Plusnet fibre optic broadband

Plusnet's superfast fibre broadband

Plusnet (www.plus.net) offers four fibre optic broadband packages: Essentials Fibre Broadband with either inclusive weekend and evening calls, or anytime calls, and Unlimited Fibre Broadband - again, with an evening and weekend call plan or anytime calls.

Plusnet's fibre packages deliver speeds of up to 38Mb and up to 76Mb.The offer difference between Essentials Fibre Broadband and Unlimited Fibre Broadband is the monthly usage limits. On the Essentials Fibre packages, you get 40GB downloads a month. As you may expect, the Unlimited Fibre offerings have no usage limit.

What is fibre optic broadband?

Fibre optic broadband is so named because data is sent clusters of fibre optic, as opposed to traditional copper telephone wires. Larger quantities of data can travel at much faster speeds through these fibre cables than copper wires, and with less interference and degradation too. As a result, users get a much faster service - some fibre broadband providers have achieved speed of more than 1Gb.

Plusnet's superfast broadband packages use the BT broadband (www.BT.com) fibre optic broadband network. They use fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) technology, which means that fibre optic cables are run to your green street cabinet, and traditional copper telephone wires connect to your home from there.

This method allows for superfast speeds, but the distance to your street cabinet, and the quality of the wiring connecting your home with the cabinet, will still affect your broadband speed.

Benefits of fibre

As it is designed for purpose, fibre brings a range of benefits over its traditional phone line predecessor:

• Unlike broadband delivered via phone lines, a fibre connection will not result in buffering so users of BBC iPlayer, YouTube and other video services can say goodbye to irritating streaming interruptions
• Multiple users can be online at the same time with no reduction in speed - perfect for families or student households
• With fast AND consistent connections, film buffs will be able to download a high-definition (HD) film in just minutes, and gamers will no longer be able to blame losing a life on "connection lag".

Planned fibre network expansion

Plusnet is keen to deliver fibre products to its customers and on top of its FTTC products it is trialling fibre to the premises (FTTP) technology. This means fibre optic cables are run into the property as well, so very little speed is lost. By cutting out copper wire completely, providers can deliver blisteringly fast download and upload speeds.

Traditional phone line vs fibre optic broadband

Copper wire is subject to a range of negative effects which cause a dramatic slowing of connection speeds, including distance from exchange and quality of the line.

Glass fibre optic cables are considered to be "future-proof" as they are purpose made to deliver immense amounts of information at lightning fast speeds.

Although there are still some negative factors which can affect your speed, these are all relatively minor. As a result, broadband providers are able to deliver actual speeds much closer to the "up to" speeds they advertise.

Coverage is less extensive than traditional broadband, but as the government and providers focus their broadband investment in fibre, the gap is gradually closing.

You can find out what current Plusnet customers think of the provider on our Plusnet customer reviews page. To see if its fibre optic broadband packages are available in your area, use our broadband postcode checker.