Who needs Super-fast Fibre Connectivity ?

Broadband has become more and more necessary to our everyday lives and the amount of devices that we use per day 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 every day.

Sproston Green 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 being stuck in commuter traffic, something that we all wish to avoid.

 

 

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

What is super-fast broadband?

Super-fast broadband relates to broadband connections of about 300Mbps in the UK.

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

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

How does fibre broadband work ?

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 composed of glass and plastic, which allows data to move much faster than along the copper cables used by standard DSL broadband .

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

 

 

The likes of TalkTalk, Sky and EE have resold BT’s Infinity service to launch rebranded high speed cable broadband services of their own.

However, fast broadband is not only available to people in a fibre 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 registering selected ADSL2+ internet packages from the providers like O2, Sky, Orange and TalkTalk.

ADSL2+

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

Your speed depends, as always, on the quality of the wiring and the distance you are from the exchange, but if you inhabit a town or built up area 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 superfast internet product is the fastest?

Among the UK’s quickest broadband 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 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 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 copper to carry more data.

How do I get fibre optic broadband ?

Your initial step is to see which super-fast broadband services are available at your exhaage. Check which service are available.

 

Benefits of fast broadband connectivity

Fast internet empowers you to utilise all the entertainment services on offer on the net. You’ll have the chance to download movies in a within minutes – allowing you watch what you like, when you like it, and getting rid of the days of long waiting times for astronomical downloads.

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

Reduced ‘ping’ means better response times delivered by fibre internet means that when online gaming you gain a competitive advantage over the opponents and can enjoy a better gaming experience.

Disadvantages of high speed broadband

Speeds are never 100% as advertised (although are often very close ) and rely on things that are out of your control , like the quality of copper connectivity and the distance you live from the exchange . Even when high speed internet connectivity is on offer in your location, these limiting factors may yield little difference in performance for a much higher cost .

Who is  fibre internet connectivity for?

The massive growth in the number of people listening to music, downloading video and watching on demand TV online means that there is no more a typical user of super-fast 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 fibre broadband service – preferably fibre for the very best service.

Super-fast connectivity is also ideal for fans of online games . Due to the fact faster connectivity eliminates the delays to in-game responsiveness. This is called ping,  which is commonly triggered by slower DSL broadband services . This can seriously ruin your online gaming experience .

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

Sproston Green – Other Areas

Lindholme

Gerrards Bromley

Mattishall Burgh

Hethersgill

Sutton

Poolestown

Blendworth

Hail Weston

Walwick

East Bedfont