Plymouth broadband: gigabit in most streets, ward by ward

Start with your own street

Direct answer: Almost every home in Plymouth can get a fast line, and the networks on offer change from one road to the next. In January 2026, Ofcom counted 94.9% of homes able to get gigabit and 78.6% able to get full fibre. The live list below works out your own address.

Three networks do the heavy lifting. Openreach carries BT, Sky, TalkTalk, Vodafone, EE and plenty of smaller providers. CityFibre has been building its own full fibre across the city since 2021, and Virgin Media’s cable runs under many streets as well. Further down, each network speaks for itself, quoted from its own announcements.

Before you pick a deal

• Add up the whole contract. The opening price is only part of the story, because most deals rise every April, so a quick sum over the full term shows the real cost.
• Look at the upload figure. Full fibre usually sends as fast as it receives, which helps with video calls, cloud backups and sharing big files. Cable tends to upload far more slowly than it downloads.
• Weigh the contract length. If you rent or move often, a shorter term can be worth a few pounds more each month.
• Think about the Wi-Fi. Solid stone walls and tall terraces can block a signal between floors, so a mesh kit or a second access point may help.

Working from home?

Video calls lean on a steady upload more than a huge download. If two of you work from home, look for a package with a strong upload, and keep the router somewhere central and in the open rather than tucked in a cupboard.

Switching takes one order

Ofcom’s One Touch Switch rules have covered home broadband since 12 September 2024. You place one order with the new provider, it lets the old one know, and the changeover happens on an agreed day, so you never pay twice for the same line.

Fibre, cable and copper under the city

Direct answer: Homes in Plymouth are served by three kinds of line: full fibre, Virgin Media’s cable and older copper. In January 2026, 96,239 homes could order full fibre, and a further 20,007 could get gigabit only over cable.

Start at the waterline and count upwards. In every 100 homes, 25 already use full fibre and 54 could order it today. Another 16 get gigabit only through cable, and 5 have no gigabit-capable line yet. Altogether that leaves 6,265 of the city’s 122,511 homes without gigabit.

A quick word on the jargon. A gigabit-capable line can carry a thousand megabits a second, enough for a full house to stream, game and join video calls at once. Full fibre brings glass all the way to your home. Cable reaches gigabit downloads by mixing fibre in the street with copper coaxial wire into the house.

Cable matters more here than in most places. It adds 16.3 points to Plymouth’s gigabit figure, against 7.5 points across England, which puts the city 40th of England’s 296 councils for cable’s extra reach. So if your street has no full fibre yet, gigabit may still be one order away.

Full fibre is still catching up. The city’s 78.6% sits 3.4 points below England’s 82%, while its gigabit share is 5.4 points above. Ofcom also counted the slowest lines. 1,116 homes, 0.9% of the city, could not get 30Mbit/s. Once fixed wireless was included, none fell below its decent broadband bar: “a download speed of at least 10 Mbit/s and an upload speed of at least 1 Mbit/s”.

Twenty wards, ranked

Direct answer: Ofcom’s ward-level picture has to be built by hand: it counts gigabit lines in tiny census areas, which we totalled for all 20 wards. In fourteen of them, at least 95% of homes can get gigabit, and Peverell leads on 99.5%.

These are long-standing wards. The City of Plymouth (Electoral Changes) Order 2002 says: “Article 3 abolishes the existing wards of the city and provides for the creation of 20 new wards.” The new map applied from the elections of 1 May 2003, so a ward name you know from years ago almost certainly still fits.

Close behind Peverell come Plympton Chaddlewood on 98.8%, Moor View on 98.5% and Honicknowle on 98.4%. Twelve wards reach 97% or more. At the other end, two wards fall below 90%: St Peter and the Waterfront on 85.8%, and Drake on 75.2%.

Drake’s low figure needs a footnote. Ofcom could not match 907 of its 5,123 homes to any network’s records, 18% of the ward. Ofcom counts such homes as having no gigabit line, and among the homes it could match, gigabit reaches 91.4%. The city centre ward includes many purpose-built student blocks, where records can lag behind.

