![\"EE-Smart-Hub-Pro-router-inside-UK-home\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/EE-Smart-Hub-Pro-router-inside-UK-home-600x600.webp\")
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Credible sources have informed ISPreview that mobile and internet provider EE<\/a> (BT<\/a>) is set to expand the availability of their FTTP<\/a>-based \u201cAdvanced Full Fibre\u201d 2.3Gbps (2,500Mbps) and 8Gbps (8,500Mbps) home broadband pilot on 31st July 2026, which will make it more accessible to the ISP\u2019s existing customer base.<\/p>\n In case anybody has forgotten. EE<\/a> began inviting existing customers to help trial Openreach<\/a>\u2019s new XGS-PON powered Fibre-to-the-Premises technology earlier this year (here<\/a> and here<\/a>), which is capable of delivering internet download speeds of up to 8.5Gbps (850Mbps upload for consumer tiers \u2013 symmetric will be possible for premium business users). The first customers then went live at the end of March 2026 (here<\/a>).<\/p>\n NOTE: Openreach<\/a>\u2019s current FTTP<\/a> network, which is costing \u00a315bn to build, already covers 23.4 million premises (there are c.32.5m across the UK) and is due to reach 25 million by December 2026, followed by possibly \u201cup to\u201d 30 million come the end of 2030. But at present this mostly uses slower GPON technology, not 10Gbps capable XGS-PON.<\/p>\n The pilot has been primarily taking place across Guildford and neighbouring Woking \u2013 available across around 40,000 premises, although this also catches some nearby locations like Brookwood, Puttenham, Clandon, Shere and Worplesdon. Since then the pilot has closed to new applications (EE Trial Invite Page<\/a>), but it\u2019s about to go through another change.<\/p>\n The initial trial (or pilot, if you prefer) was run more on an application basis only, where you had to sign a special form to apply and selection was down to EE<\/a>\u2019s discretion. But according to our sources, from 31st July, EE intends to open this up through more traditional means, such as by giving customers the ability to purchase it online like any other customer would, including via retail stores or over the phone.<\/p>\n In short, the two trial products \u2013 2.3Gbps and 8Gbps \u2013 will effectively become accessible to everyone connected to the pilot exchange, much like a normal broadband package. The move both appears to demonstrate that the initial trial has been deemed a success and shows that they\u2019re getting closer to a full national launch.<\/p>\n However, before the national launch, it\u2019s important to test the network and order process against a larger base of users. We\u2019re similarly expecting EE to launch a dedicated web page for this on 31st, which is tentatively expected to be found here: https:\/\/ee.co.uk\/broadband\/advanced-full-fibre<\/a> (not yet live).<\/p>\n Any EE customer taking part will of course require another engineer visit to install one of the operator\u2019s latest 10Gbps capable Optical Network Terminals (ONT). Customers on the 2.3Gbps tier will also receive EE\u2019s existing Smart Hub 7 Pro router, although those opting for the top 8Gbps package will continue to receive a temporary router \u2013 currently from TP Link. The final Smart Hub product for 8Gbps customers is currently, we\u2019re told, still a few months away from being ready for launch \u2013 EE won\u2019t want to do a proper commercial launch until that\u2019s ready.<\/p>\n Take note that Openreach<\/a>\u2019s network trial has also been available to other ISPs since 23rd March 2026 (details<\/a>), but EE is still the only ISP known to be involved. Part of that may stem from the difficulty that ISPs will have in adapting for the capacity demands of such products, which isn\u2019t helped by the fact that Openreach aren\u2019t currently expected to trial their new 100Gbps Cablelink solution until 2027 (here<\/a>).<\/p>\n No doubt BT<\/a> Wholesale will also continue to drag their feet, just as they have done with the existing 1.8Gbps tier (still not available), which will impact ISPs that use that platform. EE does work with BTW too, but they have a unique approach that avoids BTW\u2019s limitations. At present, we won\u2019t know how long it will be before Openreach can launch their faster FTTP<\/a> tiers commercially, although that didn\u2019t stop EE going early with beta products before (e.g. 1.6Gbps).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Credible sources have informed ISPreview that mobile and internet provider EE (BT) is set to expand the availability…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":90486,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[9535,13681,38778,5,6],"class_list":["post-90485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uk","tag-ee","tag-fttp","tag-openreach","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116984658232743065","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}