Can I get full fibre at my address?

A postcode alone is not enough, because two homes on the same street can have different answers depending on which networks have wired which properties. The reliable way is to check at full-address level, which is what a proper deal finder does: you enter your address, not just your postcode, and it returns the lines that actually reach your door, full fibre included, with the live prices attached.

That is the quickest route to a real answer, because it checks every network available to you at once rather than one provider at a time. One search shows the full-fibre options live at your address, who offers them and for how much, rather than trusting a "fibre available in your area" banner that may stop at the end of the road.

It helps to know what you are actually looking for, because "fibre" is stamped on three quite different things.

Full fibre, properly FTTP, is glass running all the way to your home with no copper in the last stretch. This is the one to want: fastest, steadiest and symmetric or close to it, so it sends about as fast as it receives.

Part-fibre, or FTTC, is the older "fibre" most homes still have. Fibre runs to the green cabinet on the street, then tired copper carries the signal the rest of the way, which caps both speed and reliability and fades the further you sit from the cabinet. It is sold simply as "fibre" or "superfast", which is exactly why people think they already have full fibre when they do not.

Cable, the Virgin Media network, runs fibre to a street cabinet and coaxial cable into the home. It reaches high download speeds, but its upload is capped lower and it is not the same as full fibre to the door.

When you check availability, the line you are hoping to see is FTTP, and if you want the full picture, all three set side by side is not a close contest.

More than one network may have built to your address, and they are worth knowing by name, because the answer is rarely just "Openreach or nothing."

Openreach is the biggest builder, and its full fibre is sold through the familiar retail names: BT, Sky, TalkTalk, Vodafone and many others all run on the Openreach network. If Openreach FTTP has reached you, you have a wide choice of providers on it.

The altnets are the independent builders, and they have changed the picture enormously. CityFibre, Community Fibre, Hyperoptic, YouFibre, Gigaclear and others have laid full fibre to millions of homes, often reaching a street before Openreach does, and they tend to price keenly to win customers. Where an altnet has built, it may be the best-value full fibre you can get.

Virgin Media O2 is the third network, its cable reaching ultrafast and gigabit speeds, with full-fibre FTTP now rolling out across parts of its footprint too. A proper address check sees all of these at once, which is why it beats asking one provider.

If full fibre has not reached you, you are not stuck, and you are probably not waiting long. Full fibre now passes around 84% of UK homes and the figure climbs every month, with both Openreach and the altnets building at pace, so a street without it this year frequently has it the next. It is worth re-checking your address every few months, because availability flips with no announcement.

In the meantime, take the best line you can get. A part-fibre FTTC connection or Virgin's cable will keep a household running perfectly well for streaming, calls and everyday use, and where neither reaches, 4G or 5G home broadband can be a solid stopgap. None of these is full fibre, but they bridge the gap until it arrives.

When full fibre does reach you, take it. Where it is available it is almost always the line to have, and thanks to the altnets it is frequently not the most expensive option either.