Tartan Information Solutions

The situation here in Northern Ireland

In June 2000, BT launched ADSL in Northern Ireland, initially providing broadband access to over 20 of the 191 exchanges and at fixed download speeds of 0.5M, 1M and 2M bit/s and an upload of 64-256K bit/s.

By June 2006 all but 1 (Rathlin Island) of the exchanges had been upgraded to the current ADSL Max service.

ADSL Max now means that your broadband speed is as fast as your telephone line can sustain. The pricing is now one based upon the volume of data you download rather than the speed. On that point, the download speed you can get is based upon the distance you are to the exchange; the closer you are (the shorter your line) the faster the download speed. The theoretical maximum (much exagerated by broadband providers) is 8M bit/s but in practice it's more like 6-7M bit/s.

For business users one further thing is useful to know. ADSL Max comes in two varieties 'Standard' and 'Premium'.

ADSL Max Standard allows you to download at up to 8M bit/s but upload (sending from your PC to the web) at 448K bit/s, which is almost a doubling of the old money, ADSL upload speed of 256K bit/s.

ADSL Max Premium also allows you to download at up to 8M bit/s but (and it's a big but) if you need the bandwidth, to upload at 832K bit/s. 'Premium' is extremely useful for sharing databases from remote offices or uploading large files to websites or sending out a large number of time critical emails with large attachments eg. Journalists trying to file/receive articles or PR agencies trying to send Press Releases.

For a list of ADSL Max Frequently Asked Questions please Contact Us and we'll mail them over to you.

ADSL2+

When ADSL Max services were introduced in June 2006, Exchanges were easily upgraded as it was just a configuration change.

As of May 2008 BT have launched ADSL2+ services that will provide download speeds of up to 24M bit/s and upload speeds, to begin with, of 1M bit/s and eventually upto 2.5M bit/s. Again speed is distance related.

Like its first foray into ADSL, BT needs new equipment to be installed at the exchanges. That means that it is a phased roll-out to all 5443 BT, UK exchanges with the ones with greatest commercial pay-back being upgraded first.

Exchanges are arranged into 20 UK Nodes . At present, as of the launch date of May 2008, exchanges belonging to the following Nodes are available: Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, Leeds, London North West, Manchester, Preston and Wolverhampton. Please note that not all exchanges associated with a Node have been enabled.

Thru BT Nortehrn Ireland the earliest in service dates for ADSL2+ services is 31st March 2009 for some of the Belfast City exchanges.

Some useful broadband checks

To check the likely speeds and if you can get broadband on the telephone number you'd like it to be on then...

Check my BT Telephone Number for ADSL Broadband - click here.