Broadband in Norwich

Broadband in Norwich

Norwich is a picturesque city which enjoys a thriving economy.  Diverse industries contribute, with financial services playing a major role, and it’s also the home of one of the oldest food brands, Colman’s Mustard.

Its location, close to the heart of Norfolk, gives it a rural feel, and this is part of the city’s charm, along with some stunning architecture, such as Norwich Cathedral.  Despite its relative seclusion, broadband connectivity is improving, with a number of homes and businesses seeing the benefits of superfast broadband.

Better Broadband for Norfolk

Better Broadband for Norfolk is a project that is looking to roll out faster broadband across the county, and it offers quarterly updates on progress.  Street cabinets are upgraded in different areas, and this improves fibre availability to several properties at a time.

Parts of Norwich, as well as other locations like King’s Lynn, Great Yarmouth and Thetford, have all seen improvement, and the network is open, allowing a choice of providers to offer their service to residents and businesses.

Speeds and availability

The city centre is well-connected, with fibre packages offering up to 38Mb or 76Mb on several streets.  NR1 and NR2 have plenty of fibre availability, with Virgin Media also offering its exclusive superfast network in some locations, giving customers the option of up to 152 Mb broadband.

Your actual broadband speed can be affected by a number of factors, but you will certainly see much faster downloads than you would with ADSL, which would likely keep you below 10Mb.  The slower ADSL broadband service is also widely available, and is still preferable for many customers thanks to its ultra-cheap price in the modern market.

You will see fibre further away from the city centre, in postcodes such as NR7, but once you reach the most rural areas, you will probably find your options limited.  The fibre rollout is looking to address this, but it is an ongoing process.

Broadband providers

Fibre broadband is available from providers such as BT, Virgin Media, TalkTalk, Plusnet, Sky and EE.  It varies depending on your street, so some areas simply do not have the Virgin Media cabling yet, while others do not have the open network installed.

There is also the option of Hyperoptic in some areas, which runs a fibre service to your building and ensures superfast broadband.

If you’re interested in ADSL, then all of those providers offer the service except Virgin Media, which only uses fibre.  Other providers offering ADSL include Fuel Broadband, Direct Save and John Lewis.

Summary

The fibre rollout has been very effective in Norwich, and throughout many areas of Norfolk.  Residents and businesses in the city can get superfast broadband from different providers, and availability is improving.  There are also plenty of packages offering good value for money, with unlimited downloads included, which is ideal for fibre customers.