WHAT IS PART-FIBRE BROADBAND?
THE COPPER COMPROMISE
THE "FIBRE" MARKETING TRICK
For years, internet providers have been playing a word game. They sell you a "Fibre" package, but what you actually get is a hybrid connection that still relies on decades-old copper phone lines originally designed for voice calls. This is "Part-Fibre" broadband. Whether you are in the UK or the USA, millions of households are paying for fibre speeds but getting held back by old copper phone lines.
1. HOW IT WORKS (THE CABINET)
To understand part-fibre, you have to follow the cable.
- Stage 1 (The Fast Part): High-speed fibre optic cables run from the exchange/hub to the green street cabinet on your sidewalk (UK) or the neighborhood node (USA). This data travels at the speed of light.
- Stage 2 (The Slow Part): From that cabinet to your front door, the data switches onto standard copper telephone wires. These were designed for voice calls in the 20th century, not 4K streaming.
Because the connection isn't fibre all the way to your house, the industry calls it FTTC (Fibre to the Cabinet).
2. THE COPPER PROBLEM
The biggest issue with part-fibre is distance decay. Copper wire suffers from signal loss (attenuation) over distance.
If you live next door to the green street cabinet, you might see 60–76Mbps (line conditions permitting). However, if you live 800 metres down the road, that same package might only deliver 25Mbps to your modem. The signal degrades every metre it travels along the copper.
This creates a "postcode lottery" where you pay the same price as your neighbour but get half the speed.
3. UK VS USA TERMINOLOGY
Same technology, different names. Don't let the marketing confuse you.
🇬🇧 UNITED KINGDOM
In the UK, FTTC is often sold as ‘Superfast’ fibre; ‘superfast’ is commonly used for ~24–30Mbps+ services (definitions vary by body). It uses the Openreach network and is sold by BT, Sky, TalkTalk, and Plusnet. In the UK, ‘part-fibre’ most commonly means FTTC running VDSL2 (fibre to cabinet, copper to the home).
🇺🇸 USA
In the US, the closest equivalent to UK FTTC is usually FTTN + DSL (often VDSL). Separately, cable providers (Xfinity/Spectrum) use HFC (hybrid fibre-coax) — a different hybrid network that can deliver high download speeds but often has weaker uploads than full fibre.
4. PART-FIBRE VS FULL FIBRE
The successor to part-fibre is FTTP (Fibre to the Premises). This removes the copper wire entirely.
With Full Fibre, a glass cable runs straight into your living room wall. Because light travels efficiently through glass, performance is far less affected by distance than copper, so speeds are much more consistent. If you pay for 500Mbps, you’re far more likely to see close-to-advertised speeds (especially on wired Ethernet), with less variation due to line length. Full fibre also offers "symmetrical" speeds, meaning your uploads are just as fast as your downloads—crucial for Zoom calls and gaming.
5. VERDICT: DO YOU NEED TO UPGRADE?
Despite being older tech, part-fibre isn't dead yet. If you live alone or in a couple and mainly use the internet for Netflix and emails, a standard 60Mbps part-fibre connection is perfectly adequate and often cheaper.
However, if you have a family of four with kids downloading Xbox games while you try to work from home, the limited bandwidth and copper interference of part-fibre will likely cause buffering. In that case, the jump to Full Fibre is worth every penny.
CONNECTION TYPE COMPARISON
Click a technology to see the specs.
| TECH | MATERIAL | MAX SPEED (AVG) |
|---|---|---|
| ADSL (Standard) | All Copper | Up to ~24Mbps (ADSL2+) |
| Part-Fibre (FTTC) | Fibre + Copper | 30 - 76 Mbps |
| Full Fibre (FTTP) | All Glass | 1,000+ Mbps |
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
IS PART-FIBRE GOOD ENOUGH FOR GAMING?
It is acceptable, but not ideal. Part-fibre (FTTC) has higher latency (ping) than Full Fibre because the signal has to travel over old copper wires. For casual gaming, it is fine, but competitive gamers will notice the difference.
HOW DO I KNOW IF I HAVE PART-FIBRE?
Check your speed. If your download speed is between 30Mbps and 70Mbps and your upload speed is much lower (e.g., 10Mbps), you may be on FTTC/DSL or cable — confirm by checking your ISP’s access type (FTTC/FTTP/HFC) in your account, router status page, or an availability checker. Full fibre often enables much higher uploads (sometimes symmetrical, depending on provider/package). Symmetry alone isn’t a universal test — confirm the access type (FTTP/FTTC/HFC).
IS CABLE INTERNET (XFINITY/VIRGIN) PART-FIBRE?
Technically, yes. Cable internet uses fibre to the street and coaxial cable to the home. It is generally faster than DSL-based part-fibre (capable of 1Gbps downloads) but still lacks the upload speeds and reliability of pure Full Fibre (FTTP).
SUMMARY: CHECK YOUR INFRASTRUCTURE
Don't just look at the price tag—look at the technology. Part-fibre is a great budget option, but it has physical limits. Before you renew your contract, check if Full Fibre has arrived in your street. It might cost the same but offer 10x the performance.