Broadband FAQs : Need-to-know information made simple.
What kind of broadband is ‘up to 1Gbps?’▲
‘Up to 1Gbps’ is a type of fibre-optic connection, also known as ‘gigabit broadband’.
Gigabit broadband is a kind of full-fibre broadband, which means no copper cables are used at any point in the connection.
Because they don’t use any copper, gigabit connections cannot join any existing networks and must instead be built from scratch.
No national ISP like TalkTalk, Sky or Virgin Media can offer to sell you gigabit broadband because they don’t have any of their own gigabit networks.
You may see smaller broadband providers selling gigabit broadband such as CityFibre, Hyperoptic or Gigaclear, who only operate in rural areas, in specific parts of the country, or only sell to businesses.
Gigabit broadband hasn’t been around for very long, so coverage is extremely limited and many gigabit locations are classed as ‘experiments’ and not ‘rollouts’.
There are plans up and down the country to increase gigabit broadband availability, so before long we could see full-fibre networks completely replace broadband networks based on copper cables.
What is ‘fibre-optic’ broadband?▲
Fibre-optic broadband and fibre broadband are one and the same thing.
Most of the time, you’ll see this written as “fibre broadband”, or Fibre to the Cabinet, shortened to FTTC.
FTTC broadband is sold in two varieties: “up to 38Mbps” and “up to 76Mbps”.
Fibre optics are cables that transmit data with light instead of electricity. This makes for faster internet speeds, higher bandwidth and more reliable connections.
However, because the existing UK networks for both telephones and cable TV were built out of copper cables, almost all Fibre to the Cabinet broadband uses slow copper lines at some point in the connection.
With fibre broadband, copper telephone lines connect you to a green street cabinet before connecting to fibre optic cables.
This is similar with cable broadband, which uses coaxial copper lines instead of telephone lines.
Copper cables significantly reduce the speed and quality of a broadband connection. The next phase of major innovation in broadband is full fibre, which uses ONLY fibre-optic cables to deliver broadband and forgoes any slow copper in the connection.
As of 2018 full fibre broadband is currently only available to around 2% of homes and businesses in the UK. Hyperoptic and Gigaclear are the two major companies building full fibre networks for home broadband. For businesses, CityFibre are the main company installing full fibre networks in major UK cities.
Constructing a full fibre network is an incredibly expensive proposition so most ISPs like Sky and TalkTalk are stuck with using some copper in your fibre-optic broadband connection.
Can I keep my old phone number when I move house?▲
Usually when you move home you will not be able to keep your old phone number.
The only exception is if you’re moving to a new home within the same telephone exchange area.
Keeping your number in this case isn’t always guaranteed, but most telephone and broadband providers will be happy to help whenever it is possible.
There are over 5,500 telephone exchanges in the UK.
If you are moving to a different telephone exchange area, then your home phone number will almost certainly have to change.
Residential phone numbers in the UK are tied to physical locations through area codes, so your phone number has to reflect the area that you live in.
Why is my broadband not running at the ‘up to’ speed?▲
The “up to” speeds advertised and listed on broadband deals don’t really reflect the actual speeds most of us will get from our broadband.
The “up to” speed is the maximum possible speed that a type of connection can support, even though you’re unlikely to come close to that speed in the real world.
You’ll see this written out as “up to 17Mbps” for ADSL standard speed broadband, “up to 38Mbps” and “up to 76Mbps” for Fibre to the Cabinet, “up to 50/100/200/300Mbps” for Virgin cable broadband and “up to 1Gbps” for gigabit full fibre broadband.
There are a variety of reasons why broadband speeds slow down and you can’t get the maximum “up to” speed on your home broadband.
The top two reasons are electrical interference, and the broadband ‘rush hour’ that occurs at peak times, just before and after work and school, when a lot of people are all trying to use broadband connections at the same time.
Full fibre is much less likely to suffer from this interference, as it uses ONLY fibre-optic cables to deliver your broadband, without slow copper as part of the connection.
What is cable broadband?▲
Cable broadband is a type of connection exclusively available from Virgin Media in around 60% of UK homes.
The cable network was originally built to deliver television services, but has since been developed to support broadband and telephone calls as well.
Virgin Media’s cable network uses hybrid fibre connections to reach customers, which are made of a combination of fibre cables and coaxial copper cables.
Cable broadband offers maximum speeds of 300Mbps. Compare that to the maximum speed of Fibre to the Cabinet broadband at just 76Mbps.
What kind of broadband is ‘up to 300Mbps?’▲
‘Up to 300Mbps’ is the maximum cable broadband speed available in the UK and is exclusive to Virgin Media.
Virgin’s broadband network is made up of cable broadband, which is much faster than the Fibre to the Cabinet broadband available from the UK’s other major ISPs like BT and TalkTalk.
The reason for this is that the technology uses both fibre and coaxial copper cables for the broadband connection. Coaxial cables have better shielding than normal copper telephone lines.
