Broadband postcode checker
Enter your postcode to see what broadband deals and speeds are available in your area.
Author: Max Beckett | Last updated: 17th March 2023
Uswitch broadband postcode checker explained
Our broadband postcode checker is a simple and quick way to compare broadband deals in your area. It helps you find a range of broadband packages that are available at your postcode in just a few simple steps:
Type in your postcode: Enter your postcode and address into the box on our Uswitch broadband page to see what home broadband is available in your area.
Select your address: Scroll through the dropdown list to find your address and door number.
Select your current provider: Since most of the best broadband deals are only offered to new customers, we'll need to know who you're currently with in order to show you the best deals available.
Check availability: This will filter the deals table to only show which broadband deals are currently available at your property.
After running our checker, you'll see a results table of broadband packages from many of the UK's top providers. And depending on what's available in your postcode, you'll get a wide choice of different broadband speeds available to you as well.
You can then compare those prices with your current monthly bill, and decide if what you're paying seems right or feels too much. Or you can compare the speeds with your current speed to see if it's worth upgrading your service.
Why should I check broadband in my area?
Checking your postcode is the quickest way to find out if you can get a better deal on your broadband.
It's also a great way to see if you can upgrade your connection to a much faster one - particularly if your current package is struggling to handle all the devices in your home.
A faster internet connection
To add more services like a landline or pay-TV subscription
To reduce your monthly bills
This is especially useful if you're currently out of contract with your existing provider, because you might be paying much more than you could for your broadband.
By switching your broadband with Uswitch, you could save an average of £162‡ per year.
How can I check the broadband speed where I live?
Broadband speeds can sometimes differ from those advertised online and on TV, depending on where you live or what your home equipment setup might be like.
The difference in speed can be due to any number of things, but it's often driven by what's available in your area. There are lots of different types of broadband connection that have different levels of availability across the country, so comparing your broadband options is the best way to choose what's right for you.
What internet can I get?
A great way to quickly find out what broadband speed is available to you is by using the Uswitch broadband speed test.
Not only will this measure the current internet speed you're getting, but it will then run a broadband availability check to see what speeds you can get at your postcode.
This way, if you're unhappy with your existing speed, you can find out what packages you can switch to in order to enjoy much faster speeds.
Take a speed test
Run a broadband speed test to find out what speed you're currently getting, and what else could be available to you.
What's the best broadband for me?
The best broadband deal available is one that suits your needs the most. You'll often want to find a good balance between your budget, the number of people in your household, and what you want to use your internet for.
So when you search for the 'best' broadband in your area, the fastest or the cheapest options may not necessarily be the best for you. Instead, you'll want to look for the most appropriate deal for what your household needs, because that'd be most worth your money.
There are a few different types of broadband you can get, each with a different range of speeds and prices:
Superfast part-fibre broadband
If you're searching for fibre-optic broadband in your area, you'll have plenty of options to choose from on Uswitch.
Currently, the most popular broadband deals in the UK are part-fibre. They're widely available across the country, and provide superfast speeds between 30-70Mbps - which is usually plenty for the average household.
They're called 'part-fibre' because most of the connection is served by fibre-optic cables, but they still rely on standard copper phone lines to get to your home.
With around 97% of the country covered by Openreach’s part-fibre network, there's a good chance you can get broadband from the providers who use it. They include BT, Sky, Plusnet, TalkTalk, Vodafone, NOW and many others.
In fact, many of these offers are now roughly the same price as their copper ADSL ones, since these deals are now very common and copper cables are being phased out of the Openreach network.
Full fibre broadband
Full fibre broadband is fast expanding across the UK, and it's bringing much faster internet speeds with it.
As the name suggests, this involves fibre-optic cables running all the way from the broadband exchange to your home, which can offer gigabit speeds 1Gbps and higher.
Although the aim is for everyone in the country to eventually get access to full fibre, only about half of the UK currently has it available to them. But with the help of lots of investment and smaller 'altnet' providers, it is now rapidly being installed across the country, including in rural areas.
Checking your postcode with Uswitch is a quick, easy way to see whether you can get full fibre broadband at your home. And you can compare those results to find out which deals would be the best fit for you and your household.
Prices for full fibre can be quite a bit higher with the big providers. But if a smaller altnet is available in your area, you might be able to upgrade for a surprisingly low monthly price.
Virgin Media cable broadband
Virgin Media's cable broadband network covers roughly 56% of UK premises, and its coverage is gradually growing.
It's much faster than the part-fibre connections you get from providers that use Openreach. Since late 2021, it's been able to offer gigabit speeds to everyone on its network, which is just shy of what current full fibre connections can provide.
The provider also has plans to upgrade its cable network to full fibre by 2028, which could offer speeds of up to 10Gbps. So even faster speeds could be on the horizon if you switch to Virgin Media in the next few years.
Virgin's prices tend to be slightly higher for its faster broadband deals, especially compared to smaller full fibre providers who offer ultrafast packages for very low rates.
ADSL broadband
The oldest (and slowest) broadband connection in the UK is copper ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line).
This type of broadband is delivered over the same copper phone wires as landline home phones, which means it's the most widely-available (99% UK coverage), but its speeds often don't meet the needs of most households anymore.
Download speeds on ADSL usually average around 10Mbps, depending on the quality of lines and connections in your area. But they can slow down depending on how far away you are from your local street cabinet.
ADSL prices are usually some of the cheapest on the market. But since part-fibre deals are now so popular, there's often no difference in price between them.
Can I get fibre broadband?
According to figures from Ofcom, 97% of the UK can access FTTC (fibre-to-the-cabinet) broadband, so there's a good chance you can get a type of fibre broadband in your area.
Our postcode checker will quickly show you if your location can access fibre broadband, and at what speeds. You can then filter the deals that come up to only show fibre broadband packages.
We'd also recommend using our fibre broadband checker to make sure you're pricing up exactly what you need, and that you can access what you want in your area.
Once you enter your information on most providers’ websites — in particular your home address — you should get bespoke speed estimates for your home, including an average speed and minimum speed guarantee.
Search for internet providers in your area
At Uswitch, we can show you deals from some of the best broadband providers.
Check out individual providers to see more details of their broadband deals and coverage:
Cheapest broadband in my area
If you're looking for an affordable broadband deal, you may have a couple of options depending on what your budget is.
Firstly, the cheapest broadband deals on Uswitch offer broadband from around £18 per month — and even fibre broadband up to 67Mbps from just £21 at times. So there is certainly a high number of widely-available cheaper deals.
However, if you're receiving Universal Credit or another form of government financial support, you could qualify for a social broadband tariff. These are much cheaper deals that some providers offer to make broadband a lot more affordable for people struggling to pay their bills.
Broadband savings methodology
‡£162 is the average annual saving calculated in August 2022 for users who chose a Uswitch broadband deal.
Find out more about how we calculate our savings messages at our savings FAQ page.