G.fast or FTTP – What are they and how to make the right choice for your customers?

G.fast or Fibre to the Premise (FTTP). What exactly are they? And how do you make the right choice? Our experts are here to explain the benefits and help make you choose the right connection for your customers.

What is G.fast?

In simple terms, G.fast is an improved version of Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC). G.fast supercharges your old FTTC connectivity to dramatically increase the available speeds. Because it enhances existing FTTC connectivity, G.fast is often available in areas where full fibre hasn’t been rolled out yet. While a typical FTTP Ultrafast connection requires a fair amount of additional infrastructure to be put in place, G.fast will use much of the existing infrastructure, which should mean shorter delivery times with less complex install journeys than FTTP. You’ll still be sending and receiving data over copper wires, but the technology enables that data to travel much more quickly, and that means Ultrafast speeds will be available to many more premises.

With G.fast, end users can enjoy speeds up to four times faster than traditional FTTC broadband, unlocking Ultrafast speeds of up to 330Mbps down and 50Mbps up.

G.fast offers affordable, ultrafast connectivity ensuring that there is always enough bandwidth to meet your customers’ needs – and could remain the only Ultrafast option for some for a while.

What is FTTP? 

Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) means that the connection from the handover exchange is delivered using Fibre Optic cables directly into the premises, which enables much faster connectivity than broadband services using copper telephone lines. This means your customers can enjoy Ultrafast speeds of up to 1Gbps (Gigabit per second). With an extra 20% of the workforce working from home regularly, businesses will soon realise the benefits of supplying their remote staff with reliable and secure connectivity with fibre being the ideal product for this use-case, especially FTTP. 

Full fibre digital infrastructure is vastly superior to copper-based technologies that the vast majority of businesses and consumers have access to today. This is not just about faster download speeds, although this is increasingly important, it’s also about reliability, low latency, stability and reduced fault rates.

Whilst FTTP guarantees the fastest possible speeds, it's not currently available in all postcodes. With the national fibre rollout not complete until 2025 at the earliest, G.fast could remain the only Ultrafast option for some for the foreseeable future.

We’ve created a simple animation to demystify FTTP and explain the benefits for your customers.

So, which one is right for your customers?

Fast and reliable connectivity is essential for any business and residential consumer. For example, G.fast is a great solution for retail businesses who want to be able to offer their customers Wi-Fi hotspots and a fast in-store browsing experience. Also, offices that need to upload and download large files and make crystal-clear VoIP calls can benefit from the ultrafast speeds.

Ultimately, FTTP technology is the more reliable and stable connection. FTTP will eventually become the new standard business broadband option, therefore if you are able to get FTTP, that is certainly the option we would recommend. Interestingly, Openreach have stopped their roll-out of G.fast (which is copper-based technology) to focus on expanding their full fibre footprint going forward, with FTTP being available at more premises than G.fast today.

Both are part of the Ultrafast family, so would bring benefits to your customers. FTTP isn’t currently available in all postcodes meaning some customers could wait up to 5 years for full fibre. G.fast is great in the interim, giving your customers the speeds that they need until FTTP is in their area.

For the next few years most sites that can get G.fast won’t be able to get FTTP and vice versa. So a particular end user won’t have a choice usually.

For more information on G.fast and FTTP, please speak with your Account Manager.