Broadband in London

What is actually built in London

Openreach full fibre and older cabinet lines are widespread. Virgin Media's cable network covers large parts of the capital, and nexfibre is a separate build, not a rebrand of that cable. Community Fibre, Hyperoptic and G.Network serve many purpose-built blocks and selected streets. YouFibre, toob and other CityFibre retailers appear in some outer boroughs. None of them is 'London's provider'.

A city name is not a coverage map. Openreach full fibre, cable and independent fibre networks do not share a footprint. In London you should treat a postcode-level advert as a hint, then confirm the premises. Flats, new builds and offices above shops fail this test more often than houses.

The housing, not the headline speed

Mansion blocks, conversions and new towers behave differently. Hyperoptic and Community Fibre are often building deals: the postcode looks eligible because a neighbouring block is live. A rented flat may also ban new drill-throughs, so an Openreach install that is 'available' still needs the landlord's permission.

If the building has a wayleave, a communal intake or a single landlord-chosen network, the 'national' brands may not be orderable even when the street looks well served. Ask the managing agent which network is in the riser before you pay an exit fee to leave a provider that was the only one who could serve you.

How to compare without fooling yourself

Rank the first year, not the 'from' price. Add setup, router and any months that jump after an introductory discount. Check upload if you send video or run backups. Check whether a phone line is included, charged extra, or simply gone.

Ignore borough league tables. A 1.6 Gbit/s advert in one postcode does not describe the cabinet at the end of yours. If you work from home, ask for the upload, not just the download number on the poster.

• Use the address, including the flat number.
• Write down the contract end date and any early-termination figure before you start.
• Separate broadband from TV, mobile and insurance. One Touch Switch does not move a TV package by itself.
• Keep a copy of the order confirmation with the planned switch date.

Switching in practice

If both providers support One Touch Switch, you order with the new one and they send the match and switch messages. You do not need to phone the old provider to resign, and you should not cancel first — cancelling can leave a gap or an unexpected cease.

In London the usual failure is a bad address match, not a slow fibre. If the match comes back for the wrong flat, stop and correct it before the engineer date. A wrong match is how people lose the old service early.

A practical order of work in London

Start with the address as the council or the landlord writes it, including the flat or unit. Run that through a comparison before you read a borough-wide claim about London. Note which wholesale network each deal sits on. Two retailers on Openreach are substitutes only if both can order the same premises. A cable deal and a full-fibre deal are not substitutes when only one network is in the building.

Then price the first year in pounds. Write the introductory months, the price after them, any setup or router fee, and the early-termination charge on the contract you already have. If the fee is larger than the saving, wait. In London people often switch because a poster looked cheaper and then discover the install cannot happen for weeks, or that the old contract still has a charge.

Decide the date you can be in for an engineer, and the date you can tolerate being offline. They are different. Book the later of the two if your work depends on the line. Keep the old router until the new service is up. Returning it early does not speed One Touch Switch.

What a comparison on this site will and will not do

The plans you see are a labelled mock catalogue. The ranking and the first-year arithmetic are there so you can see how a headline price falls apart. They are not a live quote and not an instruction to buy. Availability still has to be confirmed by the provider at the London address you typed.

We do not run One Touch Switch, we are not Ofcom, and we do not operate the TOTSCo hub that providers use to message each other. When both providers support the process, you order with the new one and they send the messages. You should not cancel the old service first. TV, mobile, and a care alarm are separate. Ask about each before you agree a switch date.

If the result looks thin, the usual reason is the premises, not a broken website. A flat above a shop, a new plot, or a block with a landlord-chosen network will show fewer brands than a house on a rebuilt street. Compare again with the flat number. If it is still thin, that is information: there may be little to switch to, and leaving early would be an expensive way to learn it.

London is several networks that share a pavement

Treat London as an overbuild city, not a single market. Openreach full fibre and remaining cabinet lines cover a great many streets, but a rebuilt road can still have a block that was never connected. Virgin Media’s cable footprint is wide and still misses terraces and mansion blocks a few hundred metres from a served road. nexfibre is a separate full-fibre build. Seeing the Virgin brand does not tell you which of those networks your flat is on.

Community Fibre and Hyperoptic turn up where a building or a borough deal exists. The postcode of the block next door is a rumour. G.Network has built in parts of central London; it is not a default for Zone 2. In outer boroughs you will also meet CityFibre retailers, YouFibre and toob on some streets and nowhere on the next one. A league table of ‘best London broadband’ averages those differences away. The address puts them back.

Renters should ask two questions the advert never does. First, which network is already in the riser. Second, whether the landlord allows a new drill for an optical network terminal. An Openreach availability check can say yes while the lease says no. Purpose-built student blocks and new towers often have one chosen provider. Switching ‘to a cheaper national brand’ is not possible if that brand cannot enter the building.

How London switches actually go wrong

The common failure is the address match, not the fibre. Converted houses, flats over shops, and blocks with a name that is not the street number come back as the neighbour. If the match is wrong, do not ‘correct it later’. A wrong match is how the old line is ceased on the wrong day. Use the format on the tenancy or the council tax bill, including the flat.

The second failure is bundling. People buy Sky or Virgin because the TV or the mobile looked included, then discover One Touch Switch moves the broadband relationship the gaining provider agreed to move, not the television package and not a handset contract. Split the prices. If you only wanted a line, a broadband-only product on a network that can serve the flat is usually the honest comparison.

The third is timing. Central London installs slip because an engineer cannot get into a block, a wayleave is unsigned, or the appointment was booked for a day you are in the office. Pick a date you can be there if the order says an engineer is required. Keep the old service until the new one works. London posters are loud. The optical network terminal on your wall is the fact that matters.