Jersey Telecom connects customers in FTTH trial

Jersey Telecom (JT) says it has begun delivering services to customers as part of an FTTH trial.

The carrier has connected 24 homes so far, with a goal of approximately 500 connections over “the next couple of weeks.” The trial of the open access FTTH network covers the La Rocque, Fauvic, and La Moye areas of the Island. JT says it will serve customers of all broadband providers on the island.

JT received more than 350 applications for service within the first 48 hours of opening the trial. The carrier offered Adrian Renouf, a freelance IT professional living in St Brelade, as an example of a happy customer. Renouf previously received a 4-Mbps broadband connection, and was one of the first to be connected to the FTTH network.

"It makes a considerable difference when streaming TV programs over the Internet, as the pictures come up immediately; there is no need to wait while the 'buffering' takes place,” JT quoted Renouf as saying. “I am currently getting a download speed of '50 Mbps' and an upload speed of '40 Mbps,' which makes it so much easier to work with pictures or to use more complex websites."

Equally pleased is another customer, Mark Stockwell of the La Moye area of St Brelade. Stockwell has seen his download speed jump from 4 Mbps to 84 Mbps:

"We are a family of four with multiple devices accessing the Internet at the same time, such as PCs and laptops, an IPod and PS3s,” Stockwell says. “The fiber connection makes it possible for the family to use those devices at the same time without noticing any drop-off in quality. I also particularly noticed the increased upload speeds, which makes sending e-mails with attachments much easier. Streaming TV was smoother, quicker, and had better picture quality. Also I sometimes work from home, and connecting into my work system was much better with fiber."

JT plans to extend the fiber-optic network to every home and business on the island by 2016. The current trial will last for 3 months; participants will provide feedback on their experience, including installation. JT will use the feedback to help shape the final wholesale services that will be offered.

“We have a 5 year roll out plan to connect all homes in Jersey by 2016,” said Graeme Millar, CEO of JT. “Clearly it takes time to replace the island-wide copper cable network, and we need to do that in stages to minimize disruption and gain appropriate access to the 42,000 homes. Thankfully when we laid the copper, we did it in such a way as to make it as easy as possible to replace, which will help to keep that disruption to a minimum.”