Original article ISPreview UK:Read More
Mobile and broadband ISP EE (BT) has confirmed to ISPreview that the approach they currently take on their top 1.6Gbps speed Full Fibre (FTTP) package, which partly cuts BT Wholesale out of the equation, is set to be adopted across their slower tiers too (900Mbps and lower). But customers aren’t expected to notice any real difference.
In the past it used to be the case that BT and EE’s consumer focused broadband packages were based on BTW’s products, but this changed after Openreach launched their faster 1.2Gbps and 1.8Gbps tiers (usually advertised as average speeds of 1000Mbps and 1600Mbps, respectively). This is partly because BTW still doesn’t offer any consumer-focused FTTP products faster than 1Gbps (900Mbps) for UK ISPs.
Instead, EE’s fastest package largely took the 1.8Gbps (sold as 1.6Gbps) wholesale product directly from Openreach and seemed to then have deployed their own platform to support it (this still seems to involve some of BTW’s network, just not the 1.8Gbps wholesale product). But the technical specifics of exactly how this is all arranged remains a little bit subject to speculation (the ISP has not provided many official details when asked).
The latest development is that EE appear to now be planning to adopt the same approach they took for their 1.6Gbps package and spreading it out to their slower speed services. A spokesperson for the BT Group confirmed that they would be making such an internal change, although this is perhaps only interesting from a technical standpoint, since it’s not expected to have any impact on customers or their service (i.e. you won’t notice a difference).
The change is currently in trial and is expected to be rolled out in the very near future, although BT/EE hasn’t provided a detailed timescale. But we assume they wouldn’t be deploying it more widely if they didn’t see some advantages in cost or efficiency of service delivery, particularly as BTWholesale can already directly serve products with speeds up to 1Gbps (900Mbps average). In theory, putting all customers on the same approach could also solve some issues around internal package migrations and upgrades, which have occasionally cropped up due to the split of platforms.
ISPreview understands that the plan is for both existing and new customers to move seamlessly onto the new platform, with changes happening remotely.