Who needs High Speed Fibre Connections?

Broadband has become more and more essential to our everyday lives and the amount of devices that we use on a daily basis that bank on broadband connectivity seems to increase. The range of tablets, smartphones, laptops, desktops, games consoles and TV’s that each person has in their homes, seems to increase everyday.

postal_town Broadband Deals For September 2024

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 being stuck in commuter traffic, something that most of us would like to avoid.

 

 

Quite simply, traditional broadband connections often struggle to manage the simultaneous demands of downloading large files, streaming videos or music, with multiple devices and appliances logged on simultaneously. With Superfast fibre broadband though, everyone within a home or local business has the chance to do what they want online– all concurrently– with no annoying delays.

What is quick broadband?

Super-fast broadband describes broadband connections of right up to 300Mbps in the UK.

Super-fast broadband connections enable users to go online , download music & video and stream television at speeds that are massively above most internet users.

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

How does fibre internet work ?

Unlike most 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 made of glass and plastic, which allows data to move much quicker than along the copper cables used by standard xDSL internet .

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 years to come.

 

 

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

ADSL2+

This kind of connectivity uses the same wiring and telephone exchanges as regular ADSL internet connections, but because of the software and technology used it can deliver speeds of approximately 24Mbps, however most advertised speeds are around “up to 16Mb”.

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

Which super-fast internet product is the fastest?

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 as a result of its super-fast fibre-optic connectivity network.

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

 

 

Alternatively, 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 first step is to decide which high speed broadband services are available in your area . Check which service are available.

 

Advantages of super fast broadband connectivity

Super-fast broadband empowers you to make the most of all the entertainment services on offer on the web. You’ll have the capacity to watch movies in a matter of minutes – allowing you consume what you want , when you want it , and banishing the hanging around for astronomical downloads.

Fans of on-demand show will love their favourite shows on the Sky Now TV, as well as 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 opponents and can enjoy a better gaming experience.

Disadvantages of FTTC broadband

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

Who is  fibre broadband  for?

The massive growth in the number of people streaming music , downloading video and watching catchup TV online means that there is no longer a typical user of super fast internet .

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 sign up for a high speed broadband product – preferably fibre optic for the best experience.

Fibre 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 called ping,  which is often  caused by slower DSL connectivity services . This can seriously ruin your gaming experience .

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

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