Community Fibre vs Hyperoptic Broadband

Community Fibre offer faster broadband speeds at a cheaper price compared to Hyperoptic, including symmetrical uploads and lower setup costs.

Hyperoptic however, offer customers more flexibility with options for one and 12-month contracts, as well as fairer terms with no mid-contract price rises.

Both providers perform well and are easy to recommend, yet for Londoners Community Fibre may have the edge with their lower pricing and optional Netgem TV add-on.

At a glance

Best deals

	Package	Broadband	Monthly price	Upfront price	Contract term
Go	150Mb Fibre Broadband	150Mb average	£18.99	Free	24 months
	Offer: Installed in 48 hours + Free setup
Go	Superfast (24 months)	158Mb average	£29	£19	24 months

Price

Winner: Community Fibre is cheaper than Hyperoptic broadband, with lower prices across all equivalent packages, as well as cheaper or even free setup.

Community Fibre's broadband prices start at just £18.99 per month for 150Mbps download speeds, while Hyperoptic charge almost ten pounds more at £29 for their Superfast 158Mb plan.

Setup is also less expensive with Community Fibre charging up to £14.95, with many plans offering free setup, while Hyperoptic charge £10 to £19 on all of their 12 and 24-month packages.

Here are Community Fibre's and Hyperoptic's cheapest (and equivalent) plans side-by-side:

	Package	Broadband	Monthly price	Upfront price	Contract term
Go	Light 30Mb (24 months)	33Mb average	£17.99	£10	24 months
Go	150Mb Fibre Broadband	150Mb average	£18.99	Free	24 months
	Offer: Installed in 48 hours + Free setup
Go	Superfast (24 months)	158Mb average	£29	£19	24 months

So, while Hyperoptic do offer customers a low cost option with their Light plan for just £17.99 per month, this only offers average download speeds of 33Mbps, which will be noticeably slower than Community Fibre's 150Mb plan.

At the faster end of the scale, Community Fibre are also cheaper than Hyperoptic, with their 1Gbps Fibre Broadband package costing just £26 per month with free setup, while Hyperoptic's Hyperfast plan currently costs £39 per month:

	Package	Broadband	Monthly price	Upfront price	Contract term
Go	1Gbps Fibre Broadband	920Mb average	£26	Free	24 months
	Offer: Installed in 48 hours + Free setup
Go	Hyperfast (24 months)	900Mb average	£39	£19	24 months

Both providers offer symmetrical upload speeds on these gigabit-capable packages, and customers will be provided with a WiFi 6 enabled router on these plans. Yet, despite these similarities, Community Fibre is still over ten pounds per month cheaper.

For anyone struggling with their household bills in the cost of living crisis, Community Fibre also offer an affordable broadband tariff that's available to anyone who needs it. For just £12.50 per month, people can stay connected to the Internet with 35Mbps average download speeds.

While Hyperoptic also offer a social broadband tariff it's only available to people in receipt of certain means-tested benefits. It also costs a little more, priced at £15 per month with 50Mbps average download speeds.

Finally, it's worth noting that Hyperoptic offer fixed prices and won't increase prices during a customer's minimum term. On the other hand, Community Fibre have an annual price rise clause in their contracts, with prices rising by Consumer Price Index (CPI + 2.9%) in April of each year.

Overall, Community Fibre offer the cheapest prices, yet some customers may prefer Hyperoptic's fixed prices and promise of no mid-contract price hikes.

Broadband packages

Winner: Hyperoptic offer more flexible broadband packages and extras, including a home phone, WiFi boosters, and 30-day terms, although it's a close call with Community Fibre also offering certain extras.

Hyperoptic and Community Fibre both offer 12 and 24-month deals to customers across their superfast, ultrafast and gigabit-capable packages, although Hyperoptic also offer one-month contract options too.

