If you live in the 21^st Century, you're no stranger to the importance of having quick and reliable broadband. A slow or spotty internet connection can be frustrating, time-consuming and even costly when it comes to your work.

Switching to a faster (or dare we say it – the fastest) internet connection will allow you to blitz through digital activities like streaming the latest movie release, hosting videos calls while working from home or playing an online multiplayer video game.

So, in the search for fast broadband, we took some time below to look at bandwidths, materials, common troubleshooting, and the confirmed fastest broadband speeds you can get in London.

What is considered fast broadband?

If you can have many people on your network and still experience quick and lag-free loading times for high-quality media, you have fast interest. The more users and the more activities happening on your network, the slower your broadband can become.

While fast broadband could be defined differently for each person’s situation, it is always synonymous with large bandwidth - the higher the bandwidth, the faster the broadband.

For example, if you have one person on a 150 Mbps network compared to a family of five on the same network, the latter will likely experience slower internet. This is because, despite having the same network bandwidth, the demands on the network are greater with more users. Broadband access is shared between all devices connected to a network, so therefore a higher bandwidth to cover more users, more devices, and more activities, will result in faster broadband every time.

Curious about your current speed? You can compare the bandwidth you are on with your actual speed using this link.

Why should I care about having faster broadband?

Having fast broadband can have a significant impact on your work, leisure and daily life. The benefits include:

• Download large files in a matter of seconds, saving you time and increasing productivity
• Seamlessly stream movies and TV shows in high definition without buffering
• Low latency and lag-free loading for optimal online multiplayer gaming which means you can react quickly to in-game events
• Smooth and clear video conferences without interruptions or delays

How can I make my broadband faster?

There are many things you can do to improve your broadband speeds, but here are our four favourite tips for faster broadband:  

1. Perform at-home troubleshooting regularly, whether that's contacting your internet service provider for the most updated router or repositioning your router to avoid interference from walls, water and electrical tools.
2. Switch to a wired connection over a wireless connection wherever possible.
3. Upgrade from traditional copper connections to improved full fibre optic wiring because the latter is capable of transferring more data faster, plus it is more sustainable and repairable.
4. Choose the right bandwidth for your needs.

Is fibre broadband the fastest broadband?

The short answer – yes! Fibre-optic cables can transmit much more data than the older, copper-based phone lines used for traditional ADSL broadband which will be retired soon.

The long answer – not all fibre broadband is the same. Some broadband providers sneakily call their options 'superfast fibre broadband' despite still using a combination of old copper phone wires and fibre optic wires to reach homes. Therefore, if you want the fastest and most reliable broadband connection, choose 100% full fibre, also known as FTTH.

When broadband is delivered directly into your home from the data centre using only fibre optic cable it is called Fibre-To-The-Home (FTTH). However, when fibre optic cables run from the data centre to the street cabinet, but then broadband is delivered via the old copper phone wires into the home, it is called Fibre-To-The-Cabinet (FTTC). This can be misleading and significantly slow your broadband down.

For example, at Community Fibre, we build and operate our own 100% full fibre network. This allows us to avoid relying on other providers' cables and copper connections. It also means we can guarantee what we are offering is superior infrastructure with reliable service and consistent speeds.

Where can you get the fastest broadband in London?

If you're looking for the fastest broadband speeds in London, look no further than Community Fibre. Community Fibre is a full fibre optic broadband provider that offers speeds of up to 3,000 Mbps, which is over 100 times faster than traditional copper broadband.

To put that into perspective, in 2022 the UK average download and upload speeds are 64Mbps and 14Mbps, respectively. This means our network is 306x faster than the average UK download speed and 214x faster than the average UK upload speed. 

Community Fibre's broadband packages are also affordable and flexible, with no hidden fees or long-term contracts. You can choose a package that suits your needs and budget, and upgrade or downgrade anytime without any penalty.

If you have questions about your broadband speed, want to switch to London’s largest and fastest full fibre broadband network or would just like to request we come to your area, please get in contact with our team using the chat feature in the bottom right corner of our website.