Our Verdict
If Gigaclear covers your postcode, this is one of the best broadband deals in the UK right now. Symmetrical 300Mbps for £16/month is genuinely hard to beat, and the full fibre connection is in a different league to the part-fibre most households are still stuck with. The catch? You need to be in a rural area where Gigaclear has built out their network.
Let's be honest about what £16 a month gets you here. Most people on a BT or Sky "fibre" deal are paying roughly the same (or more) for a fraction of the speed, and almost certainly getting upload speeds around 10–20Mbps. Gigaclear gives you 300Mbps in both directions. That's a massive difference if anyone in your household works from home, uploads large files, or does video calls.
The guaranteed minimum speed of 240Mbps during peak hours is worth flagging too. That's not an aspirational number. It's a contractual commitment. If your speeds regularly drop below that, you've got grounds to complain or leave. Plenty of providers on the Openreach network would struggle to make a promise anywhere near that generous.
One thing worth knowing: the usual price is £19/month, which is still competitive. The £16 figure is a promotional rate for March 2026, and Gigaclear normally charges a £30 activation fee that they've also waived here. So if you've been on the fence, this is genuinely a good time to move.
Speed in Context
Raw numbers only tell you so much. Here's how 300Mbps actually stacks up against what most UK households are working with.
Download Speed Comparison
Average speeds, not "up to" marketing claims
Key difference: BT's 300Mbps package only offers 50Mbps upload. Gigaclear gives you 300Mbps both ways.
Who Is This Actually For?
Not every household needs symmetrical 300Mbps. But for certain situations, it's genuinely transformative compared to what's typically available in rural areas.
Rural remote workers
300Mbps upload means video calls that don't freeze, large file uploads that don't take ages, and cloud backups that run in the background without killing everything else.
Busy households
Multiple people streaming 4K, gaming online, and doing homework research simultaneously. 300Mbps handles it all without anyone having to negotiate bandwidth.
Gamers and streamers
Full fibre means low latency as well as high speed. No more blaming your internet when you lose. The symmetrical upload is also great for Twitch or YouTube streaming.
Content creators
Photographers, videographers, or anyone regularly pushing large files around. A 1GB upload takes roughly 27 seconds on this connection. Try that on ADSL.
Pros and Cons
What's good
- Price is excellent. £16/month (promo) or £19/month (standard) for symmetrical 300Mbps full fibre is very competitive.
- Symmetrical uploads. 300Mbps up is the headline feature. Most providers don't come close.
- Guaranteed minimums. 240Mbps contractual floor during peak hours.
- Decent router included. Linksys Wi-Fi 6 is a solid piece of kit. Not a cheap ISP box.
- One Touch Switch. They handle the switching process, including contacting your old provider.
What's not
- Very limited coverage. Gigaclear only serves select rural communities. If you're urban, this isn't an option.
- Mid-contract price rises. Like most providers, Gigaclear can increase your price during the contract. Worth reading the T&Cs.
- Installation quirks. New builds on their network may need a small trench dug to your property. Usually straightforward, but ask upfront.
- Post-contract price hike. Once your 18 months are up, expect the price to jump quite a bit. Set a calendar reminder to renegotiate.
- No TV bundles. Broadband only. No Sky-style package deals here.
How It Compares
Here's where the Ultrafast 300 sits against similar-speed packages from larger providers. All figures are for broadband-only deals at comparable speeds.
| Provider | Speed (Down/Up) | Price/mo | Contract | Setup |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gigaclear Ultrafast 300 | 300 / 300 Mbps | £16 (promo) | 18 months | £0 (promo) |
| BT Full Fibre 300 | 300 / 50 Mbps | ~£33 | 24 months | £0 |
| Sky Superfast 500 | 500 / 60 Mbps | ~£33 | 18 months | £0 |
| Virgin Media M350 | 362 / 36 Mbps | ~£33 | 18 months | £0 |
| Hyperoptic 300 | 300 / 300 Mbps | ~£25 | 24 months | £0 |
Prices checked March 2026 for new customers. Hyperoptic is urban-only, so not available in Gigaclear's coverage areas. Included for reference.
The Router: What You Actually Get
Gigaclear ships a Linksys dual-band Wi-Fi 6 router with this package. It's a proper piece of equipment, not the throwaway plastic boxes some providers send out. Wi-Fi 6 support means better handling of multiple devices and improved range compared to older standards.
For larger homes, Gigaclear offers Smart Wi-Fi mesh extenders at £6/month that add extra nodes for complete coverage. These aren't included with the Ultrafast 300 by default (they are on the 500 and 900 plans), so factor that in if you've got thick stone walls or a sprawling cottage layout.
Wi-Fi 6 — what it means in practice
Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) handles more devices simultaneously with less congestion, uses target wake time to improve battery life on connected devices, and delivers better range in cluttered environments. For a family home with 15+ connected devices, it's a meaningful upgrade over the Wi-Fi 5 routers most providers still ship.
