BT and Sky users check your postcode now or miss out on vital broadband upgrade

Millions of homes can now access much faster broadband speeds thanks to another big upgrade from Openreach. The UK firm – which supplies and builds internet infrastructure – has just announced that around 12.5 million homes and businesses are now connected to vital Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) technology.

For those unaware, FTTP offers much better download speeds than ageing copper cables. In fact, those with full fibre can expect to see files and films whizzed around homes at speeds in excess of 900Mbps which is over 10 times quicker than copper can muster.

Openreach supplies providers such as Sky and BT with connections which means anyone using those ISPs may now be able to get a serious upgrade. To check if your property is one of the 12 million to receive the boost, you can head to the Openreach website and enter your details. SEE YOUR SPEEDS HERE

You’ll then be shown exactly how fast your speeds are now and when any upgrades are due in your street.

Here are some of the main ISPs using Openreach cables.

Sky • TalkTalk • Vodafone • Plusnet • KCOM • EE • BT • Zen

It’s hoped that by 2026, more than 25 million properties will have access to these better speeds which are becoming vital as more of us work from home and use the web to stream video, play games and make video calls.

Speaking about the latest upgrade, Clive Selley, CEO, Openreach, said: “This is a national infrastructure project that’s a genuine success story. We’re delivering engineering on an epic scale, on time and on budget – and that’s thanks to a supportive policy environment which has led to huge investment and competition throughout the UK’s telecoms sector.

“From a standing start just a few years ago, we’ve now made this life-changing technology available to 12.5 million premises and counting and we’re building faster than any operator I’m aware of in Europe.

“Our build rate is still accelerating and it’ll take us half the time to reach our next 12.5 million. But we won’t be stopping there. Ultimately, we’ll reach up to 30 million premises by the end of the decade – unlocking a raft of economic and social benefits by supporting new models of commerce, healthcare and public services.”

Of course, getting faster speeds can sometimes mean paying more so make sure you get the right connection for your needs.

A single person in a small flat who simply wants to send a few emails and stream the odd show on Netflix or BBC iPlayer shouldn’t need anything more than a 30Mbps connection.

However, a house full of gadgets with people trying to stream in 4K, download games such as Call of Duty and make endless Zoom calls will need much faster speeds.

A busy family that doesn’t want a sluggish connection should consider upgrading to at least 200Mbps or faster.