I have observed the BT sympathising japery waxing lyrical for some time so perhaps it is now time to respond.
For those not acquainted, any discussion of PON designs on dual diverse point-to-point infrastructure is a spurious diversion. In blunt terms any such sympathisers who think B4RN are to festoon the moors, fells and dales with more complicated splitters had better think again. Who would be so stupid as to add an overhead fibre cable to a twisted pair one so when it’s blown down you need two teams possibly in MBORC conditions to mend the infrastructure eventually ?
If Symmetric PON were a practical solution why hasn’t BT implemented it ? All we can see are a minute number of partial asymmetric over-builds of the B4RN ever-expanding network entirely independent of old fashioned exchanges. Dolphinholme off the Forton Exchange, Tunstall off Kirkby Lonsdale, and a tiny part of Silverdale where the FTTC distances are too far as all the lines were EO until two FTTCs were placed just outside the exchange. Similarly at Ingleton where many are too far from the exchange with only PCP 1 at Westfield actually in a remote area. Forton is another splendid example where PCP 1 in Cockerham has helped a few achieve a slightly better asymmetric service but many others are left with sub 2 Mbps speeds on EO lines from Galgate. There might be a few other FTTH deployments but perhaps Black Sheep might be kind enough to add them for me.
B4RN is only a tiny minnow as Prof Barry Forde calls it; only approaching 4,000 subscribers but nobody objects when they have a symmetric 1,000 Mbps service for just £30.00 (inc VAT) per month. Perhaps that’s why there are some roads with 100% take-up ?
A more significant player is Gigaclear who, surprise surprise, have also opted for a dual diverse routed symmetric service design. That’s what allowed them react immediately to satisfy the urgent request from BBC Two’s Springwatch from The Sherborne Park Estate in Gloucestershire for a symmetric service:-
https://www.gigaclear.com/springwatch-gets-an-ultrafast-boost/I am most impressed with the tenacity of the Openreach stalwarts but it is such a shame that the “Proud Guardians of the Nation’s local access network” seem to be floundering with quite unacceptable installation delays as evidenced by this Devon & Somerset resident:-
“So, finally, after nearly 4 months from order BT have managed to complete my FTTP installation. I can honestly say that a solid Internet connection it is a game changer, and 50/10 mbs is OK... for now. Tbh 10mbs is still a tad sluggish when uploading 2 - 3 GB videos to YouTube and backing up several 100's of GBs to the cloud!!! I can also say that BTs management are, as we all know, utterly shambolic. It's a wonder that they are capable of posting profits... I shan't be a customer for long! Roll on Gigaclear!!!”