From top to bottom, the gap is 24.3 points. Read your ward’s figure as a picture of the neighbourhood rather than a verdict on your front door, since fibre can reach one terrace months before the next. The ward card pulls up any ward in a tap, and the postcode check settles your own street.

Where the slow lines are left

Direct answer: Ofcom found 1,116 homes in the city unable to get 30Mbit/s in January 2026. St Peter and the Waterfront held 548 of them, 49% of the total, while Stoke ward had not a single one.

St Peter and the Waterfront takes in the Barbican and the Hoe. It is a ward of flats: 83.6% of households live in one, the highest share in the city. It is also the largest ward by homes, 10,583, and 1,502 of them have no gigabit line.

Blocks of flats are often the last place a network reaches, because it has to run fibre through shared corridors to every front door, and the building owner has to sign a wayleave first. Renting a flat on the waterfront or in the centre? Your landlord or managing agent should know if any network has asked for access.

Devonport comes next with 152 slow lines, then Honicknowle with 64 and Drake with 57. Together, Drake and St Peter and the Waterfront hold 44% of the city’s homes without a gigabit line. Across the other wards, slow lines are scattered: a handful here and there.

Around the city, area by area

Direct answer: Plymouth’s 20 wards fall into six broad areas, each with its own broadband story. Most of the north and the eastern suburbs are close to full gigabit cover, while the city centre and the waterfront have the most catching up to do.

The city centre and the waterfront

St Peter and the Waterfront and Drake are the two wards where gigabit falls below 90%, at 85.8% and 75.2%. Both are full of flats: 83.6% and 56.7% of households live in one. If you live in a block here, the building’s owner is often the key to getting fibre in, so it is worth asking.

Devonport and Stoke

West of the centre, Stoke reaches 98.3% gigabit and has no homes below 30Mbit/s at all. Devonport stands at 94.7%, with 152 slow lines, the second most in the city. Devonport’s exchange was the first in Plymouth to stop selling copper, on 19 August 2025.

From Peverell to Mount Gould

Peverell tops the city on 99.5%, with Sutton and Mount Gould on 97.8%, Compton on 97.2% and Efford and Lipson on 97.2%. These are mostly streets of terraces and semis, where fibre usually runs straight to the front door. Sutton and Mount Gould is one of the two most terraced wards, at 51.0%.

The northern estates

Honicknowle on 98.4%, Moor View on 98.5%, Ham on 97.6%, Eggbuckland on 97.4% and Budshead on 97.3% all sit above 97%. St Budeaux reaches 95.7% and Southway 93.1%. The St Budeaux exchange stopped selling copper on 14 February 2026, so a new order there is likely to be on fibre.

Social renting is a big part of life here. Honicknowle has the highest share in the city, 35.5%, and Budshead and St Budeaux are not far behind. If you rent from a housing association, ask whether it has an agreement with a network for your block or street.

Plympton

Plympton Chaddlewood is second in the city on 98.8%. Plympton St Mary reaches 95.1% and Plympton Erle 92.8%, with 50 slow lines. The Plympton exchange is on Openreach’s list with no date yet, so copper is still on sale there for now.

Plymstock

Plymstock Dunstone reaches 97.9% and Plymstock Radford 93.5%. This is the city’s most detached corner: 37.1% of Dunstone’s households live in a detached house. The Plymstock exchange stopped selling copper on 19 August 2026.

Whichever part of the city you call home, these figures describe the neighbourhood rather than your house. The ward card brings up every number for one ward, and the postcode check lists the deals at your own front door.

The city’s three constituencies

Direct answer: Plymouth Moor View leads the three seats on full fibre with 83.0%, and South West Devon is lowest on 69.1%. The gap comes from the South Hams villages in South West Devon; inside the city, its gigabit share is 95.5%.

