Fibrus Broadband Review

Last updated: 26 September 2024   By Lyndsey Burton

Fibrus offer an independent full fibre network to homes in Northern Ireland and growing areas of England.

Fibrus are an established challenger, especially for Northern Ireland residents where availability is greatest.

Price:

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Speed:

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Reliability:

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Customer Service:

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Fibrus' main aim is to connect underserved rural areas, and offers full fibre to the home broadband to residents across Northern Ireland and Cumbria in England.

Customers can choose between average download speeds ranging from 106Mbps to 982Mbps, as well as benefit from WiFi 6 enabled Amazon eero routers.

The provider offers UK-based support as well as fairer contract terms with no mid-contract price rises, and also helps customers looking to switch with contract buy outs.

fibrus broadband

At a glance

Price From £24.99
Setup cost Free
Minimum term 24 months
Out of contract price From £39.99
Annual price increase No mid-contract price rises
Broadband connection Full fibre
Download speeds 106Mb, 159Mb, 518Mb, 982Mb
Upload speeds 31Mb, 34Mb, 104Mb, 310Mb
Router Amazon eero 6+
WiFi guarantee From £7.99 per eero
Parental controls Router-level
Home phone Optional: £9.99/mth
Anytime calls Included in phone plan
Pros Cons
Availability in underserved rural locations, particularly throughout Northern Ireland Not available nationwide, with limited presence in England so far
No mid-contract price rises Upload speeds faster than Openreach and Virgin Media, but not symmetrical
Latest WiFi 6 eero router
Total home WiFi included in faster plans

Latest offers

Offer Terms

Fibrus full fibre broadband from just £24.99 per month

24 month minimum term. No setup fee.


Who is Fibrus broadband best for?

Fibrus broadband is available to around 40% of homes in Northern Ireland, across both rural and urban areas. They've also started branching out across North West England, with connections already going live in Cumbria.

For those households who can get it, Fibrus seems to be a very good choice, with the provider offering full fibre connections to every property, competitive pricing, and the latest router technology.

The provider also offers good value for money, with customers able to take a digital phone line with free anytime calls, as well as bundle additional eero router devices for better wireless coverage around the home.

As a challenger to bigger providers like BT and Virgin Media, Fibrus also offer customers benefits such as a promise of no mid-contract price rises, UK-based support, and faster upload speeds - although they're not quite symmetrical.

Overall, Fibrus are easy to recommend, ticking a lot of boxes, but their approach to connecting underserved areas may make them an obvious choice for those with availability.


Fibrus broadband packages

Summary: Fibrus offer three main broadband packages, with the option to add a digital phone line to all plans.

Fibrus broadband offers three main broadband speed choices: Full Fibre 100, Full Fibre 500, and Full Fibre 1000.

Package Broadband Monthly price Upfront price Contract term
Full Fibre 100 106Mb average £29.99 Free 24 months
Full Fibre 500 518Mb average £34.99 Free 24 months
Full Fibre 1000 982Mb average £59.99 Free 24 months

These plans are available to the majority of residents served by the Fibrus network, particularly in rural areas of Northern Ireland and Cumbria.

However, for those living in urban areas of Northern Ireland, Fibrus offer a Full Fibre 150 plan instead of the Full Fibre 100 plan, as well as cheaper pricing on the faster deals:

Package Broadband Monthly price Upfront price Contract term
Full Fibre 150 159Mb average £24.99 Free 24 months
offer Offer: Reduce price in select locations only
Full Fibre 500 518Mb average £29.99 Free 24 months
offer Offer: Reduce price in select locations only
Full Fibre 1000 982Mb average £44.99 Free 24 months
offer Offer: Reduce price in select locations only

Pricing is usually cheaper in these urban areas that is made available for rural residents because it costs less for Fibrus to roll out connections to these easier-to-reach locations.

While the approach seems a little confusing at first, it's understandable that Fibrus would offer more competitive pricing where they can, especially in urban areas where customers are more likely to have multiple full fibre providers to choose between.

All customers, wherever they live, also get access to the Full Fibre 500 and Full Fibre 1000 plans, and these also come with the Total Home WiFi add-on included for free, which bundles an additional Amazon eero 6+ router for better wireless coverage around the home.

Benefits of Fibrus broadband packages worth pointing out here is there approach to no mid-contract price rises, which has become increasingly rare, as well as the ability for all customers to add a digital phone line with inclusive anytime calls to UK landlines and UK mobiles for just £9.99 extra per month.


How does Fibrus broadband compare?

Summary: Fibrus aim to connect underserved rural areas to their ultrafast full fibre broadband, yet prices remain competitive in the market.

While Fibrus have specifically looked to connect properties in rural areas of Northern Ireland, they have wide coverage in the country.

