Gigabit broadband: The future of high-speed internet, now

Wednesday 20 September 2023 by Jonathan Victoria 

Photo by Denny Müller on Unsplash

Technology is ever-changing and improving, and one such bit of technology that has become so vitally important to essentially every household is broadband.

Most, if not all household devices require a fast and stable broadband connection. For that, providers know the best way to get the most customers is to offer the best and most reliable speeds.

That is where gigabit broadband comes in, providing the very best internet available. 

Join us as we discover what gigabit broadband is and answer more questions that you may have about it, including how you can get it and where the best deals are.

What is gigabit broadband?

As we say in the intro, gigabit broadband is the best broadband service being offered currently in the UK.

The demand for faster speeds is becoming more and more, especially in high-usage households. What gigabit broadband offers is incredibly fast average download speeds that have the capacity to service many devices at once and still offer those great speeds.

It uses the latest FTTP technology to work - for those asking what FTTP is, simply put it is fibre to the premises, which means a fibre cable runs from the telephone exchange straight through to the household, providing a full-fibre connection with faster speeds than that of FTTC (fibre to the cabinet), which utilises a slower copper cable.

Gigabit broadband has been around in the UK since around 2018, but it was primarily installed in office buildings in major cities. The rollout has since started covering households, although there seems to be some confusion with the percentage of households that are actually gigabit-capable.

It is stated that as of early 2023, 73% of UK households were gigabit-capable. However, the most recent update for the percentage of households that have access to FTTP sits at 56.3%.

While the numbers suggest that you may have access to gigabit broadband if you’re in or near a major city, in actuality, it is fully down to the providers in the area and whether or not they have the capability to supply gigabit broadband to your household.

How fast is gigabit broadband?

Gigabit broadband is supposed to be around 1Gbps download. That’s 1,000Mbps, and considering the mean average download speed in the UK 79.1Mbps, it is far more than enough for any household.

We say it is supposed to be around 1Gbps, but some providers will advertise their top-of-the-range broadband as gigabit but actually will be around 900Mbps. It's still nothing to put your nose up at, but it is technically incorrect to call it gigabit.

Virgin Media offers the fastest broadband, with their Gig1 Fibre boasting an average of 1.13Gbps.

Why is gigabit broadband important?

As mentioned earlier, many households are becoming more reliant on broadband for many things. The more predictable devices that need a connection is TV, mobile phones, tablets, consoles, computers/laptops etc.

But what you may not realise is the other devices that need a strong, stable connection; Ring devices such as their security cameras and doorbells need a connection; If you have a smart meter installed, that is connected to your broadband.

In fact, a general rule is any product/appliance/device that starts with ‘smart’ requires a broadband connection.

So it is vital for the constant and best running of these devices that you have the best broadband you can possibly get.

Not only that, in the post-COVID world where a lot of people are now working from home more, having good broadband speeds will keep you from missing out on the big meetings or not meeting deadlines because your WiFi is too slow/keeps dropping out.

And for households with many people who all use multiple different WiFi-hungry devices, gigabit broadband will be able to keep everyone connected at the same time.

The benefits of gigabit broadband

Faster speeds

Gigabit broadband is up over 10 times faster than the average broadband speed in the UK. This means that you can download movies and TV shows in seconds, stream high-definition video without buffering, and play online games with lag-free gameplay.

More bandwidth

Gigabit broadband also offers more bandwidth than standard broadband, meaning you can connect multiple devices to your internet connection without experiencing as much slowdown.

Lower latency

Gigabit broadband has lower latency than standard broadband. This means that there is less delay between sending and receiving data. This is important for online gaming and other applications where real-time response is required.

How to get gigabit broadband

Getting gigabit broadband completely depends on if the providers in your area are capable of delivering it.

As mentioned earlier, while many UK are gigabit-capable, the full-fibre rollout is still ongoing and as such, it isn’t available everywhere yet.

You can find out if you can get gigabit broadband by entering your postcode on our website and checking out the best packages available to you.

Gigabit broadband deals

Many providers will offer their gigabit broadband services at a reduced cost to their new customers, although existing customers can save money on their broadband by contacting their provider to see if there are any better deals for them, too.

Be sure to check out all the broadband deals on our website and see what the best deals are currently for you, including the new customer deals on gigabit broadband.