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Once you've entered your postcode into our broadband coverage checker, we'll show you the best broadband packages, providers and speeds available in your area.

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What’s the fastest broadband in my area?

A fibre optic line will give you the fastest available speeds, allowing for faster downloads and uploads, much smoother streaming experience, and is ideal for impatient gamers.

Most providers operate on the Openreach network and offer similar speeds up to around 65Mbps, which is plenty for most households. Things are getting faster however, as Openreach continues to roll out faster technologies.

Currently, Hyperoptic offers the fastest internet available on the UK market, reaching average speeds of up to 1Gbps on its FTTP (fibre to the premises) network. If you’re a large and busy household that’s online most of the time, a Hyperoptic deal is probably your best option.

Virgin Media now offers similar speeds to far more homes with its Gig1 service. However it's not available to all Virgin Media customers and our testing has shown that despite over 1Gbps arriving at the Virgin Media router, said router is just not good enough to send those speeds around your home, even if connected via a LAN cable.

Virgin does functionally offer the best speeds of any widely available provider regardless, with all other package levels commonly hitting their promised speeds or faster.

Visit our broadband speed test to learn more about average speeds by broadband provider and type, to check your current broadband speed, and to find out what the top speeds are for broadband in your area.

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What’s the cheapest broadband in my area?

Standard broadband connections tend to be cheaper than the fibre packages but, as a consequence, are slower and can be subject to usage limits and traffic management policies. This can result in slowdowns during peak periods in order to ensure consistent speed for everyone across the provider's network.

However, for those of you who are general browsers, rather than regular streamers or downloaders, it’s likely you won’t be too concerned by this and will be satisfied that the speeds – and monthly bill – suit you.

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Fibre vs standard broadband

Once limited in availability and a bit on the expensive side compared to standard broadband, fibre is now the preferred choice, and the norm, for many households.

The technical difference between fibre and standard is quite simple. Standard broadband – the elder of the two – uses old copper cable to transfer data, whereas fibre uses a more modern network of high-speed fibre optic cables that are more resilient. Fibre optic connections cover around 97% of the UK population.

Virgin Media’s Gig1 option is the fastest broadband around, but most providers offer fibre packages averaging 35Mbps. Fibre is much more compatible for those households wanting to connect using a number of devices – phone, laptops etc. – all at the same time without seeing any change in speed. You can find out more about the differences between fibre and standard broadband elsewhere on the site.

Remember, though, the key is not to seek the fastest speeds at all costs. The deal has to be right for your needs and one that is available in your area.

Not sure what speed you need? Check out our guide to broadband speeds to determine what speed will best suit your household.

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Broadband providers

There are over 150 broadband providers in the UK to choose from, but the vast majority of those operate only in small local areas, or serve a special purpose such as delivering connectivity to business parks and so on. Within that 150 only a fraction are widely available and so, generally, the ones you should concern yourself with. Here's a breakdown of the most popular providers.

• BT Broadband – As you’d expect, BT Broadband is available pretty much everywhere. They seem to be nudging customers away from ADSL (and landlines too), and so will limit you to a fibre connection if possible. Like EE Broadband (who they own) their FTTP service is automatically available to any Openreach FTTP connected property
• Direct Save Telecom – Budget broadband provider Direct Save Telecom uses Openreach’s network to offer conventional and fibre optic broadband, and so should be an option for most properties. They also offer next-level fibre via G.fast, which offers up to 330Mb, but is only available to around 10% of UK homes
• EE Broadband – As a sister company to BT, EE Broadband is also extremely widely available, plus they also still offer low-cost ADSL broadband. Their FTTP packages closely mirror BT’s, and should similarly be available to all FTTP enabled properties
• Gigaclear – A specialist provider, building its own fibre optic network and currently serving over 200 communities – often in rural locations other providers simply don’t reach. As such, availability is naturally limited, but in some circumstances they could be your only option
• Hyperoptic – Hyperoptic is a premium provider that has built its own FTTP fibre optic network – with all prospective customers able to access amazing speeds up to 1,000Mb. However, this does mean it’s limited in scope with availability in less than 50 towns and cities – although they have plans to expand this
• John Lewis Broadband – John Lewis Broadband is offered via an arrangement with BT-owned Plusnet. So availability is very much aligned with theirs – meaning very wide availability but, as of yet, no full fibre FTTP. So you can probably get it, but if you need real speed you’ll need to look elsewhere
• NOW Broadband – NOW Broadband is very competitively priced and in theory, widely available (it uses the Openreach ADSL and FTTC network), but not very fast as currently they offer no FTTP packages
• Plusnet – As a BT-group provider, Plusnet Broadband is going to be an option pretty much anywhere Openreach can, well, reach. But like some other providers listed here, have no options available if you need next generation FTTP speeds
• Shell Energy Broadband – Shell Energy (formerly First Utility) offers budget priced broadband over a wide range of speeds. In their short time in the market they’ve been very busy and now offer connections via ADSL, FTTC, G.fast and FTTP. This should make them one of the most widely available providers in the UK
• Sky Broadband – Sky is of course very widely available due to their use of the Openreach network. But surprisingly, when it comes to the very highest FTTP speeds, there are no options, their top full fibre speed being around 500Mb
• TalkTalk – You shouldn’t have any difficulty accessing TalkTalk. Their use of the Openreach network means they can offer ADSL or fibre to most people, and full fibre FTTP packages to over six million properties
• Virgin Media broadband – Offering full fibre since before the phrase was first coined, Virgin Media justifiably claims to be the fastest widely available provider in the UK. Recent improvements to both their network and the technology behind it mean speeds over 1,100Mb are now an option for over 55% of UK homes
• Vodafone broadband – Perhaps best known as a mobile network, Vodafone also offers all but the slowest ADSL services to most UK properties, although availability of its high-end FTTP packages is limited, in common with many other providers

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Broadband speed tests

While our broadband availability checker is a great place to start for giving you an approximate estimate of download speeds available within your postcode, our speed test will give you a much more accurate assessment of the speed on your line.

The broadband speeds available to you will be influenced by the network usage during peak times throughout the day. Naturally the speeds will be affected when there are more people connected than not.

What affects broadband speed where I live?

There are quite a few factors that can affect the performance of your broadband speed. For standard broadband in particular, the distance between your home and the nearest exchange can cause problems as those old copper wires don’t take too kindly to travelling too far these days; broadband signal slows down the further it has to travel.

Traffic management policies are also a scourge of speed performance. Typically targeted at peak times during the weekends and evenings, it is worth considering opting for a truly unlimited package to avoid such restrictions.

There are also hurdles to jump from within your own home as well as outside. Wireless routers are not as effective as those connected by cable and more likely to incur interference and, thus, affect your broadband speed. Other household electrical devices such as microwaves can also interfere with your router hence why it’s advisable to keep it somewhere more isolated such as the hallway.

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