This type of connection - called Fibre to the Cabinet or FTTC - offers average speeds of between 36Mbps and 76Mbps. Instead the vast majority use fibre to connect the exchange to the cabinet in your street and then switch to the phone line for the final leg into your house. If you're interested in fibre broadband, it's worth noting that very few 'fibre' packages actually offer a fibre connection from your house all the way through to the exchange. However, it's worth keeping in mind that, while fibre broadband used to be pricier than standard broadband, it is now competitively priced - and some faster fibre deals can actually be cheaper than standard broadband. If you feel standard broadband is adequate for you, use our standard broadband reviews to find the perfect package. This means they can reach much faster speeds, though they're not available in all parts of the country.

Super- and ultrafast packages use more efficient fibre optic cables to transmit data. Standard broadband used to be the most popular type of connection, but most customers have since moved to speedier options. But the broadband speed you receive in your home can be far less than 10Mbps if you live a long way from the nearest telephone exchange This means standard broadband is widely available, though average download speeds are just 10-11 megabits per second (Mbps).įor context, a 10-11Mbps connection will take more than five minutes to download one episode of a TV show, while faster connections can take seconds. 'Standard' broadband packages in the UK use ADSL technology and so transmit data over the existing Openreach phone/copper network.

What is a good download speed mbps