Fibre broadband is a new type of broadband that is currently being deployed in the UK by BT, Virgin Media and other operators which uses fibre optic cables to help increase the speed of your broadband connection. It is often referred to as 'super-fast broadband' or 'next-generation broadband' as it offers faster speeds than have been available to date using older generation networks. It is available to both home and business users.
There are generally two types of fibre broadband connections
Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) involves running fibre optic cables from the telephone exchange or distribution point to the street cabinets which then connect to a standard phone line to provide broadband.
This is combined with a copper cable from the cabinet to the home or business which uses VDSL or similar technology that can deliver much faster speeds over shorter distances.
Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP), also often referred to as Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) provides and end-to-end fibre optic connection the full distance from the exchange to the building and can deliver faster speeds than FTTC as there is no copper leg at all.
FTTC broadband offers a downstream line speed of 40meg (40Mbps), but the actual maximum speed of the service will be slightly lower than this at around 39Mbps. Different upstream speeds are available at either 2Mbps or 10Mbps.
Not everyone will receive the maximum speed as it depends on the length of your phone line to the cabinet which is providing your broadband service, but BT Openreach will guarantee that the minimum sync speed will be 15Mbps or 30Mbps. Some retailers may offer the 20Meg upload product with a 40Meg downstream speed, this is achieved by capping the downstream speed in the retailers network.
If you already have fibre broadband, why not try our broadband speed test to see how fast your connection is. It is best to carry out speedtests at a variety of times, both peak and off-peak, as at peak times the congestion in the retailers network may affect your speed significantly. Our tbbMeter tool will let you keep an eye on your browsing and download speeds when using your connection, plus has a variety of testing tools built into it.
If you are lucky enough to live in an area that will receive FTTP (full fibre), download speeds of 110Mbps and upstream speeds of 30Mbps are available. In Spring 2012, a 300Mbps product is expected from Openreach. Further speed upgrades for full fibre to 1Gbps (1000Mbps) will arrive in future years.
The speed of your connection will vary depending on the distance to the fibre cabinet that serves your house. If you know roughly how far the cabinet is, you should be able to calculate the speed you should receive based on the figures in the table below:
| Distance to cabinet (metres) | Estimated connection speed | Cumulative%'age of premises at this distance |
|---|---|---|
| 100m | 100 Mbps | 5% |
| 200m | 65 Mbps | 20% |
| 300m | 45 Mbps | 30% |
| 400m | 42 Mbps | 45% |
| 500m | 38 Mbps | 60% |
| 600m | 35 Mbps | 70% |
| 700m | 32 Mbps | 75% |
| 800m | 28 Mbps | 80% |
| 900m | 25 Mbps | 85% |
| 1000m | 24 Mbps | 90% |
| 1250m | 17 Mbps | 95% |
| 1500m | 15 Mbps | 98% |
Fibre broadband currently has a limited roll out. As of March 2012 around seven million homes had the option of fibre from Openreach (28% of UK households) this is expected to rise to ten million by the end of 2012. It should be remembered that while an exchange is announced for FTTC/P that not all premises served by an exchange will benefit, generally only 85% of properties see their cabinet enabled for FTTC on an exchange. BT have committed £2.5 billion to invest in the technology which will allow them to reach two thirds of the country by the end of 2014.
Current roll-out plans are predominantly FTTC and BT expect FTTH/P to make up around 17% of the completed fibre deployment. In 2013 the FTTP on Demand option should launch, which will allow small businesses and home owners to pay perhaps £500 to £1500 to get FTTP installed to their home if they live in an area with FTTC.
To check if you can get FTTC broadband, follow the below steps:
If your area is enabled, you may not be able to get fibre broadband from your current provider. Below is a list of fibre broadband providers and some of their products.
