Better Broadband

Better Broadband is a partnership between Hackney Council and full fibre broadband providers that will see full fibre connectivity rolled out to Council homes. This will give residents the option to take up a full fibre broadband service from one of the new providers if they choose to do so.

In addition to providing access to fast broadband, the Better Broadband partnership will bring a range of additional benefits, including some discounts specifically for residents experiencing financial hardship, new broadband connections for community facilities, and digital training, apprenticeship and job opportunities for local people.

The Council has signed an initial agreement with Community Fibre, one of London’s fastest and most affordable full fibre broadband providers.

We expect to announce further agreements with other providers soon.

Full fibre is a type of broadband connectivity that uses fibre optic cables run directly to homes or buildings, rather than the old-style copper wiring used in standard internet services. Full fibre is the fastest and most reliable type of broadband, allowing households to use multiple internet services and different devices at the same time without a drop in service.

Full fibre broadband has not previously been available on any Council estates in Hackney. Only around 18% households across the UK currently have access to full fibre.

The providers signed up to Better Broadband will be installing full fibre connections across Council estates in Hackney from spring 2021.

Once an estate is connected, the providers will directly advertise broadband services to residents, who can choose whether or not they wish to take up any of the offers available.

This is just another option for residents in addition to existing broadband providers, and residents are under no obligation to sign up to a new service.

While we cannot guarantee that the full fibre broadband providers will cover all Council homes, our agreement will ensure that at least 80% of Council homes in Hackney will be covered in the next two years, with as wide a spread across the borough as possible.

This is significantly higher coverage than would normally be offered by full fibre broadband providers without the Council’s intervention, as focus is normally given to areas where full fibre is easier to implement or with a bigger market of customers.

As part of the agreement between Hackney Council and partnering broadband providers, Better Broadband will:

• deliver a full fibre connection to at least 80% of Council homes within three years
• provide free connections to community halls and other local facilities
• provide apprenticeships, employment opportunities and digital skills training for local residents
• offer targeted discounts to some residents who are in financial hardship and are digitally excluded

Broadband installations are usually relatively straightforward and do not involve major works, but there will be some short term visible works on estates.

Typically installations involve running cabling up or down the exterior of a building, which may require abseiling or the use of equipment for working at heights.

Broadband providers will not need access inside people’s homes, unless a resident has ordered a service from them.

Broadband providers will communicate with residents about when installations are taking place and take steps to keep disruption to a minimum.

Residents will be contacted in advance of any work taking place on their estate with full details about the impact this will have.

The Council is not funding this work, or delivering services directly.

Internet services are provided in a similar way to other utilities.

Fibre broadband installations will be fully funded and managed by the broadband providers. Our role, as a landlord, is to facilitate access for providers so that they can install new connections to our properties.

We will be working closely with providers to ensure that works are completed to a high standard and in accordance with best practice, are safe and compliant with all regulations, and are carried out in a way that is sensitive to residents.

No. There will be no installation cost to tenants and leaseholders (or the Council).

All installations will be carried out at the broadband provider’s cost. Residents can choose to take up a new full fibre internet service for a monthly fee, but there is no obligation to do this.

Full fibre providers offer a range of packages at different speeds and at different prices.

The performance is much better than standard broadband, and packages are often similarly priced or even cheaper – including for the most affordable entry level packages.

You can find the menu of options and prices on providers’ websites and see for yourself.

Full fibre is ‘gigabit-capable’, meaning you can get download speeds of up to 1,000mbps (or more).

For context, this is over 15 times faster than the median download speed in Hackney of 64mbps.

At these speeds you can download an HD movie in under a minute.

You can also get much faster upload speeds (often symmetrical, meaning upload and download speeds are the same).

Full fibre is more reliable than copper-based networks, and suffers from five times fewer faults.

Consumer broadband capacity is always shared between the users in an area (so your connection is ‘contended’, unlike a dedicated business connection).

However, providers will aim to build enough capacity in their networks to enable users to access the internet without limitations due to high traffic.

Because full fibre broadband infrastructure is newly built and designed to have a very high capacity, customers subscribing full fibre services are unlikely to have problems due to high traffic or demand.

Terms and conditions vary from provider to provider, and you should always check the contract carefully yourself before ordering a service.

Unlike many mainstream internet providers, some full fibre providers offer short term rolling contracts, without long lock-in periods.

They may also have only small, capped cancellation fees if a customer wishes to end their contract early.