Home broadband is the name given to the high-speed communications system in our homes that links our computers, mobile phones and other digital devices to the internet, allowing us to access the web, email, streaming tv and countless other online services at high speeds. Home broadband uses a cable, DSL or satellite modem that is hooked up to an Internet Service Provider (ISP), and the home network uses wired Ethernet and wireless Wi-Fi technologies, both of which are considerably faster than the broadband speeds of most internet connections.

Standing out above the rest is full fibre broadband, which uses fibre optic cables that are a lot better at transferring data than your standard copper cables. In a nutshell, you can do all the things you love like online gaming and streaming movies and music a lot faster with full fibre home broadband – find great deals on full fibre home broadband today here at G Network. 

Copper broadband

Copper broadband uses a traditional copper telephone line to connect from a local telephone exchange, onto a green street cabinet, and then to your home. With copper the broadband signal gets slower over distance - so if you live a long way from the nearest green cabinet - slower speeds are inevitable! 

Fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) 

Fibre connections are different to copper because they use fibre-optic cables instead of traditional copper. Fibre cables are made up of a bundle of thin glass ‘fibre’ threads which can carry broadband signals quicker and more efficiently. Fibre to the cabinet broadband carries your connection from the local telephone exchange to the street cabinet. The final connection from the street cabinet to your home is usually over an older copper wire telephone line - this is sometimes known as ‘partial fibre’. 

Fibre to the premises (FTTP) 

This is commonly known as ‘full fibre’ broadband. A full fibre-optic broadband connection uses the newest technology fibre-optic cables to carry your broadband all the way from the local exchange to your home. Full-fibre offers the fastest speeds and the best reliability broadband. 

The short answer is yes – you can get home broadband without a phone line but your choices will be somewhat limited. Most UK providers work on the Openreach network which carries the broadband signal into your home via the old copper telephone wires, so if you wish to get broadband without a phone line you will have to choose a provider that does not use Openreach. 

There are many different things to consider when trying to choose the correct broadband package for your home. The most important things to keep in mind are the speed, usage and the cost of the package, and to determine this you will need to first understand the exact type of broadband user you are:

• How and why you will need to connect to the internet
• How important broadband speed is to you
• How many people in your household will be using the internet
• How many devices will be connected to the internet. 

When it comes to understanding the broadband speed you need for your own home, the first thing you should determine is exactly how many people are in your household and how many people and devices will be needing to use the internet. As a general rule we’d recommend:

• 0-300mb (1-2 per household)
• 300-600mb (3+ users per household)
• 600mb-1Gb (serious streaming household)