Openreach to Trial UK FTTP Broadband Speeds of 8.5Gbps in Q1 2026
Network access provider Openreach (BT) has today provided more details to ISPreview on their future plans for a trial of full fibre broadband (FTTP) using 10Gbps capable XGS-PON technology in early 2026. The trial is planned to reach about 40,000 premises in Guildford and push download speeds from ISPs up to a blistering 8.5Gbps (8,500Mbps).
The operator’s existing FTTP network is currently still largely based off older Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) technology, which places limitations on how fast they can go before capacity becomes an issue. For example, GPON supports a capacity on each trunk line of up to 2.5Gbps (Gigabits per second) downstream and 1.24Gbps upstream, which needs to be shared between several premises.
As a result, Openreach’s fastest asymmetric consumer broadband product via FTTP currently maxes out at a download speed of 1.8Gbps and uploads of 120Mbps. However, rural areas covered by their government-funded Project Gigabit (Type C) roll-out contracts can separately access symmetric speeds, albeit only up to 1Gbps, and that’s priced more as a premium business product.
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The difficulty for Openreach is that many of their rivals have long since deployed XGS-PON technology (the ‘X’ stands for 10, the ‘G’ for Gigabits’ and the ‘S’ for Symmetric speed), which helps them to offer faster broadband speeds and be more competitive on price. Consumers might not strictly need such speeds yet, but marketing departments can still use it as an effective way to differentiate themselves.
Openreach’s Response
The good news is that Openreach haven’t been standing still. The operator’s network is currently adopting a ComboPON approach, which in the future will make it easier for them to upgrade premises to newer fibre technologies without needing to change all the existing optical modems (ONTs) inside homes (e.g. they’d be able to use either GPON or XGS-PON based ONTs, whatever the situation requires).
Back in February 2025 they also revealed a plan to trial XGS-PON sometime in 2026 (here), which a few months later was followed by ISPreview revealing that this would officially support symmetric product speeds of up to 3.3Gbps (here). Shortly after that we also revealed details of the new Optical Network Terminals (ONT) they’d be using to support this service in homes and businesses (here).
Suffice to say that we now know quite a lot about what to expect from Openreach in the future, except for precisely when and where the XGS-PON trial itself will actually take place. But that recently started to change after some of ISPreview sources began sharing new details and the network operator has now kindly confirmed their plan to us.
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The initial XGS-PON trial, which will actually go beyond the previously stated symmetric speed of 3.3Gbps and test asymmetric speeds of up to a whopping 8.5Gbps, is due to take place across 40,000 premises in the Guildford area between January and March 2026.
An Openreach spokesperson told ISPreview:
“We recently told customers that we’ll be running a pilot of XGS-PON in the Guildford area, covering around 40,000 premises, and starting between January and March, 2026.
As part of the pilot, we’re exploring the full range of speed capabilities offered by the technology including symmetric 3.3Gbps and asymmetric options up to 8.5Gbps. This will help us understand how best to support future customer demand.
It’s important to say that this is a trial at this stage, so the higher speed tiers shouldn’t be taken as a commitment to launch products.
We’re continuing to assess the nationwide demand for products that this technology might enable.”
As expressed by Openreach, the 8.5Gbps speed mentioned above is initially more about testing the capabilities of their network to handle that performance than launching a commercial product at such speeds. The planned future product speeds in their official documentation currently only go up to 3.3Gbps, which to be fair is absolutely fine – it’s still a very impressive performance level to offer.
The classic problem with packages as fast as this is that most consumers would struggle to harness those top speeds, usually due to WiFi/device limits and any limitations of the online servers you’re connecting with (Why Buying Gigabit Broadband Doesn’t Always Deliver). But if you’re happy to pay for it, why not. The rest of the internet will catch up eventually.
The big caveat here is that we don’t yet know how much Openreach will charge for their faster consumer tiers, although we’ll no doubt get some indication of that once the official trial documents are released in the near future. This is important because, unlike a lot of other networks, Openreach’s FTTP coverage is already huge.
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Openreach also has a lot more multi-gigabit capable competition to consider these days (e.g. CityFibre, Netomnia, Virgin Media, CommunityFibre etc.). But their wholesale pricing is still semi-restricted by Ofcom’s regulation. The operator will thus be watching the current Telecoms Access Review 2026 (TAR) closely in hope of some flexibility (any changes here will be introduced from April 2026).
