BT Presses the Accelerator for Broadband Speed

BT Retail has announced its latest plans to boost broadband speeds for consumers and businesses in Northern Ireland. Following upgrades to telephone exchanges in 13 locations, BT will provide customers in those areas with faster headline speeds of up to 20Mb/s as part of their broadband service at no extra cost.

The new broadband access technology being introduced is called ADSL2+ and is based on BT's world-class 21st century network platform. BT Retail broadband customers already enjoy speeds of up to 8Mb/s, but this latest development will allow more than 200,000 homes and businesses in enabled areas to experience a potential increase in download speeds of up to 20 Mb/s and upload speeds of up to 1 Mb/s.

While actual speeds achieved will be impacted by individual line conditions, a faster service can enable customers to surf, upload or download data in a fraction of the time, even when several users are on the same connection. This means less waiting around for complex web pages to download and graphics to upload. It is also good news for businesses looking to use rich media or boost their websites.

The current exchange areas benefiting from the first phase of this upgrade to ADSL2+ technology include: Ballymena, Balmoral, Bangor, Belfast City, Coleraine, Foyle, Lisburn, Lurgan, Malone, Newry, Newtownards, Portadown and Whiteabbey.

BT is also trying to address the major impact that home wiring has on broadband speeds and reliability. The company is giving customers the chance to boost their broadband speed with a free palm-sized gadget which can add an average 1.5Mb/s. The Broadband Accelerator, also known as the I-Plate, can be easily inserted into the main telephone socket where it helps to improve speeds by cutting out electrical interference. BT will send customers a free Broadband Accelerator, worth £15, for just the price of £1.20 postage. Although speed improvements are likely, they can't be guaranteed. Even if it doesn't improve speed the device can help stabilise broadband lines making them even more reliable.

Peter Morris, Consumer Director at BT Northern Ireland, said 'Unlike some providers, we are increasing our customers' broadband speeds for free. This is another example of BT investing in enhancing its services to give customers great value for money.'

'While individual line conditions will impact the level of speed increases, BT is consistently and continually exploring opportunity after opportunity to improve the quality of broadband service for our customers,' he added.

BT also recently announced that Balmoral and Lisburn were among the first areas in the UK to be upgraded in 2010 with a different technology called 'fibre to the cabinet' (FTTC). This will enable BT to deliver broadband speeds of up to 40Mbit/s, potentially rising to 60Mbit/s in the future. BT is exploring opportunities to further extend the rollout of FTTC in Northern Ireland.