Your full fibre broadband overview

The entire UK infrastructure is changing. Copper has been in the ground for over 100 years and is reaching the end of its life. There is now a viable market for investing in a Full Fibre network.

And so, the Full Fibre revolution has begun. Sure, you’ve probably heard of it by now, but are you confident you could separate your fibre from your copper connections? If not, well don’t you worry… you’ve come to the right place. Here’s fibre broadband explained.

What is full fibre broadband or FTTP?

Your customers might know Full Fibre as Fibre to the Premises, or FTTP. Either way, it’s fibre the full way to their property. FTTP is future-proof. The new generation of broadband is much faster, more reliable and uses a different technology. Faster connection speeds and more reliable services are ensuring businesses are more productive online, even at the busiest times of day.

How does fibre broadband work?

Fibre optic cables are made up of lots of tiny reflective tubes inside. When you perform a task online, light bounces and pulses through the tubes to push your data through the network.

FTTP is a pure fibre connection from your home to the exchange which can deliver broadband download speeds of up to 1Gbps. The fibre optic cables can be installed underground in ducts, or as overhead lines using new and existing telegraph poles. FTTP installation requires a broadband engineer to bring the fibre cables all the way into the home or business, which may take more than one stage to install.

Will everyone be connected to the FTTP Network?

FTTP is the future of connectivity. Existing copper technology will be used to provide services until the full fibre network is installed in your area.

Why do some areas get FTTP and others get FTTC?

In most areas, superfast broadband is being delivered via Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC), using the existing copper-based network for the final part of the connectivity to the premise. Newer Fibre to the Premise (FTTP) technology is being used increasingly and will eventually supersede FTTC.

What areas will FTTP be available in?

FTTP will be available in a growing number of areas. We will keep you up to date and you can always check using our FTTP Service Availability Checker.

How do I check if FTTP is available in my areas?

The availability of FTTP will be constantly evolving as Openreach and Altnets (Alternative Full Fibre Infrastructure Providers) continually roll-out their builds required for these services across the country. Because of this, it’s important to check availability before you order which you can do from our FTTP Order Portal. You’ll need a valid UK postcode and address details to check the FTTP availability of a location. Once you’ve entered a valid postcode, a product variant will appear which shows what is currently available.

FTTP vs FTTC

There are two different types of fibre broadband services: Fibre to the premises (FTTP) and fibre to the cabinet (FTTC). FTTP is a full fibre broadband connection which uses fibre all the way, unlike fibre to the cabinet, which is a broadband connection using part fibre and part copper cable.

With FTTP, pure fibre optic cables are installed all the way from the exchange into your home. The fibre cable will usually enter your property through the same point as your telephone line, which then connects to a modem to reach the signal.

FTTC on the other hand uses fibre optic cable ONLY to the cabinet, and then copper wire delivers the connection into your home or business. That means, the FTTC service still relies on the use of your telephone line to deliver the connection. Compared to FTTP, you can only get a fraction of the speeds and service with FTTC, although it’s still a step in the right direction.

Do I need fibre broadband?

You’ve clued yourself up on how fibre works, but now you’re probably wondering should I upgrade to fibre broadband? The answer is yes, but you don’t have to take our word for it.

Why do I need fibre broadband?

There’s a real sense of urgency for people to make the switch from copper to fibre, especially now that copper connections are estimated to be phased out entirely by 2026. It doesn’t stop there though, discover the key benefits of FTTP below:

Benefits of fibre broadband

Faster connection speeds
Low latency, high reliability and secure
Crystal clear video calling
High quality streaming
Stronger signal strength over larger distances
Higher frequency rate
Futureproofed technology

The future is fibre

The need for super-fast, ultra-resilient broadband has never been greater in the UK. Huge numbers of people are working remotely. Thousands of organisations in the public and private sectors have become entirely reliant on bandwidth-hungry collaborative solutions. This will almost certainly continue for the foreseeable future.

Our Fibre-first network has the scale you need to do business, anywhere. With the resilience, speed and security to support any customer.

At TalkTalk Wholesale Services, we make it simple for you to sell Full Fibre to your customers with all the knowledge and insights to succeed with our fibre for everyone programme. For more information, please get in touch with your Account Manager.