1Gb Fibre Broadband Rollout Begins in Huddersfield

Work has begun in the West Yorkshire market town of Huddersfield to get almost every home and business connected to gigabit speed full fibre broadband.

The project, delivered by CityFibre in conjunction with Vodafone, will extend an existing 52km fibre network. The old network developed in 2014 provided ultrafast full fibre connectivity to 176 public sector and commercial sites.

The rollout will build on this network, bringing speeds of up to 1,000Mbps to "almost every home and business locally". CityFibre are yet to identify which premises will not be connected.

Vodafone and CityFibre expect the first homes to receive connections by the summer, with the full rollout scheduled for completion by 2021.

This scheme is part of a £2.5bn investment to bring ultra-fast fibre to the home (FTTH) connections to around one million premises by the end of 2021. Following a successful implementation of this stage, the service is planned to extend to five million homes across 37 towns and cities by 2024.

Credit: Brian A Jackson/Shutterstock.com

How much does it cost?

If you're lucky enough to be a Huddersfield resident and want to jump on the gigabit train, Vodafone are offering free installation to anyone ordering a Gigafast Broadband plan before 31st January. After this date, Vodafone have indicated an upfront cost of £49 will be applied.

The service comes with unlimited usage, download speeds ranging from an average of 100Mbps to 900Mbps and upload speeds equal to the download speeds. The packages available from Vodafone at the moment are:

All of the packages come with a landline service included, so there's no line rental to pay on top of the ongoing cost. They say it's not possible to retain existing telephone numbers, however.

As well as this, all customers will be sent the new Vodafone broadband router free of charge. The router features an array of advanced technologies including a seven antennae arrangement and beamforming, to give a stronger, more reliable signal in more parts of the home.

Although Vodafone has not specified as much, when they launched Gigafast in Milton Keynes, they offered existing Vodafone customers a discount of £5 per month. Anyone considering signing up may do well to check whether this is also available in Huddersfield.

To compare these prices, BT's Ultrafast Fibre which achieves around 300Mbps costs £59.99. A month plus a £59.99 set up fee. Hyperoptic's 900Mbps connection costs £49 per month for the first year, rising to £63 beyond that.

Installation requires the fibre cable to be run directly into the home. Vodafone have released an explainer video detailing what's involved in installing fibre to the home, which you can view below:

Can I get Gigafast?

Prospective Gigafast customers who are not in Huddersfield will undoubtedly be keen to know when the service is coming to their area. So far, Vodafone have begun work on their 1Gb fibre broadband in:

• Milton Keynes
• Aberdeen
• Peterborough

They have promised forthcoming connections in more towns as well as Huddersfield during 2019. The places expecting to be added to the network soon include:

• Edinburgh
• Coventry
• Stirling

See which Vodafone broadband deals are available in your area.