TalkTalk Fibre 65 Broadband Review
TalkTalk fibre broadband is generally unbeatable in the market due to its lower price. While the entry-level Fibre 35 and Fibre 65 plans are budget-friendly and have decent speeds, the Fibre 150 and Full Fibre broadband plans are better choices for higher speeds and better reliability.
Pros
- Competitive pricing. Free setup. Cheaper than comparable tariffs from other suppliers.
- Affordable and ideal package for small households, streaming and downloading
- Includes WiFi Black Hub router.
- TalkTalk offers 30 day Great Connection Guarantee, giving you a 30-day trial of its fibre broadband plans including 35 & 65.
Cons
- Ultrafast plans with speeds over 100Mbps are now affordable and available in more places, making them a better choice for 4K streaming and online gaming.
- In this review, we compare the options that TalkTalk offers to the customers looking for reliable and affordable fibre broadband plans.
Speed
| Plan | Download speed | Upload speed |
|---|---|---|
| Fibre 35 | 38Mbps | 9Mbps |
| Fibre 65 | 67Mbps | 18Mbps |
| Full Fibre 65 | 77Mbps | 18Mbps |
Fibre 35 is the slowest fibre option with an average download speed of 38 Mbps and an average upload speed of 9 Mbps. Fibre 35 is great for small households with 2 or 3 devices, streaming HD video, and casual gaming, but higher speeds are recommended for buffer-free 4K streaming and multiplayer gaming.
Fibre 65 comes with an average download speed of 67 Mbps and an average upload speed of 17 Mbps. That’s almost double the download speed of the Fibre 35 plan, and the faster upload speed of 17 Mbps is perfect for faster uploads and lag-free internet.
Fibre 65 is perfect for most UK families with 2 to 5 devices, offering enough speed to stream high-quality video and play the most popular online games on one or two devices simultaneously.
TalkTalk Full Fibre 65
TalkTalk full fibre broadband offers ultrafast speeds ranging between 77Mbps and 944Mbps using FTTP (fibre to the premises) network. Currently, it is only available to 20% of the premises across the UK.
- Full fibre broadband plans include WiFi 6 router and optional Total Home WiFi.
- Full fibre 65 includes WiFi Hub while Full fibre 150, Full fibre 500 and Full fibre 900 include the Amazon eero Pro 6 mesh system with Tri-band Wi-Fi 6 for better WiFi around the home.
- Full fibre 900 comes with additional kit and support to provide Total Home WiFi for better WiFi.
- Full fibre broadband does not provide a landline, however, you can make calls using VoIP.
TalkTalk broadband router
TalkTalk Fibre 65 includes WiFi Black Hub (Sagemcom Fast 5364), dual-band router with 802.11 ac WiFi, 4 Gigabit connectivity, USB ports, and advanced wireless security features (WPA2/WPA/WEP).
TalkTalk Black Hub is built for FTTC and g.fast fibre broadband connections. According to TalkTalk, it provides reliable WiFi speeds to multiple devices when connected to Fibre 65 and is capable of delivering maximum speeds that it receives from the line.
It should be noted that TalkTalk WiFi Hub has been found, during speed tests, to be one of the speediest fibre routers that are supplied with ISP packages.
TalkTalk Black Hub is designed for FTTC and g.fast fibre broadband connections. According to TalkTalk, when connected to the Fibre 65, it can provide reliable WiFi speeds to multiple devices and is capable of delivering the maximum speed it can receive from the line.
It’s important to note that in speed tests, the TalkTalk WiFi Hub has proven to be one of the fastest fibre routers in the ISP’s package.
Should I upgrade to Fibre 150?
TalkTalk Fibre 150 is more reliable and faster than Fibre 65 due to its faster speeds (145 Mbps), and the service is available over an advanced FTTC network (Gfast) as well as a full fibre network (FTTP).
However, the availability of the Full Fibre 150 is limited to selected areas where TalkTalk offers full fibre connectivity (FTTP) using CityFibre network.
Fibre 150 is a great choice for large households with more devices. Since full fibre also provides faster upload speeds, there is a significant reduction in latency when playing online games or streaming HD videos.
TV and broadband
If you want to buy TalkTalk TV with Fibre 65 or Fibre 35 or Fibre 150, you can sign up for the bundle or add a TV package to your broadband plan.
TalkTalk TV which includes Netgem 4K TV Box costs an additional £4 per month. You can watch over 100 Freeview channels and add Sky Sport, Now TV, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Sky Cinema and other premium channels with additional subscriptions.
TalkTalk TV and broadband packages are much cheaper than Sky, BT or Virgin Media. TV add-ons are inexpensive and come with flexible contracts.
Is TalkTalk Fibre 65 broadband any good?
TalkTalk Fibre 35 and Fibre 65 are great entry-level fibre plans that strike a good balance between superfast speeds, good performance, and price.
