What is the fastest broadband in the UK?

Whether you work from home and need a fast, reliable internet connection, or you live in a home where multiple people want to stream video and make video calls at the same time, it’s worth knowing what’s available in your area.

This is the main problem with broadband in the UK – the availability of gigabit speeds (1000 Mbps) varies not only from region to region, but also from street to street.

Fortunately, the situation is improving. Full fiber is being rolled out across the UK, with BT Openreach aiming to connect 25 million homes to the network by the end of 2026. At the moment, this provides a download speed of 900 Mbps.

Meanwhile, Virgin Media has completed an upgrade to its cable network, meaning that around 15.5 million UK homes can now get a Gig1 plan with an average download speed of just over 1.1 Gbps. By 2027, the company is working to expand the service to another 7 million homes.

With many people still using ADSL broadband and struggling with download speeds of around 10Mbps (or less!), the possibility of switching to gigabit broadband could be life-changing.

The bad news is that the highest speeds tend to be available in cities, and rural areas are still underserved.

But as impressive as they are, they are not the fastest. available in UK.

The fastest broadband provider in the UK

Currently the fastest broadband in the UK is provided by Community Fiber and only in parts of London. It has a download speed of 3 Gbps (3000 Mbps) and costs a hefty £99 per month.

Even if you Can get it, it might not be the best value. This is because modern routers and Wi-Fi devices lag far behind this speed. Indeed, a Zyxel Wi-Fi 6 router that provides Community Fiber can only deliver 400-650 Mbps, so 3 Gbps is overkill – for now.

For most people, the fastest broadband worth paying for is Virgin Media. Gig1. If you can’t get that, then 900 Mbps full fiber service is the next fastest option and is available from BT, TalkTalk, EE, Vodafone and more.

Remember that these are download speeds and download speeds can be much slower. For example, Gig1 has a nominal download speed of 52 Mbps, which is about 95% slower than the download speed. With a full 900Mbps fiber, the download speed is about 110Mbps.

Download speed is important for video calls when your video needs to be sent to other participants in the call. Similarly, if you have security cameras that record to the cloud, this video needs to be uploaded regularly, so never look only at upload speed.

Some providers offer the same download and upload speeds, which may make them a better choice if you make a lot of video calls or upload a lot of videos or other large files to the cloud. One example is Gigaclear, which offers 300Mbps, 500Mbps, and 900Mbps plans, but Hyperoptic and Community Fiber also have the same download and upload speeds.

If you live in a rural area you will almost certainly find full fiber and Virgin Gig1 service is not available to you. There are several options to get faster than what’s available over a copper phone line, including mobile broadband (4G or 5G from Vodafone, EE, National Broadband and others) and satellite broadband (Starlink, Freedomsat). Again, you will need to use each provider’s coverage/zip code check to see if you can get their services.

The fastest broadband packages in the UK

Here’s how much the fastest broadband packages cost and how fast they are.

1. Community fiber | Download/Upload Speed: 3Gbps

Community Fiber offers an incredible 3 GB/s speed for both upload and download, which is probably a lot more than you need. It is only available in certain parts of London.

2. Virgin MediaGig1 | Download/Upload speed: 1130Mbps/ 52 Mbps

This price is for broadband only. But if you want you can get a phone line for an extra £4 a month or go for The Ultimate Volt package that adds over 230 channels with entertainment, call anytime, unlimited Netflix Standard + O2 SIM for £85 a month (a good deal overall).

You can find out if Virgin is available in your area. Gig1 normally costs £62 per month with an additional £35 setup fee, but at the time of writing, that fee has been waived and the monthly price has been slightly reduced.

3. Hyper optical 1Gb | Dnative download/download speed: 900 MB/s

Hyperoptic’s fastest broadband plan is called 1Gb, but it runs at 900Mbps on average. It’s important to note that, unlike BT’s offering, the download speed is also 900Mbps, which makes it a very good value indeed – if you can get it. Check the Hyperoptic website to find out.

four. BT Full fiber 900 | Download/Upload speed: 910 Mbps / 110 Mbps

BT’s fastest broadband is the same as all other providers that use Openreach’s all-fiber network. This means download speeds of around 900 Mbps and uploads up to 110 Mbps. You can add additional features to the basic package, such as Complete Wi-Fi (for a wireless signal throughout your home) and Hybrid Connect, which switches to EE’s mobile network if there’s ever a problem with fiber optic broadband. You can also add BT TV to your package.

Find the latest prices and offers on BT websitewhere you can also check if Full Fiber 900 is available to you.

5. Vodafone Gigafast 900 | Download/Upload speed: 910 Mbps / 110 Mbps

Vodafone’s Gigafast isn’t mobile broadband: it’s the same fiber connection that BT uses. Therefore, the speeds are the same, and the monthly cost is cheaper. This is a basic plan for broadband only, but you can see all Vodafone Gigafast plans.

6. Sky Gigafast 900 | Download/Upload speed: 900Mbps / 90 Mbps

Sky is another provider using full Openreach fiber, but the difference here is that the contract is shorter by 18 months. For an additional £5 per month, Broadband Boost gives you a strong Wi-Fi signal in every room and a guaranteed minimum speed of 600Mbps. Most providers offer a minimum speed guarantee at no extra cost, but it’s worth £5 to have Wi-Fi throughout your house.

In addition to the five listed above, the following providers were the other top performing broadband providers in the UK:

What broadband speed is right for me?

All of the above providers also offer slower broadband plans that cost less. And it’s worth asking yourself if you need a speed of 900 Mbps or more. It’s great for quickly downloading large files or streaming 4K video across multiple rooms. But if you just want to stream in HD, make HD video calls from time to time, and don’t worry too much about waiting a bit for files to upload and download, you don’t necessarily need full fiber.

As mentioned, many homes in the UK are not yet connected to full fiber optic cable anyway, meaning they depend on their ancient copper telephone cables or the 4G or 5G mobile broadband available in the area.

For most people, a download speed of 30-40 Mbps is quite acceptable, but you can still get speeds up to 80 Mbps on the so-called fiber optic network (FTTC). This is different from full fiber because the fiber does not go straight to your property, but only to a “closet” in your area. This cabinet connects to your home with copper phone lines that limit the speed, and the actual speed you get depends on how far your home is from the cabinet.

you can read our broadband service selection guide for a more detailed explanation of the jargon, as well as other things to watch out for besides speed.

Here is, however, a brief overview of the speeds you really need.

5-15 Mbps: Suitable for a family of up to two people, where residents surf the Internet and check email. Video streaming is usually from one device and never in 4K.

40-80 Mbps: This speed is enough for a family of five who constantly use their phones, stream videos to multiple TVs in different rooms, even in 4K, and play online games. Smart devices are scattered throughout the home and several security cameras are being uploaded to the cloud.

200-900 Mbps+: Ideal for large families of five or more, where adults work from home and frequently participate in video calls and need to upload large files to the cloud. These speeds are suitable for many smart devices, especially security cameras that record to cloud storage.

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