Some questions regarding Annex M and FTTH (Central London)

[Chaoss]

Hi there I have put in an order for BT Buisiness broadband, unfortunately I cannot get 'BT Infinity' or the buisiness equivilent as my line is connected directly to the exchange and for what ever reason FTTH is not yet available at the exchange. Am I correct in thinking that when my exchange (Lower Holloway) does get FTTH that I'll be able to get the service? or will I still be left in the dark?

I cannot get Virgin services here as there is no cabling and no plans to install cabling as there "is not enough interest, and it would only benefit 34 properties". Not being connected to a cab means for what ever reason I am unable to get Infinity which leaves me with the only option, ADSL2+. My estimated speed is 17Mbit down from BT, however with another provider my estimated speed was 21mbit down and 2.1mbit up with Annex M. I'd rather stay with BT as it's just easier to pay 1 bill rather than 2.

Making the best of a bad situation I'd like to know how one gets AnnexM on BT Buisiness Broadband... I know it has been done in the past as I've seen speedtest results with 1.4mbit's up on various ISP related forums floating around along with some lucky people getting Annex M activated.

Upload is far more important to me than download and when I learned all I could get was ADSL I was mortified. Even if it only boosts me half a meg It'd be really really helpful.

I design game environments and work from home, and as such I upload a lot of very large PSD (Photoshop) files in excess of 1.5 - 2GB per file, I'll need to be able to upload 30 - 40 of these per week along with the .fbx (model/3dsmax) files but these are never larger than a few meg, basically even an extra 100kb is a godsend.

If I am unable to get AnnexM what other options are available to me?

[adrianc]

Hi,

Have you checked Openreach's website to see if your exchange is planned for FTTP? Not all exchanges will get it, though I would think that a central London exchange would. BT has started offering FTTP-on-demand so as long as your exchange is on the list to be enabled, then you should be able to get it.

The only complication would be if there's no free duct for them to blow the fibre down, but again being in central London makes that unlikely.

Beware of comparing speed estimates, BT's estimate has always been conservative from what I can see - I have several connections and all of them are faster than the estimate on the website - e.g. 2Mb/s estimated, 4.5Mb/s actual sync speed. As to Annex-M, it is in the plans but not rolled out yet - the Business Hub 3 supports it.

Adrian

[Chaoss]

hey can you send me the link that displays when the exchanges get fttp on demand i have been unable to find any information. also i was sold bt buisiness broadband because it supported annex m as i require the extra upload bandwidth

[adrianc]

Hi,

Try this site - http://www.superfast-openreach.co.uk/where-and-when/ - it gives a map and list of exchanges that

have been/will be upgraded to support fibre services.

Adrian

[Vhailor]

Sorry guys for the somewhat late response to this, I don't check the forums often but this might at least help anyone that wanders across it if not the OP!

BT Broadband don't currently offer Annex M (I tried, believe me). I believe the way it works is that they use Annex A (1.4mb upload) and that in some cases the upload profile rate can also be capped below that, usually 800kbps or so I;ve found. ADSL2+ Annex M upload rate is 3.3mb at best but this is at cost of some download speed. How much of your download speed is sacrificed will depend on the line quality but unless you sync at 16mb+ there's no/little point in asking for Annex M. Your actual upload rate on Annex M is very, very unlikely to reach anything like 3.3mb (I've got a 6db upstream attenuation and sync at 2.4mb upload).