Virgin Media’s ‘up to 300Mbps’ connection, called Vivid 300, gives customers access to the full capacity of their cable broadband with no limitations.
It features 20Mbps upload speeds in addition to 300Mbps download speeds, providing breakneck speed for both sides of your connection.
These speeds are impressive, but for most users they will be quite unnecessary. Even Virgin themselves struggle to think of reasons to have that much bandwidth.
What is full fibre broadband?▼
Full fibre broadband is the fastest kind of home broadband technology currently on sale.
Full fibre broadband is only available to around 2% of UK homes.
There are, as of 2018, few companies selling full fibre to the home. The two major ISPs are Gigaclear and Hyperoptic.
Full fibre is what it sounds like: a type of broadband connection that is fully made up of fibre-optic cables.
Unlike the older technology Fibre to the Cabinet, full fibre does not contain any slow copper wires.
Full fibre broadband is sold in a variety of speeds, from 30Mbps to 1,000Mbps (1Gbps).
It is also called ‘gigabit’ broadband, because full fibre can reach speeds of 1,000 Mbps (Megabits per second). This is equal to one gigabit per second (1Gbps).
Full fibre is also different to older technolgies on sale because the speeds it produces are ‘symmetric’.
This means upload speeds can easily match download speeds, making it incredibly useful for businesses, home workers who upload lots of data, video streamers and online gamers.
What does ‘download speed’ mean?▼
Download speed is actually talking about your bandwidth, specifically your downstream.
This is the part of your connection that receives data from the internet.
Your download speed is relevant for almost all online activity as everything you see on the internet has to be sent to you through the downstream.
Instead of making data move faster, a higher bandwidth (what is listed as higher ‘download speed’) means more data can move through your broadband connection at the same time.
The download speed is the maximum amount of data that can be sent to your connection, so a 17Mbps ‘speed’ means you can receive a maximum of 17 megabits of data every second.
Similarly, if you have fibre broadband capable of ‘up to 76Mbps’, that means you can receive a maximum of 76 megabits of data every second.
A higher download speed increases the maximum potential speed of your home broadband.
What is a hotspot?▼
A hotspot is a place that has public WiFi access.
This means any WiFi device like a smartphone or a tablet can connect and access the broadband that’s available there.
These places are also known as public hotspots or WiFi hotspots.
Public WiFi is a great way to save on data for your smartphone or tablet, or just as a way to get online with devices that can’t access mobile internet through 3G or 4G.
Hotspots can be free or they may cost money to access.
With a paid hotspot, you’ll typically need to pay up front to use the WiFi for a set amount of time.
You can pay directly from your device when you connect to the hotspot.
Free or exclusive hotspot access is a common perk for broadband and mobile contracts.
Exclusive hotspots are usually accessed through a password that is given to you by your broadband provider.
Four companies offer widespread exclusive hotspots as part of their set-up: mobile network O2, broadband providers BT, Sky (The Cloud) and Virgin Media.
Will broadband give me free WiFi at home?▼
The short answer is yes.
Nowadays, almost all routers can emit a WiFi signal. So when your new router is plugged in and turned on at home, you will be able to get free WiFi that you can access on a laptop, smartphone or tablet.
Using your own WiFi is completely free, but if you don’t have unlimited data as part of your broadband deal, connecting to the WiFi will use up your data allowance.
What kind of broadband is ‘up to 200Mbps?’▼
‘Up to 200Mbps’ is cable broadband and is only available through Virgin Media.
Virgin install their own cable broadband networks in the UK, and this is a much faster alternative to fibre broadband.
As of 2017, Virgin’s cable broadband is only available to around 60 percent of the UK.
The package from Virgin Media that gives ‘up to 200Mbps’ speeds is called Vivid 200.
What kind of broadband is ‘up to 100Mbps?’▼
‘Up to 100Mbps’ is a type of broadband available exclusively from Virgin Media.
Virgin Media uses its own cable network to deliver faster internet than fibre broadband alternatives.
Virgin’s ‘up to 100Mbps’ connection is called Vivid 100.
As well as 100Mbps speeds, Vivid 100 features unlimited downloads and a free WiFi router.
Virgin Media recommends using a 100Mbps connection if you’re using between 6 and 9 devices in your household.
Unlike fibre broadband, Virgin’s advertised speeds are far closer to what customers will actually experience.
On average, ‘up to 100Mbps’ customers experience 92.26Mbps speeds at peak times. Over the course of 24 hours, customers actually get average speeds faster than 100Mbps.
What kind of broadband is ‘up to 52Mbps’?▼
‘Up to 52Mbps’ broadband is a fast fibre connection but one that is limited by the ISP that provides it.
A broadband connection that is ‘up to 52Mbps’ is actually a line that can go ‘up to 76Mbps’ and uses exactly the same standards and technology.
The only difference is that the maximum speed is artificially limited by the ISP to a slower 52Mbps speed.
