We strongly recommend that you opt for a superfast or ultrafast broadband service if available in your area since these offer significantly higher download and upload speeds compared with standard broadband (ADSL and ADSL2+) services. The availability of higher speed services has been increasing rapidly over the last few years, and many new fibre street cabinets (like the one shown below) have been appearing across the UK. Currently, 95% of UK premises can access superfast broadband with downloads speeds of at least 30 Mbps.
For the very latest information about fibre broadband across the UK, view our page:
Superfast and ultrafast broadband
For some ISPs, the price premium between superfast broadband and standard broadband is small, so seize the opportunity if you can.
For services based on BT’s fibre network, connection speeds are dependent upon the distance to your nearest BT fibre street cabinet, as described in our article Chart of BT FTTC (VDSL2) speed against distance from the cabinet. Users within about 300 metres of the fibre cabinet can expect to achieve about the maximum possible downstream connection speed (i.e. around 80 Mbps), with an upload connection speed of 20 Mbps.
The chart below shows the expected connection speed of BT’s fibre broadband (FTTC) service for different distances from the street cabinet:
Chart of BT FTTC speed against distance from the street cabinet
Speeds fall to about 60 Mbps when about 500 metres away from the street cabinet and, at 1 km, about 28 Mbps connection speed can be achieved. Many ISPs offer online checkers that provide an estimate of likely speeds. For more detailed information about high-speed fibre broadband services, visit our What is fibre broadband? FTTC and FTTP explained page.
Next tip: Optimise WiFi, connecting by Ethernet where possible
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