BBC Videos about High Speed broadband

[eduabncs]

Interesting BBC video reports about future and current high speed broadband.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7131115.stm

[torledo]

Interesting BBC video reports about future and current high speed broadband.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7131115.stm

Thanks for the link, some interesting video.

I think the school in the video have obviously jumped from a shared ADSL solution or more likely an ISDN link straight to fiber, so yes they'll notice the difference when watching videos. To be honest with current average ADSL speeds web browsing and viewing flash based streaming video (which is all the school seemed to want to do) compares well with a 10 meg or even a 100 meg link. Where that extra download speed makes a difference is actual downloads. So for downloading big applications or torrent downloads the country needs FTTH. For all other activities the difference is negligible. Particularly with sophisticated CDN's and technologies like improved streaming codecs.

Didn't like that idiot of an MD, trying to make out that fishing a fibre optic run through the sewers is rocket science, or that he was the first and only person who could get the water companies to agree. Complete bs if you ask me, So the BT engineers with all their years of experience and miles of infrastructure couldn't have thought of that ? It was left to H20 to come to the rescue of the people of Bath and save the day

The videos do highlight an issue with the last mile connectivity. Maybe it is simply a case of running the cable in the least disruptive way as possible in streets and apartment blocks across the country to get the FTTH we will eventually need - or maybe it's more complicated to do that nationally. This is obviously not a priority for BT who have alredy committed billions to the 21CN project that has clear cost saving benefits for them. Whereas a multi-billion pound national last mile overhaul is probably of less benefit in the medium term to their business.

Ofcourse BT's chosen option, the cheap option of ADSL2/VDSL, will exacerbate the current issue of speed differences. Unless you're within a half a mile of the exchange you won't get anywhere near those 20mbps+ speeds, if you're over a mile from the exchange you'll be no better off than you are at the moment. Ofcourse BT will rely on the higher ADSL2
data rates in addition to the IPTV infrastructure upgrade to make live TV over copper broandband a possibility. I think that the BT Vision business model stinks anyway, the decision not to overhaul the last mile makes it an even less appealing prospect for watching live or even ondemand TV now or in the future. Particularly when we'll get freeview HD before the switchover, while BT will still be no closer to delivering live SD streaming.

[webman]

I think Google TiSP has the answer for the last-mile issue

[joe90bass]

I think Google TiSP has the answer for the last-mile issue

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