There are also slight differences in their add-on services, with Hyperoptic offering a more standard home phone service, while Community Fibre's home phone plan is more expensive and unable to make outgoing calls to international numbers.

In addition, while both providers offer WiFi boosters, only Hyperoptic customers can access this add-on on any of their plans, while for Community Fibre it's limited to those who take their 1Gb or 3Gb options.

Broadband speed options are fairly similar however, although Hyperoptic offer more entry-level options.

Here are their entry-level superfast broadband packages side-by-side:

	Package	Broadband	Monthly price	Upfront price	Contract term
	Light 30Mb (24 months)	33Mb average	£17.99	£10	24 months
	150Mb Fibre Broadband	150Mb average	£18.99	Free	24 months
	Offer: Installed in 48 hours + Free setup
	Fast 50Mb (24 months)	57Mb average	£28	£19	24 months
	Superfast (24 months)	158Mb average	£29	£19	24 months

As we've covered, Community Fibre are cheaper than Hyperoptic across all equivalent speeds, and also offer much faster broadband speeds for the same price as slower plans with Hyperoptic. Notably, Hyperoptic only offer symmetrical uploads on 150Mbps plans and faster, while Community Fibre offers symmetrical speeds on all tiers.

While prices can vary depending on the speed of the package and which offers are being promoted at any given time, Community Fibre are generally the cheaper option.

Ultrafast and gigabit broadband

Community Fibre and Hyperoptic both offer an ultrafast 500Mb plan as well as gigabit-capable 1Gbps options as well.

Here are their fastest packages side-by-side:

	Package	Broadband	Monthly price	Upfront price	Contract term
	500Mb Fibre Broadband	500Mb average	£23	£9.95	24 months
	Offer: Installed in 48 hours
	1Gbps Fibre Broadband	920Mb average	£26	Free	24 months
	Offer: Installed in 48 hours + Free setup
	Ultrafast (24 months)	522Mb average	£35	£19	24 months
	Hyperfast (24 months)	900Mb average	£39	£19	24 months

Again, Community Fibre are cheaper for ultrafast and gigabit broadband than Hyperoptic, although download and upload speeds are more comparable with both providers offering symmetrical speeds as well as WiFi 6 enabled routers.

All of the packages listed above can be taken on either 24- or 12-month contracts with both Community Fibre and Hyperoptic, although Hyperoptic customers can also get their deals on a more flexible 30-day term if they want as well.

Prices for 30-day terms increase by between £2 and £14 per month, and come with a £29 to £39 activation fee. These deals can be cancelled at any time however, with no early leaving fees to pay. Compare these plans on our Hyperoptic deals page.

Ultimately, while we've chosen Hyperoptic for this round due to their increased flexibility on contract length and more accessible WiFi booster add-on and home phone plan, Community Fibre are cheaper overall which is likely to win over many customers.

Read more in our reviews of Hyperoptic broadband and Community Fibre broadband.

Broadband speed

Winner: Community Fibre offer symmetrical upload speeds on all of their broadband packages, as well as an even faster 3Gbps plan option, although Hyperoptic guarantee minimum broadband speeds.

Hyperoptic offer fibre to the building and while they do provide symmetrical upload speeds on their faster plans, their cheaper 30Mb and 50Mb options come with much slower uploads of just 1Mb and 5.7Mb respectively.

Community Fibre also offer customers the option of a multi-gigabit broadband plan if they decide they really need it, which is also surprisingly reasonably priced at £50 per month for 3Gbps download speeds.

Here are Community Fibre's average broadband speeds:

And the average speeds for Hyperoptic broadband plans:

Community Fibre do use a more advanced full fibre technology than Hyperoptic, installing a full fibre cable directly into each customer's home which is technically capable of up to 10Gbps.

Hyperoptic are starting to use more full fibre to the home installations, but many existing connections are fibre to the building, with the final run into a home using coaxial cable similar to Virgin Media's existing network. This can mean speeds may be slightly slower due to this short length of non-fibre optic cabling.

