Dan Howdle | February 9th, 2024
TalkTalk Full Fibre 500 is, technically, TalkTalk's 'middle' speed, but only due to the existence of Full Fibre 900. In reality, full fibre (contrasted from just 'fibre' due to every part of the network being fibre optic) is only available to around one in four households in the UK, and packages like TalkTalk's Full Fibre 500 represent speeds most of us cannot take advantage of. So, as well as being something most of us can't get and most of us also don't need, what else do we need to know?
Here’s a quick summary of what you can expect to find with Full Fibre 500.
Price | £39 per month |
---|---|
Download speed | 525Mbps |
Upload speed | 72Mbps |
Broadband | Fibre to the premises (FTTP) |
Parental controls | Yes |
Router | eero 6 by Amazon |
Packages | Broadband only |
Contract length | 18 months |
Look, this is seriously fast broadband. Most folk are probably aware that streaming 4K TV and movies is one of the most demanding applications for a home broadband connection. Well, for a thorough idea of just how fast the 525Mbps offered by TalkTalk's Full Fibre 500 is, we can tell tou it's fast enough to stream 26 different 4K movies to 26 separate televisions simultaneously. That's ridiculous, We can hear you cry. Sure, but broadband this fast does have one application likely to make it popular: downloading videogames.
Videogames come in huge sizes these days, while discs in boxes are rapidly vanishing. In a way, we would prefer TalkTalk and others offering these sorts of speeds to label these packages as 'gamer broadband' – because really, that's what this is. There will be a few edge cases, certain types of home worker for example, who can also make use of all of some of that bandwidth, but for most households, this is going to be too fast.
The sort of households and lifestyles we think would best benefit from full Fibre 500 are:
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Package | Download speed (average) |
Upload speed (average) |
Contract length | Monthly cost |
---|---|---|---|---|
Fast Broadband | 11Mbps | 1Mbps | 18 months | £29.95 per month |
Fibre 35 | 38Mbps | 9Mbps | 18 months | £28 per month |
Fibre 65 | 67Mbps | 17Mbps | 18 months | £28 per month |
Full Fibre 150 | 152Mbps | 30Mbps | 18 months | £29 per month |
Full Fibre 500 | 525Mbps | 72Mbps | 18 months | £39 per month |
Full Fibre 900 | 944Mbps | 110Mbps | 18 months | £49 per month |
All full fibre broadband plans with TalkTalk are supplied with a brand new eero 6 by Amazon router. The state-of-the-art router comes with WiFi 6 tech, which can supply faster speeds than WiFi 5 routers, and to more devices. This advanced piece of kit also promises stronger coverage around the home. Amazon’s eero routers sport mesh technology, meaning you can quickly and easily boost your broadband coverage with extra eero devices should you want.
TalkTalk’s broadband is truly unlimited, with no pesky quotas or download caps to catch you out.
There is a £4.95 router delivery charge to be paid up front on Full Fibre 500, but other than that, setup ios free. Full Fibre installation has a few more steps than your typical broadband connection, as it requires a new hole to be drilled into your exterior wall to feed the fibre cabling into your home. This is necessary to receive an FTTP service, so you will need your landlord’s permission if you are a renter.
TalkTalk broadband customers can access two safety features when in contract, namely HomeSafe and SuperSafe. HomeSafe is a web filter built-in to your broadband supply, which can be activated to block certain content, or restrict it with a PIN code. The benefit here is you can place a blanket ban on websites known to be malicious, but can set PIN access for websites that you don’t want the kids to see, without blocking yourself from these same sites.
SuperSafe, on the other hand, is a premium add-on which offers protection per device, through a standalone app. SuperSafe, also known as Online Defence, costs £4 per month and is developed by F-Secure. F-Secure is award-winning, and it also powers Virgin Media’s dedicated Internet Security app. SuperSafe can be installed on up to ten devices, guarding you from viruses, malware and phishing scams on the move.
Worth noting, TalkTalk’s Full Fibre packages are broadband-only deals, meaning no landline is included or available when placing your order. Customers should bear this in mind, as you will need to sort out a separate call plan if you need a landline supply. No line rental may appeal to those who have no need for a landline, and are happy to use a mobile phone instead. You can, however, purchase a landline as an add-on and keep your existing phone number too.
Once you get to 500Mbps and above, broadband packages tend to become more niche. Sure, they may well appeal to people who want to fire and forget and never have to worry about hitting any speed limits. And they will certainly appeal to avid gamers for whom waiting for a large videogame to download on release day can be more painful on slower packages. But for the average household, provided you can get full fibre (most households can't), TalkTalk's Full Fibre 150 is a more sensible choice.
There's also something to be said for getting a Full Fibre package from TalkTalk simply to take advantage of the better router. But even then, the router stays the same whether you get Full Fibre 150 or Full Fibre 900. It's a great router, and a well-priced package, so there's also an argument to be made that if you can afford it, why not?