Fibre

A few things drive the need for fast broadband. Today, the main one is usually a desire to stream movies from Netflix and similar services in good quality without lots of annoying pauses for buffering. It’s almost essential if you want to watch 4K or ultra high definition (UHD) video instead of HD (720p) or Full HD (1080p).

Families also need faster broadband when they are competing for bandwidth. It’s quite common to have people streaming different movies or TV programmes, watching YouTube videos and playing games at the same time. Gamers usually prefer fibre-style connections because they are more responsive: there’s less latency or lagging. People who still download large files will obviously prefer high-speed connections, too.

People who work from home definitely benefit from having responsive, fibre-style broadband. Aside from the advantages of much faster upload speeds – handy when you are sending files back to the office – the connections are more consistent and more reliable than ADSL. It’s very frustrating if your broadband connection drops just when you absolutely need it to work.

Speed matters

One of the problems with delivering broadband over copper cables is that internet service providers (ISPs) cannot guarantee any particular speed. It depends on too many variables, including the distance from the telephone exchange, the quality of the wiring, the number of joints in the wiring, the faceplate in the home, the quality of the router, and the time of day. Broadband is a finite resource, so services are slower during peak times.

Previously, ISPs quoted the speeds that the various technologies could provide, whether that was ADSL, ADSL2+, FTTC, cable, wireless or whatever. This created frustration because only around 10% of customers actually got those speeds.