What can you actually get where you live?

Frequently asked questions

Why can my neighbour get full fibre when I cannot?

Because networks are built street by street, not postcode by postcode. Fibre follows ducts, poles and cabinets, so a build can stop at a junction, skip a cul-de-sac, or cover one side of a road first. That is why two neighbouring addresses can see different provider lists, and why the only reliable answer is a check on your exact address rather than anything written about your city.

Is broadband really better or cheaper in some places?

Genuinely, yes, on both counts. Northern Ireland leads the regions at 95 percent full fibre while the UK overall sits at 82, and towns with completed altnet builds, Ipswich near 98 percent ready for service, Southend about 97, Northampton and Milton Keynes in the mid-nineties, enjoy both faster options and keener prices, because competition on your street is what pushes bills down. Where an altnet has built, flat-price deals with no April rise are often on the menu.

What is an altnet, and is it safe to switch to one?

An alternative network: a company that built its own fibre rather than reselling Openreach's, such as Hyperoptic, Community Fibre, toob or YouFibre. They are regulated by Ofcom like any provider, One Touch Switch handles the move, the 14-day cooling-off applies, and a Guaranteed Minimum Speed comes with the contract. The practical differences are smaller footprints and, often, symmetric speeds and flat pricing that the majors do not match.

My town is not listed here. What should I do?

Run the postcode check anyway: it covers every UK address, listed or not, and shows exactly which networks have reached yours. The local guides grow over time, and the counts on this page update as they do, but no guide is ever required, since the check is the ground truth. If your area is rural, the rural switching guide covers Project Gigabit builds, community networks like B4RN, the Universal Service Obligation, and 4G, 5G and satellite options.

How do I find out exactly what my address can get?

One postcode check on this site shows every network and live price at your address, majors and altnets together, in about 30 seconds. Your local guide is the context around that answer: who built what nearby, what the local twist is, and which direction prices are moving. Context first if you like reading, check first if you like answers; both roads end at the same place.

Do broadband prices rise everywhere each April?

The national providers add fixed amounts: £4 a month on BT, EE, Plusnet and new Virgin Media contracts, £3.50 on Vodafone and in-contract Virgin Media, £3 on Sky, TalkTalk and Three, with qualifying contract dates on some. Many altnets add nothing at all, which is the quiet advantage of living where one has built. The rises are pounds-and-pence and shown before you sign, so the full contract cost is checkable up front.

Why is Hull always the exception?

Because it is the only UK city that Openreach and Virgin Media never wired. KCOM runs the local network, reaching essentially every home with full fibre since 2020, when Hull became the first UK city at complete coverage, and competition has since arrived on top through MS3, CityFibre and Grain, now reaching roughly seven in ten premises. Standard national advice barely applies there, which is exactly why the dedicated Hull guide exists.

How current is this page?

The guide counts are read from the page itself every time it loads, so they stay correct as new local guides are added, with the stated baseline accurate as of 5 August 2026. Coverage percentages and the April rise schedule are editorial figures carried from the cited sources at mid-2026, sit inside the site's 90-day review cycle, and anything that slips can be flagged through the public corrections process.