Could 'G.Fast' Be The Superfast From BT We've All Been Waiting For?

BT has begun trials of its new G.fast broadband technology, which provides ultrafast speeds of over 10 times faster than the current UK average.

Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire is the first town involved in the tests being carried out by Openreach, with residents in the trial able to access speeds of up to 330Mbps.

That’s equivalent to FTTP – fibre run directly to the premises, as opposed to a nearby cabinet – but the great thing about G.fast is that no digging up and laying of cable to the building being hooked up is required.

G.fast simply uses existing copper wiring for the final length of connection to the premises, hooking up to a modem which is installed by the customer. This is obviously a much cheaper, and far swifter method of achieving ultrafast speeds compared to FTTP.

BT notes that some 2000 homes and businesses will be involved in the G.fast trials over the “coming weeks”. The trials will run for around six to nine months in total.

The company plans to start deploying G.fast either next year or in 2017, rolling it out alongside FTTC and FTTP, providing that the trials go well. Fingers crossed that’s the case, as this will be a major boon for internet speeds in the UK to say the least.

Joe Garner, CEO Openreach, commented: “Today is the start of a new chapter in building Britain’s connected future. This is the largest trial of G.fast technology in the world and it builds on the pioneering research of BT’s world-class R&D teams.

“We conducted the world’s first G.fast trial in 2013, and our experts have been heavily involved in creating global industry standards for this technology. We’re now eager to support all our service providers in learning how customers enjoy the service.

“The people of Huntingdon will play an extremely important role in helping us gauge how the technology performs, and how we might deliver ultrafast speeds to more of the UK over the coming years.”