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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I look forward to this becoming a product at astronomical pricing (like the 220mbit upload product, and the 1gbit symmetric product) some time in 2033, when everyone else is on 25GPON.
Once you’re on PON, what is the purpose of these endless “trials”?
A trial. Others just been doing it.
Of course, great news when it EVENTUALLY is general availability, but suspect areas on GPON will go through a painful migration lasting many years.
Just because it is XGS-PON, does not mean BT will go symmetric. It’s next to useless if they start slicing up the upload speeds into (expensive) tiers.
Get this done quickly, and just be symmetric (without tiering levels) and Fanny might just be a customer!
“just doing it” results in potential customer-affecting issues, such as Netomnia managing to break IPv6 support for a number of its customers. Things get more complicated when you’re the largest wholesale network operator and have numerous ISPs and their different ways of working.
However, as the article says, it isn’t just a technical matter but whether there is any market demand for these higher speeds. Netomnia of course are notable for their 8G symmetric service to a literal handful of users, but that won’t pay the bills.
“but suspect areas on GPON will go through a painful migration lasting many years.”
No, the whole point of it being a trial is so they can upgrade without impacting other customers. It’s why it’s “slower” in that they’re not just rolling new kit – but it means that they’ll test interop between what kit they have out in the wild and the comboPON approach, making sure it works in practice as it does in a LAB with no weird quirks once the connections are used in anger.
“what is the purpose of these endless “trials”?”
Upgrading “their side” and ensuring theres no impact on customers who are on serviec or are signing up.
IPv6 was a bug in kit, and was not related to XGS-PON itself that was deployed from the start. Of course Netomnia also have 50PON. They currently have up to 8gbps products that are symmetric and great pricing at £99.99 for that high end tier.
XGSPON is new equipment to the network whether new OLTs from other vendors on the Huawei network or new line cards or transceivers on the Nokia and Adtran. The management and monitoring platforms need bedding down with a large group of customers on live OLTs. That needs testing on a wider group than the lab allows.
They want to understand how it’s going to be used to work out which products to offer afterwards. That needs wider field testing to get a clear view. Usage is different in different countries and Netomnia / CityFibre aren’t going to give them their usage data so that needs testing with a decent group. Not just in terms of speeds to customers but how heavy and consistent usage is to work out pricing and capacity planning along with the options for the interconnects as some are straight into OLT chassis and some are into a switch with multiple OLTs on it.
They need to make sure the provisioning, billing and monitoring works with their live wholesale customers and that they understand the API changes, that needs testing with those live customers at some point even if not now.
YOLO isn’t a great idea when there are a lot of moving parts that are specific to the carrier and their customers. It won’t be a really long trial but there has to be one to nail details down.
Great Stuff. We’ve had the “reasons” as to this trial using your words (and not “trials”).
So, when do existing customers get opportunity of upgrading to the symmetric XGS-PON products then?
10 years time, in a year….you see where I am directing it here…..
Be interesting to see if they maintain the 30:1 contention ratio they use with GPON on with XGS-PON. Presumably if both services are coming down the same fibre they will have to whereas the altnets are more typically using 64:1 or more.
They can use different ratios for both, Dave. A splitter on XGSPON port with each of its outputs going into a coexistence element that only passes that port XGSPON and the other port on each element only passing GPON works. 2 GPON ports to each XGSPON port, twice the ratio.
Using combo ports that are already running GPON makes less sense to do this but still can if inclined. Every other port GPON only transceiver, one coexistence element with the combo port on the XGSPON port so GPON doesn’t cross.
They might test this to see what works for them or might have settled on keeping ratio the same. No idea. A lot of big telcos use different ratios but Openreach are famously conservative.
Talking of ONTs, does anyone know where to get an actual datasheet for, you know, the actual standard ONT they seem to be installing everywhere? From pics online, my shiny new one appears to be the “Adtran SDX611”, although Adtran themselves seem to have no knowledge of such a product! It’s not in the list of residential ONTs on their site.
I can’t even tell if the LAN port is 1Gbe or 2.5GBe – not that it matters for now, but I’d be curious if, one day, it will need to be upgraded if I ever go beyond a 1Gbps service (160M is more than enough for now).
https://www.manualslib.com/manual/2238784/Adtran-Sdx-611-Gpon-Sfu-Ont.html
Easy enough to find the info, a quick search come up with the same thing as Mark did.
I would have thought that if you updated your broadband, above 1Gb, then they would supply an ONT that is suitable.
