Broadband in Edinburgh

Openreach broadband providers

Like most other areas of the country, BT Group's Openreach network has wide availability across Edinburgh with two types of broadband - part-fibre and full fibre. It also still serves some fully copper ADSL connections, but the 10Mbps average speeds on this type of broadband are rarely enough for most households nowadays.

Providers that use Openreach's broadband network include BT, Sky, Plusnet, EE and many more. Its part-fibre connections are also used by Vodafone and TalkTalk, though they share full fibre services with another network called CityFibre.

Virgin Media

Ultrafast broadband provider Virgin Media has strong coverage all across Edinburgh with its cable broadband network. It's slightly more widespread across the country as Openreach's full fibre network is right now, which means you may be more likely to benefit from 100Mbps+ speeds from this provider than you may with an Openreach one.

Virgin isn't focused on growing its existing cable broadband network much further, as it has started to roll out its own full fibre connections in the form of 'Nexfibre'. This currently has limited availability but it has some connections set up in the south east of Edinburgh, near Gilmerton, Alnwickhill and Burdiehouse.

Vodafone and TalkTalk

Vodafone and TalkTalk offer their full fibre services through the CityFibre network, which is an alternative network ('altnet') with good coverage in the north, east and west of Edinburgh.

Central and southern parts of the city have less CityFibre availability, but those who can access this network may see slightly cheaper prices for full fibre deals.

More altnet providers in Edinburgh

There are a few more smaller alternative providers available in parts of Edinburgh. Here's a brief list of where they are available:

• Hyperoptic: Good coverage in select flat blocks in central and northern Edinburgh.
• FibreNest: Pockets of coverage in the south east of Edinburgh, in areas like Gilmerton, Burdiehouse and Niddrie.
• YouFibre: Some coverage just outside of the city in Musselburgh, Prestonpans and Cockenzie & Port Seton.