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Latest Tips and Guides

IPv6 and CGNAT Support Survey of UK AltNet FTTP Broadband ISPs UPDATE

8th Apr, 2024 (72 Comments)

The new generation of alternative gigabit-capable broadband ISP networks (AltNets) has helped to bring a huge amount of additional competition into the wider UK market. But one area where some of them fall down is in their use of technologies like CGNAT (IP address sharing) and the lack of IPv6 support.

2023-Openreach-FTTP-Engineer-in-Rural-Street

1Gbps ISP Options on Openreach’s UK FTTP Broadband Network – 2024

4th Apr, 2024 (15 Comments)

After skipping this study last year due to workload, we’ve today published an updated summary of the key UK consumer ISP choices for 1Gbps speed packages on Openreach’s Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband network – currently available to over 13 million homes and businesses.

CityFibre Banner and Fibre Optic Cable Reel

List of UK Places Live with CityFibre’s FTTP Broadband ISPs – 2024 Edition

3rd Apr, 2024 (48 Comments)

Sometimes it can be difficult to keep track of where CityFibre’s contractors are building their new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network, as well as which of those builds have started to go live (i.e. allowing you to order services from an ISP) or even been completed. The following list may help to answer that.

The 2024 Electricity Costs of Big UK ISP Home Broadband Routers UPDATE

30th Mar, 2024 (44 Comments)

Some years ago we examined the electricity costs of running a modern Home Broadband connection (here), which largely reflected the price of keeping your wireless internet router (or modem) switched-on around the clock. Given the issue of energy costs, we thought it might be worth seeing how this has changed.

Top Full Fibre Providers by Share of UK New Build Homes – 2024

29th Mar, 2024 (13 Comments)

We are today publishing our 2024 summary of the top full fibre (FTTP) broadband ISP network operators with the greatest share of the UK new build homes market, which is naturally a table that ends up being topped by the market’s largest network access provider – Openreach (BT). But they’re not the only player.

Comparing Prices for 1Gbps UK Home Broadband – 2022 vs 2023

28th May, 2023 (52 Comments)

We’ve today returned to conduct our brief annual study of how much UK broadband ISPs are charging consumers for their top gigabit broadband (1Gbps+) tiers. The good news is that prices – driven by aggressive competition – broadly continue to fall, albeit not by as much as we saw between 2021 and 2022.

Cityfibre Engineers at Work in Street 2023

Summary of ISP Choices on CityFibre’s UK FTTP Broadband Network

14th Apr, 2023 (57 Comments)

CityFibre has spent the past few years building their gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network to 2.6 million premises (2.3m Ready for Service) and slowly solidifying their position as the UK’s third-largest infrastructure player after Openreach (BT) and Virgin Media. Suffice to say, it’s time for a summary of ISP choices on their network.

Home Phone and UK Broadband VoIP Services

Summary of Dedicated Home VoIP Providers for UK Consumers

30th Dec, 2022 (70 Comments)

A growing number of UK consumers are planning to move their home phone service away from their fixed line broadband provider and on to a dedicated Voice-over-IP (VoIP) provider, which may save money and give you one less thing to worry about when switching ISP. We take a quick look at the options and challenges involved.

A Quick Guide to UK Social Tariffs – Getting Broadband for £15 – UPDATED Apr 2024

29th Aug, 2022 (0 Comments)

The cost-of-living crisis is having a horrific impact on the UK and forcing many households into poverty, including those that would have previously been considered secure. But the good news is that a growing number of home broadband ISPs and mobile operators have launched a range of cheaper “social tariffs“.

Cheapest UK 4G and 5G Unlimited Mobile Data Plans Compared – 2022

18th Apr, 2022 (35 Comments)

Over the past few years’ we’ve seen a dramatic rise in the number of UK mobile operators offering unlimited data plans, most of which have sprung up alongside the advent of the latest 5G based mobile broadband technologies. Today we take a quick look to see what you can get across the market.

Solutions for Battery Backup of Fibre Broadband and VoIP Phone

29th Dec, 2021 (52 Comments)

The rapid UK rise in “full fibre” (FTTP) broadband ISP networks and related VoIP style connectivity for home phones has one irritating drawback over older analogue copper phone services – if your house suffers a power cut then your services will all go down. But there are some simple solutions.

Benchmarking Broadband ISP Speed Testers On a 10Gbps Line

29th Aug, 2021 (29 Comments)

At one point or another, most UK people will have probably attempted to run a web-based speed test on their broadband connection, but have you ever wondered how well some of the most popular speed testing services do when confronted by a fully capable 10Gbps (Gigabits per second) service? For a bit of fun, we tried to find out.

The Top 3 Do’s and Don’ts When Broadband ISP Engineers Visit

28th Aug, 2021 (39 Comments)

Over the years we’ve reported a lot on UK consumer experiences with broadband engineers, both good and bad alike. So just for fun we thought it might be interesting to ask a bunch of engineers from different operators what were the top 3 things they really appreciated, and 3 they don’t, when visiting customers.

USB vs WiFi – Tethering 4G Broadband to a Laptop via Android Phones

6th Apr, 2021 (18 Comments)

A lot of UK people have tried tethering their Smartphone’s mobile broadband (4G, 5G) connection to a laptop by using the ‘Wi-Fi Hotspot‘ feature, but not everybody is aware that you can do the same thing by using a wired USB-C cable. As a bit of fun we decided to find out if tethering via a wired link is any better than a wireless one.

How Much Does 1Gbps UK Home Broadband Cost – ISPs Compared

3rd Apr, 2021 (96 Comments)

At present a mass of rival networks are currently deploying gigabit-capable home broadband services across the United Kingdom and, as part of that, we thought it might be interesting to take a snap-shot of how much each ISP charges for their top 1Gbps (average 900Mbps+) tier. In the future we’ll look back on this to see how they change.

Internet Download High Speed Concept Illustration. 1 Gbps in Focus. Global Broadband Networks Speed 3D.

Why Buying Gigabit Broadband Doesn’t Always Deliver 1Gbps

27th Dec, 2020 (47 Comments)

As the level of “gigabit capable” UK broadband ISP network coverage continues to rapidly expand then more and more people are now finding out what those working within telecoms and computer networking have known for a long time – being able to get or harness the full 1000Mbps (1Gbps) isn’t always possible.. yet.

Summary of UK FTTP Broadband Build Progress by ISPs UPDATE265

30th Apr, 2020 (16 Comments)

A couple of years ago we published a ‘Summary of FTTP Rollout Plans‘ and since then many more alternative network (altnet) ISPs have entered the UK market. As such we felt as it might be useful to produce a more comprehensive update on current progress and providers for 2020 and beyond (we’ll try to keep this up-to-date).