How to choose the right fibre optic package.

As a nation, the UK is more connected than at any time its history. The majority of Brits regularly use laptops, smartphones, tablets, computer consoles and TVs. While you are listening to music, playing computer games or streaming movies, your standard broadband telephone line may struggle to keep up. That problem is further compounded if you have a family where multiple users are all trying to get online at the same time.

With superfast fibre everyone in your house can be online at the same time without affecting the quality of their online experience. Slow downloads, stuttered gameplay and interrupted movie streaming will be a thing of the past.

When searching for the right package and provider it’s important that you start by checking for fibre broadband availability in your area. Fibre isn’t available across all of the UK yet so it’s best to know that your street has fibre available. The rollout of fibre by Openreach is continuing and as of 2017 more than 24 million homes and businesses (over 90%) now have access to fibre optic broadband.

Switch to Fibre Broadband in 3 easy steps:

1. Search for fibre using your postcode: To start your search for fibre packages simply enter your postcode on our home page: www.fibrecompare.com
2. Choose a fibre broadband package: Having entered you postcode you will be presented with a list of providers (Sky, Virgin Media, BT, Plusnet, Post Office and TalkTalk) and their accompanying fibre packages. The package information will be shown in price ascending order. Take your time and review the packages until you find the one that is right for your home.
3. Click through to the provider’s website and sign up: Once you have chosen your package simply click on the ‘Buy Now’ button next to it and you will be taken to your chosen provider’s website to complete your order. Once you have signed up to your fibre package with your new provider they will then confirm your new package by email or post (depending on your contact preference). Remember you can change your mind and cancel at any time in the first 14 days.

What is fibre optic broadband?

Fibre optics is the contained transmission of light through long fibre rods (cables) made of glass and/or plastic. The light travels through the fibre cable through the process of reflection. The internal core of the cable is made of a material (glass mirrors) that is more reflective than the outer part of the cable. By having a highly reflective surface to bounce off, the light continues to move down the cable towards its end. Fibre optic cables are capable of transmitting conversation (voice), images (photos and movies) and data (such as files from one computer to another).

Fibre optic broadband is set to change the way we interact with the digital landscape like never before, with ultrafast broadband download speeds of up to 1Gb enabling homes users throughout the UK to enjoy TV, movies and games on demand.

What types of fibre broadband are available for my home?

Fibre broadband is currently being deployed across the UK by Openreach, Virgin Media and smaller companies like Hyperoptic. There are two types of fibre optic broadband: FTTC: Fibre-to-the-cabinet is where the fibre optic cabling replaces the standard copper wiring between the local telephone exchange or DP (distribution point – such as a street pole) to the green line cabinet. The line cabinet houses a Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer (‘DSLAM’) which breaks the fibre feed down in to a copper pair. A DSLAM can hold 288 customer lines. The DSLAM has technology within it to filter out the standard ADSL signal coming from the local exchange and replace it with the VDSL (‘very-high-bit-rate digital subscriber line’) signal generated in the cabinet. The VDSL signal is then linked to the standard copper cable from the green street cabinet to deliver high bandwidth to the home.

The line will then terminate on to the NTE5 line box inside the home. An Openreach engineer will attend your home to complete the installation of the fibre optic service. The engineer will replace the ‘front plate’ of your line box with a SSFP (service specific face plate). This new face plate comes with an RJ11 socket built in – the engineer will connect up a special VDSL router (which your fibre broadband provider will send to you in advance of the appointment) and connect it to the line box via a cable to the RJ11 socket. In some cases you may already have the correct front plate in place and an engineer will not be required.

FTTP / FTTH: Fibre-to-the-premises (also called fibre-to-the-home) provides fibre direct from the exchange to your home giving you the highest quality connection possible as there is no copper wire involved.

What download speeds are available with fibre broadband?

There are several different types of fibre speeds available: Depending on availability in your area, the following fibre optic line speeds may be available:

• Up to 38Mb superfast fibre optic broadband • Up to 76Mb superfast fibre optic broadband • Up to 100Mb superfast fibre optic broadband • Up to 300Mb ultrafast fibre optic broadband • Up to 1Gb ultrafast fibre optic broadband

Benefits of fibre-optic broadband.

Superfast downloads of movies, music or standard documents are achievable • Faster internet browsing • Improved performance on streaming standard definition TV, HD TV, online games • Faster to upload files and media to the Internet (due to the faster upstream speed)

What is the average UK broadband speed?

Basic broadband as offered by the main UK ISPs such as Sky, TalkTalk, Plusnet, Post Office and BT, can provide download speeds of up to 24Mb using ADSL2+ technology. This is the fasted ‘up to’ speed for the ADSL technology. In 2012 the majority of ISPs, after guideline changes from the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA), lowered their upper limit on broadband download speeds to ‘up to 14Mb’, before increasing it over the years to ‘up to 17Mb’.

Average actual broadband speeds have continued to increase over the last 5 years mainly due to the uptake of superfast fibre optic broadband in a higher percentage of British homes.

The majority of fibre broadband users believe that their online experience had improved as a result of moving from standard broadband to fibre optic. Most people attribute this improvement to fibre’s ability to meet the demands of TV streaming, HD movies, uploading photos or video content, and undoubtedly the benefits when playing online games.

How much faster is fibre optic broadband than standard broadband?

Basic broadband (ADSL) services are provided over the traditional BT copper wire network which was originally created to support just telephone calls. Since the early 2000s the BT network has also supported broadband with speeds up to 24Mb. A major determining factor in the speed of download over the copper wires is the distance between your property and the local exchange. Fibre replaces the copper wire and is able to transform the connection to a superfast fibre broadband circuit, allowing speeds up to 5 times the average broadband speed, typically 40Mb – 80Mb for fibre-to-the-cabinet but in some cases as fast as 300Mb with ultrafast (G.fast) broadband services. Sky and TalkTalk have been trialling their ultrafast service in York, providing speeds over 900Mb using Fibre To The Premises.

Since 2010 the average actual residential fixed broadband download speeds have increased from 6.2Mb in 2010 to 28.9Mb in 2015. Superfast Broadband availability has subsequently reached over 90% of UK premises.

Can I get fibre broadband?

It’s easy to check if fibre is available at your home address. You can use our fibre availability checker to search, review and select your new fibre broadband service. To start your search for fibre packages simply enter your postcode and home phone number on our home page checker: www.fibrecompare.com