[UK] BT "Midband" (*koff* ISDN *koff*)

dahamsta

I'd take 64k. That's quite sad when you think about it.

adam

An end to the wait?

If you can't get broadband, BT thinks it has the answer: midband. Critics say that for a consolation prize, the price is too high. S A Mathieson reports

Thursday March 6, 2003
The Guardian

First there was dial-up. Then there was broadband. Now, meet a new way to connect to the internet: midband. The term has been coined by BT Retail's chief executive Pierre Danon to describe a system that BT hopes might form a consolation prize for those who are out of range of the fast broadband internet access, through either cable or asymmetric digital subscriber lines (ADSL).
Midband, which is due to start a trial in the next few weeks, will provide internet access at 128kbps. This is triple the typical connection speed of a standard dial-up modem, but just a quarter of ADSL.

BT is tight-lipped about when the service might become available; that depends on the trial, it says. "By mid-2005, broadband services could be available to around 90% of households in the country," Danon claimed late last year: it is available to more than 66% now. Eighty per cent would use ADSL, which would rely partly on technology extending its range - it currently works if there is less than 3.4 miles of wire between you and the exchange. BT is also trialling "Exchange Activate", which makes ADSL viable by grouping at least 30 users together through a single ISP.

Danon said that 10% will have access through other methods, including wireless and satellite. BT provides a satellite broadband service covering the country, but it costs hundreds of pounds to set up. However, the company is testing a cheaper option, which would provide broadband downloads at the same speed as ADSL, with uploads going through a standard modem.

In the meantime, midband will cover 97% of the UK population. It will allow calls to be made at the same time as web-surfing, although this will halve the inter net connection speed. And it will provide an always on connection for emails. Danon said that midband will be not much cheaper than broadband, for which BT charges £27 a month, plus £50 to set up, without email or web space, or £29.99 with. A spokesman said last week that a monthly charge of "£20 to £25 seems about right".

[...]

Hornet

In the recent Recommendations of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce (compiled by Chris Horn et al.) about "Dublin as an E-City", the term midband has already been used (e.g. Page 3), so the BT guy wasn't fast enough!

Interestingly the Dublin Chamber of Commerce document refers to "ADSL midband" services and I think that is an appropriate term for ADSL.

In bandwidth-starved Ireland, where 128k are called Hi-Speed, ADSL is more than only Broadband, but if you look at the bigger picture and wind the clock a few years (admittedly "few" can be a big figure) forward, then you have to ask yourself what we will call the 10+ Mbit/s connections to the home?

What comes after "Broadband"?

So maybe we should call ADSL "midband", pointing out that it is only a step on the way and stressing that the telcos should not become complacent (again) when ADSL is available.

[Don't flame me for talking about the future when the past hasn't reached us yet. Just let me dream a bit!]

-Hornet

dahamsta

Anyone here know the reach of ISDN?

adam

spongebob

not much more than BT DSL at 3.4 Miles

around 4 miles ISTR...maybe 4.5

saik

It will allow calls to be made at the same time as web-surfing, although this will halve the inter net connection speed. And it will provide an always on connection for emails

this is just a re-branding of isdn, is it not.

spongebob

yep

always on d channel of 16k + the 2 usual 64k channels

email comes down always on bit + call setup and cleardown signals

Victor

Originally posted by The Guardian
Midband, which is due to start a trial in the next few weeks, will provide internet access at 128kbps.

It will allow calls to be made at the same time as web-surfing, although this will halve the inter net connection speed. And it will provide an always on connection for emails.

Sounds awfully like always-on ISDN.

ando

IDSL possibly

MagicBusDriver

It is ISDN but at a reasonable price is a reasonable alternative to ADSL. It should also be cheaper to deploy as most exchanges have ISDN.

ISDN and a 1 way unicast satellite connection is also a decent option but costs ~£50 a month with modest setup charges in the UK.

It would be interesting to see how many people in Ireland and the UK are connected to non-ISDN exchanges? Does anyone know?

PS ISDN has a range of 15km

BArra

dsl cant travel that far surely, 3.5km being the max ?


baz

ando

your thinking of Adsl. Radsl's limit is 5.5km and Idsl is I think is the same as ISDN

sceptre

Originally posted by Victor
Sounds awfully like always-on ISDN.

Or even less. To me it just sounds like flat-rate dual channel ISDN with the D-channel activated and always on. I wonder if BT will eventually introduce a monthly online limit for the main channels as they have with their other flatrate narrowband products.

(IDSL would make sense though)