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Fibre broadband is the most common and popular type of broadband connection in the UK, offering faster speeds and more reliability than older copper telephone lines.
But what exactly is fibre broadband, and how does it differ from other types? From internet speed to availability in your area to monthly prices and enticing add-ons, here's everything you need to know before you compare fibre-optic broadband deals.
Fibre-optic broadband availability varies across the country, depending on which type of fibre broadband you're after. But almost everyone can get at least some form of it, and it will likely be fast enough for your needs.
There are two main types of fibre broadband connections, and the kind that you can get determines the speeds you can expect.
Over the years, broadband speeds have been described by some slightly confusing terms. How much faster is ‘ultrafast’ than ‘superfast’? And how is ‘superfast’ used to describe some of the slowest speeds?
Well, it turns out that quite specific numbers are attached to each of these terms. So let us explain the difference.
‘Superfast’ technically means an average broadband speed that returns between 30-80Mbps (megabits per second).
This speed is mainly attached to part-fibre broadband packages. When these connections started to roll out in the early 2010s, they were labelled ‘superfast’ because, at the time, they were the fastest connections a typical household could get.
They offered a significant speed boost to full-copper (ADSL) phone line broadband, which could only return average speeds of about 10Mbps.
‘Ultrafast’ means a broadband speed between 100-900Mbps. Ofcom states that it starts from 300Mbps, but we use 100Mbps because it’s easier to show which types of broadband can achieve these speeds.
Around the same time as the superfast broadband rollout, Virgin Media became the first provider to offer an ultrafast service of 100Mbps and above - thanks to its faster ‘coaxial’ cable that needed to be installed at each customer’s property.
In the late 2010s, other providers started to compete with Virgin’s speeds, offering full fibre connections that plugged fibre-optic cables into UK residents’ homes for the first time.
5G broadband also started to roll out at this time, providing ultrafast speeds up to 300Mbps for specific urban areas of the UK.
'Gigabit’ often refers to speeds of 900Mbps and above, but it mainly relates to rates of 1Gbps (gigabits per second). Once a speed reading hits 1000Mbps, it changes from megabits to gigabits, just like how a 1000MB file size is the same as 1GB.
Learn more about the difference with our bits and bytes explained guide.
Gigabit is the fastest broadband speed range that most homes can currently get, and it’s the target speed for the UK government, which wants 85% of homes to have gigabit internet by the end of 2025.
Here’s a view of gigabit broadband’s growth in coverage between the autumn of 2021 and the end of 2022:
There was a big jump in gigabit broadband availability at the end of 2021 when Virgin Media introduced a new 1.1Gbps broadband package across its existing network. Since then, gigabit broadband has mainly grown at the pace of the full fibre rollout, but Virgin is now working to expand its network too.
Find out more fibre broadband stats with our dedicated fibre-optic stats page.
Fibre broadband prices vary widely, depending on which provider you sign up for and the internet speed you want. Currently, there are widely available fibre deals for £20-21 per month, and some smaller providers charge as low as £17 per month for their entry-level fibre deals.
Nowadays, the slowest fibre speeds of 35Mbps are often about the same price as 10Mbps standard copper broadband. So even if you don’t use the internet very much, choosing a slightly faster package could work out better.
The fastest fibre speeds (900Mbps and above) will usually be the most expensive, with £50-60 monthly prices often attached to these packages. But these speeds are so fast they aren’t essential for any particular household at the moment.
“Where once, switching to a faster package involved a jump in bills, nowadays you can often upgrade your package at the end of your deal without paying more. So there’s never been a better time to review your options.
“Those unhappy with their broadband performance should take an online speed test to make sure they are getting the minimum speed guaranteed by their current provider, and also look online to see what they could get by switching to another provider.”
- Ernest Doku, broadband and mobiles expert at Uswitch.com
We display lots of low-cost fibre deals on our cheap broadband page. So, if you’re looking to get impressive speeds for a great price, you could find the right deal for you there.
Also, if you’re currently receiving Universal Credit or other financial support from the government, you could qualify for an even cheaper broadband social tariff.
Many providers offer fibre broadband for much lower prices than you’ll find on comparison sites, so if you think you’d qualify, check your eligibility for those first.
A great way to judge a fibre broadband provider’s value for money is by comparing the internet speeds it offers with the monthly price it charges.
If you look at the ‘megabits’ of internet speed per £1 a provider charges each month, then you can see which providers have the fastest speeds for the cheapest price.
Our research found that some broadband providers with the best value for money were small full fibre providers, also known as ‘altnets’. They’re not as widely available as the most well-known providers, but they often offer impressive ultrafast speeds for surprisingly low monthly prices.
So if you’d like to know what makes their deals so much better value, take a look at our value-for-money guide.
Almost all internet providers in the UK offer fibre broadband, with no one option necessarily being the best. The best fibre broadband for you depends on what you need, whether it's a cheaper part-fibre deal or an ultrafast broadband connection.
Here are some broadband providers you can compare part-fibre and full fibre deals with today.
It's a good idea to learn about what each broadband provider can offer you, including how well they are regarded for different parts of a broadband service.
Some may have excellent customer service, but their speeds may be slower than you would like. Others may offer big TV bundles, but their prices might be a lot higher as a result. So, it's important to read provider reviews to make sure you choose one that offers more of what you need.
You could also check out the 2023 Uswitch Telecoms Awards winners, where we’ve highlighted the broadband providers that have recently excelled in areas like customer service, value for money and reliability.
