BT trials 8Mbps broadband service

BT is on track to start testing significantly faster broadband services next month, but only a small fraction of UK internet users will be able to take part.

BT Retail announced on Monday that it is engaging in the wholesale trials of 8Mbps ADSL services, but that these high speeds will only be made available to its own staff - cutting down the number available to actual consumers.

BT Retail said in a statement on Monday: "The first phase of the trial will be internal, but future information on customer involvement will be issued in the near future." A spokeswoman added that BT Retail expected that more lines would be included in the trials this summer.

BT Wholesale generated significant interest when it announced back in February it was planning to test its ADSL services at speeds up to 8Mbps, compared to its current maximum speed of 2Mbps. But just 2,000 lines in Greater London and Strathclyde will be tested in the first phase of the trials, it emerged last week.

These trials will run for up to 12 weeks, from April, but the rest of the UK will have to wait until at least the second half of 2005. Even then, many people will live too far from their local exchange and will be stuck with slower speeds.

PlusNet surprised some rival ISPs last month when it announced that it was moving to a usage-based charging model in response to BT's trials. From April it will bill its users according to how much data they use, regardless of the speed of their line.

In February, PlusNet appeared to give the impression that 8Mbps services would soon be widely available with Marco Potesta, PlusNet marketing director, insisting that "speed will no longer be a factor in how people buy broadband."

The word from BT now, though, is that PlusNet may have jumped the gun.

One BT Wholesale insider said: "PlusNet was a little premature, as BT hasn't said which regions were included in the trial."

On Tuesday, a PlusNet spokesperson admitted that the 2,000 trial lines was a "lower number than anticipated", but predicted that this would increase beyond April.

Graeme Wearden writes for ZDNet UK.