Compare broadband by postcode
National adverts tell you what exists somewhere in Britain. Your postcode tells you what you can order at your front door, and two houses on the same street can get completely different answers. Check yours below, then use the rest of this page to read the results like someone who has done it a hundred times.
- 87%of UK homes are gigabit-capable, 26.4 million premises
- 79%of English homes have full fibre available
- 95%full-fibre coverage in Northern Ireland, the UK's highest
- 13%of UK premises still have no gigabit option at all
Ofcom Connected Nations 2025, published 19 November 2025, using July 2025 data. Which side of these averages your address sits on is exactly what a postcode check settles.
Six things one check tells you
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Which Openreach technology serves your line
Full fibre at up to 1.8 Gbit/s where built, with most retail packages up to 900 Mbit/s. Otherwise FTTC at up to 80 down and 20 up, fading with distance from the cabinet, or copper-only ADSL2+ at up to 24 Mbit/s. G.fast survives in limited areas at around 330 Mbit/s.
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Whether Virgin Media reaches you
Their own cable network passes roughly 16 million UK premises at speeds up to about 1.1 Gbit/s, and an XGS-PON full-fibre build is extending beyond the cable footprint. Coverage, not preference, decides whether they are an option.
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Which altnets have built to your door
More than a dozen alternative networks have built past millions of UK homes, often with symmetric upload and keener pricing. They are the most postcode-dependent option of all, and the easiest to miss.
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Your Guaranteed Minimum Speed
Major providers signed up to Ofcom's Voluntary Code of Practice must give you an address-specific minimum speed at sign-up. If real speeds fall below it, you can leave without penalty. This number only exists at address level.
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What the contract really costs
Address-level results show the introductory price, the standard price after it, and let you rank by total contract cost, which is where the April price rises and setup fees stop hiding.
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How your switch would actually run
Whether you can move under One Touch Switch, whether the change needs an engineer visit, and whether you are moving between technologies or just between brands on the same line.
Same street, two different internets
Networks are built cabinet by cabinet and street by street, so availability is a property of your address, not your area. Here is how different the answer can look twenty doors apart.
- Full fibre 900 Mbit/s
- Cable up to 1.1 Gbit/s
- Altnet full fibre, two networks
- FTTC 67 Mbit/s
- FTTC 67 Mbit/s
- That is the list.
An illustrative street, but a real pattern: a fibre build can stop at a junction box, and an altnet can pass one side of a road first.
This is why around 13% of UK premises still have no gigabit option while their town, on average, looks well served. It is also why re-checking matters: coverage grew by 1.4 million premises in the year to July 2025, so an address that had nothing six months ago may have three networks today.
The five-step check, done properly
Doing this manually means visiting ten or more provider checkers one by one. The steps below are the whole job, whichever route you take.
- Enter your postcode, then pick your exact addressAvailability is decided at address level, so the house number matters, especially in flats and on new estates.
- See every network at onceThe Openreach brands, Virgin Media, and any altnets that have built to your door. This is the step where one-provider checkers quietly shortchange you.
- Sort by total contract cost, not the headline priceIntroductory pricing, the standard price after it, setup fees and mid-contract rises, added up across the term. Our ranking methodology scores twelve factors this way, with consumer value first.
- Match the shortlist to your householdHeavy upload favours symmetric full fibre. Gaming favours low latency. Tight budgets should check social tariffs at £15 to £20 a month before anything else. Our speed and needs hub does the matching.
- Verify, then orderRead the Key Facts document, note your Guaranteed Minimum Speed, and check the exit terms. Most switches then run through One Touch Switch with a 14-day cooling-off period, and our switching hub covers the rest.
Read the results like a pro
Two numbers decide whether a deal is actually cheap: the standard price after the introductory period, and the mid-contract rise added every April. Here is what the major providers add from April 2026, so you can do the maths before you sign.
- BT, EE and Plusnet+£4 a monthFlat rise, in effect from 31 March 2026
- Virgin Media O2+£4 / +£3.50£4 on new contracts, £3.50 in-contract, from April 2026
- Sky+£3 a monthFlat rise from 1 April 2026
- Vodafone+£3.50 a monthContracts signed after 2 July 2024
- TalkTalk+£3 a monthContracts signed after 12 August 2024
- Three Broadband+£3 a monthContracts signed after 1 September 2024
Pounds-and-pence rises on consumer contracts, per provider announcements for April 2026. Over a 24-month term, a £4 rise adds up to £96 that never appears in the advert.
