By Gfast broadband gives you average download speeds like 145Mbps or 300Mbps, with ultrafast plans available from £30.99/month.
In the UK, Gfast is an ultrafast broadband technology which offers download speeds of up to 300Mbps. It’s currently available in 2.8 million homes across the UK and offers download speeds that are up to four times faster than regular fibre broadband.
At present, you can get ultrafast broadband using Gfast technology from providers like BT, EE, Shell Energy, Sky and TalkTalk. Typically, you can choose from an average download speed of either 145Mbps or 300Mbps, but this depends on your internet provider as well as the location of your home.
In this article, we’ll compare Gfast broadband providers and plans in the UK. We’ll start with an overview of Gfast broadband providers before looking at the individual Gfast plans available on each provider. Finally, we’ll discuss how Gfast works and how it compares to full fibre technology (FTTP) which is now also being rolled out across the UK.
| Prices From: | £30.99 per month |
|---|---|
| Gfast Average Speeds: |
(exact speeds will vary depending on provider & location) |
| Gfast Broadband Plans: |
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| Coverage: | 2.8 million+ homes (around 10% of UK homes) |
Contents
Overview of Gfast Broadband Providers
145Mbps Plans
In the UK, there are currently five major providers of Gfast broadband. All of them offer an ultrafast plan with download speeds of around 145Mbps on average.
At present, you can get a Gfast broadband plan in this speed range with prices starting from £30.99 per month:
| Service | Download Speed | Monthly Cost (will rise each April by £3) |
|
|---|---|---|---|
 Full Fibre 100 | 150Mbps average download | £30.99 per month plus £11.99 upfront £50 reward card 24 month contract | See deal |
 Fibre 150 | 145Mbps average download | £35.00 per month plus £9.95 upfront 18 month contract | See deal |
An average download speed of 145Mbps is more than twice as fast as a regular fibre broadband connection (which has average download speeds of around 67Mbps). You can use a 145Mbps broadband connection to download a HD-quality film in around 4 minutes or to stream ultra-HD (4K) video on 6 devices at the same time.
300Mbps Plans
If you want even faster download speeds, a couple of providers also offer faster Gfast plans with an average download speed of around 300Mbps.
At present, you can get an ultrafast plan with 300Mbps download speeds from £37.99 per month:
| Service | Download Speed | Monthly Cost (will rise each April by £3) |
|
|---|---|---|---|
Full Fibre 300 | 300Mbps average download | £37.99 per month plus £11.99 upfront £50 reward card 24 month contract | See deal |
Fibre 250 | 290Mbps average download | £39.00 per month plus £9.95 upfront 18 month contract | See deal |
It’s also possible to get a plan in this speed range by ordering TalkTalk’s Fibre 150 broadband and then upgrading it with the Fibre 300 Speed Boost. This is available for an extra £10/month once you’ve purchased Fibre 150, and subject to availability where you live.
With a download speed of 300Mbps, you can expect to download a HD-quality movie in around 2 minutes. You can also stream ultra-HD (4K) content on up to 12 devices at the same time.
Recommended Gfast Plan
At present, TalkTalk is our recommended provider if you’re looking for a Gfast broadband service in the UK:
 |
TalkTalk
If you’re looking for great value broadband that’s powered by Gfast technology, TalkTalk’s Fibre 150 service is our current recommendation. It’s available for just £35 per month. You’ll get an average download speed of 145Mbps and an average upload speed of 25Mbps on TalkTalk’s Fibre 150 (Gfast) service. You’ll also benefit from a home phone line for the duration of your contract. |
Gfast Broadband Plans: By Provider
BT Gfast Broadband
If you’re looking for an ultrafast broadband plan from BT, you can currently choose between the Fibre 100 and Fibre 300 plans.
At present, BT’s ultrafast plans start from £30.99 per month with a phone line and ultrafast broadband included. You can add a range of extras to your BT broadband plan such as BT TV (with packages including access to BT Sport), Complete Wi-Fi (for a guaranteed wi-fi signal in every room of your home) and BT Mobile (with a discounted 4G or 5G SIM card for your mobile phone).
The following table shows BT’s ultrafast broadband plans which are powered by Gfast technology:
| Service | Download Speed | Monthly Cost (will rise each April by £3) |
|
|---|---|---|---|
Full Fibre 100 | 150Mbps average download | £30.99 per month plus £11.99 upfront £50 reward card 24 month contract | See deal |
Full Fibre 300 | 300Mbps average download | £37.99 per month plus £11.99 upfront £50 reward card 24 month contract | See deal |
For more information, please see BT’s official website or read our BT fibre broadband review.
EE Fibre Max Broadband
On EE Broadband, you can choose from two ultrafast plans: Fibre Max 145 and Fibre Max 300.
You’ll currently pay £39/month for Fibre Max 145 and £47/month for Fibre Max 300. However, if you’re an EE Pay Monthly mobile customer, you’ll get a 10% discount on both of these plans. You’ll also get a mobile data boost (up to 20GB of extra data to use on your mobile phone every month).
| Service | Download Speed | Monthly Cost | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No price plans could be found matching this criteria. | |||
For more information, see the EE website or read our EE broadband review.
