Full fibre broadband is the latest development in high speed broadband, offering speeds of up to a maximum 1000Mbps, which is 30 times faster than standard fibre broadband. It delivers these impressive speeds by replacing the copper cables that connect individual properties to the cabinet with fibre optic cable. That means the entire connection from the property to the exchange is serviced by fibre optic cable, removing any bottlenecks and providing the fastest speeds possible.
Superfast broadband vs Ultrafast broadband
Current definitions list superfast broadband as anything reaching speeds above 30 Mbps. Most fibre to the cabinet installations still utilising copper wire to connect to individual properties will fit this description, with maximum speeds reaching 80Mbps. Full fibre broadband falls under the definition of ultrafast broadband, which is any connection reaching over 100Mbps. The availability of this ultrafast broadband is still limited, with only approximately 7% of the UK connected. You can check whether it’s available in your area here:
Do I need ultrafast broadband?
It’s true that with this increase in speed comes an increase in cost, but most suppliers offer a range of speeds and packages; you’re not limited to just the fastest available. Which speed suits your usage is an individual question with no universal answer. You may want to take into account the volume of streaming and size of downloads typical in your household. If you have gamers or an occupation in which reliable and efficient livestreaming is important, you may benefit from higher capacity speeds.
If you’re shopping for ultrafast broadband purely because of issues using video streaming services, it may be more cost effective to investigate TV aerial installation in Bristol. Specialists such as https://aerial-installations-bristol.co.uk can advise you on your options and whether this might be a better fit.
For other use cases, it is highly dependent on the speeds you can work with and what packages you can afford. Most casual users are unlikely to see the benefits, but as a quick comparison, it takes 11 seconds to download an album on 38Mbps vs 3 seconds at 150Mbps and 1 second at 500Mbps.
