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With Fibrehop, you’ll get a full-fibre connection to your home. Full-fibre broadband is the fastest internet connection available and unlike most ‘fibre’ broadband services, it’s made up of 100% pure fibre optic cable, directly into your home. So your family can work, stream and game to their hearts’ content, even during peak times. Until now, most broadband service providers have relied on part-fibre, part-copper networks which have a severely limited bandwidth capability and reliability. This has led to the well-known internet headaches including service drop outs and slow performance. But with Fibrehop, this is no longer a problem as the service is delivered over full-fibre, meaning lots of bandwidth for everyone - even the most data hungry households.
There are a number of factors which can impact your internet speeds. Some which are within our control at Fibrehop and a number which aren’t. Here’s the lowdown:
1. The internet
With Fibrehop, we provide you with a connection to the internet. When you use this to access websites and other online services, you’re not only reliant on the speed of your Fibrehop connection but also the quality of the connection of the service you’re using – which we have no control over. When those services are busy, they can become saturated and slow. An interesting example of this are speed test servers. When a lot of people are checking their speeds at once (e.g. during the Facebook outage), speed test servers can get overloaded and your results will show lower speeds than you actually have available to you over your Fibrehop connection.
2. Our network
If the Fibrehop network became flooded with traffic, it could lead to slow downs and drop-outs. This is very rarely a problem on our network as we monitor traffic in real-time and continually upgrade our bandwidth to make sure we have more than enough for our customers. During extreme usage peaks, for example when widespread software updates are made, you may notice a slowdown in your internet service. This is something happens across all internet service providers and so everybody will be in the same boat.
3. Your router
With Fibrehop, we provide a Technicolour router which we have selected as it is capable of the highest levels of bandwidth (our lab tests have shown speeds of over 940Mbps) whilst remaining cost-effective for our customers. It’s important to note that the maximum speed is based on a wired connection, i.e. when your device is plugged into the router using an Ethernet cable.
4. WiFi
Whilst our Technicolour WiFi 6 enabled router delivers high WiFi speeds, it’s important to note that WiFi speeds are slower than using a wired connection. This is more obvious when using a full-fibre connection as the difference in the wired and WiFi speeds might be more than you’re used to. This is because the higher speeds degrade over distance. WiFi speeds also vary from home to home depending on the size, structure and layout of the property. There are a number of things you can do to help increase your WiFi speeds – take a look at our FAQ below. We can also introduce you to one of our local IT support providers if you need extra help with your home set-up, just email us at team@fibrehop.com
5. Your devices
Many older devices aren’t built to handle the speeds of a full-fibre connection and can limit your speeds to around 80Mbps. You may want to consider upgrading your home devices to newer models that are compatible with WiFi 6 technology. Your PC software including antivirus and other background applications can also limit speeds – you can use the speed test at the Microsoft or Apple stores to check your WiFi speeds outside of the applications running on your device. It’s also worth noting that your router will have a maximum number of devices that can be connected to it. Typically this is 30 devices, however if you have devices carrying out a number of tasks this can be lower.
It’s important to note that the speeds you’re able to get depend heavily upon the devices you are using. Gigabit speed internet connectivity is new in the world of home broadband, which means that many older PCs and devices are not capable of running this fast. This can severely limit your ability to make the most of your Gigabit service. You may choose to upgrade your hardware to WiFi 6 compatible devices to make the most of your Fibrehop connection.
Depending on the structure and layout of your home, you may choose to use Wi-Fi extenders to improve your WiFi speeds across the house. If this is the case, you can give your WiFi a boost and access hard-to-reach areas using internal cabling, third-party WiFi solutions or by using equipment such as the TP-Link Deco 5 and Ubiquity products, available online. If you would like some technical assistance, we can introduce you to one of our local IT support partners. Just get in touch with us at team@fibrehop.com
In order to accurately test your internet speed over your Fibrehop connection you’ll need to plug in a gigabit-capable PC or laptop to the ‘LAN’ port of your Fibrehop router. Remember that Wi-Fi speeds will always be slower than a cabled connection.
At Fibrehop, we believe in empowering local communities. We work with a growing number of local IT specialist partners who can advise and support more complex WiFi requirements and cabling where needed, charged by a standard hourly rate. Email us at team@fibrehop.com if you think you might need some extra technical assistance and we can put you in touch!
If you’re running a business from home and need dedicated, guaranteed bandwidth, you may want to consider taking a business fibre broadband service. Our parent company Triangle Networks provides a range of products including dedicated ‘Ethernet’ services with guaranteed bandwidth options from 100Mbps to 1Gbps. For more information about business connectivity, contact the Triangle team at sales@trianglenetworks.co.uk
If your questions have not been answered here, please get in touch with us at team@fibrehop.com
