The BT Broadband Availability Checker will tell you if fibre broadband services are available at your property.
Using the BT Broadband Availability Checker
- Enter your landline number (without any spaces) into the ‘Please Enter Telephone:’ field and click ‘Submit’. This will generate a table of results if you have a BT landline.
- If you get a message saying, ‘There is no data available for your number…’ you will need to click on the ‘Address Checker’ button at the top of the page, then click ‘Proceed’ when prompted. Then enter your postcode into the PostCode field and click ‘Submit’. Select your address from the list and click ‘Submit’ again to get your results.
Making sense of my BT Broadband Availability Checker results
You only need to focus on the top rows of the results table to quickly find out whether you can get fibre broadband at your property. Information will be displayed in one of the following product categories: VDSL, WBC FTTP and/or ADSL Products.
The technical terms used in the results table are explained in the BT Broadband Availability Checker jargon buster near the bottom of this page.
VDSL Products
If ‘VDSL’ is stated under ‘Featured Products’, this means that the cabinet your landline is connected to has been upgraded via FTTC (Fibre to the Cabinet) technology and you should be able to order an upgraded fibre broadband service.
The example above shows that fibre broadband is now available and that download speeds of between 61.8 and 40.5 megabits per second (Mbps) can be achieved on a ‘Clean’ line or between 60 and 35.3Mbps on an ‘Impacted’ line.
“Clean” relates to a line which is free from any wiring issues (i.e. in good condition) and “Impacted” relates to a line which may have wiring problems (e.g. poor extension wiring).
The information under the heading ADSL Products shows the speeds the resident was experiencing before the upgrade (up to 4Mbps) and will continue to experience until they order the new fibre service.
WBC FTTP Products
If ‘WBC FTTP’ is stated under ‘Featured Products’, this means that your property has been upgraded via Fibre to the Premise (FTTP) technology and that you can now order a superfast broadband service.
The example above shows that FTTP is available and that download speeds of up to 1000Mbps and upload speeds of up to 220Mbps can be achieved.
The information under the heading ADSL Products shows the speeds the resident was experiencing before the upgrade (up to 7Mbps) and will continue to experience until they order the new fibre service.
ADSL Products
If ‘ADSL Products’ are the only products shown, this means that you can’t order an improved service because your landline or the cabinet it is connected to has not yet been upgraded to fibre broadband. For example:
Ordering your improved service
If the results from the BT Broadband Availability Checker show that fibre broadband is available, you won’t get it automatically. You need to sign-up to a fibre broadband package of your choosing in order to take advantage of the upgrade.
You might like to use a broadband comparison site to help you do this such as:
BT Broadband Availability Checker jargon buster
ADSL – Asymmetric digital subscriber line – A type of digital subscriber line (DSL) technology that enables you to access broadband through a telephone line.
VDSL – Very high bit rate digital subscriber line – An improved version of the ADSL technology. The main difference is that VDSL technology has faster upload and download speeds.
The Upstream line rate – The upload speed that your line can achieve to send data from your computer up to the Internet. Measured in megabits per second (Mbps).*
The Downstream line rate – The download speed that your line can achieve to deliver data to your computer from the Internet. Measured in megabits per second (Mbps).*
*For VDSL products the Upstream / Downstream line rates are displayed as the estimated ‘High’ and ‘Low’ speeds you can expect to achieve but for ADSL products figures are expressed as an estimated average speed.
Downstream Range (Mbps) – Refers to the minimum / maximum speed you can expect to achieve from your connection (ADSL products only).
Downstream Handback Threshold – (VDSL products) – If your landline speeds are regularly below the stated figure you should contact your ISP to raise a fault as your line speed would be significantly lower than the estimated range you should expect to achieve.
If the fault is within their control and they are unable to resolve it, you may be entitled to cancel your broadband contract without paying a charge for ending it early.
Cancellation of your service will more than likely be subject to conditions. Contact your ISP for more details.
Availability Date – If ‘Available’ is stated, you should be able to order a service through your chosen ISP. If ‘Waiting list’ is stated, the cabinet may be at capacity, meaning you won’t be able to order a fibre broadband service for the time being.
FTTP Install Process – If ‘1 Stage’ is stated under this column heading, it basically means that an engineer will have to come out to install the final connection inside your property before you can benefit from the improved service.
Our ‘Ordering an FTTP service’ webpage provides more information on this.