The complete guide to gigabit-ready broadband speeds
A new kind of broadband has arrived in the UK. It’s called full fibre and can deliver lightning-quick, gigabit internet speeds straight to your home.
But how will these gigabit speeds change the way you use the internet? When will they be available in your area? And are they worth the extra money?
Find out in this complete guide to gigabit-ready broadband.
What is gigabit-ready broadband?
A gigabit-ready broadband connection delivers download speeds of 1 gigabit per second, or 1,000Mbps. It’s the fastest commercially available broadband connection available to UK customers and businesses.
How fast is gigabit-ready broadband?
Gigabit broadband networks aren’t fast; they’re hyper fast. With a 1,000Mbps package, you can:
- Download an entire HD-ready movie in less than 60 seconds.
- Back up thousands of photos in under 30 seconds.
- Stream TV and live events on multiple devices with zero buffering.
- Download the latest Xbox and Playstation games in 5 minutes.
Gigabit connections are also super stable. They promise cut-outs and dropped connections, even when everyone in the house is online. It’s the one type of internet connection that can guarantee family harmony!
How is gigabit broadband delivered?
Gigabit speeds are delivered directly into your home or business premises via full fibre optic cables. These cables use pulses of light to transmit data instead of electrical signals, which the old-fashioned copper cables use.
It means data travels at lightspeed – the fastest speeds physically possible. Full fibre gigabit broadband is, quite literally, as fast as lightning.
Where is gigabit-ready broadband available currently in the UK?
Around 19.4million homes can now access a gigabit broadband network.
These hyperfast networks are up and running in all the UK’s major cities, including London, Leeds, Manchester, and Birmingham.
Independent broadband providers have built their own gigabit-ready networks in many of the UK’s smaller towns, while specialist AltNets are constructing full fibre cable infrastructure to deliver high-speed internet to villages and rural areas.
When will I be able to get full fibre broadband?
.
There are around 100 AltNets planning to deploy fibre-to-the-premises broadband during 2022 and beyond. So it’s highly likely that someone is building in your area right now.
These new companies are helping the UK government fulfill its Project Gigabit promise. Announced in 2021, Project Gigabit is a £5billion government investment project to upgrade the UK’s digital infrastructure networks. It’s committed to reaching 85% national gigabit coverage by the year 2025 and total coverage by the end of the decade.
How will gigabit broadband improve life in the UK?
Accessible and affordable high-speed internet will help the UK recover from the economic shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic. And it will ensure that everyone in the UK has the same opportunity to take full advantage of future innovations in the digital space.
“This is our national mission to plug in and power up every corner of the UK and get us gigabit-ready for the future,” said former Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden, who oversaw the Project Gigabit launch.
“We have already made rapid progress, with over 50% of homes and businesses now able to access next-generation gigabit speeds, compared to just 9% in 2019. Now we are setting out our plans to invest £5 billion in remote and rural areas so that no one is left behind by the connectivity revolution.”
“That means no more battling over the bandwidth, more freedom to live and work anywhere in the country, and tens of thousands of new jobs created as we deliver a game-changing infrastructure upgrade.”
Is gigabit-ready broadband expensive?
Gigabit connections give you the fastest internet speeds in the UK. As such, they tend to be the most expensive packages.
Depending on your location and provider, a 1Gbps package can cost anywhere between £40 to £80 p/m. By any standards, that’s not cheap.
But despite the higher monthly tariffs, a 1Gbps deal still provides real value for money. You’ll notice the difference in speeds and quality immediately. And once you’ve made the switch to gigabit broadband, it’s almost impossible to go back to regular (and much slower) internet.
If you need (or just want) ultrafast internet, then full fibre gigabit broadband is the only real choice.
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