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To find the right broadband deal for your household, you’ll need to know what broadband is available in your area. Despite the high number of broadband providers on the market, none of them serve the entirety of the UK, so you’ll have to check which ones offer services in your region.
To make finding the best broadband in your area as easy as possible, our expert team has catalogued everything you need to consider and some important factors to keep in mind when picking a new package.
If you’re looking for broadband deals available in your area, there are several things you can do to ensure you’re making an informed choice.
Testing your current internet speeds will not only show if you are actually getting the advertised speeds, but can also inform you if you need to upgrade to a faster package or a better suited provider. Use our broadband speed guide to find out more.
Opting for a longer broadband contract will likely be more cost effective in the long run, however, you may need to look towards no-contract broadband packages if you don’t want to be locked into a lengthy commitment.
While you may think opting for a larger broadband provider is safer, you should still check how they treat their customers. Our highest rated broadband provider is Hyperoptic, while the lowest is Virgin Media. You can discover more about each company by visiting our broadband provider’s page.
Our postcode checker offers immediate access to all the best deals in your area. You can filter these results by price, contract length, download speed and more to help you tailor the best deal for your needs.
To give you a better understanding of broadband in your area, we catalogued the difference between each area in the UK’s mean advertised speed compared it with the mean actual broadband speeds people received.
As you can see, Northern Ireland has a mean advertised broadband speed of 126Mbps, and the actual speeds the region receives are very similar at 118Mbps. On the other hand, the mean advertised speed for Brighton is 205Mbps, but the actual speed received by residents is much lower, at 139Mbps. Ideally, you want the actual speeds you receive to be as close as possible to the speeds advertised on your chosen broadband deal, else they may not be enough to satisfy your household’s needs.
A variety of factors can impact your broadband speeds and can result in you not receiving your advertised speeds or paying for a subpar service. To help you understand what is causing slower than advertised speeds in your household, we will run through some common issues and how you can solve them.
Basic broadband, also known as ADSL broadband, suffers from signal degradation, meaning that speeds are lower the further away you are from a telephone exchange.
However, we surveyed over 2,000 broadband customers1 and found that just 10 per cent of respondents use basic broadband. Most of them live in rural areas where broadband options are more limited, so if you live in a more populated region, you likely won’t need to worry about your proximity to an exchange.
While it may seem counterintuitive, living in a busier area allows for faster broadband speeds. This is because densely populated areas usually have more scope in terms of broadband providers and access to fibre or full fibre broadband.
We asked our survey respondents how often they felt that their broadband speeds matched the originally advertised speeds; 53 per cent of those living in rural areas claimed that their broadband speed Always or Mostly matched their advertised speeds, compared to 67 per cent of people living in urban areas.
You may notice that your broadband speeds slow down at certain times of the day. A surge in the network causes this as more people try to connect to the internet. Home broadband speeds are slower from 8-10pm, with business services most affected during 12-2pm, according to Ofcom2.
Little can be done about slowness during peak times, other than choosing to browse at different times of the day.
Some broadband deals come with fair use policies. These policies can slow your bandwidth down at certain times of the day, especially if you are engaging in intensive activities such as file sharing or large downloads.
If you are engaging in activities deemed as unfair usage, you will be contacted by your broadband provider. Since fair use policies are being phased out it’s unlikely you will run into this issue, but it may be worth switching providers if you are frequently warned about unfair use.
Openreach3 has pledged to deliver ultrafast full fibre broadband to 25 million households and businesses by December 2026. Right now, full fibre is available to 57 per cent of UK households, according to Ofcom4.
Despite recent progress in full fibre availability, coverage is still lower in rural areas (40 per cent) compared to urban ones (59 per cent), according to Ofcom. To help alleviate this disparity, the UK government5 launched Project Gigabit in 2018. This project brought forward the Gigabit Broadband Gigabit Voucher Scheme, which offers eligible homes and businesses up to £4,500 to cover the cost of installing gigabit broadband to their properties. As of June 2023, over 117,000 vouchers have been issued6.
“Knowing what type of broadband is available in your area is the first step to finding a new broadband deal. Not only does it give you an idea of what speeds you can receive, but it also shows you what packages you are eligible for, from rolling contracts to broadband and TV deals.
When looking for broadband deals in your area, you should always consider smaller providers that are local to you. Smaller providers may be more affordable than their larger competitors and can even offer faster speeds, depending on the available infrastructure.”
The table below shows the most common types of broadband and their availability across the UK.
| Types of broadband | Availability |
|---|---|
| Full fibre broadband (FTTP) | 57 per cent7 |
| Fibre broadband (FTTC) | 97 per cent8 |
| (ADSL) Standard broadband | 96 per cent |
| Mobile broadband | N/A |
| Satellite broadband | N/A |
Our survey revealed the most popular types of broadband in each area of the UK, which you can see below. Keep in mind that these aren’t only dependent on the broadband types available in these areas, but will also be the result of personal preferences, budgetary considerations and other factors.
Despite the large number of broadband supplies operating in the UK, no single provider can claim to offer blanket coverage across every corner of the UK. However, some larger providers have bigger scopes than others, making them ideal choices for those with limited options.
BT is the largest broadband provider in the UK and has the most extensive infrastructure, often including remote areas.
Virgin Media has the largest fibre network in the UK and is available in most cities, including Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham. However, it is not as widely available in rural areas.
Sky’s fibre deals are widely available for most UK postcodes, with 11 million homes currently supported9.
If you live in a rural area, your choice of broadband may be limited and you may not have access to fibre-optic broadband deals. If this is the case for you, mobile broadband is a good alternative, with Vodafone and EE offering some of the best deals.
The easiest way to find out what broadband is available in your area is to visit our dedicated pages; we catalogued all the broadband suppliers that operate in various parts of the country and what types of deals you can find.
Finding the cheapest broadband deals in your area involves a bit of research and due diligence to ensure you’re getting both a great price and a reliable connection.
Start by searching for broadband deals online, ensuring the provider covers your location and offers a fast, reliable connection. Look at the total cost of the contract, not just the monthly fee. Setup costs, equipment fees, and price increases after the introductory period can affect the overall affordability.
If you’re already with a provider, sometimes renegotiating your current contract can lead to getting a better deal, especially if you mention a competitor has a lower price.
Broadband connection speeds can vary significantly depending on the type of connection you have, as well as where you live.
Since broadband and TV packages are common among a wide range of broadband suppliers, you should be able to invest in one no matter where you live. These types of deals are generally more expensive than broadband only deals and may require costly installation fees, especially if you need a satellite for your chosen package.
You can find out what TV and broadband deals are available in your area by using the postcode checker at the top of this page.
The best type of broadband for your household will depend on a few factors, namely how many people live with you, what activities you often partake in and how much you want to spend.
In a nutshell, faster broadband is usually more expensive, so you may want to opt for a slower deal if you are hoping to save money. Standard broadband (ADSL) reaches speeds of up to 11Mbps, making it suitable for day to day browsing, but too slow for activities such as video conferencing and gaming.
Fibre deals (FTTC) can reach speeds up to 100Mbps. This type of package is ideal for houses with up to four people and can support 4K streaming and working from home. Full Fibre (FTTP) is best suited for those on the hunt for gaming broadband and can handle up to 10 users.