These speeds are based on information collected from ISPs over time - In light of the new advertising standards on broadband speeds, until ISPs publish updated packages we can update, we would strongly urge you to check the product offering from the ISPs directly prior to subscribing to any service.
| ISP | Package | Downstream Speed | Upstream Speed | Usage | Price / month (inc. VAT) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Broadband FTTC 5GB | 40 Mbps | 10 Mbps | 5 GB* | £33.90 |
| Broadband FTTC 10GB | 40 Mbps | 10 Mbps | 10 GB* | £41.70 | |
| Broadband FTTC 10GB Premium | 80 Mbps | 20 Mbps | 10 GB* | £53.70 | |
| Broadband FTTC 50GB | 40 Mbps | 10 Mbps | 50 GB* | £104.10 | |
 |
Fibre 30 | 40 Mbps | 2 Mbps | 30 GB* | £25.90 |
| Fibre 30 Pro | 40 Mbps | 10 Mbps | 30 GB* | £27.90 | |
| Fibre 90 Pro | 40 Mbps | 2 Mbps | 90 GB* | £50.90 | |
| Fibre 90 Office Pro | 40 Mbps | 10 Mbps | 90 GB* | £52.90 | |
 |
Family 30 | 40 Mbps | 2 Mbps | 30 GB | £30.00 |
| Family 90 | 40 Mbps | 2 Mbps | 90 GB | £48.60 | |
| Business 45 | 40 Mbps | 10 Mbps | 45 GB | £45.60 | |
| Business 90 | 40 Mbps | 10 Mbps | 90 GB | £52.80 |  |
Infinity Option 1 | 38 Mbps | 9.5 Mbps | 40 GB | £20.00 |
| Infinity Option 2 | 76 Mbps | 19 Mbps | Unlimited# | £25.60 | |
| Infinity 100Mb | 100 Mbps | 15 Mbps | Unlimited# | £35.00 | |
 |
FTTC Home 25GB | 40 Mbps | 10 Mbps | 25 GB | £29.99 |
| FTTC Home 100GB | 40 Mbps | 10 Mbps | 100 GB | £37.99 | |
| FTTC 40/2 Business | 40 Mbps | 2 Mbps | Unlimited | £45.59 | |
| FTTC 80/20 Business Premium | 80 Mbps | 20 Mbps | Unlimited | £69.59 | |
 |
Fibre | 40 Mbps | 2 Mbps | 100 GB* | £39.95 |
| Fibre Pro | 40 Mbps | 10 Mbps | 200 GB* | £49.95 | |
 |
FTTC 20GB | 40 Mbps | 2 Mbps | 20 GB | £22.45 |
| FTTC 45GB | 40 Mbps | 10 Mbps | 45 GB | £27.56 | |
| FTTC 100GB | 40 Mbps | 10 Mbps | 100 GB | £51.05 | |
 |
Home Starter Fibre | 40 Mbps | 10 Mbps | 15 GB* | £25.52 |
| Home SuperPro Fibre | 40 Mbps | 10 Mbps | 80 GB* | £47.99 | |
| Business Lite Fibre | 40 Mbps | 10 Mbps | 80 GB | £47.40 | |
| Business Premium Protected Fibre | 40 Mbps | 10 Mbps | Unlimited | £119.40 | |
 |
Value Fibre | 38 Mbps | 2 Mbps | 40 GB* | £16.49 |
| Extra Fibre | 38 Mbps | 2 Mbps | 120 GB* | £21.49 | |
 |
Sky Fibre Unlimited | 40 Mbps | 2 Mbps | Unlimited |
£20.00 |
 |
Essentials + 40 Meg Fibre Boost | 40 Mbps | 2 Mbps | 40 GB | £16.50 |
| Essentials + 80 Meg Fibre Boost | 80 Mbps | 20 Mbps | 40 GB | £21.50 | |
| TalkTalk Plus + 40 Meg Fibre Boost | 40 Mbps | 2 Mbps | Unlimited# | £24.50 | |
| TalkTalk Plus + 80 Meg Fibre Boost | 80 Mbps | 20 Mbps | Unlimited# | £29.50 | |
 |
FTTC 40 | 40 Mbps | 10 Mbps | 40 GB | £34.80 |
| FTTC 100 | 40 Mbps | 10 Mbps | 100 GB | £42.00 | |
| FTTC 200 | 40 Mbps | 10 Mbps | 200 GB | £70.80 | |
| FTTC 500 | 40 Mbps | 10 Mbps | 500 GB | £90.00 | |
 |
XL 30 (cable broadband) | 30 Mbps | 3 Mbps | Unlimited^ | £22.50 |
| XL 60 (cable broadband) | 60 Mbps | 6 Mbps | Unlimited^ | £27.50 | |
| 100meg (cable broadband) | 100 Mbps | 10 Mbps | Unlimited^ | £34.75 | |
 |
FTTC Home 25GB | 40 Mbps | 10 Mbps | 25 GB* | £21.99 |
| FTTC Home 50GB | 40 Mbps | 10 Mbps | 50 GB* | £31.99 | |
| FTTC Home 75GB | 40 Mbps | 10 Mbps | 75 GB* | £41.99 | |
| FTTC Home 100GB | 40 Mbps | 10 Mbps | 100 GB* | £51.99 | |
 |
FTTC Family 30 | 40 Mbps | 2 Mbps | 30 GB* | £25.89 |
| FTTC Family 90 | 40 Mbps | 2 Mbps | 90 GB* | £42.00 | |
| FTTC Office 45 | 40 Mbps | 10 Mbps | 45 GB* | £39.42 | |
| FTTC Office 180 | 40 Mbps | 10 Mbps | 180 GB* | £76.62 | |
 |
BroadbandMax | 40 Mbps | 10 Mbps | Unlimited# | £26.54 |
| OfficeMax | 40 Mbps | 10 Mbps | Unlimited# | £81.59 | |
 |
Fibre Active | 76 Mbps | 19 Mbps | 100 GB | £35.40 |
| Fibre Pro | 76 Mbps | 19 Mbps | 200 GB | £45.60 | |
| Fibre Office | 76 Mbps | 19 Mbps | 400 GB | £66.00 | |
