Community Fibre vs Hyperoptic

Last updated: 30 January 2023   By Dr Lucy Brown, Editor

Hyperoptic and Community Fibre both offer full fibre services to homes across London, and their services are finely matched.

Community Fibre are cheaper across all equivalent packages and also come with lower upfront costs.

Meanwhile, Hyperoptic offer customers more flexibility with one-month contract options, and fairer terms with fixed prices across their 12 and 24-month deals.

It's a close competition when comparing Community Fibre with Hyperoptic, yet we feel Community Fibre just have the edge with cheaper prices, better customer service reviews, and an optional TV plan.

london

At a glance

Community Fibre Hyperoptic
Price from £17.99 £17.99
Superfast broadband 50Mb, 75Mb, 150Mb 33Mb, 57Mb, 158Mb,
Ultrafast broadband 300Mb 522Mb
Gigafast broadband 920Mb, 3000Mb 900Mb
Anytime UK calls £10 £5
TV content Netgem TV None
TrustScore 4.9 from 24,000 reviews 4.5 from 18,000 reviews
Minimum term 12 or 24 months 1, 12, or 24 months
Community Fibre Hyperoptic
Pros pros Cheapest overall prices Fixed prices with no mid-contract price rises
Optional Netgem TV service Cheaper call add-ons and ability to call overseas
Symmetrical download and upload speeds Symmetrical download and upload speeds
Up to 3Gb download speeds Flexible 30-day contract option
Affordable broadband tariff available to anyone
Cons cons Increases prices annually No pay TV option
International calls not support by phone service Smaller footprint in London, yet available throughout the UK

Verdict: Who is best for...

Community Fibre Hyperoptic
Price Community Fibre wins
Speed Community Fibre wins
Router Community Fibre wins
Call plans Hyperoptic wins
TV Community Fibre wins
Customer service Community Fibre wins
Overall Community Fibre wins

Price

Winner: Community Fibre is more affordable than Hyperoptic, with cheaper prices on most equivalent packages, lower or no setup fees, and a broader social broadband tariff.

Community Fibre easily beat Hyperoptic when price is the most important factor. They currently offer 150Mb fibre broadband for £17.99 per month, compared to £25 for the same speed from Hyperoptic.

In addition, most of Hyperoptic's packages currently come with around a £39 setup fee, while most of Community Fibre's packages are free of any upfront costs, and where setup is charged it only costs £9.95.

For anyone struggling with their household bills in the cost of living crisis, Community Fibre also offer an affordable broadband tariff that's available to anyone who needs it. For just £12.50 per month, people can stay connected to the Internet with 20Mb average download speeds.

While Hyperoptic also offer a social broadband tariff it's only available to people in receipt of certain means-tested benefits. It also costs a little more, priced at £15 per month.

Conversely, it's worth noting that Hyperoptic offer fixed prices and won't increase prices during a customer's minimum term. On the other hand, Community Fibre have inserted an annual price rise clause in their contracts, with prices rising by Consumer Price Index (CPI + 2.9%) in April of each year.

Overall, Community Fibre offer the cheapest prices, yet some customers may prefer Hyperoptic's fixed prices and arguably fairer contract terms.


Broadband deals

Winner: Community Fibre offer cheaper broadband than Hyperoptic, they also mostly don't charge upfront set-up fees, making their broadband deals even more appealing.

Hyperoptic and Community Fibre both offer 12 and 24-month deals to customers across their superfast, ultrafast and gigabit-capable packages, although Hyperoptic also offer one-month contract options too.