The one my provider supplied is an SDX622v, very nice, not that it matters to me,
Brilliant, thanks Mark. My searches didn’t turn that up, and it’s still weird that Adtran’s own site does not list that model, which I assume is still current!
@Ad47uk – I suspect it will be a while before we go beyond 1Gbps, as there’s simply no need. But when it happens, it will obviously need an ONT upgrade and whole internal network upgrade. All good fun!
https://assets.unilogcorp.com/267/ITEM/DOC/ADTRAN_1442535F2_Specification_Sheet.pdf
Spec sheet.
@A Stevens: The SDX611q is the Adtran ONT with the 2.5GbE Lan port. You can view the details of the ONT you have on the back.
@A Stevens , it is strange how your search did not come up with it, unless you are using Bing, then I understand why. I use Duck Duck Go myself. The manualslib.com site is great, I use it a fair bit. You are correct that the Adtran site don’t seem to show anything about your ONT.
As I said, they would change it if you went to a package faster than what the Ethernet port can support.
My network provider installed an ONT that can support all their services by the seems of it, one of the Ethernet is up to 10 Gb/s
Even if my partner moves in here, I can’t see us going above 500, there is no need for it, even 200 would do the job.
I hope this means they don’t pause installing the older system for existing areas. Like those who live in MDU’s and not had it installed yet.
I assume it’s just a trial before they switch over to XGS-Pon fully. I fear once Openreach go fully XGS-Pon this could lead to scenarios where an area has G-pon, MDU’s not fibred up due to management woes, then we end up where the MDU wont be installed until the area is upgraded to utilize XGS-Pon, potentially causing further delay, because the area would already be Full Fibre so the focus then be on areas that don’t have it. Unless enabling XGS-Pon is easier done than said..
No, it makes no difference. The install to property is completely separate. They’ll change “their end” of the fibre, and give people a new ONT if you want more speed.
IF you don’t have an ONT yet, you’ll just get the ONT that is cheapest from their POV for the speeds you’re purchasing, and if you need a new ONT for new speed there will usually be a cost for the engineer to swap them out.
Thanks Matt for clearing that up for me.
“The classic problem with packages as fast as this is that most consumers would struggle to harness those top speeds, usually due to WiFi/device limits and any limitations of the online servers you’re connecting with”
This is a bit outdated and never a good argument to push forward. The same old adage that most LANs were 1GbE yet Internet was 40/80mbps.
Likewise, most WiFi 6&7 routers and AP’s have at the minimum 2.5gbps ports (better ones have 5 or 10gbps). And anyone with structured cabling (many more than most think) will easily be capable of exploiting 10GbE. Most desktops, especially Macs, all push 10GbE too.
Enterprises on fibre have moved to 25gbps on servers. Datacenters with AI are now pushing 1.6Tbps, with most on 400GbE.
The big issue with 10GbE is with enterprises all going fibre and most still using copper there are no affordable 2.5/5/10GbE PoE switches for copper. The cheapest are £2000. They need to be <£500 today for LANs to finally end the gigabit ubiquity that has been prevalent for far too long.
Ubiquiti have a nice 2.5GbE POE switch with a 10GbE uplink, which I might even buy next time I upgrade my internal network. It’s only 8 ports, but hopefully there will be a 16 port version next. This will go nicely alongside the new Wi-Fi 7 APs, with 2.5GbE ports.
I am surprised they would want to go to this speed, as it would take business away from other parts of BT. I presume they will make the cost of use high.
For home use, it would be way over the top, but then 2Gb/s is way over the top for home use.
I’m sure I remember similar arguments about 56K dialup, then 2Mbps DSL etc etc – Services will develop that can use the higher speeds over time and in the meantime they will be useful for those larger households sharing a connection.
@Tempest3K, what same arguments, taking business away or that it is over the top?
In the days of dial up, websites were simple things, mainly text, with low quality graphics, it was what it was, but towards the days before ADSL, sites were starting to get to the stage where on dial up they would take ages to download, we were behind in ADSL.
I changed to ADSL as i had a lodger here, our computers were connected to a third computer in my bedroom via coax network and used Internet connection sharing. No routers in my price range then, not that I knew anything about them.
ADsl we had the same set-up, but with a Frog ADSL modem on the third computer instead of the dial up modem. As time went by, things started to change with the internet, because we now had faster connection, things started to happen to make use of it, better photos, videos, that sort of thing, even at what we would now call tortoise speed of the original ADSL.
