As expected BT Max products are to go live with a nationwide rollout, starting from 31st March.

The products, which have been undergoing trials on 76 exchanges, will be expanded to cover around 5300 exchanges which will cover 99.6% of all UK homes and businesses. They will also be renamed BT ADSL Max and BT ADSL Max Premium, with the Premium product having an upstream of up to 832Kbps compared to 448Kbps of the standard product.

Although stated as an 8Mbps connection the actual speed will be rate adaptive on both the up and downstream, so lines will run at the fastest rate available, rather than a set figure as previously applied by BT wholesale.
BT estimates that 78% of lines should support broadband at line rates of 4Mbps and above, with 6Mbps and above available to more than 42%, only those living close their local telephone exchange will achieve line rates of up to the maximum 8Mbps.