New AltNet UK ISP UrFibre Deploying FTTP Broadband in Dudley

A new alternative network operator and ISP called UrFibre (UrSolutions) has been spotted deploying a new 2Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network, which is currently only targetting homes and businesses in the West Midland’s (England) market town of Dudley.

The current market is already oversaturated with AltNets building fibre and many are starting to struggle under the strain of rising costs, competition and the challenges of generating enough take-up to satisfy their investors. Suffice to say, it takes a very brave operator to enter such a market, but that appears to be precisely what UrFibre are doing (credits to one of our readers, Connor, for spotting them).

The operator’s parent company – UrSolutions – was first incorporated back in August 2021, while its main Director and Secretary is Alan Dobinson. After a few queries to UrFibre’s support team, we were able to establish that the operator is currently only building across parts of the Dudley area – specifically DY1 and DY2. At present it’s hard to check their coverage as there’s no easy availability checker, only a sign-up form.

The focus on Dudley does, however, make a degree of sense because, at present, the only gigabit-capable broadband rival with any significant coverage is Virgin Media. But Openreach are planning to deploy their own FTTP network in the same area and another player, brsk, is already actively starting to build into Dudley. Suffice to say that it’s going to be a tough area for UrFibre to crack, but they do at least have aggressive pricing on their side.

Residential customers of the service can expect to pay from just £26.95 per month for speeds of 500Mbps and that goes up to just £39.95 for 2Gbps. The speeds appear to be symmetric, although there’s a little * asterisk next to those speeds on their website, which doesn’t appear to be defined anywhere on the same page (we hate it when ISPs do that – please define your asterisks).

The provider also promotes their packages as being “FIXED PRICE FOREVER“, although it may be safer to take that as meaning they’ll offer fixed-price plans forever, rather than that the price of the plans won’t rise in the future (outside of contract). Given the realities of inflation, we highly doubt the same packages will still exist or cost exactly the same amount until the end of time. Many ISPs have tried to offer lifetime style price promises and, needless to say, no such pledges have survived more than a few years.