This means many households served by Fibrus may also have the option of Openreach FTTP, especially in more urban areas, so we'll look at how these providers compare on price.

Package Broadband Monthly price Upfront price Contract term
Full Fibre 150 159Mb average £24.99 Free 24 months
offer Offer: Reduce price in select locations only
Full Fibre 150 150Mb average £26 Free 24 months
offer Offer: £2 off for Vodafone pay monthly customers
Full Fibre 145 145Mb average £28.99 Free 24 months
offer Offer: Save over £11/mth + No setup fee + Exclusive offers and discounts for Plusnet customers (Ends 16/10/2024)
Full Fibre 150 150Mb average £29 £5 24 months
offer Offer: WiFi Max just £3/mth + (£5 refundable setup fee for new customers if applicable)

Fibrus' definition of urban areas actually includes small villages such as Carrigan and Rasharkin, so it's likely many households will be able to access the cheaper price of the Full Fibre 150 plan.

In comparison, Fibrus Full Fibre 150 is cheaper than equivalent full fibre plans from even budget Openreach resellers such as Vodafone, Plusnet, and TalkTalk, as well as deals from Sky and BT.

Residents in much more rural areas, such as those on the A29 between Cookstown and Dungannon, or those living on the outskirts of Newry, will get the Full Fibre 100 plan instead. However, this also costs just £29.99 per month for 24 months, which is still a similar price to Plusnet, Sky and TalkTalk, and cheaper than BT.

It's also worth remembering Fibrus include a WiFi 6 enabled Amazon eero 6+ router with these packages, while other providers only offer WiFi 5 routers - which includes Plusnet and BT.

Customers looking at faster plans from Fibrus can compare their fastest-tier Full Fibre 1000 against equivalent gigabit broadband plans as well.

Again, looking at the cheaper urban pricing, which is more likely to have competitors to choose from, Fibrus are also competitive at faster speed tiers:

Package Broadband Monthly price Upfront price Contract term
Full Fibre 1000 982Mb average £44.99 Free 24 months
offer Offer: Reduce price in select locations only
Full Fibre 910 910Mb average £36 Free 24 months
offer Offer: £2 off for Vodafone pay monthly customers
Full Fibre 900 900Mb average £41.99 Free 24 months
offer Offer: Save over £20/mth + No setup fee + Exclusive offers and discounts for Plusnet customers (Ends 16/10/2024)
Full Fibre Gigafast 900Mb average £42 £5 24 months
offer Offer: WiFi Max just £3/mth + (£5 refundable setup fee for new customers if applicable)

Fibrus Full Fibre 1000 costs £44.99 in urban locations (or £59.99 in rural ones), which makes it cheaper than TalkTalk and BT, but more expensive than Openreach resellers Vodafone, Plusnet, and Sky.

This brings Full Fibre 1000 down to just £34.99 per month for 24 months, making it one of the cheapest gigabit deals available.

At the time of writing, Fibrus Full Fibre 1000 is cheaper than equivalent plans from Plusnet, Sky, TalkTalk, Vodafone, Virgin Media, and BT.

Overall, Fibrus offer competitive pricing for their full fibre deals, especially in more remote areas where customers may have little choice for decent broadband speeds.


How fast is Fibrus broadband?

Summary: Fibrus offer full fibre to the home connections, with download speeds up to 982Mbps.

Fibrus operate their own independent network, and connect customers by installing fibre optic cables directly into their property. This results in much faster broadband speeds than we're used to seeing through copper and part-fibre connections, especially for those in rural areas who may be quite some distance from the nearest street cabinet or exchange.

Customers can choose from one of three broadband speeds, and at least 50% of Fibrus customers will receive the headline advertised speeds or faster:

Average download speed Average upload speed
Full Fibre 100 106Mb 31Mb
Full Fibre 500 518Mb 104Mb
Full Fibre 1000 982Mb 310Mb

Customers living in urban areas covered by Fibrus' network, will have the choice of Full Fibre 150 instead of the Full Fibre 100 plan:

Average download speed Average upload speed
Full Fibre 150 159Mb 34Mb

Upload speeds on Fibrus broadband are faster than comparative connections from Openreach and Virgin Media, however, they're still asymmetrical, so they are slower than the download speed.


Router

Summary: Fibrus broadband customers will be provided with a WiFi 6 enabled Amazon eero router.

Fibrus provide their broadband customers with either an Amazon eero 6+ or an eero Pro 6E router depending on the package they choose.

Customers opting for the Full Fibre 100 or Full Fibre 150 plans will receive one Amazon eero 6+ router, those opting for Full Fibre 500 will receive two eero 6+ routers, while those opting for the fastest Full Fibre 1000 plan will receive two eero Pro 6E routers.

amazon eero pro 6e

Where customers are provided with two routers, these work together using intelligent mesh technology to seamless boost the wireless signal around a home, improving coverage across larger distances.

