Broadband Guide

Superfast broadband

Updated: Wednesday 04 April, 2012

By Editorial - news@consumerchoices.co.uk

Fibre optic connections are now firmly established in the broadband family bringing you superfast speeds of up to 38Mb, 60Mb and 100Mb.

Virgin Media (www.Virginmedia.com) and BT (www.BT.com) currently lay claim to the fastest commercially available broadband connections in the UK, with headline speeds of up to 100Mb broadband.

Virgin Media's superfast packages are only available to customers living in its cable areas, which cover around 51% of homes.

BT Infinity will be available to two-thirds of the UK by 2014.

What is superfast broadband?

Superfast broadband is essentially the internet at much faster speeds than you've ever experienced before. Using fibre optic cables instead of older copper wires, suppliers are able to transfer more data at faster speeds.

Unlike broadband delivered via the copper wire telephone network, cable and fibre broadband does not suffer from the same degree of speed decline with increasing distance from the telephone exchange. This means fast speeds can be preserved so the actual connection speed you receive in your home will be much closer to the top advertised speed than you are likely to achieve from a traditional broadband connection.

What can you do with superfast broadband?

Superfast broadband opens up a whole new world on the internet, with high-definition and even 3D movie downloads, online gaming and a sharing experience that isn’t hampered by slow bandwidth.

Running at full speed, customers on Virgin Media’s new 100Mb broadband package will be able to download an entire music album in just five seconds; a TV show in around 30 seconds, a high quality movie in as little as 1½ minutes and a high-definition movie in as little as seven minutes, says the provider.

But it is families and anyone sharing their internet connection that will benefit most from superfast broadband. You'll be able to stream high-definition content from the BBC iPlayer, while the kids watch an online movie and someone else uploads videos to Facebook - all without any losing speed or quality.

What is the future for superfast broadband?

BT has pledged £2.5billion to help bring its superfast broadband network to two-thirds of the country. And with more and more providers such as Plusnet broadband (www.Plus.net) joining the fibre revolution, prices are coming down.

All 12.7 million homes in Virgin Media's cable network can already sign up to the provider's 50Mb package, and despite Virgin Media having barely completed the roll-out of its 100Mb connection, it is already in the process of upgrading its network to deliver speeds of up to 60Mb and up to 120Mb by 2013.

BT Infinity - BT's fibre broadband - will be available to 40% of the UK by the end of 2012, and to two-thirds of homes and businesses by 2014.

The government has also pledged £530million to help bring superfast broadband to those parts of the country that aren’t covered by Virgin Media’s cable network - and are unlikely to be part of BT’s roll-out because there simply aren’t enough people connected to the local telephone exchange.

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