Plymouth Moor View covers the north of the city: Budshead, Eggbuckland, Ham, Honicknowle, Moor View, Southway, St Budeaux and part of Peverell. It reaches 83.0% full fibre and 97.0% gigabit, the best of the three on both.

Plymouth Sutton and Devonport runs from Devonport and Stoke through the city centre to Mount Gould, Efford and Lipson. It holds the city’s flats and student streets, with 81.3% full fibre and 92.7% gigabit, and 818 of its homes below 30Mbit/s.

South West Devon takes the Plympton and Plymstock wards and then heads into South Hams, adding another 19,372 homes. Out there only 74.6% can get gigabit, which pulls the whole seat down to 86.4%. The city part, at 95.5%, is close to the other two.

The seats are the 2024 constituencies, counted whole by Ofcom. The city-part column totals just the output areas within Plymouth, so it matches the whole-seat figure for Moor View and Sutton and Devonport. Use the headings to re-sort.

One ward straddles a seat line: ONS’s lookup splits Peverell between Moor View and Sutton and Devonport. Add the three city parts together and you arrive at Ofcom’s city total exactly.

For you, the seat figures mostly confirm the wider story: inside the city, gigabit is the norm, and the gaps sit in a few central wards and in the villages beyond the boundary.

Treat the seats as the wide-angle view and the wards as the close-up. Your postcode is all the UK Parliament’s Find your MP service needs to name your constituency.

Plymouth among its Devon neighbours

Direct answer: Of the ten Devon councils, Plymouth comes first for gigabit, at 94.9%, and third for full fibre, at 78.6%. Torbay leads Devon on full fibre with 85.4%. Across the South West’s twenty-seven councils, Plymouth is 2nd for gigabit.

Devon’s ten councils together reach 73.9% full fibre and 79.4% gigabit, and the South West region 76.0% and 82.0%. Plymouth sits well ahead of both on gigabit and a little ahead on full fibre, coming 10th in the region for full fibre.

The city’s land neighbours are rural. South Hams has 61.2% full fibre and West Devon 65.2%, where long country lanes make homes costlier to reach. Across the Tamar, Cornwall stands at 66.9%. Exeter, the other big Devon city, has 79.9% full fibre and 91.0% gigabit.

Torbay is the mirror image of Plymouth. It has more full fibre, 85.4%, but less gigabit overall, 89.8%, because far less of its gigabit comes from cable. Both cities give you a good chance of a fast line, through different networks.

Across all 296 English councils, Plymouth ranks 75th for gigabit and 180th for full fibre. Among the 84 councils with more than 100,000 homes, it is 33rd for gigabit. For you, that means a gigabit line is more likely here than in most of England, even where full fibre has not yet arrived.

Moving within Devon? The jump from city to countryside can be steep. A home in South Hams or West Devon is far less likely to have gigabit than one in Plymouth, so check a rural address before you commit to a move.

Rankings only go so far, of course. What counts is your own address: the networks that reach it, the speeds they offer and the prices on the table. The postcode check shows all three in a few seconds.

The 2029 plans: a tide gauge for every council

Direct answer: The builders’ own plans, as Ofcom publishes them, take Plymouth from 78.6% full fibre today to 95.5% by January 2029, the highest in Devon. England’s forecast is 92.2%. That would leave 5,460 homes outside every full fibre plan.

Counted in homes, the plans bring full fibre to 20,812 more. Gigabit, cable included, would rise to 98.0%, against 95.3% for England, and Ofcom’s file expects 11 to 15 gigabit operators in the city by then.

Competition is the good news. By 2029, the plans give 85.1% of homes a choice of at least two gigabit networks (England: 74.0%), putting Plymouth first in Devon and 22nd among England’s big councils. Three or more is rarer: 20.8%, against 36.0% for England.

Across the Tamar, Cornwall’s plans are even bolder, at 96.3%. Inside Devon, North Devon has the furthest to climb, from 62.4% today to 91.1%.

