Everything You Need To Know About FTTP

Fibre-To-The-Property broadband (FTTP) is full fibre broadband that connects a fibre optic cable from the exchange directly to a router inside a property.
November 14, 2019
Advice

This blog unveils everything you need to know about the benefits of  FTTP and why it’s better than FTTC (Fibre-To-The-Cabinet).

What is FTTP Broadband?

Fibre-To-The-Property broadband also known as Fibre-To-The-Premises or FTTP, is full fibre broadband that connects a fibre optic cable from the exchange directly to a router inside a property. FTTP doesn’t use copper wires or split cables between properties, so it delivers ultra-reliable, ultrafast speeds that don’t drop out at peak times. FTTP broadband also means you have a contention ratio of 1:1 so you never share your service with other people.

What is FTTC Broadband?

Fibre-To-The-Cabinet broadband also known as FTTC or part fibre broadband, uses fibre optic cables to the exchange, then splits the fibre cable using copper wires across multiple properties. This means several houses can be sharing the same service at once, causing fluctuating speeds and dropouts at peak times. Because FTTC has multiple users on one connection, it often means a high contention ratio. For example, some providers have contention ratios of 64:1.

Why is FTTP better than FTTC?

FTTP is considerably better than FTTC because it delivers faster, more reliable speeds. With FTTP you get your own dedicated full fibre line, giving you guaranteed, ultrafast speeds 24-7 directly into your property. FTTP broadband also has the capability to increase speeds. For example, Truespeed’s FTTP packages start from 150Mbps and can deliver up to 10Gbps. By only using FTTP infrastructure, it allows speeds to be increased remotely without the need for engineering work as the connection is already directly attached to the router.

Because FTTC splits cables across multiple properties, it can’t guarantee the speeds users receive. That’s why FTTC often use ‘average’ or ‘up to’ speeds. Fluctuating speeds are particularly common at peak times when lots of people are trying to use the internet. Because the infrastructure becomes overwhelmed with the number of people trying to use it, it causes buffering and even dropouts.

What are the benefits of FTTP Broadband?

The top benefits of FTTP broadband are faster speeds, greater reliability and great value for money. Although FTTP can sometimes be more expensive than FTTC, long term it provides the best value for money especially if your provider guarantees no in-contract price rises.

What are the differences between Truespeed and other providers?

We are well into a new era where broadband speed and reliability is considered to be a requirement for current, and future, technology and innovation.

We want to give you a true choice of networks, but first, we need to give you all the information you need to understand how Truespeed is different (and better).

There are two broad choices for delivering fibre broadband to the property:
GPON (Gigabit Passive Optical Networking).
Active Ethernet

Both are tried and tested methods of delivering broadband to the home, however, they are both different.

1. What is GPON?

Companies like BT run GPON which uses passive optical splitters to connect up to 64 fibres to a single fibre. This is then connected to something called an OLT (Optical Line termination) in a cabinet somewhere central in the area which in turn, provides the service to your home or business.

One of the most attractive features of GPON is the cost of delivering it for the provider – it is cheaper to put into place. The downside to this is that it is a shared medium where all customers will receive the same transmission from the OLT and send back their separate transmissions on effectively the same fibre cable.

To put it in simple terms, with GPON:

You will share a fibre cable with anywhere from 4 to 64 of your neighbours in your street and/or village
You will see local fibre cabinets that aggregate the shared fibre from your home and your neighbours
If there is a fault or the cabinet fails, all connections and the people reliant on their internet through this, will lose their intenet

2. What is Active Ethernet?

Active Ethernet (or point to point) delivers a symmetrical and dedicated service to each and every customer. It is done, and called point-to-point, simply because it consists of running a fibre cable directly from the cabinet into the customer’s home. There is no splitting. There is no sharing. If your entire village are downloading and uploading to their maximum capacity, you will still have your maximum capacity. It’s as simple as that.

Active Ethernet also has the capability to grow as your (and the Internet) needs grow. In to every house connected to Truespeed is a cable capable of carrying 1Gb and upgradable to 10Gb without having to do anything to the connection coming in to your home. As technology grows, and the need for greater bandwidth grows, Truespeed can also grow. So not only are we future-proof for you, but should you sell your Truespeed connected house on, the fact that you’re connected means you’ll be more attractive for buyers than those with other options.

GPON vs Active Ethernet

Ultimately, Active Ethernet will always come out on top, primarily due to its superior innovation and bandwidth capabilities. It has the ability to grow as demand grows, and while GPON is a valid technology for today, it has limitations that you cannot deny – number one being the shared contention (bandwidth) with your neighbours.