These days, we heavily depend on our broadband. At home or work, we’re always relying on a reliable and fast connection to socialise, work, or relax. Despite this, most broadband users aren’t experts, so there’s room for misconceptions.

These everyday myths about UK broadband can cloud customers’ judgment when finding packages that suit them. In this blog, we disprove some common misconceptions about UK broadband.

Myth 1: “You’ll lose internet access if you switch providers.”

The idea of having a long outage is very off-putting. It’s particularly inconvenient in the working-from-home era. This worry can be enough to deter customers from switching to a better broadband package. However, it’s not entirely true!

When switching providers, you’ll experience little to no disruption to your connection. In most cases, your new provider tells you when the switch will occur. The changeover usually occurs in just a few minutes. There’s very little inconvenience, and you can plan around the short waiting period.

To minimise the chance of getting stuck without Internet access, know your contracts. It’s important to know when the start and end dates of your contracts, new and old, are. This will give you an idea of when you might face a brief connection outage.

Myth 2: “There’s hardly any difference between superfast, ultrafast, and hyperfast broadband.”

Customers can (understandably) get confused by terms such as superfast, hyperfast, and ultrafast. These types of connection differ in terms of speed, but also reliability.

The different names refer to the range of speeds you can expect from each type of broadband:

• superfast: between 30–300Mbps
• ultrafast: over 300 but less than 1000Mbps (or one gigabit)
• hyperfast: speeds over 500Mbps or up to one gigabit

These speed differences are significant — but whether customers notice them depends on their usage.

Although superfast should suffice for everyday streaming and video calling, it’s not always enough. For customers who regularly stream 4K content or play games online, the higher speeds make a huge difference.

Beyond merely speed, ultrafast and hyperfast are more reliable, too. This is because they use FTTP cables, which are more efficient than copper ones.

Myth 3: “Switching providers takes lots of time and effort.”

Customers may settle for poor service because of the perceived hassle of switching. The switchover process can seem daunting — especially as customers expect poor service from providers. Ofcom’s recent research revealed that 40% of people are deterred from switching as they think it’s too complex. However, the customer has to do very little, as the new provider handles the switchover.

Some providers may require an engineer to change your home’s wall socket to install their routers. However, this is often not needed.

Myth 4: “Getting faster broadband will cost much more.”

Customers across the UK can now access high-speed broadband — but they often assume it’s too expensive. Thankfully, the prices for ultrafast and hyperfast broadband have become competitive, so customers can access higher speeds affordably.

We hope this blog has dispelled any myths about broadband you may have heard. Everyday Communications believes everyone should be able to afford and access the fastest broadband. To discuss our no-nonsense broadband solutions, contact our friendly team today.