BT is investing £1.5bn in the deployment of Fibre Broadband across the UK. For most buildings and houses this will be delivered over Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) technology which will allow customers to benefit from broadband download speeds of “up to 40Mbps”, with a minimum 15Mbps, and upload speeds typically from 2Mbps and “up to 10Mbps”.

What is Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC)?

Fibre to the Cabinet or FTTC is when a fibre cable runs from a BT exchange to a street cabinet that contains the Broadband equipment. From here it is linked to buildings and homes via BT’s existing copper network. This then connects the home or business to Fibre Broadband.

Why use Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC)?

It would be very costly to get everyone connected directly to Fibre Broadband. FTTC therefore provides a cost effective way of providing many users with the speed benefits of Fibre Broadband.

FTTC does not however achieve the same speeds as if fibre was deployed directly to a building – Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) – but it is still a vast improvement on previous technologies and traditional telephone lines.

How will Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) benefit you?

File download and upload in seconds (quicker back-up, etc)
No delay in bringing up Internet pages
Minimum line download speed of 15Mpbs
Additional bandwidth will improve the performance of Virtual Private Networks making uploading and downloading of files more efficient, meaning working from home becomes a more viable option
The use of multi-media and conferencing facilities will improve with higher download and upload speeds as will the use of live (legal) streaming services
Your connectivity will be better equipped to cope with the forecasted exponential growth in high definition streaming
Lower call costs by taking advantage of VoIP delivered over Fibre