Why do we need Fibre to our Homes?

Why is Truespeed a big thing for Saltford and why do we need Fibre to our Homes?

Broadband Usage in the Home

We are getting closer to having TrueSpeed in Saltford.  In the village we have both BT's ADSL2 service and Virgin Media up to 350Mb/s.  BT's ADSL service will give up to 74Mb/s down and 18Mb/s upload.  Virgin's 350Mb/s will also give you approximately 20Mb/s upload.

Straight away there are a few problems here. While most traffic is download your upload is becoming more and more important with technology and social change.   There are a number of reasons for this.  Firstly, if you are sharing your broadband with a number of people in your home that upload speed can decrease dramatically as it's shared between multiple users.  

For example; in our house, we have five active users plus a few passive users (work machines and devices which use the net).   When we download a video stream there is also an upload load overhead confirming each data packet received.  If you multiply this by five you can very quickly use up all your potential upload capacity as it's so limited.

Usage is Changing too 

These days our usage is very different from the early Broadband times.  With the use of Zoom, Teams, Skype and the use of Cloud based services all of a sudden upload has become a significant bottleneck.  Your video is being uploaded, your images are being uploaded to the cloud and your smart phone backups are all being uploaded just as a few examples.

It's still true that you download more data but it's no longer a rail of 10:1.  When the Internet was new and broadband just coming out this made sense but you would never find a major business with an asynchronous service.

Networks in the home are getting more and more complicated.  It used to be a since modem and one PC but now we have all sorts of connected devices, from doorbells to TV, from heating systems to fridges.  We have TV's in the house now where all the content is downloaded over the Internet.  

High quality internet is a utility, but it's changed.  The assumptions made 25 years ago just don't cut it anymore.  Take our house as an example.  Here's a list of the machines with internet access is our house:

Mobile Phones	5
Laptops	6
Internet TV	3
NAS	2
CCTV	4
IP Phones	1
iPad	2
Smart Switches	4
Solar Inverters	2
Building Automation	1
Printers	2
Raspberry pi	2
	34

Now, OK this house is not typical, but before you dismiss this, look back at where we were ten years ago.  I think our house is only a few years ahead of the trend. This infographic shows the data growth across.

The Red dot is the size of a DVD, the large Orange an 8K video. 8K HDR is being recorded now so it's not far away by any means.

The point is, we are all using more data AND more devices need access.  You might not be aware but it's a fact.  All Smart Phones now back up their data to The Cloud - that's an upload. Even cars now connect to your broadband and update themselves.

Sharing with your Neighbours - "Contention"   

You might not be aware but when you buy a broadband service it comes with a planned "contention ratio".  Providers assume that you won't all need it at the same time.  Both Virgin and all of the ADSL providers share their network capacity across a number of customers.  This is because you don't need your maximum capacity all of the time.  In theory this makes sense, it certainly makes financial sense for the provider as they over sell their capacity.

The issue comes when all of the houses are busy at the same time.  For example, my Virgin speed drops significantly when the kids come home from school which frustratingly is exactly the same time when my USA customers come online.

You might be sharing a circuit with between 20 and 50 other customers.  In the Covid19 pandemic most customers have seen their real life broadband speeds drop significantly and some networks are struggling to cope.

For me, one of the most exciting aspects of TrueSpeed is you have a single dedicated circuit to their Trunk network. The Truck network is a VERY high specification low latency network which connects up to the Internet in a number of places.

Think about the numerous TV interviews in the Pandemic now done over Skype or Zoom.  Very often they start well.  Of course the TV company will have checked the connection.  But half way through the break up, freeze, pixelate and distort.  This is usually a contention issue. Another customer has turned on a tap elsewhere a little like a shower running cold!

Network Quality - its more than Download potential speed

So, we've established that when providers sell you a potential download speed you're not actually getting that.  Actually, Ofcom now expect providers to state a real world speed which will help a little but that's not the whole story. "Latency" is the delay in the data arriving.  If you think of it as a water pipe; bandwidth is the size of the pipe and latency is the delay between when you open the value and the water (data) coming out.

 This graphic show the importance of low latency as part of high performance broadband.

Here's another which shows latency can make more difference than bandwidth.

So whilst bandwidth is great, especially with large data needs such as TV and Video the delay it is arriving makes a big difference too.

Another Network quality issue is "Jitter". Without wishing to get too techy - Jitter, is the variance in time delay in milliseconds (ms) between data packets over a network. It is a disruption in the normal sequence of sending data packets. The technical term for jitter is “packet delay variance”.

Data is broken up in to "packets" and each one is addressed and sent.  The packets are then put back together at the other end.  Jitter is the variance delay - in other words it's no good if all the packets arrive but a few are missing - the real world speed is based on the arrival of the last packet.