Switching: What to Expect
Gigaclear uses One Touch Switch, which is the industry standard now. You place the order, they contact your existing provider, and the switch happens on a set date. You don't need to call your old provider to cancel anything.
If your property already has Gigaclear fibre running to it (from a previous customer, for instance), installation is fast. If not, they'll need to run fibre to your home, which can involve minor groundwork. It's painless in most cases, but worth asking about during the sign-up process.
Gigaclear Coverage: Which Counties?
Gigaclear builds its own full fibre network community by community across rural England. They currently serve homes across approximately 26 counties — but coverage within each county is patchy. It's not "available in Berkshire," it's "available in these specific villages and hamlets in Berkshire."
The only reliable way to confirm availability is to enter your postcode on Gigaclear's website. Even if your neighbour is connected, your address may not be served yet — coverage follows the build-out schedule, not county lines.
Why rural-only?
Gigaclear specifically targets areas underserved by Openreach. In cities, competition from BT, Virgin, and Hyperoptic makes it hard to build a business case for a new network. In rural England, where ADSL speeds of 5–20Mbps are still common, Gigaclear's 300Mbps represents a genuine step change.
The True Cost Over 18 Months
Headline prices don't tell the whole story. Here's how the Gigaclear Ultrafast 300 stacks up financially across the full contract term compared to the nearest alternatives.
| Provider | Monthly | Term | Setup | Total over term |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gigaclear (promo) | £16 | 18 mo | £0 | £288 |
| Gigaclear (standard) | £19 | 18 mo | £30 | £372 |
| BT Full Fibre 300 | ~£33 | 24 mo | £0 | £792 |
| Sky Superfast 500 | ~£33 | 18 mo | £0 | £594 |
| You save vs BT | — | — | — | ~£504 saved |
One important caveat: like most providers, Gigaclear can apply mid-contract price rises. BT does this too (their infamous CPI+3.9% clause). Read the T&Cs before signing and factor in the end-of-contract price increase — that's where broadband companies make their margin.
What Full Fibre (FTTP) Actually Means
Most UK broadband is still part-fibre: fibre runs to the street cabinet, then old copper phone wires carry the signal to your door. Gigaclear is different — fibre runs all the way to the premises (FTTP). Here's why that matters.
Part-fibre (FTTC) — most of the UK
- Copper wire from cabinet to home
- Speed degrades with distance
- Upload speeds capped (often 10–20Mbps)
- Performance drops at peak times
- Speed "up to" — rarely achieved
Full fibre (FTTP) — Gigaclear
- Glass fibre all the way to your door
- No distance-related degradation
- Symmetrical upload = 300Mbps up
- Consistent speeds at peak times
- 240Mbps contractual minimum
If you've been on ADSL or FTTC and switch to Gigaclear, the difference is immediately noticeable. Things that previously took minutes happen in seconds. The improvement in upload speed in particular can feel transformative if you've been working from home on a 10Mbps upload connection.
Upload Speed: Why It Matters More Than You Think
Most people focus on download speed. But if you've tried video calls, cloud backup, or uploading anything substantial on a typical UK broadband connection, you'll have felt the upload bottleneck. Here's how 300Mbps upload changes things.
- Microsoft Teams / Zoom video callsHD video calls use around 3–5Mbps upload. On 300Mbps symmetrical, you can run 60+ simultaneous HD calls. No freezing, no degradation when others in the house use the internet.Rock-solid
- Cloud backup (Backblaze, iCloud, OneDrive)A 100GB backup that would take 22 hours on 10Mbps upload completes in under 45 minutes at 300Mbps. Initial backup runs no longer steal your connection for days.45 min vs 22 hrs
- YouTube / Twitch streaming at 1080p601080p60 streaming requires around 6–8Mbps upload. 4K streaming uses 15–25Mbps. At 300Mbps, you have headroom for 4K streaming with all your other household traffic running in parallel.Effortless
- Sharing large files (photographers, architects, designers)A 5GB RAW photo batch takes about 2 minutes and 15 seconds vs nearly 40 minutes on a typical FTTC 20Mbps upload line. If you regularly deliver client files, this changes your working day.2 min vs 40 min
Gigaclear's 12-Month Free Overlap Offer
One of Gigaclear's most useful — and underappreciated — perks is their contract overlap offer. If you're currently in a contract with another broadband provider, Gigaclear will give you free broadband for up to 12 months while you wait for your existing contract to expire.
How it works
You sign up with Gigaclear and get connected. While in the overlap period, you get Gigaclear's service for free and continue paying your old provider until that contract ends. Once your old contract lapses, you start paying Gigaclear's monthly fee and your 18-month contract term begins. You essentially get a double connection for the overlap period — use whichever you prefer, or use both.
This removes one of the biggest practical barriers to switching: paying exit fees or running two broadband bills simultaneously. There are eligibility requirements (Gigaclear checks that you're genuinely in another contract) and the overlap is capped at 12 months. Call their sales team to confirm the terms before signing up.
If you're 6 months into a 24-month BT contract and would otherwise have to wait, this matters. You can switch to gigabit-class rural broadband now rather than waiting 18 more months.