Full fibre broadband (FTTP) provides a direct fibre-optic connection into your home, unlike FTTC where the final stretch still depends on old copper phone wires that slow speeds and reduce reliability.
By replacing copper entirely, FTTP allows gigabit-capable performance that doesn’t diminish with distance, a crucial upgrade for rural Cornwall, where long lines and coastal weather often impact connectivity.
Full fibre is future-proof infrastructure, designed to support Cornwall’s economy, communities, and digital growth for decades to come.
Full Fibre Installation: What Happens at Your Property?
On installation day, Wildanet will start with a site survey to plan whether the fibre will enter your home overhead or via underground ducting, then you’ll see the external cable run, an external termination box fitted, a small internal hole drilled and the ONT (Optical Network Terminal) installed inside. The job typically takes only a couple of hours.
During this process, your current service remains active until the full fibre installation is live, and the engineer completes final testing before you switch over.
Overhead Poles vs Underground Fibre in Rural Areas
Full fibre is delivered either via existing utility poles or through underground ducts, depending on the location and cost of deployment.
Overhead Poles
- Typically faster and more cost-effective to install when poles are already in place
- More exposed to the weather and can be visually obtrusive
Underground Ducts
- Protected from storms and maintains a cleaner visual environment
- More expensive and disruptive due to the required groundworks
- Both approaches ensure fibre reaches directly into rural homes, providing faster and more reliable connectivity.
How Fibre Routes Across Rural Cornwall
When Full Fibre broadband is rolled out in rural Cornwall, the route begins at a local distribution cabinet, travels across country lanes or utility routes, and terminates at your home.
What Is The Cabinet / Distribution Point?
A cabinet is a weather-proof roadside box where the main fibre from the exchange connects to the local network.
Distance-Related Challenges In Rural Cornwall
The further your home is from the cabinet, the more complex and costly the build becomes because of longer cable runs, more poles or trenches, and higher per-premise expense. When the last leg remains copper, speeds and reliability drop, so full-fibre is essential in dispersed rural settings.
Future-proof capacity
Because the entire run from the cabinet to the home uses fibre-optic strands, the infrastructure is ready for future speed upgrades. The cabinet layout itself includes spare ports and expansion capacity. With the cabling done, future speed boosts typically only require equipment upgrades, not new digging.
What to Do If Your Village Doesn’t Have Full Fibre Yet?
Register demand/neighbour clusters
Registering your property of interest helps providers prioritise rollout. When multiple neighbours show demand in the same area, it can bring deployment forward by making the build more cost-effective.
Alternatives While Waiting
Wildanet also offers high-speed alternatives through trusted partners until full fibre is available.
Where Full Fibre Is Rolling Out Next?
You can check whether full fibre is available at your property by using Wildanet’s postcode checker and register your interest for rollout updates.