Truespeed Network Quality

In many ways this is the most exciting part.  When I tried out the Truespeed network at Corston Village Hall, I plugged directly in to their Router - so no wireless delays.  My system could only measure down the 1ms and the Truespeed latency was less than that! I come from a time when we used to get 200-300ms.  These days most people get 20-30ms.  To be fair to Virgin they are mainly below 15ms.  I have never seen less than 1ms except in a data centre. Jitter too was tiny.  At busy times I particularly find Virgin jitter to be a problem.  In fact I have seen far worst data quality measures inside a data-centre - and here's me in a village hall!!! Amazing.

Working Trends and Property Prices

Some businesses are planning not to have offices at all after Covid.  Having the ability to work well from home will be come far more important.  Schools are educating online as well and more work will be signed through distance learning.

Many countries have recognised the importance of "connectivity" to enable flexible working. I work with developers in Moldova and they have faster and more advanced connectivity than the UK.  Even Madagascar has better average broadband speed than the UK!!

Next generation broadband actually has an influence of house sales and house prices.  I know when we bought ours, 14 years ago proximity to the Exchange and having the options of Virgin was a really big thing for me even then.  Now fast internet is essential.  It's the most common reason for a house sale to fall through.  It has been said too that Fibre to the home can add 3% to your house price.

Costs

OK so here's the thing. If you don't have a need for it you might find Truespeed to be expensive.  If ADSL works for you it will be cheaper.  BT's infrastructure has been paid for several times over yet they are extremely slow to re-invest.  Virgin are improving their network but they constantly keep putting up their prices.  I've had three price increases in my current contract.  Due to the last one I successfully made an Ofcom complaint.... but that another story.

Truespeed's service starts at £47.50 for 200Mb/s up 200Mb/s down.  That includes a phone line, unlimited data with a term of 18months.  It doesn't include TV.  So you'd need to add a TV package or just use Freeview like we do.  NowTV do a good value over the internet bubble which is comparative.  Truespeed will be great with NowTV.

As a perspective; at one of our business sites in Scotland we paid £600 a month for a 100Mb/s Up and 100Mb/s down service.

More... I need more Power, Scotty...

Truespeed will go up to 1000Mb/s (1Gb) if you want it and do business packages at 250, 500 too if you want.  They test their fibre up to 10,000Mb/s (10Gb) and have even started offering that if you have really deep pockets. 

In reality no home user needs this as yet, but this is all about future proofing.  The copper wires to your house (or in some cases aluminium) are old and close to the limit of their technology.  Virgin say with their co-ax DOLSIS 3.1 will give users similar speeds but so far they don't offer a duplex symmetrical service.  In the few areas where they offer 1Gb user only get 100Mb/s upload.

Fibre has a theoretical limit of peta-bytes.  That's a million Gigabytes per second which, well it's crazy speeds.  Truespeed would simply need to upgrade what is on each end... when that tech is available.

Local

I like the fact Truespeed is local.  Of course they are not perfect but they are actually trying to build a full fibre to the home network is the most difficult locations.  I heard they now have 6,000 customers which is an amazing achievement. 

What I really like is you see the key people on the street and in the local pubs.  When was the last time you could actually meet a BT or Virgin manager.  The installers are really excellent too.  In a past job I used to buy network services for NatWest Bank and I used to negotiate with the big providers.  They were horrific.

Truespeed make mistakes, of course they do but you can get hold of them and they always work damn hard to sort it out. 

Installations

Truespeed have started their Saltford installations (July 2020).  The cabinet is live and now houses are being connected.  I have help set up two NHS key-workers who have been prioritised by Truespeed.

I must say I have been very impressed.  Excellent installations and super fast service.

This is a speed test done over wi-fi at one of those houses.  Clearly Truespeed have yet to limit the upload as 859Mb/s is just crazy fast but also 203Mb/s over wi-fi?!! You would normally expect a loss of speed.   

Not all need it - it's true

Of course if your broadband does what you need and it's reliable and they don't keep putting up the prices (Virgin!!!)... then you probably don't need it.  But it's still great for Saltford.  Instead of two providers we have three and the new one is local and independent.  Many have no need.  Those of use who depend on it for work or education and suffer from reliability issues can't wait.

Value for Money

A few people have said they think it's expensive.  It starts at £47.50 per month for 200/200 but that does not include a TV package.  We use Freeview and Netflix so this doesn't bother us.  The reset we watch online for free.

Value is the balance between benefit and cost.  If you have no need you benefit side is lower.  If you have a high need it's the opposite.  So value depends on your perspective but here's another.  At our factory in Airdrie we had to wait 6 months for a leased line.  It was 100/100 and we had to sign a three year deal.  We avoided £3000 install costs due to a government grant. 

That service cost us £600 per month!  That was for a synchronous uncontended dedicated line HALF the speed of Truespeed. That's 1276% more expensive.  

Footnote

I'm not paid and receive no benefit for this whatsoever.  Having negotiated professionally with the likes of BT I like to see small independent providers doing brave things.  I've been candid with Truespeed when they have made mistakes.  For example; I think their communication to customers after they have registered an interest has been very poor.  I do however cut them a huge amount of slack when they take a very long term view and invest in the village.  I see it as a very good thing for Saltford.