Who needs High Speed Fibre Internet ?

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

Norton Ash 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 all of us would love to avoid.

 

 

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

What is super-fast broadband?

Super-fast broadband relates to broadband connections of up to 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 more than most internet users.

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

How does fibre internet operate?

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

BT also offers a more than 76Mb fibre 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 piggybacked on BT’s Infinity service to launch rebranded super fast cable broadband products of their own.

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

ADSL2+

This kind of connection uses the same cabling and telephone exchanges as regular ADSL broadband connections, but due to the software and technology used it can deliver speeds of about 24Mbps, however most advertised speeds are around “about 16Mb”.

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

Which high speed connectivity product is the quickest ?

Among the UK’s quickest 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 broadband network.

BT’s Infinity package delivers a maximum speed of 76Mbps and the aforementioned services from Sky, EE and TalkTalk, which use BT’s fibre optic network and feature headline speeds according to 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 fast broadband ?

Your initial step is to decide which super-fast broadband services are available at your exhaage. Check which types of connectivity are available.

 

Advantages of super fast internet

Super fast broadband lets you utilise all the music streaming on offer on the internet. You’ll have the chance to download movies in a in a few minutes – allowing you view what you like, when you want it , and getting rid of the days of long waiting times for enormous downloads.

Fans of on-demand TV will love their best shows on the Sky Now TV, in addition to rival services from ITV and Channel 4, smoothly and without buffering.

Reduced ‘ping’ means improved response times delivered by high speed broadband means that when online gaming you gain a competitive advantage over the opposition and can enjoy a better gaming experience.

Disadvantages of fibre internet

Speeds are never 100% as advertised (although are often very close ) and dependent on things that are out of your control , like the quality of wiring and the distance you live from the exchange . Whether or not super fast internet is available in your area , these limiting factors may yield little difference in performance for a much higher annual cost .

Who is  high speed connectivity  for?

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

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 sense to register for a high speed internet product – preferably fibre for the greatest service.

High speed internet 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 commonly caused by slower traditional internet connectivity services . This can seriously ruin your online gaming pleasure.

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

Norton Ash – Other Areas

Brockdish

Commonside

Clay Hill

Courance

Stags Head

Hawkhurst Common

Ardingly

Compton Durville

Plumtree

Newmarket