Forty percent of UK to get 20Mbps from BT

Energy giant BT has announced that by the end of this year it will be supplying around forty percent of the UK with 20Mbps ADSL2+ broadband.

According to a recent report communications giant and broadband provider, BT, is set to provide around forty percent of the UK with 20Mbps ADL2+ broadband by the end of this year. The company has said that forty percent of UK business customers will be able to benefit from this 20Mbps speed by the end of the year.

BT Business is set to switch on the first ADSL2+ service this coming summer, and the plan to provide forty percent of UK business customers with this service comes as part of its 21st Century Network. Consumer customers will also start seeing the arrival of faster speeds too, according to reports, with BT fighting to get up to speed with its main rival, Virgin Media, which now offers 50Mbps speeds.

BT has also said that in theory ADSL2+ peaks at 24Mbps, but it will be advertised as ‘up to’ 20Mbps. John Strutt, general manager of business voice and broadband products, said: “The technology does go a little faster, but after all the tests we’ve done, we’ve said let’s get a bit of honesty into it.”

With the new ADSL2+ service the contention ration will remain the same at 50:1, and this means that users will still experience slower speeds at peak times of the day, when a greater number of users are sharing the same line to get online. However, upload speeds will be increased to 1Mbps. Customers that are already connected to a 21Cn enabled connection will be contacted by BT to enable them to upgrade at no extra cost. However, they will have to sign a new twelve month contract.