Then technology got better and ADSL got faster, well sometimes, depending on where you lived, Netflix came on the scene, people downloaded and uploaded larger files.
Yes, the file sharing services helped as well. I went onto a wireless network because I wanted something slightly faster than my 3Mb/s that ADSL gave me.
Then we got to FTTC or VDSL, streaming services offered better quality and less compression, and now we have Full Fibre baby. :), with all the speed that will introduce in the future.
But will most people ever need what I call silly speeds? 8k video is not going to be a thing for years, the majority of people are fine with what they have, and would they even notice?
People are being told they will notice this and notice that, they need this and need that, but if they stand back a bit, they will realise they don’t. They are being manipulated by companies into believing they need it.
I am no different, my old Oppo phone is at the end of its life, I paid £130 or something like thjat for it over 4 years agao, my view was, why do I want to pay silly prices for something that will do the same thing as what a cheaper phone would do. That is why I went for the Oppo.
The last few days, looking at phones and I did look at the Iphone 16E and even some Android phones in the £250 or more bracket, getting dragged into the, you need this marketing. But I don’t really, the Oppo have done what I needed of it for 4 years, so why do I need to pay more? What ever I buy is going to be better than my old phone within reason, newer tech and stuff.
I looked at the Iphone because I have a Mac, the same eco thing.
so even I can get dragged into it.
In years to come, I am sure there will be stuff that will make use of speeds over 2Gb/s, but at the moment, it is certainly not there. What people spend their money on is up to them, to a certain degree. But if they are spending their money on tech and not on household bills, then that is a different thing
It’s the law of diminishing returns. The faster you ramp the speeds up the smaller the perceived benefit. Someone will always benefit with faster speeds but the number of customers who do so will diminish over time.
@Big Dave, by Jove, someone who have got it at last
Asymmetric. Good old Openreach doing Openreach things again.
Going from FTTC with a guaranteed upload of 19mb to Openreach / EE FTTP 900/115 soon BUT this only has a guaranteed 10mb upload ?? Explain Guess the 50 properties are sharing one connection?
How about giving us 1 Mbps instead of messing about with 8500 Mbps when so many other people have unusable speeds. Utter disgrace. We’re in Salton, North Yorkshire and moving to Guildford isn’t really an option…
its a trial, OR are adding around 4million premises per year, cant do everyone at once ( theres 33m premises and nearly 20m ready for service ) . its progress to be able to offer faster speeds sooner rather than later and to try and slow down people leaving for faster speeds, i would of thought. guessing theres no one else ie virgin, alt nets available ? if no then it could be a trickier/costly build area, hence easier builds are done first etc
So many others don’t have unusable speeds. You live in a village with a population in 2011 of 110 in a parish with a population in 2011 of 217. You’re more remote than most and will need taxpayer subsidy to be viable, it will cost thousands per home to bring you full fibre as there are so few of you. This trial is using fibre that’s already there.
If you’re below 10 Mb the USO may cover you https://www.bt.com/broadband/USO
It’s crazy for going faster speed as we have to pay more for it. End of the day, it all about money not the speed!
For me, all home users for the next 10 years are fine for up to 1Gbps downstream and up to 100Mbps upsteam. But, if FTTP become available for me next year then I will go for FTTP 550/75 from my current G.fast 160/30. I don’t need FTTP 1000/110.
Didn’t you order FTTPoD once upon a time Phil/ADSLMax?
Not all home users would agree with you that 1000/110 is fast enough. Once you get faster speeds you find more uses for it. For instance i have 110 meg upload and have found out my NAS can run as a web server. It makes sense for me to upgrade to 2.5gbit symmetrical then, and i am just a home user with hobbies. Even uploading photos to the cloud takes a while on 110 meg upload (alright its faster than FTTC but 2.5gbit upload would be useful). And thats before you start the gaming argument that the next gen consoles will support faster bandwidth when they come out in the next couple of years.
I agree. I have 2Gbps and it’s bonkers fast – 180GB in 15 mins bonkenrs fast and being able to download BF6 and all the addons (668GB) in under an hour.. Bonkers!
And all they want is £60 a month – Mental.
@K, The majority of people would not find a use for it, yes some people would, you have a NAS, I have a NAS and being able to send data to and from it is great, but then you still need to have a fast connection to where you are sending or receiving the data from. A mate has 150Mb/s, I send files to him, I have 500Mb/s, but he can only receive at 30Mb/s or something like that, I can receive at 500, but he can only send at 150.
