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Fibre broadband 80Mbps: BT vs Virgin Media vs Sky vs TalkTalk vs Plusnet vs the rest

Since BT Openreach was required to open up it’s fibre optic network, we’ve seen a few of ISPs offering or preparing to launch ‘up to’ 80Mbps services. We’ve rounded up and compared all of the current providers selling 80Mbps fibre broadband and taken a closer look at the cost of their packages. Stop sniggering at the back.

Bear in mind that in most cases you won’t be able to sign up for much of what is listed here unless you’re covered by an area which BT has connected to its BT Infinity fibre network. To chart the progress of BT’s fibre optic rollout, check out our Broadband Rollout Roundup features, which we publish every Friday.

Fibre broadband 80Mbps: BT vs Virgin Media vs Sky vs TalkTalk vs Plusnet vs the rest


BT Infinity 2

Let’s take a look at BT’s Infinity 2 service first. Available now to order new or as an upgrade to the BT Infinity Option 1 40Mbps service, BT Infinity Option 2 costs £26 a month.

The top download speed is listed at 76Mbps, maximum upload speeds are listed at 19Mbps and there’s no limit on usage. With the exception of P2P use, BT does not shape traffic on its Infinity 2 product.

Evening and weekend calls (to 01, 02, 03 and 0845 and 0870 numbers) are included in the package and there’s the option to add unlimited Anytime calls for an extra £4.90 a month.

Including line rental which costs £10.75/month, the total cost of BT Infinity 2 (not including Anytime calls or other add-ons) costs £36.75/month.

While there’s no installation fee per se, there is a one-off £25 fee for line activation.

BT Infinity 2

Monthly cost: £26/month
Top download speed: 76Mbps
Top upload speed: 19Mbps
Download cap: Unlimited
Line rental: £10.75/month
Installation charge: £25
Minimum contract: 18 months
Total Monthly Cost: £36.75/month

Pros: unlimited downloads, evening and weekend calls included

Cons: 18 month contract, shaping on P2P traffic

Fibre broadband 80Mbps: BT vs Virgin Media vs Sky vs TalkTalk vs Plusnet vs the rest

TalkTalk

TalkTalk’s Superfast Fibre broadband services come in 40Mbps and 80Mbps flavours and are available as ‘upgrades’ to its typical broadband packages.

Which means that you’ll need to sign up for the TalkTalk Essential (£6.50/month) or TalkTalk Plus (£14.50/month) and take out line rental (£9.50/month). TalkTalk Up to 80Mbps broadband then costs £15 a month on top of this.

TalkTalk Essentials comes with a monthly download cap of 40GB a month while TalkTalk Plus has no limit. As part of TalkTalk’s FUP, P2P traffic is slowed down while VoIP calls, gaming and browsing (i.e. general web use) is prioritised.

So the cheapest option here works out at £31/month for the TalkTalk Essential and 80Mbps broadband deal (£6.50 + £9.50 + £15 = £31). TalkTalk Plus and 80Mbps totals up to £39/month once you’ve included everything (£14.50 + £9.50 + £15 = £39).

For either service there’s also a £30 installation charge. Contracts are 18 months long.

In terms of what you get for your money, both packages will provide top download and upload speeds of 80Mbps and 20Mbps. Before you sign up, TalkTalk will do a quick postcode check to estimate what speeds you’re likely to actually receive.

TalkTalk Essentials and TalkTalk Plus with 80Mbps

Monthly cost: £6.50/£14.50 + £15/month
Top download speed: 80Mbps
Top upload speed: 20Mbps
Download cap: 40GB
Line rental: £9.50/month
Installation charge: £30
Minimum contract: 18 months
Total Monthly Cost: £31/month – £39/month

Pros: unlimited downloads,

Cons: 18 month contract, shaping on P2P traffic

Fibre broadband 80Mbps: BT vs Virgin Media vs Sky vs TalkTalk vs Plusnet vs the rest


Aquiss

Aquiss’ Family Fibre Broadband Range doesn’t currently offer 80Mbps broadband up front on it’s site. However it is available for an additional £6/month on top of its current Family packages.

The Family 30, Family 45, Family 90 and Family 135 services normally offer download and upload speeds of 40Mbps and 2Mbps, with corresponding monthly download caps of 30GB, 45GB, 90GB and 135GB. There’s also a one-off £95 installation charge.

Note that overnight (midnight-8am) and weekend ‘off-peak’ usage is free and won’t eat in to your monthly cap. Other bonuses of Aquiss’ services include the option of a static IP (upgradeable to 8 no-NAT range static IPs) and a free VDSL2 modem.

