-
Check Availability
Can you get Fibre? Check the availability in your area with our interactive map Check Availability
-
FAQs
Still got questions about our Lightspeed packages? Find the answers in our FAQs Frequently asked questions
-
About Eclipse
Find out more about Eclipse and how far we've come since being founded in 1995 About Eclipse
-
Compare Our Packages
Find the perfect Lightspeed package here Choose your package
- All Products
Internet Connect
Connects your business directly to the internet using the best access technology available in your area.
Network Connect
Securely connects your offices and your people, to their applications and data, over a single private network.
Home Fibre FAQs
- A. Fibre broadband is the first fibre broadband product available on the mass market in the UK. It’s different to the traditional broadband because it uses a fibre optic cable, giving you much higher upload and download speeds. The cable runs from the exchange (your local internet hub) to the cabinet (where the internet comes into your street) . The line from the cabinet to your home remains the same – which is why you don’t need to dig up the road to get it! This line is copper based and performs just as well as fibre over short distances so you don't suffer a difference in performance.
- A. As fibre broadband is next-generation broadband, it’s still being rolled out across the UK. You can buy fibre broadband with Eclipse as soon as your local exchange (the internet’s “hub” in your town or city) and street cabinet (where the internet comes into your road) have been switched on - no-one can provide fibre broadband until then. The roll out should see 40% of households and businesses able to access fibre broadband by the end of 2011, with more to come after that.
- To see if your home address is able to get fibre broadband yet – or to find out when it’ll be available – just put your phone number into our availability checker.
- A. An exchange (your local internet hub) is considered "fibre enabled" when 80% of the cabinets it serves (the cabinet is the point on your street where the internet is brought in) are also enabled or switched on. Unfortunately that means that 20% of cabinets can't provide fibre broadband even if your exchange, and most of the area, can get the service.
- A. Fibre broadband will give you on average four times faster downloads. The main benefit of faster speeds can be seen when up or downloading large amounts of information – you’ll notice it all happens much more quickly. That means a sleeker browsing experience, the opportunity for supporting multiple devices or users on one single connection, and that things like sending and receiving emails, online gaming, watching TV online or downloading music or films will run more smoothly. There’ll be less buffering and streaming will be more reliable.
- A.
To provide some reassurance, 90% of our current customers who have fibre activated at their exchange and cabinet, today, have estimated lines speeds of over 15Mbps download throughput.Line speed Between 15Mbps and 40Mbps download throughput Between 5Mbps and 15Mbps download throughput Assured rate Eclipse will provide a throughput level of at least 12Mbps for 90% of the busy 3 hour period Eclipse will provide a throughput level of at least 70% of the line speed, for 90% of the busy 3 hour period - A. Yes, you'll need a vDSL modem (the engineer will bring this with them on the installation date) and a WAN router to receive a fibre connection. We will provide the router - it will cost £50 with a 12 month contract but it's free with a 24 month contract. Visit our product page or call our team on 0800 9155 234 to find out more about how to get the hardware you need.
- A. Yes absolutely – just as with your current broadband, as long as you have a wireless router which is compatible with fibre broadband, you don’t have to be connected at the socket but can use a WiFi connection.
- A. Yes, fibre broadband needs to be installed separately from your standard broadband connection. We will book an installation date for an engineer to come to your property. He will fix a wall plate to your current phone port which will enable the fibre connection. There is no external installation, however, unlike other products which often require expensive cables to be laid specifically to your premises - fibre broadband works across the existing infrastructure, once your area has been enabled. To install fibre broadband, we charge a flat fee of £100 with a 12 month contract but it's free with a 24 month contract.
- A. At Eclipse, we don't use a Fair Usage Policy (FUP), but will highlight your usage limits clearly. Some internet providers say they give you “unlimited use” according to a “Fair Usage Policy”. This generally means that once you’ve exceeded the FUP terms and conditions (and it’s not always very easy to find out what they are), your internet provider can either bill you for the additional amount that you use above your limit, or simply slow your connection right down (often called throttling).
- With the exception of our Unlimited package, our products come with a fixed monthly capped usage limit (10Gb, 20Gb, 50Gb and 100Gb), for daytime use (9am-11pm). You choose how to control what happens when you reach your chosen usage limit - either reduce your speed to 256kbps or pay for additional usage (in units of 1Gb).
- Between the hours of 11pm and 9am every day, and all day at weekends, we offer unmetered usage. If you have exceeded your monthly usage allowance, and have not opted to purchase additional usage, your connection will be restricted to 256kbps, at all times.
- A. If you’re the sort of user who fileshares using peer-to-peer networking, we can offer some advice about how to get the best out of your connection.
- As we need to make sure the network performs at its best for all users, at all times, we do restrict the speed at which you can fileshare using P2P sites (to 0.5Mbps) during daytime hours. However, if you schedule your P2P filesharing for between 11pm and 9am you’ll access completely normal line speed, every night.
- A. The answer to that is a surprising amount! For example, 10GB usage a month will allow you:
- 100 music downloads per week
- 4 hours of online gaming per week
- 4 hours of iplayer
- 150 emails per week
- 250 webpages browsed per week
- And remember, you’ll get unlimited usage on your connection overnight and at weekends!
-
Q. What is fibre broadband?
-
Q. How do I know if I can get it?
-
Q. How come my neighbour can get fibre broadband but I can’t?
-
Q. What difference will I notice when I use my computer with a fibre connection?
-
Q. What do you mean by 'Up to 12Mb assured throughput'?
-
Q. Do I need specific hardware?
-
Q. Can I use fibre broadband wirelessly?
-
Q. Is there an installation process?
-
Q. Do Fair Usage Policies apply to Eclipse fibre broadband?
-
Q. What about P2P usage – is that restricted at all?
-
Q. Your entry-level package has 10GB of usage – what can I do with that?
