Home broadband is literally speeding up both in the download speeds you can expect, as well as the rate at which improvements are being rolled out. As the internet continues to play an ever increasing part in everyone’s personal and professional lives, internet service providers are not introducing ultrafast and superfast fibre contracts to meet the demand of users. With so many of us placing more and more demand on our internet connection, both at work and at home, it is important that the package we choose can keep up with the demand, proving a fast and reliable download speed.
Why Choose Fibre Optic Broadband
Unlike a traditional ADSL connection, fibre optic broadband can support much faster and more reliable download speeds. This makes it far more suitable to meet the needs of heavy users, multiple occupancy households and commercial premises.
Ultrafast, Superfast or ADSL, Which One is Right for Me?
With so many different packages and connection types to choose from, you’ll have your work cut out for you when choosing the right deal to meet your needs. The current options available for home broadband packages are ADSL, Superfast Fibre Broadband and Ultrafast Fibre Broadband. All of these connections can support varying internet speeds which is reflected in the price of the packages they come in. This means that you will have to weigh up the price point against the speed and amount of data you will require.
Superfast and Ultrafast Broadband connections are types of FTTC (fibre to the cabinet) and FTTP (fibre to the premises) connections respectively, and tend to provide the fastests speeds, making them ideal for those with heavy internet usage.
Currently, the most common type of fibre optic connection is Superfast FTTC, which uses fibre optic cables to connect to your nearest telephone exchange. This, of course, means that your broadband speeds may vary as they still rely on copper wires for the connection from the exchange itself.
The fastest type of broadband connection, if that is what you are in the market for, is Ultrafast fibre. Rather than relying on copper wires at any stage of the connection, Ultrafast FTTP uses fibre cables only providing the fastest average download speeds.
The slowest yet currently most widely available type of home broadband connection is standard ADSL. Offering average download speeds of 10 Mbps, it is nowhere near the fastest type of connection but is often the only one available to those living in more remote areas. As ADSL relies solely on wiring and telephone lines for a broadband connection, your internet speed can vary greatly depending on your location and your home’s distance from the nearest telephone exchange.
Should You Invest in Ultrafast Broadband?
While you might not need an ultrafast broadband connection, it’s an option that is attractive to many individuals due to the speed it offers. Even if top speed isn’t your priority, you should take a good look at your current internet consumption, as it may be far higher than you think. With the number of electronic devices and connected gadgets now in our homes, your current package could easily be put under strain as it tries to handle so many different points of connection.
This is where an ultrafast broadband package comes in. It can easily handle the data needs of large families who will often be using the internet simultaneously for data-heavy tasks such as gaming, downloading of movies, and 4k streaming.