Broadband ISP Lit Fibre Adds Jargon Buster Tool to UK Website

Network builder and UK ISP Lit Fibre, which is deploying a new 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across parts of England, has today added a new ‘Internet Jargon Buster’ tool to their website. The feature is meant to assist consumers to better understand the often-confusing world of broadband-related terms.

The tool itself (here) is a simple glossary page of common broadband terms and basic descriptions (we have something similar, but it hasn’t been updated in a long time), although at the time of writing the result you get when clicking “Full-Fibre” is just “full-fibre broadband” and the result for FTTP seems to get comically confused with FTTC. But they’ll no doubt correct these after reading this.

The launch is said to be a direct response to a widening digital divide among internet users who are confused by the jargon often used by broadband providers in contracts and marketing collateral. Lit Fibre’s own research claims to have found that a quarter of Brits find the term full-fibre baffling, although only 10% admitted they have no idea what it means.

Furthermore, Ofcom research has found that more than a quarter (27%) of broadband customers lacked confidence in understanding the language and terminology used by providers. And, when choosing a broadband service, more than half (53%) would find it useful to have a short description of the underlying technology used to deliver their services.

The provider, which started their deployment in 2021 and aims to reach 500,000 homes by 2026, is currently rolling out their network to cover numerous towns across several of England’s counties (e.g. Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Hertfordshire, Worcestershire, Essex, Suffolk and across the Midlands). So far the operator has already covered 140,000 premises (Ready for Service), which is up from 100,000 in April 2023.