Broadband adverts throw words like superfast, ultrafast and full fibre around as if they all mean the same thing. They do not. If you are choosing a connection for your business, knowing the difference saves you money and saves you from a connection that holds you back. Here is the plain version.
The three speed tiers
Broadband splits into three broad bands:
- Standard broadband. Up to around 30Mbps. Fine for browsing and email, but it creaks under a busy team.
- Superfast broadband. Between 30 and 300Mbps. A big step up, and enough for many smaller sites.
- Ultrafast broadband. At least 300Mbps, with some services reaching 1Gbps. This is the top tier, and it is built for businesses that lean on their connection all day.
So when something is sold as ultrafast, you should be seeing 300Mbps as the floor, not the ceiling.
Full fibre is the part that matters
Speed labels only tell half the story. The bigger question is how the connection actually reaches you.
- Full fibre (FTTP) runs a fibre-optic cable all the way to your premises. No copper in the chain, so you get the full benefit of the speed and far better reliability.
- Fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) runs fibre to a street cabinet, then copper for the last stretch to your door. That copper is the bottleneck, and it drags performance down the further you are from the cabinet.
If reliability matters to you, and for most businesses it does, full fibre is the one to look for.
Why it matters for a modern business
Think about how much of your day runs through that connection. Cloud storage. Card payments. Video calls. Online bookings. Sending and receiving big files. When several of those happen at once, a weak connection turns into dropped calls, frozen tills and frustrated staff.
A faster, fuller connection does a few things at once: it keeps you reliable, it lets your team use cloud tools without lag, it supports people working off-site, and it gives you headroom for whatever you add next. You are not just buying speed, you are buying fewer interruptions.
Is ultrafast available where you are?
Availability varies street by street across Devon and Cornwall, so the only way to know is to check your actual premises. That is part of what we do. We confirm what is genuinely available at your address, compare the options across providers, and manage the switch so you are not chasing engineers yourself.
We’re paid by the supplier when you switch, never by you, so checking your options costs nothing.
What to do this week
If your connection drops, lags during busy spells, or you simply do not know whether it is full fibre, it is worth a check. Upload your latest broadband bill at /upload-bill/ and we will tell you what is available at your premises and whether an upgrade makes sense for what you pay now.