ISP Hey! Broadband Freezes UK Prices in F&W Networks Areas
Customers of UK ISP Hey! Broadband, which caters for areas covered by F&W Networks new full fibre (FTTP) network, may be pleased to learn that the internet provider has committed to “freeze all prices” and all at a time when others have been increasing theirs by up to 9%.
Lourdes Saez, Hey!Broadband’s COO, said: “We believe fair pricing shouldn’t be a luxury; it should be a standard. Our customers are our priority, guiding every decision we make. In a landscape marked by escalating costs, we remain steadfast in our commitment to keeping broadband services accessible and affordable for all.”
Customers of the service typically pay from £23 per month for a 150Mbps (symmetric) package, which rises to £33 for 400Mbps and then £25 (discounted from £43) for 900Mbps on a 24-month term. Each package includes a router and free installation.
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The underlying network from F&WN has so far managed to extend their gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband infrastructure to cover 410,000 UK premises (RFS), including in various towns across West Sussex, Oxfordshire, Greater London, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Surrey etc.
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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F&W seem to have a rather scattershot approach. They’ve built the streets either side of us and missed our street out. A lot of places they’ve built in Banbury is overbuilt with Swish & Openreach, VMO2 are building too but they seem to be missing the places F&W have been (read into that what you will).
They are overbuilding F&W in other places like Godalming and Horsham so not sure they will be interested in buying them
By its public accounts it appears to be making a lose
I’ve been a user of Hey and F&W for over 2 years now, and overall, I’ve had a positive experience with their service and pricing.
However, there are a couple of areas where I believe there’s room for improvement:
– Despite advertising a 900Mb speed, my experience over the past two years suggests it’s closer to 600Mbit. I’ve conducted multiple tests, including downloading files via FTP from various reliable sources. While I used to consistently achieve speeds of 92-100Mb/sec, it has now decreased to around 50Mb/sec.
– I’ve noticed that the support over the weekend is lacking or sometimes non-existent.
When considering the company as a whole, it seems to me that their business model may have been designed for eventual sale rather than long-term sustainability. This observation may also apply to many other Altnet providers, given the current landscape characterized by overbuild and saturation in the market.