Virgin Media's cable broadband is slightly different from other fibre providers. While it also uses fibre-optic cables from its exchange to each local street cabinet, it then uses its own coaxial cables to finish the journey to your home.
This means Virgin Media can also deliver very fast broadband speeds ranging from 100Mbps to 1Gbps. Because it isn't part of the main Openreach network, Virgin has its own broadband infrastructure. This is why its Virgin Media coverage is slightly more limited, at around 56% of UK premises.
However, Virgin Media is available in more areas than full fibre, so if you're looking for ultrafast or gigabit speeds, it's worth checking to see if Virgin Media broadband deals are available in your area.
Some broadband providers only supply full fibre connections, so their average speeds are much faster.
Most of these providers, also called altnets, are only available to a limited number of places in the UK for now. But in a recent survey we conducted, 60% of UK broadband customers said they wanted more variety of broadband providers in their area⁴.
So, as altnets’ coverage continues to grow to more areas, they’re starting to present a great alternative to the more prominent companies. Especially when it comes to price and reliability.
Here’s what our Uswitch telecoms expert, Nick Baker, said about broadband altnet Hyperoptic’s service.
“If Hyperoptic is available in your home, it is absolutely a provider you should consider.
"Prices are both reasonable and fixed throughout your contract. And the reliability of its internet connection is some of the best you’ll find from a broadband provider.
"And, while the provider doesn’t offer much in terms of other services or bundled packages, the ultrafast speeds offered by its full fibre network allow for unlimited streaming on multiple devices at once."
- Nick Baker, from his Hyperoptic broadband review
Fibre broadband gains its speed advantage from the way it delivers data and the type of cable it uses to do so.
Standard copper broadband uses the same wires as your landline telephone, but fibre-optic broadband cables, which are made of plastic and glass, use pulsing beams of light to transmit data instead.
This lets it transmit a lot more data in any given period than copper cables can and unlike copper, fibre signals don't weaken over time, so the connection is more consistent.
This is what makes it much faster and more reliable than copper cables. The more data that can pass through at any given time, the ‘faster’ the connection. And the less prone it is to outages or slowdowns, the more consistent that connection is.
To learn more about how full fibre broadband works in particular, take a look at our detailed full fibre guide.
To find the best fibre broadband deal, you need to look for the best offer for you and your household. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to broadband because certain features and services would be more suited to you than others.
The first thing to remember is which broadband speed is right for you. For example, the more people regularly use broadband in your household, the faster internet speed you will need.
Thankfully, even part-fibre deals can currently handle most households' internet usage. But if you need a fast internet speed for working from home or gaming, full fibre deals are becoming more available. Plus, even if you don't need full fibre speeds right now, it may soon be necessary to handle all of the devices in your home.
This all said, regardless of how much internet you use, you’ll have to account for everyone else’s usage, too. As a rough rule of thumb:
Another thing to consider is whether you could benefit from a bundle deal that includes other services like pay-TV, a home phone or a mobile contract. The best fibre broadband deal for you could be one that brings multiple services into a single, cheaper monthly payment under the same provider.
Broadband and TV deals combine your broadband and TV service into the same contract. This is only possible with providers offering both services, such as Sky, BT, Virgin Media, TalkTalk and EE. But if you use both services regularly, you could save a significant amount each month and avoid paying extra for two separate bills.
Some providers also let you add a mobile phone contract to your broadband package, saving you money by combining both services into one package. Providers that have mobile phone networks, like Vodafone, BT and EE, will offer these bundles.
The price of a broadband deal is often impacted by its speed, but it can also go up depending on how many other services they come with and which provider offers them.
Once you've decided what you want from a broadband package, you should have a rough price range. For example, a simple broadband-only deal of about 60Mbps can often range between £22-£30 per month.
Some providers may charge towards £30 based on their reputation and the quality of their service. Other providers, often smaller ones, will set a lower monthly fee of around £22 for a slightly simpler service. But both will still offer the same broadband speed.
Standard broadband speeds should cover you if you're in a small household of one or two people and you only use the internet for small things like scrolling through social media, sending emails or watching the odd YouTube video.
However, in most cases, you can now get fibre broadband for the same price or cheaper than standard ADSL, so if that's the case, you should definitely go for a fibre connection. You may find the extra investment worth it for the extra reliability fibre provides.
And if you want to stream TV shows and movies regularly, play games online, download large files and programs, or if you live in a household with three or more internet users, the speed advantage offered by fibre broadband is invaluable.
About 3% of UK properties are unable to get any form of fibre broadband⁵. If you live in one of these properties, there are a few reasons why you might not be able to get a fibre connection:
Not all hope is lost, though. Here are a couple of unlimited broadband alternatives to fibre that could provide similar broadband speeds:
If you have a mobile internet signal on your phone at home, you might be able to get 4G or 5G mobile broadband.
4G offers around 24Mbps - just under the slowest fibre connections. But 5G can provide up to 300Mbps speeds (so long as you live in an area that can access it).
And if mobile internet is also hard to come by at your property, you might be able to get a faster connection with a satellite broadband service.
Traditionally, these connections have come with very slow internet speeds. But with the nationwide rollout of SpaceX’s Starlink connection, you may even be able to get ultrafast broadband speeds at your home.
Just be conscious that Starlink is currently very expensive since it’s such a new service.
¹ See the tables included in the Uswitch two-speed cities study
² See the ‘UK’s ten closest broadband divides’ table in the Uswitch two-speed cities study
⁴ Opinium surveyed a sample of 2,000 UK adults from May 12th - May 16th 2023. Respondents were asked - “Would you like to see more variety and choice in terms of broadband providers in your area?”