If you’re looking to buy your first home in the UK, there’s a good chance that one of the factors you’ll be considering is whether or not it has access to fibre high speed internet. But internet packages can get confusing! We explain below why you need a fibre connection and how it can add thousands to your property’s value.
Who Needs Fast Internet?
Internet is an essential tool for the home whether you’re a young twenty year old at university, a parent managing a family or an employee working remotely. Since the pandemic most of the world has had to stay at home for at least some period of time. This means that a fast internet connection becomes an essential tool for you going about your business.
People in a house share may also require a high speed connection especially if they’re all into streaming tv shows at the same time!
What internet do you really need? Will a fibre internet improve the home value? And do you want to be looking red faced when everyone else has upgraded whilst you are still on a basic connection? If you need some answers, then this blog post will tell you all about what other benefits a high speed internet connection could bring for your home.
In terms of your home, high speed fibre optic broadband is a must have for any new owner as it will provide you with many benefits throughout your ownership.
What is fibre internet?
Let’s go back to basics. What is “fibre” internet?
Fibre high speed internet uses optical fibre cables which run from telephone exchanges or street cabinets, as opposed to older copper cable technology used by more old fashioned internet companies. They work by transmitting pulses of light down hair-thin strands of glass or plastic fiber. It sounds technical, but it all happens under the ground and you don’t need to worry about it.
The main point is that fibre is a type of internet connection that can easily carry large amounts of data – and it makes your connection faster. This means faster download times for movies and better functioning for video apps like Instagram and TikTok (no more waiting for stories to load).
What happened before fibre internet?
Before fibre internet came along, many broadband companies would only offer a basic internet connection that used copper wiring (called ADSL). This meant that the maximum speed you could get was around 80 Mbps (Megabits per second), and for many places this speed was much lower. According to an official report by the regulator, back in 2017 the average internet speed was only 36 Mbps and 4 out of 10 houses had less than this.
Will Fibre Improve My Home Value?
The majority of UK households receive an average broadband speed of 12-20Mbps. However, there is large disparity in the speeds that are offered by different broadband providers.
If your home is only one of a few in an area that receive a super fast internet connection, it can be an attractive benefit that may convince a buyer to offer more money.
In fact, the results of one poll showed that some buyers would pay over £10,000 above their asking price for a super fast internet connection. Remember to avoid overpaying for your first home and follow our key tips.
What can fibre internet do for my home?
A few things really:
Reduced Buffering Times
Remember having to restart the router when your connection struggled to buffer videos or play any useful content? Those days are pretty much gone when fibre is installed.
Social media apps like Instagram, Facebook and Tiktok are rapidly moving away from text based content and pushing past image content onto video content. High speed fibre creates a much more stable connection when it comes to viewing content on these apps. Your buffering times will be drastically reduced and the quality of your internet connection is much more reliable.
Perfect for Smart TVs
But social media isn’t the only reason for a fast connection.
Many homes now have smart TVs that use a lot of data. These TVs are starting to become the norm in most homes and are quickly becoming essential for anyone who wants to buy a home. Apps like Netflix, Amazon Prime, NowTV and Disney+ all require a good internet connection.
Netflix even provide a more crisp video quality if your connection can handle it (although this is more of their premium subscription).
Kitchen Internet Devices
Many new kitchen devices are also being built with a stable internet connection in mind.
The internet of things (IoT) has quickly become one of the biggest technological revolutions of our generation. The idea behind IoT is that everyday household items are outfitted with sensors and connectivity to allow them to transmit data back to a centralized hub. These devices can then be controlled or programmed remotely.
Things like smart fridges, ovens, blenders, coffee machines and even taps are now being connected to the internet. At the moment these kitchen add-ons are more of an extra instead of a complete stable. But it’s only a matter of time before more home owners want these in their homes, and it all requires a good internet connection.
If your target home area does not have a fibre connection, it’s really important to look into when your area will be planning to get one. Most broadband companies publish news updates on when they expect to roll out high speed internet in the area.
Many people are installing these devices in their home without even realizing it because increasingly more companies are coming up with new ways to use technology for convenience.
Are internet companies interested in providing fibre internet to me?
Simply put, yes!
Because connections are faster, internet companies tend to charge a little more for a fibre connection compared to a slower connection.
In recent years broadband companies have been investing heavily in improving their internet networks. These improvements have in part been as a result of government regulation forcing the companies to upgrade their infrastructure.
This means a faster connection for more of the country.
Best Fibre Providers
We currently rate the following providers for the best fibre offers:
Hyperoptic
Hyperoptic have now been around for over 10 years and are in over 60 towns and cities in the UK (and growing). They have previously partnered up with local governments and house builders for new build homes, but are also rolling out fibre speeds to existing properties.
This company provides the fastest internet speed that we’ve seen to date. Most broadband providers can offer a speed measured in Mbs (for example 30 Mbs). Hyperoptic offer speeds of 1,000 Mbs, which they shorted to 1 Gbs. This is seriously fast!