blog

Today, the internet touches almost every single aspect of how we live, work, socialise, shop, and play.

Throughout a strange and difficult past few years, it has been our place of work, our classroom, even our refuge! It has unlocked the door to a more flexible way of living, working, and learning – bringing about many changes that are likely to stay for good. 

With this in mind, it’s safe to say that quality digital connectivity and reliable broadband is no longer a “nice-to-have” but an essential utility we simply cannot live without.

For many residents in Peterborough however, their infrastructure, and therefore, internet services, simply aren’t consistently fast or reliable enough to keep pace with our new digital lives.

This is making the transition to working, learning and entertaining from home a frustrating process – indeed, according to YouGov, unreliable internet during the pandemic proved challenging for the third of Brits who experienced worse connectivity than usual.

So, what’s the solution?

The dropped calls, lag and slowdown that many of us are all too familiar with are all symptoms of the UK’s legacy infrastructure.

You see, around 80% of UK homes still connect to the internet via networks built for telephones – copper networks designed to carry sound, not data.

This is why CityFibre is currently investing up to £4 billion in building new networks in towns and cities across the UK, and bringing full fibre infrastructure – the best technology for the job – within reach of up to 8 million homes and businesses.

Unlike much of national existing infrastructure, our networks are designed specifically for the digital age. They take 100% fibre optic technology (full fibre) all the way from the home to the point of connection – a pristine open highway with no bumps in sight.

Why is full fibre different to what I’ve got already?

The difference between full fibre and ‘regular’ fibre is stark. Unlike its competitors CityFibre doesn’t use any copper in its network, giving you the fastest internet speeds around! (Top Tip – if your router connects to a telephone socket then you could be being held back from the benefits of full fibre).

With full fibre enabled services, you can expect:

• Increased efficiency: significantly faster speeds for upload and download. This means you can access what you want in the blink of an eye – waiting for files to download or videos to finish buffering will be a thing of the past.
• No more competing priorities: near limitless bandwidth means everyone in your house can work, study, stream or game online simultaneously without a challenge.
• Connectivity you can depend on: The clever design of our networks means that if there’s a break in one connection, it can instantly be rerouted via another. We’re also constantly monitoring our networks, so problems are often detected and fixed before you even notice!
• Futureproofed for growing demand ­– once the fibre is in the ground, it’s there for good and maintenance work is drastically reduced. We plan twice, build once and build right.

So, can I buy this new broadband from you?

Not quite – we do not sell services directly.  

Our networks are open access, which lets you choose from a growing list of national and local internet service providers (ISPs). Whenever we complete a section of network, ISPs ‘light it up’ with some of the fastest and best value broadband packages available.

To check if your home is connected and to find out more about our full fibre network build, visit www.cityfibre.com/east