Key Takeaways: London Broadband
|
|---|
Understanding London broadband
You'll be spoilt for choice when it comes to choosing a deal for your London home.
Most homes should now have access to fast fibre broadband. But you may have more limited choices if you’re in a flat.
Here’s a quick round-up of your choice:
Types of broadband available in London
ADSL
This is a basic broadband connection delivered over a telephone line, with maximum download speeds around 11Mb.
It’s highly unlikely that you only have this option in London, but if for any reason you do, you should explore mobile broadband.
Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC)
Fibre optic cables act as a link between the local exchange to the street cabinet. The final part of the data journey still uses copper telephone wires.
The maximum speed you can get on a part-fibre deal is around 65Mb. This should be fast enough for smaller homes, but you may start to experience problems if you live in a more data demanding home.
But f you can already opt for a full fibre deal, go for it! It’s the best way to future-proof your home, and can actually work out as better value: even though the speeds are faster.
Full fibre broadband (FTTP)
London has a great selection of full fibre broadband services. More so than any other city in the UK.
As well as popular nationwide providers such as:
- BT
- Vodafone
- Sky
- TalkTalk
- EE
- Plusnet
there are many smaller broadband companies in London that specialise in providing fast, full fibre services.
For example, Community Fibre is only available in parts of London. It operates its own dedicated high-speed fibre network. There’s a wide range of products with symmetrical upload and download speeds as fast as 5Gb!
- Speed: 900Mb avg. speed
- Set-up cost: £0
- Contract: 24 months
Rewards:
£31.99 per month
£35.99 from 31st March 2027
£39.99 from 31st March 2028
- Speed: 1.6Gb avg. speed
- Set-up cost: £0
- Contract: 24 months
Rewards:
£33.99 per month
£37.99 from 31st March 2027
£41.99 from 31st March 2028
- Speed: 900Mb avg. speed
- Set-up cost: £0
- Contract: 24 months
Rewards:
£25.99 per month
£29.99 from 31st March 2027
£33.99 from 31st March 2028
Can you get full fibre? Find out!
Cable broadband
Virgin Media has good presence in the city. Over 60% of Londoners can sign up to a Virgin broadband deal.
This is great news if you’re looking for a cheap deal. Virgin’s entry-level M125 Fibre Broadband package is available from under £20 per month.
- Speed: 264Mb avg. speed
- Set-up cost: £0
- Contract: 24 months
£18.99 per month
£22.99 from 1st April 2027
£26.99 from 1st April 2028
- Speed: 132Mb avg. speed
- Set-up cost: £0
- Contract: 24 months
£18.99 per month
£22.99 from 1st April 2027
£26.99 from 1st April 2028
Mobile broadband
You can’t really find a better place in the UK for mobile broadband coverage. 4G and 5G signal strength across the capital is excellent.
You can even get 4G and 5G reception across many stretches of the London Underground including:
|
|
The City of London Wi-Fi network also offers free, unlimited Wi-Fi across the Square Mile. Keep a lookout for the ‘O2 Wi-Fi’ network.
There are over 12,000 free Wi-Fi hotspots across central and outer London areas.
Thanks to the strong 4G and 5G signal across the city, you should have no problem signing up to a home mobile broadband deal.
A mobile home broadband package is a great choice if you live in:
- Shorter term accommodation
- Shared housing
- A high-rise building
Best London internet providers
| Provider | Price from | Top speed | Network |
|---|---|---|---|
| BT | £26 | 900Mb | Openreach |
| Community Fibre | £16 | 5Gb | Own |
| Hyperoptic | £21 | 900Mb | Own |
| Sky | £23 | 1Gb | Openreach, CityFibre |
| Vodafone | £23 | 1.6Gb | Openreach, CityFibre, Community Fibre |
| Virgin Media | £19 | 1.1Gb | Own |
| 4th Utility | £15 | 2.3Gv | Own, CityFibre, Community Fibre, Freedom Fibre, Openreach |
The type of broadband service you can sign up to in your home will very much depend on your location. It’s not unusual for houses on the same street to have access to different providers and packages.
As well as the bigger brands, we highly recommend considering an alternative network provider (altnet). There are several providers in London with a great reputation, very fast services and low costs. These include:
Community Fibre
- Best Broadband Provider in London 2025
- Prices from £16 per month
Community Fibre is London’s largest full fibre provider, serving more than 1.3 million premises. It offers a choice of contract lengths (24, 18 or 12-months).
It also works with councils and housing associations to bring free broadband to London via community hubs and libraries.
Speedy packages are offered to a very fast 5Gbps. All packages have symmetrical upload and download speeds.
You can get TV add ons from £12 per month with Community Fibre TV. Plus, you also add on an optional calls service for unlimited calls to UK landlines and mobiles.
