In the UK, most broadband is delivered via telephone lines made from copper.
The introduction of fibre optic cables will offer huge improvements in speed and bandwidth.

BDUK has defined Superfast Broadband as having a potential headline speed of at least 20mbps, with no upper limit.

There are two main ways in which fibre optics can be used to bring faster speeds to the end user.

Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) replaces the copper connection from the exchange to the cabinet - the green box you may have seen at the side of the road – with fibre optics. The final connection from the cabinet to the end user remains copper but the broadband speed available increases to around 40mbps.

Fibre to the Premise (FTTP) works in the same way as FTTC but where fibre optics is brought to the cabinet, here the fibre optic connection will go directly to the premise. This will allow broadband speeds of 100+mbps.

As well as the technologies mentioned above there are several other ways in which improved Broadband services can be delivered to the end user. Whilst these may fall short of the 20mbps level defined by BDUK they do offer improvements in excess of the current average speed of approximately 3mbps that our survey work suggests as the average for Somerset.

These technologies include Wireless, Satellite and Improved Copper. You can find out a little more about these technologies in our FAQ section.