What Is Full Fibre Broadband?

If you’re looking at getting a new broadband package and you’ve come across the terms “fibre broadband” and “full fibre broadband”, you may be feeling confused. What is full fibre broadband? What’s the difference between full fibre and regular fibre? And, most importantly, which is the fastest?

What Is the Difference Between Fibre and Full Fibre Broadband?

Lots of broadband providers claim to offer the best internet speeds with regular fibre broadband. However, in reality, there is a big difference between fibre and full fibre.

Whether you’re getting fibre internet or full fibre depends on if your connection is FTTC or FTTP.

FTTC

FTTC stands for Fibre to the Cabinet and is not full fibre broadband. “To the cabinet” means that your local cabinet is connected to a fibre optic network, but that your property is connected to the cabinet using older (and slower) copper or hybrid cables.

FTTP

FTTP means “Fibre to the Premises” — this is full fibre broadband (it can also be called FTTH — Fibre to the Home”). The difference with FTTP is that fibre optic cables are routed directly into your property. Since you don’t have any intermediate copper or hybrid cables, you get the full high-speed benefits of the fibre optic network.

Will My Internet Be Faster With Full Fibre?

Simply put, yes! Getting an FTTP connection can require an additional installation process, as cables need to be laid all the way up to your home. But it also means you get the fastest broadband connection possible.

Fibre optic cables are much faster than copper or hybrid because they use light instead of electronic signals. So an FTTC connection means you get a slowdown on your broadband speeds as your internet traffic still partially travels through copper cables. Electronic signals also weaken over time and are vulnerable to interference, meaning that you get slower speeds the further you are away from your local cabinet.

FTTP connections don’t suffer from any of these issues. With full fibre broadband, you can get internet speeds of 100 Mbps, 300 Mbps, or even 1 Gbs.

Use our broadband speed test to find out how that compares to your current connection.

When Will I See a Difference if I Switch to Full Fibre?

With FTTC connections, you can get a “stabilisation period” of up to 10 days. This happens because your local cabinet needs some time to adjust to the best speed for your line, and this can result in speed fluctuations during that time.

With full fibre FTTP broadband, there’s no such stabilisation period. You get superfast broadband from the instant you connect.

How Do I Know if I Can Get Full Fibre Broadband?

According to Ofcom’s latest “Connected Nations” report, full fibre broadband is available to 28% of homes in the UK (roughly 8 million properties).

Here at Box Broadband, we cover a range of areas in southern England including Dorking, Bexhill, Hassocks, Barnham, and Walberton. To find out if you can get superfast full fibre broadband in your area, simply use our online postcode checker.

How Do I Arrange My Full Fibre Broadband Installation?

This one is much easier to answer. We offer a variety of home and business full fibre broadband packages. Depending on your needs, our speeds range from 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps — and we’re even rolling out a new 10 Gbps network in selected areas soon.

Once you’ve registered your interest or called our team, we’ll guide you through our easy setup and installation process. Our expert engineers will assess the best routes to get full fibre optic cables into your property. They’ll also carry out any work necessary and stick around afterward to get you set up on your new router.

Sound good? Simply contact us to get started — we can’t wait to show you what full fibre really means.