Networks
Full fibre, part-fibre, cable, wireless
“Fibre” on a van can mean three different plants. Full fibre runs fibre to the premises. Part-fibre runs fibre to a street cabinet and copper into the home. Cable is a different network again. Wireless access is not fibre at all. The brand on the bill is the retailer. The plant is what you are buying.
Reviewed 5 November 2026 · 6 min read · Independent · Not a price list
The names, kept plain
Full fibre, sometimes called fibre to the premises, brings the fibre into the property. The speed and the upload are then a matter of the tier the retailer sells on that plant, not of a copper length. It still needs power in the home. It still needs a wayleave in a block of flats. It is not magic, and it is not automatically present because a national advert exists.
Part-fibre, fibre to the cabinet, uses copper for the last stretch. Two houses on the same street can get different speeds because the copper runs are different lengths. An “up to” figure is an upper bound, not a promise about your pair. Upload is usually much lower than on full fibre at a similar download headline. Read it.
Cable, in the UK chiefly the Virgin Media network and newer full-fibre builds that company is involved in, is not the Openreach network. An Openreach retailer cannot sell you that cable. A cable retailer cannot sell you an Openreach line. Newer full fibre billed by the same brand as the old cable can still be a different install. Ask which plant the order names.
Alternative networks and wireless
City-scale and town-scale alternative networks build their own fibre. Some sell direct. Some wholesale to retailers you already know. A retailer on both Openreach and an alternative network is two products under one logo. Ask which one they will order. The price and the engineer visit can differ.
Building networks, common in blocks of flats, may be the only fast path into that riser. A national brand’s availability check can return nothing in a building that is perfectly well served by the network the freeholder chose. That is not a failed postcode. It is a different plant. You order the plant that can enter.
Fixed wireless and some rural networks use a radio link rather than a fibre through the door. They can be the right service where digging will not happen soon. They are not full fibre, even if the marketing says fibre in a looser way. Ask the technology in one word, and write that word down. Latency, a clear line of sight, and a dish or antenna are part of the decision.
Why one brand is not one product
TalkTalk, Vodafone and others can retail more than one wholesale network. BT, EE and Plusnet are separate retailers on Openreach, not three names for a single install. Sky broadband is a retail service, typically on someone else’s access network, not a digging company. The television dish does not tell you which plant the broadband uses.
A provider guide on this site says which of those shapes we understand the brand to sell. It is not a coverage map. Coverage is the premises, confirmed by the provider. A neighbour’s install is a rumour until your door is checked.
Switching between two retailers on the same Openreach full-fibre plant can be a remote change. Switching from cable to that plant, or from a building network to Openreach, is usually an engineer and a new box. One Touch Switch coordinates the providers. It does not remove the need for someone to be at home when the plant is new.
How to choose without a poster
First, list only the networks that can be installed at the flat. Second, on each of those, write the technology word and the upload. Third, do the price sum: opening months, later price, upfront cost, any stated cash rise, and the exit fee on what you have. Fourth, decide. A faster plant that cannot be installed is not on the list. A cheap plant that cannot carry the upload you need is a false saving.
Do not rank providers by a score this website invented. We do not publish an official rating, and Ofcom does not score these pages. Service quality is what happens after the sale: faults, dates, compensation where the scheme applies, and how a complaint is handled. Read that record. Do not outsource the decision to a badge.
Reviewed 5 November 2026. The plants do not change as fast as the prices. The prices still belong on the order, not in this explanation.
Questions
- Is full fibre always faster than cable?
- No. It depends on the tier each network will actually sell at the premises. Compare the two orders, not the slogans.
- Why is my neighbour faster on the same street?
- A shorter copper run, a different plant, or a different tier. The street is not the premises.
- Can BT sell me Virgin Media cable?
- No. They are different networks. Each retailer sells the plant it can actually order.
- Is wireless the same as full fibre?
- No. Ask them to name the technology. A radio link is a radio link.
- Does One Touch Switch work between networks?
- The new provider starts the residential switch, including where the underlying plant changes. A new plant can still need an engineer. Ask.
- Do you publish a coverage map?
- No. The provider confirms the premises. A postcode list is not an order.