Here are their superfast packages side-by-side when taken without a home phone line:

Package Broadband Monthly price Upfront price Contract term
150Mb Fibre Broadband 150Mb average £18.99 £14.95 24 months
offer Offer: Installed in 48 hours
Light 30Mb (24 months) 33Mb average £17.99 £10 24 months
50Mb Fibre Broadband 50Mb average £18 £9.95 24 months
Fast 50Mb (24 months) 57Mb average £26 £19 24 months
75Mb Fibre Broadband 75Mb average £20 £14.95 24 months
offer Offer: Installed in 48 hours
Superfast (24 months) 158Mb average Free
for 3 mths,
then £30
£19 24 months
offer Offer: 3 months free (Ends 03/04/2024)

Community Fibre are currently cheaper than Hyperoptic across all the above superfast broadband packages. They also don't currently charge setup fees, while Hyperoptic charge up to £39 at the moment.

Prices do seesaw depending on the speed of the package and which offers are being promoted at any given time. Yet, Community Fibre are the better option with lower prices than Hyperoptic for superfast broadband.

Ultrafast broadband

Here are their ultrafast packages side-by-side when taken without a home phone line:.

Package Broadband Monthly price Upfront price Contract term
300Mb Fibre Broadband 300Mb average £24 £9.95 24 months
Ultrafast (24 months) 522Mb average Free
for 3 mths,
then £33
£19 24 months
offer Offer: 3 months free (Ends 03/04/2024)

Community Fibre are cheaper for ultrafast broadband speeds than Hyperoptic, although the providers differing approach to speed choices shows more here, with Hyperoptic's deal offering over 200Mb faster download speeds.

Read more about ultrafast broadband options.

Gigafast broadband

Here are their gigafast packages side-by-side when taken without a home phone line:

Package Broadband Monthly price Upfront price Contract term
1Gbps Fibre Broadband 920Mb average £26 £14.95 24 months
offer Offer: Installed in 48 hours
Hyperfast (24 months) 900Mb average Free
for 3 mths,
then £36
£19 24 months
offer Offer: 3 months free (Ends 03/04/2024)

Community Fibre beat Hyperoptic again for gigabit broadband, with lower prices and a faster average download speed.

Overall, while Community Fibre and Hyperoptic offer a range of different broadband speeds, with some not matching up, Community Fibre is clearly the better option with lower monthly fees and lower setup costs too.

Where Hyperoptic may become a better choice than Community Fibre however is there option to take a one-month contract plan. While these packages do cost more at up to £15 extra per month, and come with an extra £10 setup fee, it may provide some customers with the flexibility they need for a short contract option.

Read more about broadband without a contract, or compare no contract broadband deals.


Broadband speed

Winner: Community Fibre's 3Gb download speed option leaves Hyperoptic's fastest 900Mb plan in the dust.

Both Hyperoptic and Community Fibre operate their own broadband networks taking fibre directly into customers' homes.

The technology used, known as fibre to the premises (FTTP), is far more reliable and efficient than the fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) broadband most of us are used to. Essentially, it means the download speeds offered by Hyperoptic and Community Fibre are the ones customers will receive, with very little speed lost along the way.

Yet Community Fibre go further than simply offering gigabit-capable broadband with their 920Mb package. Customers can access speeds of up to 3Gb with their 3,000Mb fibre broadband package. That puts them way ahead of Hyperoptic with three times their top speeds on offer.

Upload speeds

Upload speeds are more important than they used to be, with a rise in video calling and online gaming leading to customers checking the average upload speeds of their broadband deals more carefully.

The good thing for most Hyperoptic and Community Fibre customers is that both the providers offer symmetrical download and upload speeds. This means the advertised download speeds are also the advertised upload speeds.

There's one important caveat to this for Hyperoptic deals: their Fast 30Mb and Fast 50Mb deals only have upload speeds of 5Mb.


Routers

Winner: Community Fibre's routers offer greater wi-fi coverage than those provided by Hyperoptic.

Hyperoptic provide one of three routers to their customers, and while they don't exactly specify which a customer will receive, those taking faster deals will get the more advanced routers:

  • Standard Hyperhub, the ZTE H298A router
  • Nokia Hyperhub, also known as a HA-140W-B router
  • Latest ZTE H3600 router supporting WiFi 6

While the Nokia Hyperhub is more advanced than the standard Hyperhub, it's still only a dual band WiFi 5 router. Yet for Hyperoptic's fastest customers, they'll now get the ZTE H3600 router, which supports WiFi 6.

