will reduce over distance. |
| ADSL2+ | 20 Mbit/s | 2 Mbit/s | Yes | Internet data is passed through copper cables, which travel from the telephone exchange to the premises. The speed you receive will depend on how far away you are from the telephone exchange and the further away from the exchange you are, the more the signal will deplete. Copper cables mean speed will reduce over distance. |
| FTTC | 80 Mbit/s | 20 Mbit/s | Yes | A mixture of copper and fibre optic cables are used to increase the speed of the internet. The fibre does not reach the customers home, however, only to a cabinet in the area, and the rest is delivered via copper cables, which can be up to 1500 meters away from the home, reducing broadband speeds to as little as 15Mbps. |
G.fast
| 330 Mbit/s | 50 Mbit/s | Yes | The G.fast (ITU G.9700/9701) service works in a similar way to existing Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC / VDSL2) technology by running a fibre optic cable to your local PCP Street Cabinet (note: VDSL2 has its own separate DSLAM cabinet – usually positioned close to the PCP cabinet), which is then fitted with an extension “pod” to house the line cards (this handles up to 48 ports, but it should eventually do 96). After that the service reaches your home via the existing copper cable. |
| FTTP | 330 Mbit/s | 50 Mbit/s | No | This is a fibre only connection and copper cables are not used at all, so the broadband is transported straight to the premise through fibre optic cables, literally at the speed of light! The position of your home relative to the telephone exchange will not degrade the performance of the line ensuring your broadband speed is more reliable and dependable. |
Broadband Availability Checker:
Broadband Availability Checker
Resources:
https://news.openreach.co.uk/pressreleases/openreach-builds-ultrafast-broadband-network-to-81-new-locations
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/147332/home-broadband-report-2018.pdf
