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This exercise is massively more limited than the previous trigger level scheme for getting ADSL into exchanges - we're only talking about *five* exchanges in the whole of the UK here, so it's effectively a sharpest elbows / shout loudest competition to get your exchange up the pecking order a bit.

Some of the remoter areas would benefit from a different approach to BT Infinity where ADSL is made available from remote street cabinets, unfortunately BT only offer the faster VDSL with connection speeds from 15-40 Mbits/s and someone who could get 6 or 8M will actually be denied the service.

Rutland Telecom and others are at least providing the full range of xDSL services on their fibre to the cabinet projects so that everyone can benefit from the effective reduction in their local loop length.

This is all just PR.
If winning is limited to large exchanges then I expect that BT already have a pretty good idea of the "winners" already. From a political aspect I expect one each in London, Scotland, Wales, Midlands and North West.
The North East will miss out so that Salford can be covered.

I think that the emphasis in your article Rory, and in BT's and other suppliers advertising, on speed is actually a bit incorrect.

I wouldn't mind more speed, but then in fact I used to have it a couple of years ago it's just that since 2009's February snow and ice my line has lost 2/3rds of it's speed due to some sort of damage over its 4km run. Unfortunately, BT's fault threshold for my line is about 100 kilobits below the speed that it has settled at, so I can't get it fixed despite me having only about 1/3rd of the speed I had since MaxDSL appeared in 2006.

Fibre would fix this, it would be much more difficult for a fault to cause reduced speeds as the copper segment would be short and the fibre section either works or it doesn't and one repair restores everyone's service.

I shall be registering my interest, if it's like last time it should only take 3 years for anything to happen! We'll be a 4th world country by then....

It's all rather farcical, our town is hosting Olympic events in 2010 (sailing/windsurfing etc), and the state of broadband network here is pathetic, with no LLU, no BT competition, let alone fibreoptic.

Come 2012 the infrastructure will be falling over due to neglect.

Rory,
I wont be able to enter the race as my exchange is scheduled for upgrade in Dec. However my line is one of several that isnt upgradable to fibre on that exchange.
So I'll have to wait until they finish the first rollout and hopefully a second phase will mop up people who arent covered although the exchange will have been upgraded.
I live nr Canary Wharf and can only get 2MB/s broadband - go figure
I'm guessing the wait will be another year at least... :(

It's a good publicity campaign for BT but they have already said that the last "Final Third" of homes and businesses will still need "support" (presumably public funds) to reach. So you can't help but ask, what's new?

It's not just additional speed that is required but symmetry. Increasingly, as more demanding applications are deployed over the internet, upload speed is becoming as important as download speed. Only fibre to the home (FttH) delivers true symmetrical Next Generation Access. Are BT offering this or is copper still a key component of their offering?

Although my exchange (Reading South) is now ready for delivery of Infinity Speeds - the BT emails say that I can have speeds of up to 40MB download! However, when you actually make equiries, they will still only give a max of 15.8MB down and 7.5MB up for my number.

Yes that is much faster than I have now, but for a price increase of 50% and no warranty the speeds will stay at those quoted.

Yes we are getting there, but it's still taking far too long.

Have registered my vote for Bradwell Abbey exchnage in Milton Keynes.

It is true that a Fibre to the Premises trial is underway here but only a small percentage of the number of people connected to this exchange are able to take part, which means the majority of the exchange has to wait and see...while the other exchanges in the local area (Stony Stratford, Wolverton and Bletchley) will be activated by December, Newport Pagnell is live, but Woburn Sands has missed out which covers the bottom south east corner.

Vote vote vote!

What an unfair way of dishing it out.

We in the LD1 area are stuck with BT(marekt 1) as the only provider on our exchange, & as there are only 3410 residential & 282 non residential properties... All of us voting is not going to put us at the top of the list.

How about BT either open our exchange or provide us with a service such as this.. or would it be too much trouble for them to give us a competitively priced service for once.

Yes - have a look at [Personal details removed by Moderator] current response. 10- and I expect many more - out of 38 subscribers. That's already over 26%.
I realise - and we are told by BT - they will not give us a super-fast fibre link. However, we may well be able to get them to improve our measly slow half MB if we come top of the UK percentage-wise!
In many ways it IS the remote communities that need the fastest links.
Dave, [Personal details removed by Moderator]

It's a joke, isn't it?
I live in mid Wales and did manage to vote but a friend in the area writes, "Tried [to vote], but the website has so much Flash and other bells and whistles that it froze my browser over a low-speed connection. Nice one BT - top prize for irony!"

BT know exactly how many customers they have on any exchange and just how much it will cost to upgrade. Hiding their roll-out behind a supposedly democratic process won't fool anyone, will it?

I like the unwritten entry prerequisites:

1. Access to some form of internet connection, as it seem the only way to register your vote is on 'The Race to Infinity' website.
2. Sufficient bandwidth and/or time to enable you to connect to and use a website that is heavily flash based.
3. A sufficiently reliable internet connection (ie. doesn't suffer from connection timeouts) to enable you to fully traverse the process necessary to register your vote.

So if you are living in a Broadband Notspot (see ), which effectively puts your community/area into " the third of the country where the market will not provide", you stand little chance of winning.

So I agree with the others who regard this as a PR exercise.
However, living in a broadband notspot, I also regard this as a spoiler to discourage communities from going their own way, like Rutland, as it gives false hope that BT will deliver Internet access:
at 100Mbps upload and download
at 100 pounds per annum
to 100 percent of the country
before 2015.

This so annoys me. It is just smoke and mirrors. Just because an exchange is enabled does *NOT* mean you can get it. Livingston Station for instance, only some parts have had FTTC cabinets rolled out (and of course I am in an area that does not have it). So not only do I not have FTTC I have no way of finding out when I am likely to get it. Frustrating is just not a strong enough word.
From BTs website
(Please note that whilst your exchange is enabled, not all premises will be able to get BT Infinity. If this is the case, please register your interest on BT.com and BT will use it to influence our future roll out plans.)
It makes me so angry I could throw the phone down.........

It's from BT therefore it is a sick joke.

When will the overpaid underperformers in BT get with the program? I guess they are too busy ripping off governement and consumers to care about delivering effective national service.

Lets all make a deal in media world - ignore BT because the never have anything new to say and are just soooo boring!

"Here's a quick positions update on The Race To Infinity:

1. Bermondsey, London
2. Bishopsgate, London
3. Canonbury, London
4. Clerkenwell, London
5. Covent Garden, London"

So predictable.

I live in what could be called "suburbs", near Stourbridge in the West Midlands. I currently get "up to 10 mbps" broadband and this is more than sufficient, and is the same for most of the people i know around the area i live.
Some people want super fast broadband, just because it's new and faster, but most aren't bothered in the slightest...

I think like you said, most people registering would be from rural areas who have rubbish speeds or non at all.

Scarily, I just checked and I was #29 to sign up out of a possible 39534 on my local exchange...

I've just sent an e-mail to my local newspaper, see if they might pick up on it.

I don't see the point in registering a "vote" for my exchange when I've been told we're not eligible to win it. The exchange is of so little financial relevance that the chances of anyone, let alone BT, coming out here is probably less than minimal.

I'm one of the lucky ones within spitting distance of the exchange but there are plenty who are not.

As of Friday afternoon - after just five days - our 'non-eligible' community has now passed the 75% mark. So what happens now?