Three more things worth knowing before you order. Advertised speed is what at least half of customers get, so your address-specific Guaranteed Minimum Speed is the number with legal weight, and dropping below it gives you the right to leave without penalty. Distance contracts carry a 14-day cooling-off period. And when you leave a provider, send the router back, because router return charges are an avoidable parting gift.
Deeper reading: in-contract price rises 2026, what UK broadband actually costs, exit and setup fees, and how to save money on broadband.
Seven ways postcode checks go wrong
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Treating advertised speed as guaranteed
The advert is a median, not a promise. Use your address-specific Guaranteed Minimum Speed instead; it is the one with exit rights attached.
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Missing the altnets entirely
Some comparison sites only list the majors. If an altnet has built to your door and your search cannot see it, you may be comparing the second-best half of the market.
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Checking only one altnet
In bigger cities, two or three altnets can pass the same address. The first one you find is not automatically the best one available.
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Buying the introductory price
The headline lasts 12 to 24 months; the standard price and the April rises last the rest. Total contract cost is the only fair comparison.
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Ignoring the household fit
The cheapest deal is not the best one if the upload chokes your video calls, and the fastest is wasted if nobody streams. Fit beats both price and speed.
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Forgetting the switch itself
Technology changes can need an engineer visit, and timing matters if your current contract has months left. Check the switching path before you fall for a deal.
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Trusting an old result
Rollouts are live. A "nothing available" from last winter can be three networks by summer, so re-check before you renew out of habit.
Provider checkers, or one search
- BT's checker effectively answers for BT, EE and Plusnet, since all three are BT Group brands on Openreach.
- Sky and TalkTalk are mostly Openreach too, with some altnet wholesale in places.
- Virgin Media O2 answers only for its own cable and full-fibre build.
- Vodafone mixes Openreach with CityFibre in some cities.
- Three and NOW add mobile-based and Sky-owned options.
- Ten tabs later, you still have not seen most altnets.
- More than 35 providers checked against your exact address in one pass, altnets included.
- Ranked by total contract cost, with the same scoring for majors and altnets alike, as set out in how we rank deals.
- Independent, free, and paid by providers when you switch, never by you: see the affiliate disclosure.
- Prefer browsing by feature instead? The compare by feature hub slices the same market by price, speed and contract.
When it is still worth going direct: Hyperoptic availability is decided building by building, so their own checker is definitive for flats. Community networks like B4RN, and rural specialists like Gigaclear, are worth a direct look in their heartlands. And on a brand-new estate, check again monthly, because networks light up street by street.
See everything your address can order today, ranked by what the contract really costs from first bill to last.
Postcode only, no signup. See how we rank deals.The altnet map, quickly
Alternative networks are why one street can beat the national market on both speed and price. Five families cover most of the UK picture.
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City wholesale: CityFibre
Infrastructure in roughly 60 UK cities, sold through retail brands such as Cuckoo and, in some areas, Vodafone. One network, several shopfronts.
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Multi-gigabit symmetric
YouFibre, on the Netomnia network, sells symmetric speeds up to 7 Gbit/s. Community Fibre does the same for London up to 3 Gbit/s. Upload equals download, which the majors rarely match.
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Apartment specialists: Hyperoptic
Built building by building in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool, Cardiff, Edinburgh and other cities. If you live in a block, this is the checker to run directly.
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Regional builders
Toob along the south coast including Southampton, Portsmouth and Bournemouth. Brsk in London, Birmingham and Coventry. Trooli across Kent, Essex, Surrey and Sussex. BeFibre in parts of Yorkshire and Lancashire, and Lit Fibre in smaller towns.
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Rural and community
Gigaclear builds in rural pockets of Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Devon and beyond. B4RN, a community-owned cooperative, runs symmetric gigabit at a flat price across Lancashire and adjacent parts of Cumbria and Yorkshire. Zen, the long-running service leader, retails across several networks.
How the technologies compare is its own question, answered in full fibre vs FTTC vs cable vs 4G and 5G. The wider market, all 500-plus retailers of it, lives in our directory insights, and any term that reads like alphabet soup is in the broadband glossary.
Where the UK stands in 2026
The UK ranks sixth of eleven comparator countries for full-fibre coverage, behind leaders like Spain, Sweden and France but climbing fast. Northern Ireland leads the four nations at 95%, and the 13% of premises without a gigabit option are concentrated in rural areas and smaller towns where builds have not yet arrived. Our independent analysis of the full dataset is in the Connected Nations 2025 report.
