What’s The Fastest Broadband For Home Internet In Greater London?
Cabledan reviews the fastest broadband plans available in the Home Counties around London!
It’s important to know what’s available in your neighborhood whether you live in a household where multiple people want to stream video and make video calls simultaneously or you work from home and require a quick, dependable internet connection. Cabledan has been installing, troubleshooting, and designing the best structured cabling and home wifi systems for over 25 years. If you are wondering about Broadband Speeds and companies available to your area, read this article or call us and we can set up your wifi network for you. We are Home Wi-fi Experts in the Greater London area.
The availability of gigabit speeds (1000Mbps) differs not only from region to region but also from street to street, which is the biggest issue with broadband in the UK.
Fortunately, things are getting better. The UK is rolling out full fiber, and BT’s Openreach hopes to connect 25 million homes by the end of 2026. This currently offers download speeds of 900Mbps.
Virgin Media, meanwhile, has finished upgrading its cable network, allowing approximately 15.5 million UK homes to now access their Gig1 plan, which provides average download speeds of slightly more than 1.1Gbps. By 2027, the business hopes to extend service to an additional 7 million homes.
The potential of switching to gigabit broadband can be life-changing because many people still use ADSL broadband and struggle with download speeds of only 10Mbps (or less!).
The bad news is that rural areas continue to be underserved and that the fastest speeds tend to be found in towns and cities.
Although amazing, these are not the fastest options in the UK.
Fastest broadband provider in Hertfordshire and The Home Counties
Community Fibre now offers the fastest broadband in the UK, but only in specific areas of London. With monthly fees of £99, it offers download speeds of 3Gbps (3000Mbps).
Even if you can obtain it, it might not be the best deal. This is because current Wi-Fi routers and equipment are far below that speed. Community Fibre’s Zyxel Wi-Fi 6 router can only produce speeds of 400–650 Mbps, hence 3Gbps is currently unnecessary.
Virgin Media Gig1 is the fastest broadband service that most people can afford. The fastest alternative if you can’t obtain that is the 900Mbps full fibre connection, which is offered by BT, TalkTalk, EE, Vodafone, and other providers.
Keep in mind that upload speeds can be much, much slower than these download speeds. For instance, Gig1 has a nominal upload speed of 52Mbps, which is 95% less than the download speed. Upload speeds on 900 Mbps full fibre are roughly 110 Mbps.
For video chats when your video needs to be sent to the other participants, upload speeds are crucial. Similar to the last example, if you have security cameras that record to the cloud, the video needs to be routinely uploaded, therefore don’t always focus on download speeds.
If you make a lot of video calls or upload a lot of video or other large files to the cloud, you may find that several providers offer the same upload and download speeds. As an illustration, Gigaclear provides 300Mbps, 500Mbps, and 900Mbps options. Hyperoptic and Community Fibre likewise offer corresponding upload and download speeds.
If you reside in a rural region, full fibre will almost probably be available, but Virgin’s Gig1 service won’t be. There are a few ways to get faster than what is offered via your copper phone line, including satellite broadband and mobile broadband (4G or 5G from providers like Vodafone, EE, National Broadband, and others) (Starlink, Freedomsat). Once more, you’ll need to utilize the coverage/postcode checkers provided by each supplier to determine whether you may use their services.
Fastest Broadband Packages In Greater London
Here’s what the fastest broadband packages cost, and how fast they are. Data Collected: November 7th, 2022.
1.Community Fibre | Download / Upload Speed: 3Gbps
- Contract length 24 months
- Monthly cost £99 (£109 after contract)
- The upfront cost £0
Incredibly, Community Fibre offers 3GBps for uploads and downloads, which is likely more than you require. Only a few parts of London have access to it.
2. Virgin Media Gig1 | Download / Upload Speed: 1130Mbps / 52Mbps
- Contract length 18 months
- Monthly cost £60 (£62 after contract)
- Upfront cost £0 (usually £35)
This price only applies to broadband. However, if you like, you can add a phone line for an additional £4 per month or upgrade to the Ultimate Volt package for £85 per month, which includes 230+ additional channels as well as Entertainment, Anytime calls, Netflix Standard, and an O2 unlimited SIM (a good deal overall).
You can learn if Virgin is offered in your region. Gig1 normally costs £62 per month plus a £35 setup fee, but as of the time of writing, a deal has waived that fee and somewhat lowered the monthly price.
3.Hyperoptic 1Gb | Download / Upload Speed: 900MBps
- Contract length 24 months
- Monthly cost £35 (£60 after contract)
- The upfront cost £0
The fastest broadband plan offered by Hyperoptic is labeled 1Gb, but it typically runs at 900Mbps. Importantly, and in contrast to BT’s offering, upload speeds are also 900Mbps, making this an excellent value – if you can get it. Visit the Hyperoptic website to find more.
