ISP CommunityFibre Boost UK Social Broadband Tariff to 35Mbps UPDATE
London-focused network builder and broadband ISP CommunityFibre, which is deploying a 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across the city (currently covering 1.2m premises), has boosted the speed of their cheap £12.50 per month social tariff for a second time – from 20Mbps to 35Mbps (symmetric).
The Essential 35 Mbps package, which originally started life as a 10Mbps service, remains unique in that it doesn’t ask customers to provide proof of income support before purchase (i.e. technically this means anybody can adopt it and thus the package isn’t a true social tariff). The boost to 35Mbps is thus very welcome, particularly given that they’ve opted to retain the incredibly low price point of £12.50 per month.
Customers who choose to take this service should note that it attracts a one-off setup fee of £14.95 (up from £9.95 before) and bundles a Linksys Velop Wi-Fi 5 Mesh router. The package also comes attached to a 12-month contract term and its price will increase by +£2 extra per month at the end of that period, although even £14.50 per month is still ridiculously cheap.
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Graeme Oxby, CEO of Community Fibre, said:
“Getting online is a necessity to lead a normal life in the modern world. If people are priced out of broadband, they won’t be able to carry out essential everyday tasks including applying for jobs, paying bills, or booking medical appointments.
Our Essential tariff is the most accessible social tariff in the country available to anyone, not just those who can prove eligibility. By increasing the speed to 35 Mbps, we ensure more people from the most vulnerable households can benefit from.”
The announcement doesn’t mention existing customers, but if this is anything like the last upgrade then we’d expect all of them to be automatically upgraded to the new 35Mbps speed.
UPDATE 14th Sept 2023
CF informs us that customers can, at the end of their 12-month term, re-contract at the same £12.50 price to avoid the £2 hike.
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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yeh i am paying NOWtv £25.50/month for 33mbps, this is somewhat annoying!
I sent you an email and highlighted this on Twitter/X
Yes, when the PR dropped today I did think somebody had mentioned it before, but I couldn’t recall where or when. I’m dealing with a really heavy work load at the moment, so it’s hard to keep track of everything.
I thought (from the CEO interview recently) that Community Fibre were NOT doing 10gb internet. Where exactly are they offering 10gb in London
The network itself is 10Gbps “capable” (XGS-PON), just like many ISPs, but for now they aren’t doing 8-10Gbps for domestic customers.
Most altnets do 10G if you order as a business, expect to pay 4x more than 1G domestic though, probably also an extra install cost as well.
To consumers they are offering 3Gbit/s, while they do offer 10Gbit/s to businesses.
I would guess that this is because 10Gbit/s links are likely used as the backhaul links from the telegraph polls and any centrally lit blocks of flats.
Sorry!!! Do I miss something here? why does a social tarrif need to be 35 meg, when many of them are meant to be looking for **JOBS** that is perfectly suited to half that speed, not spending half of their time on the likes of tiktok. The rest of us subsadise these reduced rates by paying more