When the builders reach your road

A full fibre build usually starts with a letter or leaflet, then short works in the pavement or on the poles. Connecting your home is a separate step: once the network is outside, you order a fibre deal and an engineer fits a small box inside, often in a single visit.

Still waiting for fibre in your road? Tell the networks, because interest from residents helps them pick the next streets. Openreach has a sign-up for build news, and your current provider can tell you what is planned for your street.

Public funding barely features in Plymouth. Ofcom’s file shows only 7 planned new lines here paid for by the taxpayer, and 30 postcodes with no gigabit plan at all. Each forecast is the builder’s own, which makes it a plan you can watch rather than a promise.

Ordering the upgrade: room to catch up

Direct answer: In January 2026, 32% of the Plymouth homes offered full fibre were using it. Across England the figure is 46.2%, weighting each council by its homes with full fibre. Put another way, around 65,400 homes could order fibre today and have not.

That puts the city tenth of the ten Devon councils for take-up, 25th of the South West’s twenty-seven, and 273rd of England’s 296. East Devon leads the county on 62%. Devon as a whole, weighted the same way, stands at 47.2%.

Openreach spotted the pattern early. In August 2024 it said fibre in Plymouth was going unused, “just 21 per cent of people adopting the service where it’s available, lagging behind the UK average of 34 per cent”. Martin Williams, its Partnership Director for the South West, added: “Ultrafast broadband can have a huge impact on people’s lives and it’s great for the economy but upgrades aren’t automatic.”

Cable is part of the reason here. Thousands of homes already get fast downloads over Virgin Media and see little cause to move. Others are in contract, or have not heard that fibre has reached their road. Nobody upgrades you automatically, so the faster line waits until you ask.

Happy on cable? Then you already have a gigabit-capable line, and there is no need to change for the sake of it. A comparison still helps, because the same speed can cost quite different amounts from one provider to the next.

Is full fibre worth ordering?

For most homes, yes. It keeps its speed in the evening rush, copes when everyone is online at once and tends to fault less than copper. Many entry-level fibre deals cost much the same as the copper deals they replace, and a light user can pick a modest speed and keep the bill low.

Past your minimum term? Your monthly price has probably crept above what new customers pay, so a quick comparison is worth it even if you decide to stay. Still in contract? Put the end date in your diary and compare a month or so ahead.

Cable or full fibre: which suits you?

Direct answer: In much of Plymouth you can choose between Virgin Media’s cable and full fibre. Both can reach gigabit download speeds. The differences that matter most are upload speed, which providers you can pick from, and price.

Virgin Media O2 said on 7 December 2021: “Virgin Media O2 has today completed the upgrade of its entire national network to gigabit speeds”. Its Gig1 service then averaged 1,130Mbps downloads. In Plymouth, Ofcom counts 20,007 homes where cable is the only gigabit option, so for them the choice today is cable or a slower line.

Where full fibre has the edge

• Uploads. Many full fibre packages upload as fast as they download, which helps if you work from home, stream games or back up photos.
• Choice of provider. Openreach full fibre is sold by dozens of providers, and CityFibre by a growing list, so you can shop around on the same line.
• Room to grow. Glass to the home has plenty of headroom, and some networks already sell speeds above a gigabit.

Where cable can make sense

• It may already be in the house. If your home has a Virgin Media socket, getting connected can be quick.
• TV bundles. If you want broadband, TV and phone from one company, cable bundles are worth pricing.
• It is gigabit today. Where full fibre has not reached your street, cable may be the fastest line you can order now.

Questions to ask before you choose

• What upload speed will I get? Ask for the typical upload as well as the download.
• What will it cost after the first year? Check the yearly price rises written into the contract.
• Is the bundle worth it? Price the broadband on its own too, so you can see what the TV or phone extras really cost.
• How long is the contract? Make sure it fits your plans, especially if you rent or expect to move.

Whichever you pick, the price you pay matters as much as the technology. Your postcode results show cable and full fibre deals side by side, so you can see the monthly cost, the contract length and the speeds for your own address in one place.

