Rural UK ISP Gigaclear Adds 100Mbps Package and Hikes Prices UPDATE
At a time when most broadband ISPs are discounting their prices for Black Friday it’s been spotted that one rural full fibre (FTTP) provider, Gigaclear, has done exactly the opposite. As well as introducing a new 100Mbps (symmetrical speed) tier and Mesh WiFi system, they’ve also hiked the monthly prices of their old plans by an extra £4.
One other key difference is that their top two packages – 300Mbps and 900Mbps – now also bundle their Linksys broadband router with “Smart WiFi” (i.e. a mesh Wi-Fi system). Oddly this mesh system appears to be mandatory on their top two plans, although you can optionally add it to their slower packages at extra cost.
The provider is also promising no mid-contract price hikes to those who sign-up to their new packages. Otherwise their plans all include unlimited usage, an 18 month contract term, Linksys router, £30 one-off activation fee and free installation.
Superfast 30 Mbps – £39 per month
Ultrafast 100 Mbps – £44 per month
Ultrafast 300 Mbps with Smart WiFi – £49 per month
Hyperfast 900 Mbps with Smart WiFi – £79 per month
Credits to Stéphane for spotting.
UPDATE 2:38pm:
We’ve had a response from Gigaclear.
A Spokesperson for Gigaclear said:
“Following feedback from customers we understand that WiFi coverage in rural homes can be an issue. We have created the new 300Mbps and 900 Mbps packages with Smart WiFi, our MESH service included. Two Linksys Velop routers retail at over £200 so, the slight increase in monthly payments still represents great value for our customers.
Our new 100mbps symmetrical service was created to fill the gap between 30Mbps and 300Mbps, for customers who want Ultrafast speeds but do not yet have a need for Smart WiFi or even faster speeds.
Existing Gigaclear customers pricing will not be affected by this change. However, we will be giving them the option to move to one of the new packages or add Smart WiFi to their existing package. We will be in touch with customers directly over the coming weeks.”
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook and Linkedin.
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It’s alright it will all be free soon
“The provider is also promising no mid-contract price hikes”
I’m surprised they were a thing to begin with..
At least they haven’t increased the prices of their overpriced business packages. Although price is somewhat academic, as so few people are able to order a connection – there are still no build dates available for the Fastershire areas that were originally due to be complete a year ago. The current target seems to be 2022 (but I suspect that is when the BDUK money runs out rather than a reliable end date for their build). So far in over 2.5 years in my Fastershire area they have managed to cover a little over 10% of the targetted properties (according to the very sparse information available from Fastershire and Gigaclear).
I am still further away from having superfast broadband than I was 6 years ago.
I wonder if the new price will effect me, I ordered and got my order confirmation way back in November 2018, still to be connected but there is progress now, ( after contacting the CEO), but my current ADSL contract has 6 months to run.
Gees – £44 for 100/100!? I wish!
Next time people want to moan about the slight increase in any of these costs – remember this. Some of us are not lucky enough to even be within spitting distance of FTTC or even ADSL and so have to use Mobile – If I wanted 100/100 it would cost me £370 a month – as for 1000/1000 well that’s hitting nearly £600 a month.
So if anyone wants to swap houses with me – just say!
In fact forget Spitting Distance – A country mile is still not close enough!
Swapping with me wouldn’t help – I’m in exactly the same situation, despite being in one of Gigaclear’s contracted areas which was supposed to be completed last year – and there is still no date for the start of the build. The only difference is that in my area the leased lines are even more expensive.
Your leased lines seem cheap. I can get wholesale pricing and for me 100Mbps leased line is £440+VAT.
Fair enough Tim, The only company I could find was one called Giganet – and they said there are no construction charges or something like that. They said it was £370 including the VAT. We are in West Yorkshire if that helps.
@Holly
Giganet are saying £338.38+VAT/m! That’s the best quote I’ve had for 100/100Mbps leased line in a rural location.
Not sure about the statement “we understand that WiFi coverage in rural homes can be an issue” – my WiFi coverage is great (I use Ubiquiti kit), and better than Gigaclear will be providing. What is a real issue is the lack of any usable broadband connection, as Gigaclear have failed to meet the build start dates numerous times and currently don’t have any published dates for providing broadband in Fastershire areas.
Gigaclear seem to have a real issue delivering their network in all but a few of their proposed areas. I had an order with them for install activation Nov 2018 in RG2 (ARBORFIELD). Now their proposed network completion is Q4 2020? For my area almost 3 years late! I saw them laying orange pipe into my area along with small green street boxes and a large connection node about 500 metres from my house in 2018 then the workforce just disappeared?
Gigaclear and Fastershire are a real problem, delay after delay. Would love to have the speed I have told I will get some 3 years ago in the Fastershire areas. They are very very poor in delivering what they promise we have now been told that we should get Gigaclear by 2020. Longhope have an overbuild with OR and now Gigaclear, Churcham, and Huntley but nothing in between so some areas are encircled but nothing being provided. I wish they would stop fabricating the truth and get it sorted, they really are very poor.
Same issue here in Bristol / Abbots Leigh..
Avonline Networks (on behalf of Gigaclear) have installed the fibre over 1 year ago in front of my house.
Have been trying to become a customer since then, delay after delay after delay, last week they told me good news, we can now connect you. I was over the moon and ordered their 900Meg package straight away. Install would take 2 weeks.
1 week after the order I receive an email to say the POT is not connectable because the fibre is broken?? So they need to ask their supplier to cost the repair, then Gigaclear needs to agree on the price and the repair to go ahead and only then this could go live.. They can’t give me any timing.. This company is just a disaster..
I hope you are now connected. I know they have connected to the green cabinet about 200m away from me in Swallowfield, and installation is now scheduled for 27th February so fingers crossed. We also have had the cables in the road and the pot in our verge for nearly two years, but in fairness to Gigaclear, they did have a major problem with Network Rail who wouldn’t let them use one of their bridges for a core connection in their network. In any event, good luck!
Should say 2022 not 2020…I wish it were 2020! Maybe the Fastershire fairy changed it!
Interesting comment from Gigaclear, it only explains the price increase for the 300 and 900 services. What about the hike on superfast ?
I’m spoilt as I can get Superfast speeds on 4G or by fibre from Gigaclear. Far cheaper on an all you can eat data bundle on 4G ! Fibre would be more reliable but at twice the price ?