Brits due for HUGE broadband speed upgrade as place where first 40,000 people can trial lightning fast internet revealed

TENS of thousands of Brits will soon be able to trial breakneck internet download speeds.

BT’s Openreach is about to begin a major pilot that will see Brits unlocking ultra-fast fibre broadband.

Alamy

Openreach is working on a major upgrade for British broadband[/caption]

The trial is due to kick off between January and March 2026, as revealed by ISPReview.

And it’ll see as many as 40,000 premises get download speeds right up to 8.5Gbps.

According to a 2024 Ofcom report, the average broadband download speed in the UK is now 223Mbps.

There are 1,000 megabits in a gigabit. So 8.5Gbps is 38 times faster than 223Mbps.

It means you could download full 4K movies and entire video games in minutes and even seconds.

Currently, Openreach’s fastest consumer broadband product maxes out at 1.8Gbps download speeds.

That’s a FTTP connection, which is fibre-to-the-premises – making use of high-performance fibre-optic cables.

But Openreach is trialling a new type of FTTP technology called XGS-PON, which is capable of delivering up to 10Gbps.

XGS-PON can more efficiently direct light signals in fibre-optic cabling to premises, like a home or business.

This first trial is due to take place at 40,000 premises across Guildford in Surrey.

“We recently told customers that we’ll be running a pilot of XGS-PON in the Guildford area, covering around 40,000 premises, and starting between January and March, 2026,” an Openreach spokesperson told ISPReview.

“As part of the pilot, we’re exploring the full range of speed capabilities offered by the technology including symmetric 3.3Gbps and asymmetric options up to 8.5Gbps.

“This will help us understand how best to support future customer demand.

“It’s important to say that this is a trial at this stage, so the higher speed tiers shouldn’t be taken as a commitment to launch products.

Getty

The internet speeds could be nearly 40 times faster than the UK average[/caption]

“We’re continuing to assess the nationwide demand for products that this technology might enable.”

Of course, it’s possible that some Brits might not be able to take advantage of such high speeds – even with the correct fibre setup.

When you download something, you’re actually getting it from a physical server somewhere.

And those servers may not be able to deliver content as fast as you’re able to download it.

Similarly, some gadgets in your home aren’t capable of downloading at such high speeds – especially if they’re older and don’t support newer Wi-Fi technologies.

The other big catch is that it’s currently unclear how much it will cost for such high-speed internet.

But it will likely be very expensive.

Sky is currently offering a 2.5Gbps broadband called Sky Full Fibre 2.5 Gigafast+, which works using the CityFibre network.

And that will cost you at least £70 a month.

So even faster internet via Openreach networks could potentially cost even more.