A tip for renters and students: ask what is already installed before you order. A home with a cable socket or a fibre box on the wall can often be connected sooner, and your landlord may already know which networks reach the building.

Who builds the lines

Direct answer: Openreach and CityFibre both build full fibre in Plymouth, and Virgin Media’s cable adds gigabit in many streets. Openreach said on 12 August 2024 that more than 60,000 homes and businesses in the Plymouth area could already order its full fibre.

Openreach

On 12 August 2024, Openreach said: “More than 60,000 homes and businesses in the Plymouth area can already order some of the fastest, most reliable broadband in Europe thanks to a £30 million commercial investment by Openreach.” It named the next areas: “Thousands more properties across the city will soon be able to upgrade to ultrafast broadband in areas like St Budeaux, Plymstock, Crownhill, Plympton and Devonport.” And it set out its aim: “Openreach has announced plans to invest in Full Fibre broadband for the majority of premises in all six telephone exchange areas of the City.”

Openreach was clear that nothing happens on its own. In Martin Williams’s words: “People need to place an order with their chosen provider to get connected and we’ll do the rest.” So if fibre has reached your street, the upgrade starts with an order from you.

Luke Pollard, MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, joined the engineers on that visit and said: “Faster internet is good for everyone, and Plymouth needs faster internet.” Openreach’s full fibre now reaches more than 23.5 million premises across the UK, by its own count of 8 October 2026.

CityFibre

CityFibre began its Plymouth build on 27 January 2021. In its words: “As part of a £52m private investment from CityFibre, Plymouth will benefit from a city-wide full fibre network”. It added: “Construction work has officially commenced in Plymouth’s Estover area, with the rest of the city set to follow over the next three to four years.” The construction partner was local: “Oakway Limited is delivering the construction programme on CityFibre’s behalf”.

CityFibre has published no Plymouth homes figure since, so we cannot say how much of the city it reaches today. It sells through partner providers rather than under its own name, and where it reaches your address, those providers appear in your postcode results.

Virgin Media O2

Virgin Media’s cable is the reason Plymouth’s gigabit figure runs so far ahead of its full fibre. The company gives national figures rather than a Plymouth count, but Ofcom’s numbers show the effect: 20,007 homes reach gigabit through cable alone. If you are one of them, Virgin Media is your gigabit route for now.

The city council

The council’s own fibre project served public buildings rather than homes. Its page describes a fibre connection to 131 public sector buildings in Plymouth, South Hams and West Devon, paid for by a £2.2 million government grant. It adds: “The contract to install the network has been awarded to BT.”

Netomnia, Brsk and YouFibre

We found no statement from Netomnia, Brsk or YouFibre about building in Plymouth. All three belong to Substantial Group, and nexfibre agreed on 18 February 2026 to buy that group for £2 billion. The Competition and Markets Authority moved its review to Phase 2 on 1 July 2026 and set out provisional findings on 2 October 2026. Its decision is due by 15 December 2026.

Which providers use which network

The company on your bill is often not the one that owns the line, which is why a single road can offer dozens of deals.

• Openreach: BT, Sky, TalkTalk, EE, Vodafone, Plusnet and a long list of smaller providers.
• CityFibre: partner providers that sell over its network; your postcode results name the ones available to you.
• Virgin Media’s cable: Virgin Media itself.

Add businesses to the count and the January 2026 picture is 78.2% of all premises with full fibre on offer and 93.8% with gigabit. For your home, the brand on the van matters less than which of these networks actually reaches your door.

Home phones move to digital

Direct answer: Openreach plans to close the old analogue phone network on 31 January 2027, and its count on 30 October 2026 found approximately one million copper-based lines remain active across the UK. For most Plymouth homes, the change means a phone plugged into the router instead of the wall.