Here are the specifications of these Amazon eero routers provided by Fibrus:

Amazon eero 6+ Amazon eero Pro 6E
WiFi protocol 6 6E
WiFi band Dual-band Tri-band
Intelligent mesh Yes Yes
Coverage per eero 140m2 190m2
Ethernet 2 x 1Gb 1 x 1Gb, 1 x 2.5Gb
Security WPA3 WPA3
Built-in Zigbee hub Yes Yes

While the Amazon eero Pro 6E is a market-leading device, with both the latest WiFi protocol and tri-band channels for the best coverage, the eero 6+ is still very good, with support for both WiFi 6 and WPA3 encryption.

As mentioned, those who take Full Fibre 500 or up will get two devices, however, all customers can add additional eero devices to their plan at a cost of £7.99 per month for the eero 6+, and £9.99 per month for the eero Pro 6E.

Customers living in very large homes therefore can add extra eero devices to ensure seamless coverage in all room and for all occupants.


Availability

Summary: Fibrus offer good availability in Northern Ireland, but are only just starting to rollout in England and Scotland.

Fibrus have a footprint of around 40% in Northern Ireland, and they offer connections to households in both urban and rural areas.

As of mid 2024, they've so far passed over 375,000 homes throughout the country, with 90,000 customers using their service.

fibrus availability northern ireland 2023

Fibrus plan to eventually reach a total of 350,000 homes in Northern Ireland, although they say this will now mostly be through filling in gaps in their existing network.

It's likely many households that can get broadband with Fibrus will be in rural areas with little choice for other full fibre connections. However, where people do live in more urban towns, availability of Openreach FTTP may also apply.

So, it's worth customers checking availability in their area to see the best prices for them.

In terms of future rollout plans, Fibrus aim to pass 500,000 homes by 2024, which would mean adding around 150,000 homes in the North of England as well.

While they've already started connecting homes in Cumbria through Project Gigabit funding, they also plan to roll out to Northumberland and Durham. Beyond this, Fibrus say they've set their sights on helping Scotland achieve gigabit coverage too.

Ultimately, Fibrus seem set on their ambition to connect the most rural and remote premises across the UK.


Customer service

Summary: Fibrus offer UK-based customer service with Great ratings on Trustpilot.

Fibrus aren't big enough to be featured in Ofcom's research into customer service, or the quarterly complaints figures. However, we can look at reviews on Trustpilot for some idea of how they're performing.

Most customers rate Fibrus as Excellent, with 66% giving them 5-stars on the platform. Although around 14% of reviewers have had a poorer experience.

A number of the bad reviews seem to stem from the router and getting this setup, rather than the broadband service itself. Some customers go on to report resolved issues after obtaining help on setting up the Amazon eero device from Fibrus.

Others are unhappy with the service provided, with issues seeming to focus around slow installations, however, many more customers rate the provider highly for the fast and high-quality installations, with the efficient work of the engineers being praised.

Overall, it can be tricky to gauge an accurate picture just from online reviews, especially where expectations may not have been met due to issues outside of a network's control.

Ultimately however, the majority of Fibrus' customers seem happy with their service, and the provider also boasts UK-based customer service, which will be reassuring to some.


Verdict: Is Fibrus broadband any good?

Fibrus' objective to connect rural and remote homes will make the network an Internet lifeline to many who may have been struggling with slow speeds for many years.

It also means where they are available, households may not have many competitive alternatives available to them. However, despite this, Fibrus still offer highly competitive pricing with the latest router technology.

Where the packages are compared to Openreach FTTP resellers, Fibrus is generally cheaper, and the option to add additional eero routers should mean even the largest of homes shouldn't have a problem with wireless coverage.

Value for money is certainly added for Fibrus when considering customers opting for the Full Fibre 500 or Full Fibre 1000 plans get two eero routers included, something which costs around £8 to £10 with rivals.

It's also nice to see the option of a digital home phone line at reasonable prices, with inclusive calls to both UK landlines and UK mobiles at any time.

Overall, Fibrus seem to have noble ambitions with their desire to target the most remote and hard to reach areas, as these can be financially challenging from an investment point of view. Nevertheless, their pricing remains competitive, which means they should be an easy choice for the households they've passed.

Comments

D J Anderton
16 November 2023

This firm is a joke. There are 21 properties in my postcode area and for the last two years Fibrus postcode checker has reported FTTP availability for 20 of those premises. My property is the one single residence that has been excluded for no apparent reason and I've had to wait for Openreach's FTTP network to reach my area. Fibrus has lost two years of my custom so far and will be losing many more in the future!

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