Broadband Guide

TalkTalk broadband coverage and availability

Tuesday 03 April, 2012

By Helen Thomas

TalkTalk’s (www.talktalk.co.uk) own broadband network covers over 86% of the UK’s households, and in the next two years it plans to further increase its tally of unbundled exchanges, upping its coverage to 93%.

TalkTalk unbundled network coverage

TalkTalk is the UK’s largest “unbundler”. This means that TalkTalk has installed its own equipment in over 2,000 of the UK’s local telephone exchanges rather than relying on rented BT lines. Households in areas where internet providers have their own equipment in local telephone exchanges can benefit from some of the best broadband internet deals.

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And because TalkTalk has more local loop unbundled (LLU) exchanges than any other broadband provider, it has coverage in some areas that other providers are yet to reach.

To find out if your house falls within TalkTalk’s own broadband network visit our postcode checker.

TalkTalk broadband speed

Both of TalkTalk’s packages offer speeds of up to 14Mb. However as with most broadband providers, actual speeds vary due to a range of factors outside of your control - most significantly the distance from your local exchange and the quality of the line. Ofcom’s November 2011 speed test report found that TalkTalk was delivering an average speed of 7.2-8.8Mb.

The provider is also now offering a Fibre Boost for an extra £10 a month. These packages use BT’s new fibre optic broadband network, offering speeds of up to 38Mb.

Fibre coverage is not as extensive as TalkTalk’s own unbundled service at the moment, though BT plans to bring superfast broadband to two-thirds of the UK by 2014.

Cost

TalkTalk was the first provider to offer “free broadband” and with it, changed the face of the broadband market. Although it no longer offers free broadband, TalkTalk is still one of the cheapest providers, attracting around 4.2 million broadband customers with its low-cost packages.

Charles Dunstone, TalkTalk chairman says: “At the heart of TalkTalk is our commitment to be the UK’s best value for money provider of broadband, voice and television services.”

However as with many internet providers, the best deals are only available to consumers living in areas covered by TalkTalk’s own broadband network.

Customers outside the TalkTalk network

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If you are in the 14% of households outside TalkTalk’s own network, you can still access TalkTalk broadband and home phone packages, however this is more expensive. You will have to pay an additional monthly fee which is almost three times the cost for LLU customers - so make sure you compare providers, packages and prices before choosing a new service.

Because TalkTalk’s LLU packages are so cheap though, it is worth rechecking to see if your area will be unbundled as TalkTalk’s rollout continues.

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