James Lilley, Openreach’s Director of All-IP, said on 30 October 2026: “The straightforward migrations have largely been completed.” Many of the lines left are tricky cases, and Openreach names two: “Lift emergency telephones and auto-diallers”, and “Fire alarm communication panels and security monitoring systems”. Live in a block with a lift, or rely on a warden alarm? Your landlord or managing agent should know the plan.

Lines that have not moved by the closing date may be transferred automatically to EVAc, a temporary, last-resort service for essential calls. Openreach also says: “Where technically possible, Openreach will keep linked broadband services running.” For most households the real job is small: the provider organises the change and the phone plugs into the router.

Your provider should contact you before your own line moves, and many homes have already switched without noticing much change. If you have not heard anything and still use a home phone, it is worth asking your provider when your turn comes.

Before the change: a short checklist

• Still using the landline? Your provider can explain how calls will work afterwards, and you can usually keep your number.
• Something else on the phone line? Alarms, door entry panels and some card machines may depend on it, so contact the company that looks after them.
• Worried about power cuts? A digital phone needs mains power, so keep a charged mobile handy or ask about battery backup.

Five exchanges stopping copper sales

Direct answer: Openreach’s stop sell list includes five exchanges in Plymouth. Copper broadband is already off sale at three of them: Devonport from 19 August 2025, St Budeaux from 14 February 2026 and Plymstock from 19 August 2026. Plymouth (PY) follows on 12 February 2027, and Plympton is listed with no date yet.

Stop sell and the phone switch-off run on separate timetables. Openreach explained the trigger on 8 October 2026: “Stop Sell is triggered when 75% of premises served by an exchange can access Full Fibre broadband.” Homes without fibre yet can relax. Openreach says: “Customers in these exchanges not yet able to get Ultrafast Full Fibre at their premises won’t be impacted and can stay on their existing copper-based service until Full Fibre does become available.”

Plymouth (PY), the city-centre exchange, joined the list in tranche 23; its row was last changed on 16 January 2026. Plympton’s row has shown TBD for both its date and its tranche since 20 July 2022. Plymstock appears on the list under its own name, but its two wards are part of the city.

Around the city, four of the six nearby exchanges we list are already past their copper stop sell date, from Liskeard and Landrake in Cornwall to Tavistock and Kingsbridge in Devon. An exchange takes its name from its building, so the one serving your home may carry the name of the next district. Your provider, or Openreach’s address checker, can tell you which it is.

Two questions for your provider

Not sure where you stand? Ask which exchange your line runs from, and whether full fibre is available at your exact address. The answers tell you whether stop sell affects you and what an upgrade would involve, and they take a minute on the phone or in an online chat.

Stop sell in practice

• Staying put? Nothing changes for you, apart from the national landline move by 31 January 2027.
• Ordering at a listed exchange? Where your home has fibre, a new order goes onto it.
• No fibre at home yet? Your copper service carries on as before.

Sources: the Tranche 26 announcement from Openreach on 8 October 2026, the Tranche 25 announcement of 27 July 2026, and the stop sell list in version 35, issued 8 October 2026.

Planning a move? Look up the new address early so the line is live on day one; our moving checklist has the steps, and the stop sell explainer lists exchanges nationwide.

A city of terraces and flats

Direct answer: Terraces are Plymouth’s classic home: 32.8% of its 114,558 households lived in one at the 2021 census, against 23.0% across England, the 28th highest share of England’s 296 councils. Flats make up another 25.4%, the 63rd highest.

Semis account for 30.1% of homes, close to England’s 31.5%, while detached houses are much rarer, 11.4% against 22.9%. Stoke and Sutton and Mount Gould are the most terraced wards, both at 51.0%, and St Peter and the Waterfront is mostly flats, at 83.6%.

Renting is common. 21,111 households, 18.4%, rent from a social landlord, the 75th highest share in England, against 17.1% nationally. Private renting, including rent-free homes, stands at 22.7%, and 58.8% own their home. Drake, which holds the University of Plymouth’s main campus, is the private renting capital, at 63.1%.

