exchange 21CN WBC upgrade "Calendar year 2014"

[edit 21:39]
There is a ray of light possibly still to be had for exchange-only lines in Benderloch.
The exchange is due to be upgraded to 21CN WBC in "Calendar year 2014" (reference here). This may well be part of the upgrade to FTTC/P, in which case it is scheduled for end August 2014.

What does this mean for people on exchange-only lines, or who do not want the full 'superfast' experience? ...

It *MIGHT* mean you could switch from "ADSL Max" to "ADSL2+", which will give you a more stable connection technology, and - for those closer to the exchange - the possibility to get faster connection  speeds,  up to 24Mbit/s download, and up to 1.4 Mb/s upload.
The exact speed depends on how far you are from the exchange
 - those connections closer than 3km may get speeds above the previous 8Mb/s limit of ADSLMax
 - between 3 and 4km, you'll get more speed from an ADSL2+ connection, but not by much
 - over 4km away and nothing will really be faster for you on ADSL2+, but you'll benefit from the fact that ADSL2+ is more resilient to noise on a line (reference here)

To see how far you are from your exchange (line length, not as-the-crow-flies), you are best off finding out your 'line attenuation (dB)' from your current ADSL modem, then using this site to convert the number.

To see the effective speed of switching to ADSL2+ from ADSLMax, click here

For me, I have loop attenuation of 35dB, and an effective line length of 2.4km.


There are plenty of ways of improving the speed and reliability of your existing broadband connection. I would recommend installing a filter faceplate. Example here