News BT to stretch DSL to absolute limit

elReg is reporting that BT is looking for some willing guineapigs in Milton Keynes to perform horrifying broadband experiments on:

BT is looking to recruit 1,000 Net users in Milton Keynes to test whether it can stretch the reach of its ADSL service.

At the moment, broadband is only available to people who are roughly within around 6km of a DSL- enabled exchange.

Now, BT wants to see if it can provide a 500k service to people beyond the current limits. If successful, BT estimates that more than a million homes and businesses - currently wired up to a DSL-enabled exchange but unable to access high-speed Net access - could hook up to broadband.

The suck-it-and-see trial kicks off in Milton Keynes on 1 June and is set to test broadband service performance on lines of up to 10km line length and possibly even further. If successful, the new extended reach service is expected to be available from the autumn.

More here

 

Good news for Hex I wonder?

 

Maybe in the long run, but IIRC Hex is in Reading, not MK.

 

in the states you can get a 500k connection out to at least 23k feet.. so 18000 shouldnt be that big a deal

 

In the US, a 1.5mb/s connection can be ran to 18,000 feet gauranteed. I've seen 1.5mb/s extend out to 25,000 feet. Heck, I've seen people "mistakenly" qualified for DSL at 33,000 feet and were still able to pull sync from the CO. Sadly though, their speeds weren't exactly up to par ;-)

 

The problem in the UK is the copper length...

The wiring is rather old... and as result, the connections have to be close to the exchange. In the US/ Japan connections can be made to longer distances/ higher speeds from the exchange as the cabling exists as fibre for further.

 

Yeh, but I was speaking of a full copper loop. It is true that they use IFITL to extend the length further (or an extra RSLAM/DSLAM). But yeh, the standard for ADSL is 18,000 ft or about 5.5 km. Alot goes in to wether you can push it farther or not, such as quality of cable, gauge of cable, EMI/RFI factors, etc.

 

That's what I meant. I know she's not in the test area, but if the test goes well, Miss Hex and the others too far from an exchange may finally be in luck - without resorting to wireless or satellite.

 

Ooh a conversation all about me and I didn't even notice

Hopefully it will go well and I can eventually end the 56k Hell I am stuck in. Knowing my luck my BT line will still be rubbish

 

I was wondering when you'd notice your ears burning

Come on BT, make it work! Hex feels the need for speed!

 

Damn, and I still don't have the net at home. Where I live, it's a long distance call to any ISP connect numbers, and the local phone company charges like $35 a month for access to their incredibly slow dial-up. They MIGHT offer wireless broadband SOMETIME within the next 5 years, so I think I'm going to stay this way for a while. At least I have a 3xDS3 here at work to play with.

 

Can you get a T1?? If you can, get one and run your own ISP Let other people dial up to you!

 

Maybe, but having to run the lines 30 miles+ would cost an astronomical amount. And I doubt there's anough people out there to subscribe for it to be practical. It'd be fun though, that's for damn sure.

 

When I go into work tomorrow I have to sort out 2x200Mb/s net access lines for the same building...

*n