The suburbs look different again. Plymstock Dunstone has the most detached houses, 37.1%, and Plympton St Mary the most semis, 62.5%, and the highest share of home owners, 84.9%. Honicknowle has the most social renting, at 35.5%.

What your type of home means for an upgrade

For a house, the usual job is one visit: fibre comes from the nearest pole or underground duct to a small box fixed low on an inside wall. Terraces with a door to the street are among the easiest installs, and a mesh kit can carry Wi-Fi to the top of a tall one.

Flats take a little longer, because the network needs the freeholder’s permission to run fibre through the building. If you live in a block, ask the managing agent which networks have been in touch. Once one network is in, every flat can usually order it.

Not sure what is in your home already? Look for a small white box on a wall near a socket, which usually means full fibre has been fitted, or a cable socket on the skirting, which points to Virgin Media. Either can mean a quicker connection.

Students, renters and people on the move

Direct answer: Many Plymouth households rent, and many move often: 22.7% rent privately and 18.4% rent from a social landlord. If that is you, the right contract length and a quick look at what is already installed can save you time and money.

Students in shared houses

In a shared house, one person usually holds the account, so agree in writing who that is and how the bill will be split. Check the contract length against the tenancy, because a deal that runs past the end of the lease can leave someone paying for a line nobody uses.

Halls of residence often include internet in the rent, so read your accommodation agreement before you order anything. In a shared house, a single good deal split four or five ways usually works out cheaper than several separate ones.

Renting privately

You can usually switch provider on the line already in the property without needing anyone’s permission. A new connection that needs drilling or new cabling usually needs your landlord’s agreement; if the reply is slow, our guide to tenants’ rights sets out the options.

Moving to or around the city

Order your new line a few weeks before you move if you can, because a new connection can take time to arrange. Moving for work, including a forces posting? Check the new address as soon as you have it, because the postcode check shows what is available before you sign anything.

If your stay is short, a rolling contract, or a 4G or 5G router for the first few weeks, may suit you better than a long deal. Either way, set the full cost over your time in the home against the monthly price.

Paying less: social tariffs and cheaper deals

Direct answer: A social tariff could bring your bill below a standard deal if you get Universal Credit, Pension Credit or one of several other benefits. Renters qualify as well as owners, and you will find options on most networks.

BT Home Essentials, on Openreach lines, costs from £16.50 a month. Vodafone Essentials costs £20 a month, gives up to 80 Mbps and runs for 12 months. Virgin Media and several full fibre networks run their own social tariffs too, and each sets its own rules on who qualifies.

Before you switch, look at three things on your current bill: the monthly price once any discount ends, the date your minimum term finishes, and any yearly price rise written into the contract. With those to hand, you can compare like for like when your postcode results appear, and spot whether a new deal really saves you money over the full term.

With 21,111 households renting from a social landlord, many Plymouth homes may qualify. Ofcom lists 33 social tariffs, and the social tariff guide explains who can apply for each one.

Three ways to trim the bill on any network

• Pick the speed you need. A couple who stream and browse rarely need the top package, so a mid-range speed can cut the bill with no noticeable difference.
• Check the extras. Boosters, TV add-ons and call packages you no longer use can quietly add to each month.
• Talk to your provider at renewal. A cheaper quote from the postcode results gives you something concrete to point to.

Not eligible? You can still pay less. Out-of-contract customers often pay more than new ones for the same line, so the quickest saving can be a switch, or a call to your provider armed with a cheaper quote. Your postcode results open with the lowest price, which makes it easy to set a social tariff and an ordinary deal side by side.

Look up your ward

Direct answer: Choose one of the 20 wards and a card appears, comparing its coverage with the city figure, naming the seat it sits in and describing its homes at the 2021 census. The card is built in your browser, so your choice stays on your device.

A short glossary of broadband words

Direct answer: Broadband comes with its own jargon. Here is what the terms on this page mean, in a sentence or two each, so you can read any deal with confidence.

