In a small but notable development, network operator Openreach (BT) has finally announced that it will withdraw the supply of their hybrid fibre G.fast “ultrafast broadband” modems (CPE) from 1st December 2024 (i.e. existing customers who experience a fault with one of these modems will now need to look elsewhere).
Just to recap. G.fast (ITU G.9701) was an interim hybrid-fibre and copper technology, which was capable of download speeds up to 330Mbps, but which ultimately ended up being abandoned (here) in favour of Openreach’s welcome desire to deploy full fibre (FTTP) technology at scale. The service only ever covered around 2.8 million UK premises, and just a tiny number of ISPs still support it (here).
Openreach has since overbuilt many of their G.fast cabinet (extension pod) areas with FTTP (here) and take-up of the old service was so low that some of those don’t even have any active G.fast customers left. The network operator stopped supplying their own G.fast modems (Customer Premises Equipment) for new installs some time ago, partly because ISPs started offering routers with a built-in modem (these are becoming harder to find) and partly because the product is clearly on the way out.
The latest small update is that Openreach are now withdrawing the supply of G.fast modems from 1st December 2024 (see change in price list), which means that those who still use the modem (usually as part of a two box solution from an ISP – wireless router + G.fast modem) won’t be able to get a direct replacement if that fails. The service currently costs £72 +vat.