One deadline matters more than the rest: the analogue phone network switches off in January 2027, which retires the copper services underneath ADSL2+ and pushes those addresses towards fibre. If your line is copper, a postcode check is migration planning, not just deal hunting; the detail is in our copper switch-off guide. And once you order, installation times and the engineer visit checklist cover what happens next. For street-level detail where you live, our local broadband hub has dedicated guides for major UK cities and regions.
Every network at your exact address, sorted by cost per month, low to high. The whole thing takes about ten seconds.
Independent and free. See how we rank deals and our affiliate disclosure.Frequently asked questions
Why does postcode matter for UK broadband comparison?
Because availability is decided at your address, not your town. Networks are built street by street, so 87% of UK homes are gigabit-capable while 13% have no gigabit option at all, and only a postcode check tells you which side your address sits on. It also unlocks address-specific rights: your Guaranteed Minimum Speed and Key Facts document only exist at address level.
What information does a postcode check reveal?
Which Openreach technology serves your line, full fibre up to 1.8 Gbit/s, FTTC at up to 80 down and 20 up, or copper ADSL2+ at up to 24 Mbit/s. Whether Virgin Media's network, which passes around 16 million premises at up to 1.1 Gbit/s, reaches you. Which altnets have built to your door. Your Guaranteed Minimum Speed, realistic pricing across the term, and how a switch would run.
Which provider postcode checkers should I use?
BT's checker effectively answers for BT, EE and Plusnet, since all three are BT Group brands on Openreach. Sky and TalkTalk are mostly Openreach too. Virgin Media O2 answers only for its own network, Vodafone mixes Openreach with CityFibre, and Three adds mobile-based options. Or run one search here, which covers all of them plus the altnets in a single pass.
How do I check altnet availability properly?
Start with one comprehensive search, because more than one altnet can pass the same address and the first you find is not always the best. Then go direct where it genuinely helps: Hyperoptic availability is decided building by building, so their checker is definitive for flats, and community or rural networks like B4RN and Gigaclear are worth a direct look in their heartlands.
What is the step-by-step process for comparing by postcode?
Enter your postcode and pick your exact address. See every network at once, majors and altnets together. Sort by total contract cost rather than the headline price. Match the shortlist to your household, upload for home working, latency for gaming, social tariffs if money is tight. Then verify the Key Facts document and Guaranteed Minimum Speed before ordering, with a 14-day cooling-off period behind you.
What pitfalls should I avoid when comparing by postcode?
Seven catch most people: treating advertised speed as guaranteed, missing altnets because your comparison site does not list them, checking only one altnet when several cover you, buying the introductory price instead of the total contract cost, ignoring household fit, forgetting the practicalities of the switch itself, and trusting an old result while rollouts are live.
What is the UK broadband coverage picture in 2026?
Ofcom's Connected Nations 2025 puts gigabit-capable coverage at 87% of UK homes, 26.4 million premises, up 1.4 million in a year. Full fibre reaches 79% of English homes and 95% in Northern Ireland, the highest of the four nations. The UK ranks sixth of eleven comparator countries, and the January 2027 analogue switch-off is pushing the remaining copper lines towards fibre.
How should I decide once I can see my options?
Consumer value first: total contract cost across the term beats the headline price every time. Then check the deal against your rights, the Guaranteed Minimum Speed, cooling-off and mid-contract rise terms, and weigh majors and altnets on the same scale. Our twelve-factor scoring, covering cost, speed, service, value and rights, does exactly that, and it is documented in full in how we rank deals.
How we put this together. Written by Adrian James and reviewed by Dr Alex J. Martin-Smith, from Ofcom's Connected Nations 2025 dataset, the Voluntary Code of Practice on Broadband Speeds, provider price-rise announcements for April 2026, and published altnet coverage information, all current at August 2026. We treat majors and altnets evenhandedly regardless of commercial relationships. The framework behind it: how we rank deals, the methodology and trust hub, why trust us, about BroadbandSwitch.uk, our editorial policy, affiliate disclosure, AI disclosure and accessibility statement. Spotted an error? Use the corrections process, read the public corrections log, or contact us.
References
- Ofcom. (2025, November 19). Connected Nations UK report 2025. Office of Communications. ofcom.org.uk/phones-and-broadband/coverage-and-speeds/nations-report-2025
- Ofcom. (n.d.). Voluntary Code of Practice on Broadband Speeds. Office of Communications. ofcom.org.uk/phones-and-broadband/quality-of-service/voluntary-codes-of-practice
- Citizens Advice. (2023). The real cost of hidden deals: loyalty penalty in essential markets. Citizens Advice. citizensadvice.org.uk