BT and Sky are the only ISPs that offers broadband speed ‘up to 52Mbps’.
The download speed of some connections may be limited to provide a faster upload speed instead.
High upload speeds are ideal for people who publish a lot of videos, images or files to the internet, but are not necessary for typical internet use.
How fast is standard broadband?▼
Standard broadband is also known as ADSL broadband. The speed you will see listed for standard broadband is ‘up to 17Mbps’, although you are very unlikely to get anything close to that speed in reality.
Watch out for how ISPs sell standard broadband as sometimes they don’t make it obvious exactly what type of broadband you’re buying. You may find that providers sell this slower type of connection as simply ‘Broadband’, while more expensive deals are specifically noted as ‘Fibre Broadband’.
Standard broadband uses copper telephone lines to make a connection to your home. Not only are copper lines slower than fibre optic ones, they are also weaker for interference.
Electrical interference is caused by many different things but the biggest offender is actually other users trying to access the internet through the same telephone cable.
Living in a crowded area, or being really far away from the telephone exchange, will massively increase the odds of frequent interference and your internet speed will suffer.
Fibre or cable broadband doesn’t suffer from interference and so delivers a far more reliable connection.
What is ‘fair usage’ or ‘acceptable usage’?▼
Fair or acceptable usage is a term that’s usually tacked onto the small print of unlimited broadband deals.
While unlimited broadband is advertised as having absolutely no limitations on the amount of data you can use, that isn’t entirely true.
You have unlimited use, but only if you use it fairly.
Pinning down what exactly qualifies as fair usage can be a little tricky but you’ll usually have to go out of your way to break the rules.
If you’re file-sharing constantly or using all of your bandwidth 24 hours a day, that isn’t fair usage. However, it is very unlikely that the typical customer will come anywhere close to that.
Fair usage clauses aren’t there to stop you getting the most out of your broadband, they’re there to stop individuals and businesses intentionally exploiting unlimited data allowances on home broadband.
What is ‘unlimited’ broadband?▼
If a broadband package is listed as ‘unlimited’, there are no restrictions on how much or how often you can use it. By contrast, a broadband deal with a specific data allowance will only let you use a limited amount of internet each month, and going over this limit could cost you.
The problem with a data allowance is that it is very hard to accurately calculate how much data you’ll need in a month. Any online activity, from downloading files to browsing websites and watching videos will add to your data usage and it is very hard to keep track of all your online activity.
Even worse, you often can’t tell how much data something will cost you until you’ve already used it.
Unlimited broadband avoids these stresses but you could end up spending more money than you really have to.
What is throttling?▼
Throttling is a process that ISPs use to artificially limit the speed of a connection.
There are several reasons why an ISP might throttle an individual connection, but the most common reason is when a customer goes beyond their data allowance.
If this happens, your ISP may throttle your connection until your data resets at the end of the month.
Specific online activities that ISPs frown on, such as torrenting (file-sharing), might cause your ISP to throttle your broadband connection.
Throttling is also used more generally for management but that often results in faster internet for customers than if the connections weren’t throttled – similar to how traffic lights improve congestion by slowing down cars.
What is an ISP?▼
An Internet Service Provider or ISP for short, is a company which supplies you with an internet connection.
There are a huge number of ISPs in the UK, ranging from the largest ones like BT, Virgin Media, Sky and TalkTalk, to smaller providers such as Plusnet or the Post Office.
ISPs come in a range of forms, whether privately or publicly operated, non-profit or community-owned. Not all ISPs are available nationwide and some operate only in certain areas, such as Gigaclear who are based in the West Country.
What is DNS?▼
The Domain Name System protocol is a vital component of the internet. Without it there would be no World Wide Web. DNS matches the name of a website to its numerical IP address. DNS then communicates with root servers, which connects you to a website.
You may occasionally see an error message in your browser if there’s a problem with a website or you lose your internet connection.
Your browser may tell you to check your DNS settings. Thankfully this is usually unnecessary. In most situations, try refreshing the page or checking you’re still connected. If all else fails, make a cup of tea and try again.
What does ‘fibre broadband’ mean?▼
Fibre broadband is also known as FTTC broadband, or Fibre to the Cabinet. Fibre broadband deals are usually listed as speeds ‘up to 38Mbps’ and ‘up to 76Mbps’.
Fibre broadband is sometimes called ‘superfast broadband’.
All of these terms are talking about the same thing. It’s a connection that uses a copper telephone line to connect your home to a green street cabinet, then a fibre optic cable to connect that cabinet to your ISP and give you access to the internet.
Because the connection also involves copper telephone lines, the name ‘fibre broadband’ can be pretty misleading.
Connections that use only fibre optic cables with no copper are named ‘full-fibre broadband’.
It is important to be aware of the different names because the difference in speed is staggering. A full-fibre connection is typically more than 10 times the speed of ‘fibre broadband’. As of 2017, full-fibre broadband is only available to around 2% of UK homes and business.
