Who needs High Speed FTTC Internet?

Broadband has become much more important to our everyday lives and the amount of devices that we use per day that rely on 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 each day.

postal_town Broadband Deals For April 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 sitting in commuter traffic, something that we all 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 logged on concurrently. With Superfast fibre broadband though, everyone within a home or business has the chance to do what they want online– all concurrently– without any annoying delays.

What is fast broadband?

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

Super-fast broadband connections enable users to go online , stream music & video and stream television at speeds that are massively more than 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 broadband networks such as Virgin Media and BT’s Infinity fibre optic cables.

How does super-fast broadband operate?

Unlike the majority of UK broadband connections, which use telephony lines, the UK’s fastest broadband 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 comprised of glass and plastic, which allows data to move much quicker than along the copper cables used by standard DSL broadband .

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

 

 

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

However, fast broadband is not only available 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 range of your internet provider’s exchange you can still get fast internet by enrolling in selected ADSL2+ broadband packages from the companies like O2, Sky, Orange and TalkTalk.

ADSL2+

This kind of connection uses the same cabling and telephone exchanges as regular ADSL phone-line connections, but because of the software and technology used it can deliver speeds of almost 24Mbps, however most advertised speeds are around “to 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 to 16Mb or more. This still provides ample bandwidth for heavy internet users, and at a smaller cost than cable.

Which super-fast internet product is the best?

Among the UK’s quickest internet 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 thanks to its superfast fibre-optic broadband network.

BT’s Infinity package delivers 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 accordance 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 cabling to carry more data.

How do I get high speed connectivity?

Your first step is to decide which high speed broadband services are available at your exhaage. Check which products are available.

 

Benefits of fast broadband connectivity

Super-fast internet lets you take advantage of all the music streaming available on the internet. You will have the capacity to download movies in a within minutes – allowing you watch what you like, when you want it , and getting rid of the hanging around for huge downloads.

Fans of on-demand show will love their best shows on the BBC iPlayer , and even rival services from ITV and Channel 4, smoothly and without interruption .

Reduced ‘ping’ means move favourable response times delivered by fibre internet means that online gamers gain a competitive advantage over the competition and can enjoy a better playing experience.

Disadvantages of FTTC broadband

Speeds are never 100% as advertised (although are often very close ) and depend on things that are out of your control , like the age of wiring and the distance you live from the BT exchange . Regardless of whether fibre internet is on offer in your location, these limiting factors may not bring many improvements in performance for a much higher monthly cost .

Who is  FTTC internet  for?

The massive growth in the quantity of people streaming music , streaming video and watching on demand TV online means that there is no more a typical user of super fast broadband .

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 enrol for a high speed broadband deal – preferably fibre for the best service.

Super-fast internet is also ideal for fans of online gaming . This is because a faster connection eliminates the delays to in-game responsiveness. This is referred to as ping,  which is commonly caused by slower traditional internet 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 select a standard ADSL connection.

postal_town – Other Areas

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Lower Bullingham

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Great Langton

Rodmersham

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