Who needs Superfast Internet ?

Broadband has become much more important to our everyday lives and the amount of devices that we use every day that rely upon broadband connectivity seems to increase. The amount of tablets, smartphones, laptops, desktops, games consoles and TV’s that each person has in their homes, seems to increase daily.

West Ness Broadband Deals For October 2025

Connection Type	Availablity
FTTC / Fibre / Superfast Broadband	Yes
Cable / Virgin Media	Some Areas
ADSL / Broadband	Yes
4G	Yes

Working from home is commonplace as it saves people sitting in commuter traffic, something that we all would like to avoid.

 

 

Quite simply, traditional broadband connections often struggle to deal with the simultaneous demands of downloading large files, streaming videos or music, with multiple devices and appliances logged on concurrently. With Superfast fibre broadband though, everyone within a home or company has the capacity to do what they want online– all simultaneously– without any annoying delays.

What is super-fast broadband?

Super-fast broadband describes broadband connections of more than 300Mbps in the UK.

Super-fast broadband connections enable users to surf the internet, download music & video and stream television at speeds that are massively higher than most internet users.

While the current average UK broadband connection is around 12Mbps (2014), high speed broadband products deliver speeds of around 300Mbps, through sophisticated fibre-optic broadband networks like Virgin Media and BT’s Infinity fibre optic cables.

How does fibre broadband work ?

Unlike many UK broadband connections, which use telephony lines, the UK’s fastest internet product – the 100Mbps service from Virgin Media (it’s 200Mbps in some areas) – is delivered by a cable, or fibre-optic, broadband network. These cables are composed of glass and plastic, which allows data to move much faster than along the copper pipes used by standard ADSL broadband .

BT also offers an as much as 76Mb fibre-optic service called BT Infinity (you can get 300Mbps in some areas), and plans to make this available to millions more UK homes in in the future .

 

 

The likes of TalkTalk, Sky and EE have used BT’s Infinity service to launch rebranded super fast cable broadband products of their own.

However, fast internet is not exclusively available to people in a fibre broadband area . Fast broadband is not exclusively on offer to people in a fibre-optic broadband area. If you live within a certain range of your broadband provider’s exchange you can still get fast broadband by getting selected ADSL2+ broadband services from the providers like O2, Sky, Orange and TalkTalk.

ADSL2+

This sort of connectivity uses the same cables and telephone exchanges as regular ADSL phone-line connections, but because of the software and technology being used it can deliver speeds of up to 24Mbps, however most advertised speeds are around “to 16Mb”.

Your speed depends, as always, on the quality of the wiring and the distance you are from the exchange, but if you live in a city or built up location you can realistically expect speeds of as high as 16Mb or more. This still provides plenty of bandwidth for heavy internet users, and at a smaller cost than cable.

Which super-fast internet product is the fastest?

Among the UK’s fastest connectivity products is Virgin Media’s 152Mbps service. Virgin Media, which also offers 50Mbps broadband products as a bare minimum, is able to deliver such fast connections because of its super-fast fibre-optic broadband network.

BT’s Infinity package offers a maximum speed of 76Mbps and the previously mentioned services from Sky, EE and TalkTalk, which use BT’s fibre optic network and feature headline speeds in line with BT.

 

 

Broadband products offering an up to 16Mbps (or thereabouts) connection are available from most providers. The arrival of these speeds has been facilitated by an upgrade of BT’s network with ADSL2+ technology, enabling the existing copper to carry more data.

How do I get fibre optic broadband ?

Your start is to see which high speed internet services are available to you . Check which types of connectivity are available.

 

Benefits of fast broadband

Fast internet connectivity can let you use all the music streaming available on the web. You will have the ability to watch movies in a within minutes – allowing you consume what you want , when you demand it , and getting rid of the hanging around for large downloads.

Fans of on-demand TV can enjoy their favourite shows on the BBC iPlayer , in addition to rival services from ITV and Channel 4, smoothly and without interruption .

Reduced latency means move favourable response times delivered by super fast connectivity means that online gamers gain a competitive advantage over the competition and can enjoy a better gaming experience.

Disadvantages of super-fast connectivity

Speeds are never 100% as advertised (although are often very close ) and depend on things that are not within your control, like the age of copper connectivity and the distance you live from the BT exchange . Despite the fact that super-fast internet is available in your area , these limiting factors may not bring many benefits in performance for a much higher monthly price .

Who is  FTTC broadband  for?

The massive growth in the number of people streaming music , downloading video and watching on demand TV online means that there is no more a typical user of high speed internet .

However, if you are a heavy downloader or are one of the increasing number of consumers who prefer to catch up with TV programmes online, it makes good sense to join a super-fast broadband deal – preferably fibre optic for the very best service.

Super fast connectivity is also ideal for fans of online console usage. This is because faster connectivity gets rid of the delays to in-game responsiveness. This is known as ping,  which is often  caused by slower ADSL internet connectivity products . This can seriously ruin your gaming pleasure.

If you only use the internet for checking your e-mail and for the occasional search, it’s more prudent to opt for a traditional ADSL deal .

West Ness – Other Areas

Sherberton

Largs

Maypole

Staplehay

Hisomley

Dimsdale

Dudley Port

Becconsall

Spaxton

Flixborough