Understanding the different types of broadband technology for businesses
What type of broadband technology does my business need?
Given the wealth of connectivity options on the market, choosing the right type of broadband for your business can be challenging.
At TalkTalk Business, we offer a variety of broadband technologies to meet the unique needs of the businesses we serve, including full fibre, which is being rolled out nationwide.
This guide explains the different types of broadband available and breaks down some of the terminology, enabling you to make an informed decision and choose the best solution for your business.
Full fibre broadband or Fibre to the Premises (FTTP)
‘Full fibre’ refers to a broadband technology that’s also known as ‘Fibre to the Premises’ or ‘FTTP’. We call it Business Full Fibre.
Fibre to the Premises uses a 100% fibre-optic cable (thin, glass ‘fibre’ threads) that runs from the exchange directly to your business premises, bypassing the street cabinets completely. This means rock-solid reliability for your business, ultrafast speeds and minimal fluctuations in your connectivity.
Supports download speeds up to 900Mb/s
Ultrafast connectivity that allows your business to unlock seamless cloud-based services, run multiple devices simultaneously and download large files in seconds
Choose from Business Full Fibre 80, 150, 500 and 900 packages
Part-fibre broadband or Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC)
‘Part-fibre’ refers to a broadband technology that’s also known as ‘Fibre to the Cabinet’ or ‘FTTC’. Our Business Fibre product uses a part-fibre connection.
Fibre to the Cabinet connects from the exchange to the street cabinet via fibre-optic cables. It then uses a traditional copper wire line to transmit data from the street cabinet to your business premises. Compared to full fibre, part-fibre broadband delivers slower speeds and a less resilient connection, but the performance is good enough for many businesses that have less demanding online requirements.
Supports download speeds up to 76Mb/s
Reliable, affordable connectivity that's perfect for streaming video and voice calls, basic cloud services and medium data usage
Choose from Simply Business Fibre or Complete Business Fibre packages
Copper broadband
Copper broadband delivers reliable connectivity to your business premises using traditional copper cables only. It has a number of different names (including 'MPF' or Metallic Path Facility), but we call it Business Broadband. It carries data to your premises using copper exclusively, meaning it’s a connection that doesn’t offer the same speeds as Fibre to the Cabinet or Fibre to the Premises. And it's worth noting that the longer the length of copper cable to your business premises, the more your speeds can be impacted.
With the copper switch-off scheduled for the start of 2027, traditional copper connectivity is being phased out to make way for full fibre. But it’s still a great option for small businesses that need a simple connection for browsing the web and emails.
Supports download speeds up to 17Mb/s
Reliable, straightforward internet for day-to-day business internet tasks
Choose from Simply Business Broadband or Complete Business Broadband packages
