BT hooks up first 21CN customers

The only 21CN in the village...

BT has moved its first customers to its 21st Century Network (21CN) in the initial phase of the next-generation network's national rollout.

The upgrade took place without any engineer visits, new telephones or new telephone numbers, in the village of Wick, near Cardiff.

Broadband from A to Z

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A is for ADSL
B is for BT
C is for Cable & Wireless
D is for Dial-up
E is for Education
F is for Fibre
G is for Goonhilly
H is for HSDPA
I is for In-flight
J is for Janet
K is for Kingston
L is for Landlines
M is for Murdoch
N is for Next generation
O is for Ofcom
P is for Power lines
Q is for Quad-play
R is for Remote working
S is for Satellite phones
T is for Trains
U is for Unbundling
V is for VoIP
W is for WiMax
X is for Xbox
Y is for YouTube
Z is for Zombies

Cardiff, Bridgend and the Pontypridd area are next on BT's list to have their voice and broadband services switched to 21CN.

By the end of summer 2007, around 350,000 customer lines in South Wales are expected to be migrated to the new infrastructure.

Paul Reynolds, chief executive of BT Wholesale and board sponsor of the 21CN programme, said that the rest of the UK will follow "over the next few years".

The 21CN project is BT's plan to switch its copper circuit-switched networks to a single IP-based core infrastructure, with a price tag of £10bn over five years.