Homes get faster 8MB broadband from today

But not all ISPs announce their plans

Rob Jones, Personal Computer World 31 Mar 2006

From today, homes across the UK will have access to faster 8Mbit/sec broadband as BT upgrades all of its exchanges.

It follows the culmination of BT's DSL Max broadband trials, which have been taking place in selected areas around the country. It means that consumers will get speeds of up to 8Mbits downstream and 448Kbits/sec upstream instead of 256Kbits/sec. Businesses will get up to 832Kbits/sec upstream.

These faster speeds will mean consumers will find the quality of video calls, streaming content and up or downloading large files - such as photographs - will be much faster. It will also speed up general web surfing.

A BT Wholesale spokeswoman confirmed that over 5,300 exchanges had now been upgrade for DSL Max, to offer up to 8Mbits/sec broadband speeds.

‘It allows people to run bandwidth hungry applications at the same time, such as downloading music and playing online games or emailing. And it’s important for ISPs that want to offer IP TV services,’ she added.

Not all Internet Service Providers could tell us of their 8Mbits/sec plans when contacted, including Wanadoo and – bizarrely – BT Retail, which said it would make an announcement about BT Broadband next week.

Plusnet said all existing customers will get the faster services for no extra charges. Nildram is also upgrading customers for free, but only if they sign up for the new speeds online, under a service on its site called 'regrade', said a spokeswoman.

Neither company requires customers to sign up to new 12 month deals.

Another important aspect of today’s exchange upgrade is that it should also improve the reliability and speeds for customers who live further from their exchange.

Currently, these customers are more likely to suffer unreliable broadband speeds, but improved power management should now give them more stable speeds.

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