BT has followed rival Virgin in announcing a free upgrade for its broadband customers, doubling downstream speeds for some of its fibre Infinity connections.
Those on Infinity 2 will see their speeds jump from 38Mbps to 76Mbps, whilst BT Infinity 1 customers will get 38Mbps connections but an increased upstream speed of up to 9.5Mbps. That’s up from up to 1.9Mbps.
BT said the Infinity 1 package would “compare very well with the 30Mbps service offered by Virgin Media given the upstream speeds will be considerably faster than those offered by the latter.”
The Infinity 2 deal will give customers the UK’s fastest upstream speeds of up to 19Mbps, according to BT.
Customers will be able to enjoy the speed boosts from 12 April, although existing customers will have to sign a new contract if they want an upgrade.
Virgin kicked off its Double Speeds programme at the start of March. At the end of the month, Virgin said the baseline downstream speed for all of its customers would be 30Mbps.
“Superfast broadband is helping people enjoy the internet far more than ever before. However, many providers have forgotten about the importance of fast upload speeds,” said John Petter, managing director of BT’s consumer division. “BT believes that fast upstream speeds are vital given how people now use the internet and so we are distancing ourselves from the competition by providing the UK’s fastest upload speed.”
BT did not mention what kinds of applications it thinks will require such speedy upstream connections.
Over seven million premises can currently access BT Infinity, but that will rise to around two thirds of all UK premises by the end of 2014. BT is bidding for Broadband Development UK (BDUK) funds, which should mean it will bring fibre to other parts of the UK beyond the two-thirds.
It recently won a contract to provide remote parts of Lancashire with fibre as part of the BDUK process.
BT is also set to double the speeds of its fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) Openreach connections this month to hit 80Mbps.
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Wouldn't it be nice if, instead of creating sensational headlines, they could work to increase the speed available to anyone unlucky enough not to live in a fibre-cabled area, or within two steps of an exchange?