Technology Vault - NewsBytes

Tuesday 20 April, 2004

BT to expand ADSL distance 'limit' by turnitonagain @ 1:21 pm

Broadband Britain could be one step closer as BT announces that an extra million homes could be connected to ADSL if their new trial is successful.

At the moment, if you live further than 6Km from an ADSL enabled exchange (or the line takes longer than 6Km to get to you), chances are you will not be able to get an ADSL connection due to the drop in signal strength.

After testing at BT labs at Adastral Park, they have found that this 6Km 'limit' can be extended to 10Km and beyond and still offer a 500Kbps (60KB/s approx) ADSL service. They stress however, that it may not work on all lines.

Currently 4% of people who are connected to an ADSL enabled exchange cannot get ADSL due to their distance from the exchange (regardless of the fact it is enabled). BT hopes that this trial could enable almost 100% of people who are connected to an enabled exchange to obtain ADSL.

BT have chosen Milton Keynes as a test bed for the service as it has a higher percentage of people (18%) who are connected to an ADSL enabled exchange, but are unable to receive ADSL due to their distance from the exchange.

If you are in the Milton Keynes 01908 area code, and are interested in being involved in the trial you should register on this site: www.bb4mk.org/bttrial. If you do get involved in the trial, you can keep us up-to-date on the forum about your progress. :)

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