TalkTalk Fibre 65 offers faster download speeds compared to the other plan at a slightly higher cost, making it the better value option between the two.
We looked at how well TalkTalk Fibre’s actual download speeds matched the speeds they advertised. We used data from the Ofcom Broadband Speed Report (October 2022) to see how the actual download speeds over 24 hours compared. We found that the real download speeds were quite close to what TalkTalk promised.
Here’s a simple breakdown of the advertised and actual download speeds for each plan, along with their latency:
Fibre 35
- Advertised download speed: 38 Mbps
- Actual download speed: 36.6 Mbps
- Latency: 12.1
Fibre 65
- Advertised download speed: 67 Mbps
- Actual download speed: 63 Mbps
- Latency: 12.1
Related
- TalkTalk Broadband Review
- TalkTalk Fibre 150 Broadband Review
- TalkTalk Full Fibre Broadband
- TalkTalk TV Review
- TalkTalk Fast Broadband
TalkTalk Fibre 35 and Fibre 65 are great entry-level fibre plans that strike a good balance between superfast speeds, good performance, and price.
TalkTalk Fibre 65 offers faster download speeds compared to the other plan at a slightly higher cost, making it the better value option between the two.
Customer satisfaction
According to Ofcom’s annual broadband speed report published in September 2021, TalkTalk Fibre 35 provided users with an actual speed of approximately 36.7 Mbps, and Fibre 65 provides an average speed of 61.2 Mbps (24-hour average download speed).
TalkTalk, on the other hand, is often complained about poor customer service. A 2022 Ofcom national survey also found that TalkTalk Broadband generated more consumer complaints than its competitors (75 per 100,000 customers), while overall broadband satisfaction was 78%.
Customer Reviews
I switched to TalkTalk 65 from TalkTalk 35 twenty days ago. TalkTalk told me the guaranteed minimum speed of 45.3Mbps when I signed up. But I am getting just 29.6Mbps download /7.4Mbps upload to my device.
Why my speeds are lower than the estimated speeds and the guaranteed minimum speed? Even after contacting them to resolve the issue, they did nothing so far.
Speeds are just dropping and I could not stream videos in HD and connections become worse when I connect additional devices.
I am going to give a week time to improve the speeds or I will be quitting their service and switching to Plusnet or Vodafone which offer similar kind of discounted deals.
-Tara macworth
My TalkTalk broadband is slower than I expected. Their technical team checked my home setup and I paid £40 for the engineer visit. I was told that my line was capable of 27Mbps download but I am getting around 19Mbps which is much lower than the 29.5Mbps minimum guaranteed speed on the welcome email.
I could not understand what was happening as my speeds are frustrating.
The lady on phone advises me to upgrade to Fibre 65 for faster speeds but I am confused to understand what is the issue in my line. If I experience same problems with Fibre 65 then they will recommend TalkTalk 150 upgrade. Is it any marketing tactics?
-Charlie
Did you check how far you are from the street cabinet? Line speeds will decrease if you are far away from it because Fibre 35 uses copper cables from junction to your end. If the line is not capable of higher speeds, you may either need to move close to cabinet or change your ISP
-Mark33_TT
It may be worth checking the length of copper cable that connects the cabinet and premises because over-lengthy cabling also adversely affects the speeds.
If you don’t get the minimum guaranteed speed and the estimated speed levels, it’s also better to check the quality of your line and get the problem fixed instead of changing the provider.
-ChrisWalker
TalkTalk is cheaper than BT, Sky and EE in terms of initial cost, and in my experience the customer service is not bad. Recently upgraded from Fibre 35 to Fibre 65. TT offers great internet speeds at a reasonable price, so it really depends on what you’re looking for. Additionally, TalkTalk products can be set up for free, with additional discounts for new customers.
-Edith
Before moving to Sky this year, I was on TalkTalk. All that was missing from my TalkTalk experience was a good TV package and equipment like the Virgin and Sky Q TV 360 boxes. I could easily get around this by switching to these providers, but so far I’ve stuck with Talktalk as they offer great value for money compared to these expensive providers. The overall experience was great. However, before paying the hefty price tag, it’s worth looking for cheaper options.
-Jess
Although the broadband speed was better than expected and the price was fair, the customer service was so bad that I had to cancel the service and TalkTalk wrongly charged me a high cancellation fee. I regret the early termination of service and should have put up with their customer service.
-Hunter
There have been no issues since I joined TalkTalk Broadband two years ago. I’m using Fibre 65 and getting an average speed of 56Mbps over WiFi. Speeds are consistent, maintaining a 12Mbps upload speed over Ethernet. If you experience slow or disconnections, it’s a good idea to check the location of your router and ethernet cable, and also reboot your WiFi hub
-Will
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