Broadband rival offers speed upgrade BT can't beat - check your postcode now

13 July 2023 , 05:54

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BT broadband (Image: BT • GETTY)

If your broadband speeds are slowing you down, good news could be on its way. One of the biggest rivals to BT has just announced a huge boost to its infrastructure which will see customers offered downloads in excess of 2.5Gbps - that's over 25 times faster than the current UK average.

The XGS-PON cable upgrade is being rolled out by CityFibre with the firm promising that millions of homes will be able to access the improved connection in the future.

In fact. by the end of 2023, CityFibre expects to have deployed its XGS-PON equipment into over 90% of its fibre exchanges with the new 2.5Gbps product becoming available to around 20% of its ready-for-service footprint, currently standing at 2.5m homes. That number of properties is expected to grow to 8 million by 2025.

BT's current fastest product offers downloads at around 1Gbps which makes this update from CityFibre over two times quicker.

You can check your postcode here to see if the cables are in your street although it's worth noting that you won't actually get the speeds directly from CityFibre.

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This firm, which is a bit like Openreach, simply supplies the network to Internet Service Providers (ISPs) who then deal with UK customers.

Some big names including Vodafone, Zen, TalkTalk, Toob and. Giganet all use the CityFibre network so you may find your home can now get much better access to the internet.

Speaking about the update CityFibre CEO Greg Mesch said: “With the launch of the UK’s fastest and most cost-effective connectivity products, we are demonstrating the benefits of infrastructure competition and raising the bar for all wholesale networks. Ubiquitous, high-quality, low-carbon connectivity is the keystone of all advanced and community-wide applications of the future. By working with our ISP partners to bring symmetrical multi-gigabit broadband consumer services to market today, with businesses to follow, the UK will finally have a network and services that will enable our future, rather than holding it back.”

Cityfibre isn't the only firm rolling out updates, Virgin Media recently announced it is starting to lay new cables that will be capable of blasting the web into homes at over 9Gbps and EE is also launching a new service this year that will offer 1.6Gbps downloads.

If all that talk of Gbps has left you a little confused here's what it means for your downloads

SPEED TIME FOR DOWNLOADING A FULL HD MOVIE

SPEED - 72Mbps (current UK average) • DOWNLOAD TIME - 8 minutes

SPEED - 500Mbps • DOWNLOAD TIME - 2 minutes

SPEED - 1Gbps • DOWNLOAD TIME - 34 seconds

SPEED - 2.6Gbps • DOWNLOAD TIME - 13 seconds

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SPEED - 10Gbps • DOWNLOAD TIME - 3 seconds

Dave Snelling