BT lowers its broadband threshold to 5Mbps
Means more can get less
British Telecom (BT) has lowered the minimum threshold at which ISPs can resell its fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) broadband lines.
Previously, the minimum broadband speed that another ISP could provide to a customer was 15Mbps, but now BT will allow providers to hook up fibre optic services to folks to whom they can guarantee only 5Mbps.
While this means that many more will be able to connect to the service it also means that a larger number will not come close to the theoretical speed that FTTC can deliver.
BT pointed out to ISP Review that a steady 5Mbps is still better than nothing and it is better than anyone can get out of traditional ADSL in some areas.
BT said that the change will allow it to move more subscribers onto FTTC, thus increasing the rate of return on its investment in fibre.
In theory everyone should be happy, unless they had higher expectations for FTTC.