Conversely, customers on most of Community Fibre's packages will receive the Linksys Velop Tri-Band Intelligent Mesh router which uses three channels to ensure coverage around the home rather than the two offered in the Nokia Hyperhub.

Customers taking Community Fibre's 50Mb or 75Mb package will receive a more basic Linksys Velop Dual-Band Intelligent Mesh router. While those taking the 920Mb plan will also get a WiFi 6 supported router.

Overall, the majority of middle-speed Community Fibre customers on ultrafast packages will get a better router than customers on equivalent Hyperoptic deals. For those taking either providers' fastest packages, the WiFi 6 routers are more comparable however.


Call plans

Winner: Hyperoptic offer cheaper home phone options than Community Fibre. Community Fibre also don't support calls to international numbers.

Both Hyperoptic and Community Fibre allow customers to take an optional VoIP phone line alongside their broadband package. This means the phone service is delivered via the broadband connection and is reliant on a mains electric supply to work.

The way customers add calls is slightly different with each provider.

Hyperoptic offer broadband and phone contracts, so customers pay a few pounds extra per month and receive inclusive evening and weekend UK landline calls into the bargain. Customers can also add the following extras:

  • Anytime Landline UK for £3 per month
  • International for £5 per month

Meanwhile, Community Fibre charge a flat £10 per month for customers to add a landline and this includes unlimited calls to UK landlines and mobiles plus calling features like 1471 and call barring.

They don't offer international calls, however, and neither provider offers calls to premium numbers.


TV

Winner: Community Fibre offer a basic TV service for £10 per month through Netgem, while Hyperoptic don't offer this option.

Hyperoptic don't offer their own TV service to customers, although they do offer the option for customers to add Sky Ultimate TV to their 150Mb Superfast package.

That package costs a combined £47 per month which isn't any sort of discount on taking Sky TV independently, plus there's a combined activation fee of £59. Complicating matters further is the fact that, while Hyperoptic's broadband has a 24-month minimum term, the Sky TV element only lasts for 31 days.

Hyperoptic customers can also choose a Sky Glass bundle from £61 per month, with a £49 upfront fee, and a 48-month minimum term.

Ultimately, these combo deals are a little bizarre, not least because they're only available on one of Hyperoptic's broadband packages and they don't offer a discount.

On the other hand, Community Fibre have partnered with Netgem TV to offer their Community Fibre TV for £10 per month.

That service provides:

  • 215+ live channels, plus 100 extra Freeview channels
  • Access to 40+ apps
  • 60,000 hours of on-demand content
  • 4K/HDR box
  • Voice control with Alexa
  • Record and pause live TV
  • Choice of add-ons including BT Sport, Rakuten TV, BritBox and Hayu
  • Available on unlimited mobile and tablet devices

As far as TV services go, it isn't on a par with that offered by Sky or Virgin Media, but it adds some content and it's a nice central way to keep track of catch-up and streaming apps too.


Customer service

Winner: Community Fibre has a higher TrustScore rating than Hyperoptic, although both providers have good customer service records.

Although neither Hyperoptic nor Community Fibre are included in independent customer service reports due to their small size, both are highly regarded by Trustpilot reviewers.

Hyperoptic is ranked within the top seven ISPs with a TrustScore of 4.5 from over 18,000 reviews and they won the Best Consumer ISP at the Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA UK) 2022 awards, they also previously won Best Customer Service in 2019.

However, Community Fibre's TrustScore is 4.9 from over 24,000 reviews and they're the highest rated broadband provider on Trustpilot. They also took the Best Consumer ISP award in 2020 and 2021 from the ISPA.

It's close, but that just edges it for Community Fibre.

