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Rural broadband deals

Living in an rural area does not mean you have to settle for lesser broadband. Put your postcode in below to see providers available near you.

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Rated 5/5 on Trustpilot based on over 680 reviews Trustpilot logo
Rated 5/5 based on over 680 reviews

Rated 5/5 based on over 680 reviews

Rated 5/5 based on over 680 reviews

4G National Broadband

Unlimited 4G broadband

12 month contract

25Mb / second

Average speed

Unlimited

Usage

£39.99 / month

£99 upfront fees

Direct Save Broadband

Unlimited Broadband

12 month contract

11Mb / second

Average speed

Unlimited

Usage

£18.95 / month

£0 upfront fees

Direct Save Broadband

Fast Broadband

12 month contract

8Mb / second

Average speed

Unlimited

Usage

£18.95 / month

£0 upfront fees

Shell Energy Broadband

Fast Broadband

18 month contract + Phone

11Mb / second

Average speed

Unlimited

Usage

£19.99 / month

£9.95 upfront fees

NOW Broadband

Brilliant Broadband

12 month contract + Phone

11Mb / second

Average speed

Unlimited

Usage

£20.00 / month

£10 upfront fees

Pricing may change during contract Info

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Who are the best providers for rural broadband?

Finding the best internet for rural areas can often be difficult; not all providers offer connections in remote countryside areas, and typically those that do only offer slower, ADSL connections.

Depending on where you live though, you can often find smaller, independent internet service providers that have set up their own fibre optic networks. Although these ISPs are more limited availability-wise than most of the larger players, quite a few offer unlimited high-speed internet for rural areas with speeds of up to 1 Gbps.

Gigaclear

Gigaclear is a specialist rural broadband provider. It offers some of the best high-speed internet connections for rural and countryside areas, using its own fibre optic network.

With its packages beginning at 200Mbps and topping out at 900Mbps (average speeds), if you can access Gigaclear's services then you will be getting some of the fastest broadband in the country.

Gigaclear Broadband

Superfast 200Mbs

18 month contract Fibre

200Mb / second

Average speed

Unlimited

Usage

£17.00 / month

£0 upfront fees

Gigaclear Broadband

Ultrafast 400 with Smart WiFi

18 month contract Fibre

400Mb / second

Average speed

Unlimited

Usage

£24.00 / month

£0 upfront fees

Gigaclear Broadband

Hyperfast 900 with Smart WiFi

18 month contract Fibre

830Mb / second

Average speed

Unlimited

Usage

£49.00 / month

£0 upfront fees

Airband

Airband is a rapidly growing ultrafast broadband provider that largely focuses on delivering internet to households across the South West of England, Wales, Oxfordhsire, and the Midlands.

In terms of fibre broadband, Airband has packages that offer avearage download speeds of 100Mbps or 200Mbps. If these are not available in your area, you may be able to access their fixed wireless broadband network that comes with download speeds of 40Mbps - much better than a standard ADSL connection.

Airband Broadband

Fibre 150 + Free Netflix

18 month contract Fibre

Free 12-month Netflix subscription

150Mb / second

Average speed

Unlimited

Usage

£30.00 / month

£0 upfront fees

Airband Broadband

Fibre 300 + Free Netflix

18 month contract Fibre

Free 12-month Netflix subscription

300Mb / second

Average speed

Unlimited

Usage

£35.00 / month

£0 upfront fees

Trooli

Trooli offers some of the fastest internet for rural areas; in fact it only offers ultrafast download speeds.

With packages starting at 150Mbps and rising to Gigabit speeds of 900Mbps, if you are able to access these services then you won’t have to deal with slow internet ever again.

If you are interested in Trooli’s broadband packages, you can find them in select areas of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Anglia, East Sussex, Hampshire, and Kent.

Trooli Broadband

Full Fibre 150 Home

24 month contract Fibre

150Mb / second

Average speed

Unlimited

Usage

£29.99 / month

£0 upfront fees

Trooli Broadband

Full Fibre 500 Home

24 month contract Fibre

500Mb / second

Average speed

Unlimited

Usage

£34.99 / month

£0 upfront fees

Trooli Broadband

Full Fibre 900 Home

24 month contract Fibre

900Mb / second

Average speed

Unlimited

Usage

£29.99 / month

£0 upfront fees

4G Home Broadband

4G Home Broadband does not offer fibre packages to its customers, but connects homes to the internet via 4G connections. If you are sceptical of connecting to the internet wirelessly, there is no need to be; this is high-speed wireless internet designed for rural areas.