Full fibre

A line made of glass fibre all the way from the network to your home. It is often written FTTP, fibre to the premises.

Gigabit-capable

A line that can carry a thousand megabits a second. In Plymouth that means full fibre or Virgin Media’s cable.

Cable

Virgin Media’s network, which uses fibre in the street and copper coaxial wire into the home.

Superfast

Ofcom’s term for a download speed of at least 30Mbit/s.

Take-up

Of the homes that can order full fibre, the share that have.

Stop sell

When Openreach stops selling copper broadband at an exchange, so new orders go onto fibre where it is available.

Fibre box

The small white box an engineer fits inside your home, where the fibre line ends. Openreach calls it an optical network terminal.

Wayleave

Permission from a landowner or freeholder for a network to run its cables across or through their property, which blocks of flats often need.

One Touch Switch

Ofcom’s process that lets you switch broadband by contacting only your new provider.

Social tariff

A lower-priced broadband package for households on certain benefits.

Digital landline

A home phone that carries calls over your broadband line rather than the old analogue network.

Spotted a term in a deal that is not here? The provider has to explain it before you sign, so you can always ask what it means for you.

How we worked out these figures

Direct answer: Every figure on this page comes from a published file, and you can check each one. City, council and seat figures are Ofcom’s own, ward figures are our sums of Ofcom’s smallest areas, and housing comes from the 2021 census.

Ofcom publishes coverage for very small census areas, called output areas. ONS publishes a lookup that places each output area in a ward and in a Westminster seat. We added up the 866 output areas in Plymouth ward by ward, and the totals match Ofcom’s city row exactly.

Two limits are worth knowing. Ofcom’s output area file has no full fibre column, so ward cards show gigabit and use the seat’s full fibre share instead. And Ofcom counts homes it cannot match to any network’s records as having no gigabit line, which pulls Drake down, as the ward section explains.

Take-up comes from Ofcom’s council file, which rounds to whole numbers. Where we give a figure for Devon, the South West or England, we weight each council by its covered homes. The 2029 figures are the builders’ own forecasts, gathered and published by Ofcom, so read them as plans.

Census figures are counts of households in 2021, added up the same way. ONS adjusts very small counts slightly to protect privacy, so our ward totals can differ by a few households from the city row. If you spot something that looks wrong, tell us, and the corrections section shows how we put mistakes right.

Where the old page went wrong

Direct answer: Twelve statements on the previous version failed our checks. Coverage figures appeared without a source, a takeover still under review was described as done, and provider counts and market shares came from comparison sites. One sentence even gave a Bristol postcode.

Much of the old page’s length came from undated prices and provider lists lifted from comparison sites. Here, a figure stays only if Ofcom, the census, Plymouth City Council or the company itself published it. Prices are set nationally and move often, which is why your postcode search is where you will see today’s.

In short: the city’s broadband in eight lines

1. Gigabit reached 94.9% of Plymouth homes in January 2026, against England’s 89.5%, and full fibre 78.6% (Ofcom).
2. That makes the city 75th of England’s 296 councils for gigabit and first in Devon, with cable adding 16.3 points.
3. Take-up is the weak spot: just 32% of homes offered full fibre had taken it, the lowest in Devon, against 46.2% across England.
4. Gigabit coverage tops 95% in fourteen of the 20 wards, while Drake and St Peter and the Waterfront trail.
5. Openreach and CityFibre both build full fibre here, and Virgin Media’s cable gives 20,007 homes their only gigabit option.
6. The builders’ plans would take full fibre to 95.5% of homes by January 2029, with two or more gigabit networks for 85.1%.
7. Copper is off sale at three of the city’s five exchanges; Plymouth (PY) follows on 12 February 2027, and the analogue phone network closes on 31 January 2027.
8. An average for a whole city cannot speak for one house, so your postcode is the way to see the networks and prices at your door.

Each line is dated and sourced, so you can lift any single one into your own writing. We recheck the page at least once a quarter, and the latest review was on 4 November 2026.