Community Fibre have UK call centres while Hyperoptic's customer care seems to be run from Serbia. Find out more about which UK broadband providers have UK call centres.


Availability

Winner: Community Fibre has a larger footprint in London than Hyperoptic, so more customers should be able to go with the provider.

Hyperoptic connected their first London building back in 2011, and have since rolled out their services to tens of thousands of properties across the capital.

However, their services are far from universal, and the map below gives an indication of their coverage around Central London:

hyperoptic city london coverage jan 2023

Each of the purple blobs on the map from Think Broadband represents a building that's been connected by Hyperoptic, as they expand on a building-by-building basis.

Full details of which properties are connected can be found on Hyperoptic's own website, but it's worth noting potential customers can register their interest and give Hyperoptic a nudge towards expanding in their area. Given the high density of buildings in London, customers have got more of a chance of being heard than other towns and cities where Hyperoptic doesn't already have as much of a presence.

Below, we've zoomed out slightly and looked at their expansion across London as a whole, although individual buildings aren't as easily discernible on this map:

hyperoptic london coverage jan 2023

While there's a decent amount of coverage, the concentration of dots when we look at Community Fibre's footprint indicates more coverage and they say they have around 642,800 homes covered in the London area:

community fibre london coverage jan 2023

Thinkbroadband undertook an analysis of full fibre services in London in January 2023, finding 12.38% of premises in the capital have two or more full fibre options, compared to just 7.73% of UK premises on average.

For some Londoners, though, it may mean they're spoilt for choice when it comes to full fibre broadband, while their near neighbours may not be so lucky.

Read more about the best broadband in London, or compare broadband deals in your area.


Special offers

The race between Hyperoptic and Community Fibre is incredibly close, so a customer's decision may come down to which special offers or discount codes are available.

Here's what they have on offer right now:

Offer Terms

Up to 3 months free on selected Hyperoptic plans

Hurry! Offer ends in 5 days!
3 April 2024

24 month minimum term. Up to £19 setup fee. From £30/mth after 3 months.

Offer Terms

1Gbps Community Fibre broadband just £26 per month for 24 months.

24 month minimum term. £14.95 setup fee. £30/mth after 24 months. Prices rise by CPI + 2.9% from April 2025.


150Mb Community Fibre broadband just £18.99 per month for 24 months.

24 month minimum term. £14.95 setup fee. £22.99/mth after 24 months. Prices rise by CPI + 2.9% from April 2025.


Summary: Hyperoptic or Community Fibre?

Overall Winner: Community Fibre offers cheaper prices overall, with a better customer service record, although there's little in it with Hyperoptic also proving to be a good choice.

Londoners able to access services from either of these full fibre broadband providers are lucky. Those able to choose between them are even luckier, and it's a tight race that may well depend on whether customers want the fastest available services.

Both providers offer:

  • Affordable full fibre broadband
  • 12 or 24-month contract options
  • Ability to add calls
  • Latest WiFi 6 routers on their fastest packages

However, on balance, Community Fibre just edge Hyperoptic based on a few factors:

  • Cheaper prices across most equivalent packages
  • They mostly don't require upfront fees, and where they do they cost less
  • The middle-tier router is more advanced with tri-band wireless channels
  • They offer a Netgem TV service, with the option to add BT Sport and BritBox
  • Their coverage is wider in London
  • Their customer service ranking is a little higher

To a large degree Community Fibre and Hyperoptic are neck and neck in terms of quality of service and support provided, with both customers recently taking the Best Consumer ISP award at the 2022, 2021 and 2020 ISPA Awards.

Yet, for reasons mentioned above, Community Fibre just edge ahead on prices and the ability to add a pay TV service.

Read more on how Community Fibre compares with Virgin Media, and also up against Sky in these head to head guides. Meanwhile, you can compare Hyperoptic vs Virgin Media too.

Which broadband deals are available in your area?

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