| Fibre Office Plus | 76 Mbps | 19 Mbps | 1000 GB | £78.00 |
* Usage quoted is peak-time data included only. Off-peak data is also included with this package.
# Fair usage policy applies and may be subject to traffic management.
^ Traffic management policy applies.
Virgin media run a cable network which is a coax-fibre hybrid network. It works in a similar way to Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) where fibre is run to a street-side cabinet and from here a connection is made to your house using a coaxial cable. This coaxial cable offers more resilience to interference than a standard phone line so it is possible to run faster services over this. These Virgin FTTC cable products currently offer speeds ranging from up to 30meg to up to 100meg and in the future will offer 120meg.
The architecture of the Virgin Media network is often referred to Fibre to the Node, and is based around DOCSIS 3.0.
FTTC or FTTP is an engineer installed product and will include a VDSL2 capable router to which you can connect your own router or computer. You will need to connect a device that supports PPPoE to use it. This is usually a standard 'broadband router' or 'cable modem' router which has a WAN port. If you currently have an ADSL router with a built in ADSL modem, this will NOT work with the FTTC service and you will need to get a new router. If you are only using one computer on the connection, you should be able to connect the BT provided router directly to your computer and create a PPPoE network connection to get online.
Fibre-to-the-Cabinet broadband uses fibre optic cable from the local telephone exchange to connect to the nearest street side cabinet which serves your property. This is normally within a few hundred metres of your property. BT Openreach will usually install a new cabinet adjacent to or near the existing 'green cabinet' which serves your phone line. The new cabinet will house a VDSL2 capable DSLAM (a mini-version of what currently provides your ADSL broadband service) to which your phone line will be connected. As the cabinet is close to your property and also uses newer VDSL2 technology, the speed of your broadband is usually much higher.
The cabinets are available in a variety of sizes, and installation requires the cabinet to be supplied with mains power, as well as ducting to link it to the old cabinet and of course ducting to carry the fibre back to the telephone exchange. In some areas the fibre from a cabinet does not go back to the existing exchange, but a neighbouring exchange. This does not affect the speeds possible, since fibre can run for many kilometres without the signal being affected.
Fibre to the Premises runs over a fibre optic cable from the telephone exchange, all the way to inside your property. The fibre from the exchange is normally terminated on the outside wall of a home, and a short fibre lead run inside to the fibre modem, which then offers an Ethernet connection to a broadband router.
The fibre itself is relatively fragile, so rather than being pulled through ducts or hung directly over telegraph poles it is blown through tubes that have been installed into the ducting. The installation of this tubing is the most obvious sign of fibre to the premises being deployed.
In areas where ducting is available, the hardware for FTTP is installed in the various chambers, in areas with telegraph poles, weather proof enclosures are used to house the fibre splitters that take the fibres from the exchange and divide them out to go to individual premises.
A big advantage to FTTP is that is not subject to interference, which can affect ADSL and VDSL2, thus fibre connections are generally a lot more reliable. Alas the extra work to get each fibre to the home makes it expensive to deploy to every home.