Minimum speed guarantee

Neither Community Fibre nor Hyperoptic are signatories of Ofcom's code of conduct on broadband speeds, yet Hyperoptic at least still meet some of the voluntary practice, including providing customers with a minimum guaranteed speed.

This minimum guaranteed download speed means that if customers receive a speed less than this for 3 consecutive days and Hyperoptic can't resolve the issue within 30 days, a customer becomes free to leave their contract early and without penalty.

Unlike many broadband providers however who offer slower minimum guarantees than their advertised headline rate, Hyperoptic guarantees all of their plans at the advertised speed:

Hyperoptic and Community Fibre both have varying strings to their bow when it comes to broadband speed, however we like that Community Fibre offer symmetrical uploads on all of their plans and they also have a top speed - 3Gbps - that's faster overall to Hyperoptic.

Router

Winner: Community Fibre offers WiFi 6 enabled routers on all of its broadband plans, while only those taking the fastest deals get the latest router with Hyperoptic.

Hyperoptic provide one of three routers to their customers, and while they don't exactly specify which a customer will receive, those taking faster deals will get the more advanced routers:

• Standard Hyperhub, the ZTE H298A router
• Nokia Hyperhub, also known as a HA-140W-B router
• Latest ZTE H3600 router supporting WiFi 6

While the Nokia Hyperhub is more advanced than the standard Hyperhub, it's still only a dual band WiFi 5 router. Yet for Hyperoptic's fastest customers, they'll now get the ZTE H3600 router, which supports WiFi 6.

Conversely, customers on most of Community Fibre's packages will receive the Linksys Velop Tri-Band Intelligent Mesh router which uses three channels to ensure coverage around the home rather than the two offered in the Nokia Hyperhub.

Customers taking Community Fibre's 50Mb or 75Mb package will receive a more basic Linksys Velop Dual-Band Intelligent Mesh router. While those taking the 920Mb plan will also get a WiFi 6 supported router.

Overall, the majority of middle-speed Community Fibre customers on ultrafast packages will get a better router than customers on equivalent Hyperoptic deals. For those taking either providers' fastest packages, the WiFi 6 routers are more comparable however.

Call plans

Winner: Hyperoptic offer cheaper home phone options than Community Fibre. Community Fibre also don't support calls to international numbers.

Both Hyperoptic and Community Fibre allow customers to take an optional digital phone line alongside their broadband package. This means the phone service is delivered via the broadband connection and is reliant on a mains electric supply to work.

The way customers add calls is slightly different with each provider.

Hyperoptic offer broadband and phone contracts, so customers pay a few pounds extra per month and receive inclusive evening and weekend UK landline calls. Customers can also add the following extras:

• Anytime Landline UK for £3 per month
• International for £5 per month

Meanwhile, Community Fibre charge a flat £10 per month for customers to add a landline and this includes unlimited calls to UK landlines and mobiles plus calling features like 1471 and call barring.

Community Fibre doesn't offer international calls however, and neither provider offers calls to premium numbers.

TV

Winner: Community Fibre offer a basic TV service for £10 per month through Netgem, while Hyperoptic don't offer any kind of TV plan.

Community Fibre have partnered with Netgem TV to offer their Community Fibre TV for £10 per month.

That service provides:

• 230+ live channels, including 125+ HD channels (on top of Freeview)
• Access to 100+ apps
• 100,000 hours of on-demand content
• 4K/HDR box, worth £149
• Voice control with Alexa
• Record and pause live TV
• Choice of add-ons including Discovery+, Prime Video, Britbox and Hayu
• Available on unlimited mobile and tablet devices

As far as TV services go, it isn't on a par with that offered by Sky or Virgin Media, but it adds some content and it's a nice central way to keep track of catch-up and streaming apps too.