- Speed: 150Mb avg. speed
- Set-up cost: £0
- Contract: 24 months
Rewards:
£17.99 per month
£20.99 from 1st April 2027
£23.99 from 1st April 2028
- Speed: 5Gb avg. speed
- Set-up cost: £0
- Contract: 24 months
Rewards:
£63 per month
£66 from 1st April 2027
£69 from 1st April 2028
Check availability with Community Fibre
Hyperoptic
- Prices from £21 per month
Flexible rolling monthly contracts are available from Hyperoptic. This is perfect if you’re only planning to stay in London temporarily.
It offers fast, full fibre broadband speeds up to 1Gb with symmetrical upload and download speeds.
You can add flexible call plans onto your broadband service from an extra £3 per month.
Hyperoptic offers a social tariff . This is a discounted package starting from £12 per month to customers on Universal Credit and other benefits.
- Speed: 150Mb avg. speed
- Set-up cost: £0
- Contract: 24 months
Rewards:
£20.99 per month
£24.99 from 1st April 2027
View Hyperoptic deals near you
4th Utility
- Prices from under £15 per month
4th Utility is available in various spots across London including the Barbican, Mile End and Southwark.
This ultrafast broadband service offers symmetrical speeds up to 2.3Gbps.
A discounted social tariff is available for low-income households claiming:
- Universal Credit
- Income Support
- Jobseeker's allowance
- Employment and Support Allowance
- Pension credit
This is by far one of the cheapest internet providers in London.
- Speed: 100Mb avg. speed
- Set-up cost: £0
- Contract: 24 months
£18.50 per month
Price may rise during contract
Find out if you can get 4th Utility
Getting help choosing your provider
Still confused about who’s best to sign up to? Head over to our broadband provider reviews for a more in-depth look at some of the most popular choices.
Alternatively, you can ask questions about any London broadband providers you’re considering in the Broadband Genius Community
Finding the cheapest internet providers in London
Broadband Genie makes it easy to find the cheapest deals available at your home address when comparing broadband.
Start by entering your postcode into our deals checker. You can then filter by monthly price or use our ‘Sort by’ dropdown to sort the deals.
You can also get extra value when you switch broadband by looking for broadband deals with free gifts, such as vouchers and Reward Cards.
Our cheap broadband page is a great place to find low-cost internet packages.
The cheapest providers in London currently include:
- Community Fibre
- Virgin Media
- 4th Utility
How to do a London broadband comparison
Using our postcode checker is the quickest and easiest way to find out your broadband options.
Once you’ve entered your address, here are some things to look out for when comparing your options:
- Broadband speed
Think about what you’ll be using your internet connection for and how many people are online at any one time at home. At the very least, we recommend signing up to superfast broadband, with average speeds of 35Mb.
Not sure what speed you need? Check out our guide to broadband speeds to find the right package for your home.
.jpg)
- Monthly cost
The cheapest broadband package doesn’t always mean the best value. In our comparison tables, you can view results by ‘effective monthly price'. We’ll always let you know of any extra fees such as setup costs.
A lot of the major providers do reserve the rights to raise prices mid-contract. All deals will clearly show any price rises that will apply during a contract.
For more help on rising broadband costs, you can read our guide: 'broadband price increases.
- Setup cost
We’ll clearly list if there’s anything to pay upfront.
- Contract length
Most broadband contracts are now 24-months long, but there are a few London broadband providers who offer shorter. These include Hyperoptic and Community Fibre.
Find short-term broadband deals
Save money with broadband bundles
You might be able to save money by signing up to a package that includes TV or phone calls.
Type your address into our deals checker, and you can alter the results using the ‘TV’ and ‘Calls’ filter.
- Speed: 300Mb avg. speed
- Set-up cost: £0
- Contract: 24 months
Rewards:
£35 per month
Price may rise during contract
- Speed: 74Mb avg. speed
- Set-up cost: £0
- Contract: 24 months
Rewards:
£42.99 per month
£48.99 from 31st March 2027
£54.99 from 31st March 2028
FAQs
-
What’s the fastest broadband in London?
Community Fibre currently offers the fastest broadband in London with top download and upload speeds of 5Gbps. It’s also available in Surrey and West Sussex.
-
How much should I be paying for broadband in London?
You can get really cheap deals in London, with prices starting from as little as £16 per month. At the time of writing, Community Fibre offered the cheapest deals.
Smaller broadband companies tend to offer the cheapest, fastest speeds.
Switch broadband today
Switching broadband providers is easy, and you can get a better deal in minutes.
Try a quick search now and see the deals available at your exact address:
Why you should switch with Broadband Genie:
- We’ve been helping the UK find better broadband for over 20 years
- New deals and providers added daily
- Exclusive offers available - you won’t find better elsewhere
- Get better deals with free gift vouchers and reward cards
- Used by thousands of Londoners every month
-
Where we get our information
We strive to keep our local broadband information as up to date as possible. This means using trustworthy sources with regular checks. The information on this page comes from the following:
Local broadband speed information: labs.thinkbroadband.com/local
Mobile broadband coverage (1): nperf.com
Mobile broadband coverage (2): checker.ofcom.org.uk/en-gb/mobile-coverage