Gamers will make use of the faster speed if they download games.
But for every person I know that would make use of higher speeds, I can name 5 or more that would not benefit whatsoever for going above 75Mb/s never mind going above 1Gb/s.
People have been bombarded with adverts and other stuff that they need it, and it has been the same for years, be it computers, phones, TV sets.
It is good we have the choice, I hate the way people are misled, yes mislead, into getting something they don’t need at a higher price.
Yes, I know I have 500Mb/s, and I don’t need it, but the price is only slightly higher than going down to 200Mb/s, if I was really struggling for money, then I would go to the lower speed. Then again, I am getting the higher speed for less than what the lower speed is at the moment.
Phil is correct, it is all about money for companies.
Ad47uk:
Most people i know would love 1gbit specifically for gaming. Out of all the people i know around 4 out of 5 of them want faster internet. One thing i’d like to pull you up about is that in your post you try to make out ultrafast broadband isnt a necessity, yet you then state you wouldnt go below 200meg! Historically speaking from what i remember you used to have 36mbit didnt you? Why the change of heart that you now need 200meg?
@K
I can tell you that 75mbps or 20153mbps makes no difference to gaming. my ping has always been the same even using 2 providers on 2 networks.
Trialling 8.5Gbps – meanwhile I am still provisioning ADSL2+ as the only option at a number of places.
Priorities kids…
how is a trial going to affect a roll out? doing 4million+ per year ( currently 20m out of around 33m ) . no doubt virgin or an alt net is available in your area also? most likely not as isnt an easy or cheap build as a guess. the trial is for the future/to compete with altnets. or u want them to only offer 1.6gb gpon full fibre until 2030 and then think ” oh we must do a trial now that vikki has her full fibre ” but in the mean time everyone else offers 10gb and lost a load of customers. have u explored USO ( as someone else linked in above )
I wish they would prioritise rolling out any kind of fibre Internet to rural communities. I get between 1 and 3 mbps in Warboys, Cambs! 7
according to think broadband full fibre map, most of warboys has openreach full fibre !
looks like there is also an alt net full fibre too ! better than where i am which isnt rural ( around 5,000 population ) and no openreach full fibre or alt net full fibre, get around 30mb
As someone living in rural Cumbria it would be great if BT/Openreach would pull their finger out and deliver fibre to the home at any sort of speed.
BT/Openreach are installing fibre to the home faster than everyone else combined.
Unfortunately, with legacy GPON even as I write compared to the better stuff by the ALTNETS.
Conjure up as many reasons as you like, even BT beginning to (slowly) see the light, hence this trial.
How about they trial putting some fiber INSIDE the houses too. Really sick of being stuck with a power line adapter
they do, up to the ONT. Call an electrician if you want new data cabling installed and don’t want to DIY. Internal distribution is not the network operator’s problem.
It would be great if BT with the upgrade Openreach will be doing to XGS-PON would come better more competitive pricing…. Paying £72 for 1GB and 110mb upload is nuts… But unfortunately where I live in London the ISP community fibre did not come to my street so I have no other option. I’m definitely not going back to Virgin same price to BT eventually but a lot more unstable, when I have it was constantly down, or throttled it was horrible in the evenings, there were days I couldn’t even load a video, so no thanks, with BT at least the lowest speeds I got was like 780mb, never throttled and it only dropped once at midnight for 30 minutes in the 4 years I’ve been with them.
£72 for 1GB? You are being ripped off there as BT is nowhere near that price for 1GB. EE do it for 37.99 and BT is around that price as well. Sounds like a sales advisor that sold you it wanted a bonus.
Openreach pricing for 1G/1G symmetric has already been announced: £100+VAT per month at wholesale.
https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2025/02/openreach-reveal-uk-price-for-1gbps-symmetric-fttp-broadband.html
That’s just the OR tail circuit. This puts a likely retail price at £160+ per month.
If they don’t revisit this pricing model, and the higher XGS-PON speeds are even more expensive, then there will be zero take-up from residential users. Maybe a few small businesses looking for a slightly cheaper leased line alternative.
Great Openreach are doing something. But not upgrading me from 6/0.5Mb yet the semi next door can get 1600Mb.
Don’t really care about getting fast download speeds where I live, I have a 1gbps download, what would be great is if we could get a symmetrical speed line 1gbps upload as well, would help so much for us that work from home.