Why am I not being offered G.Fast Speeds?

[JH441]

Hello All, 

I wondered if anyone knows why we are not being offered G.fast speeds by Sky? We have been having a few issues with internet speeds recently on Superfast (75mb) and have searched for alternative supplies it seems a couple will offer us G.fast speeds but most will not. 

I have posted below a screen grab of our BT checker which appears to show we can get G.fast at the property unless I'm reading it wrong? 

Thanks

[TimmyBGood]

@JH441 

G.fast is a dead-end technology now effectively being made obsolete by the ongoing national FTTP rollout.  It's up to any ISP whether they wish to resell it: most stopped last year, and it's entirely possible that Sky has now done so too.

[TimmyBGood]

@JH441 

Also I'd note the table shows G.fast as 'Green' rather than 'Available'.

G.fast isn't now going to get any more deployment by Openreach at all: while they'll maintain it for existing users and potentially install where pods are already live, street level infrastructure installation has been suspended for several years and will never resume.

[mae-3]

@JH441 

For a list of providers still offering G.fast which is faster and more reliable than VDSL2 contrary to popular belief see:

https://www.openreach.com/fibre-broadband/gfast-providers 

[TimmyBGood]

@mae-3  @JH441 

Not sure that page is up-to-date: according to ISP Review in October BT/EE has dropped the product.

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2023/10/the-misery-of-diminishing-choice-in-g-fast-uk-broadban... 

[mae-3]

@TimmyBGood 

The same can be said about VDSL2 which is less reliable than G.fast and considerably slower and less reliable! @JH441 Green just means it needs an engineer to visit and install G.fast on the premises.

[TimmyBGood]

@mae-3 

I suspect ISPs are dropping G.fast just to simplify their product lines and support overhead, because realistically it doesn't have much of a future and was only ever available to a small percentage of addresses.

[mae-3]

@TimmyBGood 

I suspect that ISPs will be dropping their support for VDSL2 shortly, and BT Openreach are less likely to do work on the copper infrastructure! 😎

[TimmyBGood]

@mae-3 

Clearly not until FTTP is available at an address, but G.fast is simply no longer resold for new installation by the vast majority of ISPs which ever carried it in the first place.

[mae-3]

@TimmyBGood 

BT Openreach wouldn't even leave it on their wholesale checker if it wasn't available at all! There isn't any more expansion of G.fast but where it is still available it can be purchased from a few better providers.

[Chrisee]

@JH441 there is also an issue that customers who bought G.Fast from Sky have been unable to upgrade to full fibre when that became available even when out of contract so have had to change ISPs. 

[TimmyBGood]

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@mae-3 wrote:

@TimmyBGood 

BT Openreach wouldn't even leave it on their wholesale checker if it wasn't available at all!  

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Doesn't that just say the pods are installed locally?  No ISP has to retail the product just because infrastructure is there, and they mostly now don't (if they ever did in the first place) : that's what the ISP Review article from October last year is specifically referring to.

[mae-3]

@TimmyBGood 

No large ISP has to resell alt-net FTTP infrastructure, it is in the same position!

[TimmyBGood]

@mae-3 

Of course, but they are now choosing not to resell G.fast even in G.fast equipped areas.

If Sky had set an end date for G.fast sale from, for example, December 31st 2023 then that would just be bringing them in line with all the others.

[mae-3]

@TimmyBGood 

The UK is still only 60% FTTP and copper will be around for a few years yet, and those that have to wait for the FTTP infrastructure could potentially use the G.fast technology that is around as an interim, it is more reliable than VDSL2 and faster...