New Build UK Homes ISP FibreNest Connects 25,000 Customers
Broadband ISP FibreNest, which is the full fibre (FTTP) network provider for UK new build housing sites that have been developed by Persimmon Homes, are celebrating today after connecting 25,000 customers (up from 23,000 at the start of 2022) to their growing full fibre network.
The network, which was started 4-years ago and is today available at more than 310 UK locations (new build developments), revealed that a couple – Jonathan Hunter and Ashleigh Fulton – who purchased one of their 4-bedroom homes on Persimmon’s Fairfields development in Monkton had become the 25,000th connection. The couple received a £250 Amazon voucher and a selection of other prizes to mark the milestone.
FibreNest was originally created to address customer complaints that established broadband suppliers were frequently failing to install ultrafast internet connections ready to use as soon as they moved in, although they have faced some gripes over their dominant position at such sites. But they’ve already attempted to resolve that issue by opening their network up to wholesale (here).
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The operator is also working to expand their network to cover “existing underserved properties” (whether Persimmon-built or not), although they’ve yet to reveal any solid details about the rollout plan for that.
Liam Ronan, FibreNest’s Managing Director, said:
“We are thrilled to have extended our market-leading service to over 25,000 customers and it’s fantastic to hear that Mr Hunter and his partner are benefitting from an exceptional broadband experience. We are proud to be delivering a truly unique service within the house building sector.
At a time when others are raising their prices by as much as 10 per cent, we’re pleased to be able to provide customers with what is in effect a real terms price cut. Our price guarantee means that our customers will never pay more for the same speed package than they would with the UK’s largest broadband provider.”
New customers can expect to pay from just £14 per month – plus a £20 one-off setup fee – for their basic entry-level unlimited 10Mbps (1Mbps upload) package on a 12-month term, which rises up to just £45 for their top 500Mbps (50Mbps upload) tier with free setup. You can also take a 30-day term, but it adds £5 to the monthly charge. The provider has yet to launch a gigabit tier.
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, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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25,000 homes where the Fibrenest service is often the only choice as the developer that owns it, eg Persimmon, doesn’t allow any other operator is hardly an achievement.
That’s 25,000 households with no other choice for Internet.
To be fair, they have opened it up to wholesale after pressure, but it’s unclear how attractive that product is to other ISPs or which providers are adopting it.
45 quid for 50 upload is not “just”
Although it is still better than what I’m paying for openreach fibre …
I don’t like this idea of house builders or housing associations for that matter being in cahoots with a broadband provider.
Yup, it’s terrible. Persimmon set-up their own ISP and forced their customers to use it. Anyone who purchases a Persimmon home is locked into FibreNest. There’s no consumer choice. No choice to opt for OpenReach or anything like that. Totally farcical that the next generation of homes are being provided with infrastructure like this in my opinion..
I live on a persimmon estate and we have both Openreach FTTP and Virgin connected, I believe fibre-nest is only on estates where they struggle to get Openreach/Virgin to connect the area.
Not an achievement. Most of their customers would leave if they had the choice. Including me.