Aquiss’ products are strictly broadband, meaning you’ll have to pay somebody (BT?) for line rental and if you want any kind of home phone service with your internets.

Monthly costs (with the £6 top-up included) are as follows:

Aquiss Home Fibre Family 30

Monthly cost: from £36
Top download speed: 80Mbps
Top upload speed: 20Mbps
Download cap: 30GB
Line rental: N/A
Installation charge: £95
Minimum contract: 12 months
Total Monthly Cost: from £36/month

Pros: 12 month contract, static IP

Cons: Line rental not included, costly installation charge

 


Fibre broadband 80Mbps: BT vs Virgin Media vs Sky vs TalkTalk vs Plusnet vs the restClaranet SOHO

While Claranet SOHO doesn’t explicitly advertise 80Mbps services, the smallprint on its site says “Depending on your location, you could be eligible for either Fibre to the cabinet (up to 80Mb/s) or Fibre to the Premises (up to 110Mb/s).”

Claranet SOHO’s Home Fibre Broadband packages come in three varieties, each connecting to FTTC lines and therefore providing top download and upload speeds of 80Mbps and 20Mbps.

Home Fibre 25GB gives you 25GB of usage per month, Home Fibre 50GB gives you 50GB and Home Fibre 100GB (you guessed it) gives you 100GB of usage per month. Monthly costs for each product works out at £29.99/month, £31.99/month and £37.99/month each.

Installation is free, but requires you to take out a 24 month contract. As with Aquiss, there aren’t any call packages and line rental isn’t included.


Claranet SOHO Home Fibre 

Monthly cost: from £29.99
Top download speed: 80Mbps
Top upload speed: 20Mbps
Download cap: from 25GB to 100GB
Line rental: N/A
Installation charge: N/A
Minimum contract: 24 months
Total Monthly Cost: from £29.99/month

Pros: No installation fee, no traffic management

Cons: 24 month contract, no unlimited usage option

Fibre broadband 80Mbps: BT vs Virgin Media vs Sky vs TalkTalk vs Plusnet vs the rest

Virgin Media: 60Mbps and 100Mbps but no 80Mbps

Virgin Media doesn’t offer any 80Mbps services but for comparison’s sake we’ve included two services – 60Mbps and 100Mbps – that sit either side, so to speak.

Prices for Virgin Media’s broadband services vary depending on which services you take with your internet – i.e. home phone and cable TV.

For argument’s sake we’ll look at the costs of Virgin Media 60Mbps and 100Mbps on their own without any extra services here. Head over here for a more in-depth breakdown of Virgin Media prices and services.


Virgin Media 60Mbps

Monthly cost: £27.50
Top download speed: 60Mbps
Top upload speed: 6Mbps
Download cap: Unlimited
Line rental: N/A
Installation charge: £49.95
Minimum contract: 18 months
Total Monthly Cost: £27.50/month

Virgin Media 100Mbps

Monthly cost: £29.75
Top download speed: 100Mbps
Top upload speed: 10Mbps
Download cap: Unlimited
Line rental: N/A
Installation charge: £49.95
Minimum contract: 18 months
Total Monthly Cost: £29.75/month


Sky, Plusnet and Zen Broadband: 80Mbps fibre broadband coming soon

Fibre broadband 80Mbps: BT vs Virgin Media vs Sky vs TalkTalk vs Plusnet vs the restIf you’re a Sky, Plusnet or Zen Broadband customer then you’ll probably already know that 80Mbps fibre broadband services are heading your way soon.

Sky has launched Sky Fibre Unlimited Pro, an up to 80Mbps service, on a softly-softly basis to new customers only. Though not available to apply for directly, we’ve confirmed that Sky telesales teams are offering up to 80Mbps broadband to new customers.

Plusnet is currently trialling an 80Mbps service open to a limited number of existing customers who already using the Plusnet 40Mbps service.

Plusnet customers and wannabe triallists can apply to take part in the FTTC 80/20 trial which will see you getting top speeds of 80Mbps and 20Mbps downstream and upstream. As well as this, Plusnet is running FTTP (Fibre-to-the-Premises) trials which ought to provide speeds of over 100Mbps.

From the 9th of May, Zen Broadband customers will be able to apply for a speed boost which will see speeds on the Fibre Active, Fibre Pro, Fibre Office, Fibre Office Plus jumping to 76Mbps from 40Mbps and upload speeds from 2Mbps to 19Mbps.

Monthly usage is 100GB for Fibre Active, 200GB for Fibre Pro, 400GB for Fibre Office and 1TB for Fibre Office Plus, and there’s no traffic management, shaping or fair usage policy.

We’ll update this article once these services go live and are available to order.

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