4.( Cabledan’s Top Pick) BT Full Fibre 900 | Download / Upload Speed: 910Mbps / 110Mbps
- Contract length 24 months
- Monthly cost £55.99 (£58.99 after contract)
- Upfront cost £0 (usually £9.99)
The fastest internet service from BT is the same as the fastest internet service from every other provider who uses the Openreach full fiber network. That translates to upload speeds of up to 110Mbps and download speeds of about 900Mbps. Add-on options for the base package include Complete Wi-Fi (for wireless coverage throughout your home) and Hybrid Connect, which, in the event of a malfunction with the fibre broadband, transfers over to EE’s mobile network. To your package, you can additionally add BT TV. Cabledan has been installing wi-fi in clients’ homes and providing broadband services using BT devices for many years. This is the brand we recommend because it is well-known to our company and customers, reliable, and offers the best value to customers.
On BT’s website, you may check the most recent prices and offers in addition to if Full Fibre 900 is offered in your area.
5.Vodafone Gigafast 900 | Download / Upload Speed: 910Mbps / 110Mbps
- Contract length 24 months
- Monthly cost £45 (£48 after contract, plus rise linked to inflation)
- The upfront cost £0
The Gigafast service from Vodafone is not mobile broadband; rather, it uses the same full fibre connection as BT. Because of this, the speeds are the same but the monthly price is less. You can view all Vodafone Gigafast plans, however, this is the entry-level, broadband-only plan.
6.Sky Gigafast 900 | Download / Upload Speed: 900Mbps / 90Mbps
- Contract length 18 months
- Monthly cost £55
- The upfront cost £0
Another operator utilizing the full fibre of Openreach is Sky, but in this case, the contract is just 18 months long. You can get a reliable Wi-Fi signal in every room and assured minimum speeds of 600Mbps with Broadband Boost for an extra £5 per month. The majority of providers offer a minimum speed guarantee without charging an extra fee, however, the £5 is worth having Wi-Fi throughout your home.
Additional top-performing broadband providers in the UK were the providers included after the five already mentioned:
- EE
- Gigaclear
- TalkTalk
- Zen Internet
Lower Cost Wi-Fi And Internet Service Options
All the providers above also offer slower broadband plans which cost less. And it’s worth asking yourself if you need 900Mbps or more. It’s great for downloading large files quickly or streaming 4K video in multiple rooms. But if you just want to stream in HD, make the occasional video call in HD, and aren’t too fussed about waiting a bit longer for files to download and upload, then you don’t necessarily need full fibre.
As mentioned, many UK homes aren’t yet connected to full fibre anyway, which means they’re reliant on their ancient copper phone cables, or the 4G or 5G mobile broadband available in the area.
For most people, download speeds of 30-40Mbps are ok, but it’s still possible to get up to 80Mbps on what’s called fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC). This is different from full fibre because the fibre optic cable doesn’t go right to your property – only to the ‘cabinet’ in your local area. That cabinet connects to your home using copper phone lines, which are what limit the speed, and the actual speed you’ll get is dependent on how far your home is from the cabinet.
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For Home Wi-Fi Installations in Hertfordshire, UK, and surrounding counties, please contact CableDan at 01923 624120 or sales@cabledan.co.uk.
Which Home Broadband Speed Is Right For My Family In Hertfordshire and Greater London?
For a more thorough explanation of the terminology and other considerations besides speed, check our guide on selecting a broadband service.
But first, a quick rundown of the speeds you require.
5-15Mbps: Appropriate for a maximum of two-person households where people browse the internet and check email. Video streaming is often done from a single device, and it never uses 4K.
For a household with up to five people, this speed is adequate for internet video, streaming videos to numerous TVs in various rooms, even in 4K, and continual phone use. The home is filled with smart devices, and a few security cameras are uploading video to the cloud.
Ideal for large homes with five people or more, when adults work from home, frequently make video conversations, and need to upload huge files to the cloud. 200-900Mbps+. These speeds are suitable for a variety of smart devices, particularly security cameras that record to cloud storage.
Contact Cabledan For Help With All Your Home Internet Installation Needs
Cabledan’s team of cabling and internet experts has been helping local customers set up the perfect whole-home internet for their family’s needs and use cases. If you work from home, love gaming, or just want to integrate the best smart home appliances, Cabledan has experts to help guide, install, maintain, and upgrade your home wi-fi.
We also offer a FREE, On-Site Quote, so there is no risk. We are insured and licensed, working in telecommunications for over 25 years.
Cabledan is located in Watford but has Residential and Commercial Cabling And Wireless Internet Experts working throughout the Home Counties, Hertfordshire, and Greater London, every day.