Connecting through wireless 4G bands, 4G Home Broadband can cover much wider areas than other wired-only providers, reaching even the most remote of places that other suppliers cannot (as long as 4G wireless is available in the area!).

Even if you can access Openreach ADSL packages, it is still worth considering 4G Home Broadband’s internet options; its base 4G package comes with download speeds of 25Mbps, which is more than double the speed of most ADSL packages.

We would highly recommend its products to anyone who is unable to access fibre broadband at home.

Why is broadband in the countryside so slow?

Broadband connection speeds outside of heavily populated urban areas are generally worse for a number of reasons. Population density plays a large part in this - if you need to connect a city then all the houses are very close to one another, the opposite is almost always the case in rural areas. Buildings are further away from each other, meaning that one street cabinet can’t connect as many homes, and longer cables are needed, which makes the connection slightly worse.

Some homes are also on what is known as exchange only lines, this means that a house is connected directly to the exchange rather than a street cabinet, such places will therefore be missed out by the fibre rollout.

Why doesn’t rural broadband get upgraded?

The main reason that rural communities don’t have access to the same broadband infrastructure as those in the city essentially comes down to the bottom line – it’s more profitable for ISPs to connect densely populated urban areas. If a large broadband provider such as Virgin Media has the choice between accessing 500 customers or 5,000 with the same upfront cost to them, they will go with the latter. The lay of the land provides another problem. Uneven hilly terrain, farmland and isolated locations mean that in order to build the necessary infrastructure to connect rural homes, a company must spend a disproportionate amount of money when compared with their return.

The cost of updating old technology as well as unforeseen costs such as the time it takes to send out technicians all factor in and explain why it has taken so long for high speed internet to reach many parties of the UK.

When I will get high speed internet in my area?

This is a difficult question to answer and the answer will of course depend on where you actually are. That being said, in 2017 the UK reached 95% connectivity nationwide, and has put in place a universal service obligation which means from 2020, all citizens will have the legal right to request high speed internet access. To encourage this, the government will subsidise your installation cost in certain areas, if you meet certain criteria.

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What is being done to improve rural internet connectivity?

One way that the government has tried to kick start investment in home broadband services across the UK is through the Local Full Fibre Networks Programme. This scheme is designed to entice investment in both rural and urban areas across the UK. A £190m challenge fund was launched in November 2017, backing local connectivity projects that have the potential to kickstart commercial investment in installing fibre infrastructure. Two separate funds of £95m were also released for local authorities to bid on, the first batch was allocated in March 2018 with the second wave of funding to be distributed to successful applicants this year.

The government also launched a Gigabit Voucher Scheme in March 2018 worth £67m. These ‘vouchers’ can be used by local communities and businesses to help mitigate the installation costs of implementing faster broadband connections. Applications are made by individuals or small businesses through designated suppliers in each area, and successful applicants receive vouchers which are then used to mitigate the costs of upgrades to gigabit capable broadband in the area.

What can I do to improve my internet connection in the countryside?

If you have money lying around then BT is often willing to get your house connected to high speed broadband, the downside is that it can be very expensive and in many instances installations costs and exceed £1,000. If, like many people, you don’t just have £1,000 lying around, then consider one of the following options:

  • Mobile Broadband: Mobile broadband deals use 4G networks to connect your devices to the internet, usually using USB dongles. The issue here is that many areas with poor broadband connectivity also don’t have great 4G coverage.
  • Satellite Broadband: This method uses a satellite dish to create a broadband signal. Although readily available and fairly cost effective, satellite broadband tends to come with poor download speeds, so may not provide a solution to your problem.
  • Band together with neighbours: As previously mentioned there are various community schemes aimed at getting more rural locations connected. If you can approach a provider with enough residents looking to switch services to them, you might be able to persuade them to come to town and ,in many instances, you can apply for vouchers to help them offset installation costs.
  • Shop around: There is always the possibility that better broadband offers than the one you’ve got are available in your rural area. Using a price comparison website like usave will help make this simple!

Last reviewed: 14 April 2023

Next review: 14 May 2023