Shell Energy Ultrafast
In the UK, Shell Energy is a latest provider to offer ultrafast broadband. They launched their ultrafast plans in September 2020 with a choice of Ultrafast Fibre (with average download speed of 140Mbps) and Ultrafast Fibre Plus (with average download speed of 290Mbps).
At present, Shell’s ultrafast fibre plans start from £39.99 per month:
| Service | Download Speed | Monthly Cost | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No price plans could be found matching this criteria. | |||
More information about these plans can be seen on the Shell Energy website.
Sky Ultrafast Broadband
Sky currently offers their Ultrafast broadband package for £35 per month with average download speeds of 145Mbps. Customers will receive a Sky Broadband Hub router with their plan.
It’s possible to add a range of add-ons to Sky’s Ultrafast Broadband. For instance, Sky Broadband Boost is available for an extra £5/month and gives you guaranteed wi-fi in every room of your home, among a number of other benefits like daily line checks and a parental controls app. Often, you can also save money by combining Sky’s Ultrafast broadband with a Sky TV subscription.
| Service | Download Speed | Monthly Cost | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No price plans could be found matching this criteria. | |||
Sky doesn’t currently offer anything faster than their 145Mbps Ultrafast plan. Back in 2019, there was some talk of them launching an Ultrafast 2 plan with average download speeds of 285Mbps. However, this plan has still not yet launched and it also hasn’t been mentioned since 2019. We expect that Sky have either decided to postpone or to cancel the launch of Ultrafast 2.
For more information, see our full guide to Sky’s Ultrafast Broadband.
TalkTalk Fibre 150
If you’re looking for ultrafast broadband, TalkTalk is one of the best value options with their Fibre 150 plan. At present, you’ll pay just £35 per month on Fibre 150.
On Fibre 150, you’ll benefit from an average download speed of 145Mbps and an average upload speed of 25Mbps. You’ll get TalkTalk’s ‘award-winning Wi-Fi Hub’ router included with the plan along with a home phone line for the length of your contract.
| Service | Download Speed | Monthly Cost (will rise each April by £3) |
|
|---|---|---|---|
Fibre 150 | 145Mbps average download | £35.00 per month plus £9.95 upfront 18 month contract | See deal |
Fibre 250 | 290Mbps average download | £39.00 per month plus £9.95 upfront 18 month contract | See deal |
There’s more information on the TalkTalk website or in our guide to Fibre 150.
If your phone line is able to support the faster speeds, you might be offered a Fibre 300 Speed Boost after ordering Fibre 150. This will boost the average download speed of your connection to 290Mbps for an extra £10/month above the cost of Fibre 150.
Other Providers
Alongside BT, EE, Shell Energy, Sky and TalkTalk, there are also a number of smaller providers that offer Gfast broadband in the UK. You can see a list of these smaller providers on the Openreach website.
Many other broadband providers are still yet to launch their Gfast plans in the UK:
| Broadband Provider | Gfast Expected Launch Date |
|---|---|
| NOW Broadband Gfast | TBC – NOW TV is the low cost sub-brand of Sky. At present, their fastest broadband plan is Super Fibre which offers average download speed of 63Mbps. It’s yet to be announced when NOW Broadband will start offering their ultrafast (Gfast) plans. |
| Post Office Broadband Gfast | TBC – At present, the Post Office doesn’t offer any Gfast broadband plans. They’re currently in the process of selling off their broadband service so we think it’s unlikely they’ll launch a Gfast service any time soon. |
| Plusnet Gfast | TBC – Unfortunately, Plusnet do not currently offer any G.fast or ultrafast broadband plans. Plusnet is the low-cost provider within the BT Group so it’s likely that BT currently want to keep this technology for their own customers. |
| Vodafone Gfast | TBC – Vodafone haven’t yet announced when they’ll start offering Gfast broadband in the UK. They currently offer Vodafone Gigafast broadband plans in homes with a full fibre (FTTP) connection. |
What is Gfast?
In the UK, Gfast is an ultrafast broadband technology that can offer download speeds of up to 300Mbps and upload speeds of up to 50Mbps. This is around four times faster than regular fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) broadband.
At present, Gfast technology is available in around 2.8 million homes across the UK (this equates to around 10% of all UK households). It’s installed through the addition of a Gfast side pod at your nearest Openreach street cabinet, as well as an engineer visit to your home. Typically, you’ll need to live within 300 metres of your nearest cabinet to get a Gfast broadband service.
In June 2020, Openreach paused the rollout of Gfast technology to additional homes in the UK. Instead, they’re now prioritising their full fibre (FTTP) rollout which will deliver even faster download speeds (up to 900Mbps).
If your home has already been enabled for Gfast technology, you’ll still be able to sign up for a new Gfast broadband deal. However, if your home isn’t yet enabled for Gfast technology, it’s unlikely you’ll get access to it in the near future.
More Information
For more information about a specific ultrafast broadband plan, please see your broadband provider’s website. You can also read our in-depth reviews of each broadband provider in the UK.
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