FTTP stands for Fibre to the Premises. It means a single, unbroken strand of optical fibre glass running directly from the network exchange to your business building — with no copper wire involved at any point. This is what makes it genuinely different from previous broadband technology.
For most of the 2010s, Wolverhampton businesses were connected via FTTC — Fibre to the Cabinet. This technology ran fibre from the exchange to a green street cabinet, then switched to old copper telephone wire for the final stretch to your premises. That copper stretch — typically 200-800 metres — was the bottleneck. It limited download speeds to 40-80 Mbps and upload speeds to under 20 Mbps, regardless of how fast the underlying fibre was.
With FTTP, there is no copper. The fibre runs all the way. The result is speeds of up to 2.5 Gbps (that is 2,500 Mbps — over 30 times faster than old FTTC) and crucially, equal upload and download speeds. That symmetry is what matters most for businesses.
| Feature | FTTC (Old) | FTTP (New) |
|---|---|---|
| Final connection | Copper wire | Pure fibre |
| Max download | 80 Mbps | 2,500 Mbps |
| Max upload | 20 Mbps | 2,500 Mbps |
| Speed over distance | Degrades | Consistent |
| Upload = Download | No | Yes |
The upload speed is where FTTC was fundamentally broken for modern business use. Consider what your business does with its internet connection: uploading files to cloud storage, sending large emails, running cloud CCTV that continuously records to a remote server, making video calls (which transmit your video upstream), running VoIP phone systems, and backing up data overnight. All of these are upload-dependent tasks.
On FTTC, if three staff members are on video calls simultaneously and your cloud CCTV is uploading footage, your 20 Mbps upload capacity is saturated. Calls break up. Backups fail. Customer experience suffers. On FTTP with 2.5 Gbps symmetric, the same scenario uses approximately 1% of your available bandwidth.
Requires 8-15 Mbps upload per camera continuously. Impossible on FTTC with multiple cameras. Works perfectly on FTTP.
Each simultaneous call uses approx 0.1 Mbps upload. FTTP supports hundreds of simultaneous calls with headroom to spare.
On FTTC, backing up 100GB takes over 11 hours. On FTTP, the same backup completes in under 6 minutes.
Cloud dental imaging systems upload large DICOM files. Dentists in Wolverhampton report patient wait times disappearing after FTTP upgrade.
CityFibre FTTP covers approximately 90% of premises in WV1-WV14, delivering up to 2.5 Gbps symmetric. Openreach FTTP covers all 16 WV postcode districts including rural WV5, WV7, WV9, WV15 and WV16, delivering up to 1 Gbps symmetric. If you are in Wolverhampton, you almost certainly have access to FTTP today.
The choice of which FTTP network is available at your specific street — and which ISP (Zen Internet, BT, Sky, Vodafone etc) provides the best value on that network — is where WolverhamptonFibre adds its expertise. We check both CityFibre and Openreach coverage at street level, then compare all ISPs simultaneously to find your best option.
FTTP stands for Fibre to the Premises. It means optical fibre cable runs all the way from the network exchange directly to your business building, with no copper wire in the connection.
FTTC (Fibre to the Cabinet) runs fibre to a street cabinet then uses old copper wire for the final stretch — limiting speeds to 40-80 Mbps down, 20 Mbps up. FTTP runs pure fibre all the way, delivering up to 2.5 Gbps symmetric (equal upload and download).
Yes — FTTP and full fibre describe the same technology. Some providers also use the term FFTP or Pure Fibre. They all refer to fibre-optic cable running from the exchange to your premises without any copper.
Yes — CityFibre FTTP covers approximately 90% of WV1-WV14 premises (up to 2.5 Gbps). Openreach FTTP covers all 16 WV postcode districts (up to 1 Gbps). Most Wolverhampton businesses can access gigabit FTTP today.
On comparable packages, FTTP is typically 15-30x faster on download and 100x faster on upload compared to old FTTC broadband. A 100GB cloud backup that takes 11 hours on FTTC takes under 6 minutes on gigabit FTTP.
XGS-PON is the technical standard used by CityFibre in Wolverhampton. It supports speeds up to 10 Gbps on the shared infrastructure — far beyond what any current business package offers. This headroom future-proofs the network for years.
Yes — FTTP requires an Optical Network Terminal (ONT) installed at your premises, plus a compatible router. Most ISPs supply a compatible router as part of the package. The ONT is fitted by the engineer on installation day.
CityFibre FTTP via most ISPs: 5-15 working days. Openreach FTTP: 5-20 working days. The actual installation takes 2-4 hours on the day.
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