Hyperoptic used to offer some deals with Sky TV, but these now seem to have been removed. However, Sky Stream TV can be paired with any broadband service and doesn't require a satellite dish, making it a great option for people living in flats. Read more on Sky Stream here.

Customer service

Winner: Community Fibre has a higher TrustScore rating than Hyperoptic, although both providers seem to perform well for customer service.

Although neither Hyperoptic nor Community Fibre are included in independent customer service reports due to their small size, both are highly regarded by Trustpilot reviewers.

Hyperoptic is ranked within the top seven ISPs with a TrustScore of 4.5 from over 28,000 reviews and they won the Best Consumer ISP at the Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA UK) 2022 awards, they also previously won Best Customer Service in 2019.

However, Community Fibre's TrustScore is 4.5 from over 41,000 reviews and they're the highest rated broadband provider on Trustpilot. They also took the Best Consumer ISP award in 2020 and 2021 from the ISPA.

It's close, but that just edges it for Community Fibre.

Community Fibre have UK call centres while Hyperoptic's customer care seems to be run from Serbia. Find out more about which UK broadband providers have UK call centres.

Availability

Winner: Community Fibre has a larger footprint in London than Hyperoptic, so more customers should be able to access them.

Hyperoptic connected their first London building back in 2011, and have since rolled out their services to tens of thousands of properties across the capital.

However, their services are far from universal, and the map below gives an indication of their coverage around Central London:

Each of the purple blobs on the map from ThinkBroadband represents a building that's been connected by Hyperoptic, as they expand on a building-by-building basis.

Full details of which properties are connected can be found on Hyperoptic's own website, but it's worth noting potential customers can register their interest and give Hyperoptic a nudge towards expanding in their area. Given the high density of buildings in London, customers have got more of a chance of being heard than other towns and cities where Hyperoptic doesn't already have as much of a presence.

Below, we've zoomed out slightly and looked at their expansion across London as a whole, although individual buildings aren't as easily discernible on this map:

While there's a decent amount of coverage, the concentration of dots when we look at Community Fibre's footprint indicates more coverage and they say they have passed more than 1.3 million homes in the London area:

ThinkBroadband undertook an analysis of full fibre services in London in January 2023, finding 12.38% of premises in the capital have two or more full fibre options, compared to just 7.73% of UK premises on average.

For some Londoners, though, it may mean they're spoilt for choice when it comes to full fibre broadband, while their near neighbours may not be so lucky.

Read more about the best broadband in London, or compare broadband deals in your area.

Verdict: Hyperoptic or Community Fibre?

Overall winner: Community Fibre offers cheaper prices than Hyperoptic, with a marginally better customer service record, although there's little in it with Hyperoptic also proving to be a good choice.

Londoners able to access services from either of these full fibre broadband providers are lucky. Those able to choose between them are even luckier, and it's a tight race that may well depend on whether customers want the fastest available services.

Both providers offer:

• Affordable full fibre broadband
• 12 or 24-month contract options
• Ability to add calls
• Latest WiFi 6 routers on their fastest packages

However, on balance, Community Fibre just edge Hyperoptic based on a few factors:

• Cheaper prices across most equivalent packages
• Symmetrical upload speeds across all plans, even their entry-level options
• They mostly don't require upfront fees, and where they do they cost less
• The middle-tier router is more advanced with tri-band wireless channels
• They offer a Netgem TV service, with the option to add Discovery+ and BritBox
• Their coverage is wider in London
• Their customer service ranking is a little higher

To a large degree Community Fibre and Hyperoptic are neck and neck in terms of quality of service and support provided, with both customers recently taking the Best Consumer ISP award at the 2022, 2021 and 2020 ISPA Awards.

Yet, for reasons mentioned above, Community Fibre just edge ahead on prices and the ability to add a pay TV service.

Read more on how Community Fibre compares with Virgin Media, and also up against Sky in these head to head guides. Meanwhile, you can compare Hyperoptic vs Virgin Media too.