There's very good news for millions of UK broadband users with Openreach announcing a major milestone in its rollout of faster speeds. The BT-owned firm, which installs fibre infrastructure across the UK, has just revealed it's now connected 10 million properties to blisteringly quick Fibre to the Premises (FTTP). This technology brings the latest generation of cables right through the walls of homes meaning there's no longer a need to rely on slow and ageing copper lines.
The boost means firms such as Sky, BT and TalkTalk - which all use Openreach services - can now offer more customers much-improved connectivity.
In fact, FTTP is fully capable of whizzing the web into homes at speeds in excess of 1Gbps - that's quick enough to blast a full HD movie to a TV in under 40 seconds. It's a stark contrast to copper lines which can only muster around 70Mbps - that's over 10 times slower. Just like a US highway, fibre is also able to cope with more traffic running through it which allows speeds to stay fast even during busy times of the day.
If you want to check if your broadband has been upgraded, Openreach has a dedicated webpage that shows what speeds are available in your street.
Speaking about the update Clive Selley, CEO, Openreach, said: “Today marks a significant milestone in our transformation of the UK’s broadband. Not only will access to Full Fibre technology improve the speed and reliability of the internet connections used by people, businesses and public services, it also provides us with the infrastructure we need to meet the demands of an increasingly digital world."
Of course, this is great news for the 10 million homes that now have access to FTTP technology but there's still a long way to go before all homes finally get these better speeds.
Openreach says it hopes to have 25 million homes linked to improved downloads over the coming years but many may not see this upgrade until 2026.
“Now we’re focused on the next phase of our build," Selly added. "Our engineers are building rapidly across the country and we already have plans in place that will see Full Fibre broadband reach over 25 million premises. We’re excited for the future that Full Fibre will create for everybody across the UK.”
If you want better downloads but haven't been included in the latest Openreach update then don't forget there are other providers who also have their own fibre infrastructure.
Virgin Media, Hyperoptic and other companies such as CityFibre are also rolling out broadband across Britain so it's worth shopping around to see if you can get a much-needed boost.
