All practical guides
Norfolk broadband: full fibre coverage by town and village
77.2% of Norfolk premises could order full fibre in September 2026, against 85.8% across England. The gap that matters is between the towns and open countryside.
Full fibre availability by district, September 2026
Share of all premises, homes and businesses, that can order full fibre (FTTP). Norfolk 77.2%, England 85.8%. Source: thinkbroadband, coverage figures generated 19 September 2026.
Most Norfolk homes can now order full fibre: 77.2% of premises in September 2026, on thinkbroadband’s figures, against 85.8% across England. The divide that matters is between towns and open countryside. In January 2026, 86% of premises in Norfolk towns of more than 5,000 people could get a gigabit-capable line; outside any built-up area it was 50%, and one premises in eight could not get 30 Mbps. If you work from home, check the exact address before you offer on it.
Towns, villages and open country
Ofcom publishes coverage for every census output area, the smallest unit of census geography. We matched those to the built-up areas ONS draws for each town and village, using Ofcom’s January 2026 data. “Gigabit-capable” means full fibre or Virgin Media cable that can deliver 1 Gbps.
| Place | Gigabit-capable | Cannot get 30 Mbps |
|---|---|---|
| Norwich built-up area | 91.3% | 0.5% |
| King’s Lynn | 79.2% | 1.3% |
| Wymondham | 87.1% | 1.4% |
| Diss | 75.2% | 0.5% |
| Cromer | 83.4% | 0.5% |
| North Walsham | 79.9% | 0.5% |
| Holt | 49.5% | 1.5% |
| Loddon | 26.3% | 0.0% |
| Wells-next-the-Sea | 21.7% | 1.6% |
| All Norfolk towns over 5,000 people | 86.3% | 0.6% |
| Villages and small towns under 5,000 | 59.3% | 2.9% |
| Outside any built-up area | 50.2% | 12.5% |
Ofcom, Connected Nations spring 2026 update (January 2026 data), matched to ONS 2022 built-up areas. Share of all premises. Rollout has continued since January, so check the address. On Openreach lines you can buy from BT, Sky, Vodafone, TalkTalk, Zen and others; CityFibre lines are sold through retailers such as Vodafone.
Two things stand out. Almost every town address can get at least superfast broadband, but some small towns are well behind on fibre: Holt, Loddon and Wells were all below half in January. And the open countryside is a different market. Ofcom counted about 61,500 premises in Norfolk outside any built-up area, and 4.7% of them could not get even 10 Mbps.
Who is building the networks
Openreach
Openreach, the BT Group network, is the biggest. thinkbroadband puts Openreach full fibre at 65.9% of Norfolk premises in September 2026, and its older fibre-to-the-cabinet lines reach most of the rest. Openreach does not sell to households; you buy through a retailer, BT among them.
CityFibre
CityFibre started a £50m full fibre build across Norwich in September 2021, beginning around Catton Grove, and announced a £15m build in Great Yarmouth. In July 2023 it won the government’s Project Gigabit contract for Norfolk: £114m of public money and £43m of its own to connect around 62,000 rural homes and businesses that no commercial network planned to reach. The first Project Gigabit customers were connected in Newton St Faith in September 2024. Across the county, networks other than Openreach and Virgin Media covered 26.0% of premises in September 2026.
Truespeed, formerly County Broadband
County Broadband, registered at Aldham in Essex, built full fibre in rural villages in the east of England. It joined Truespeed, a rural full-fibre builder in the West of England, in 2025, and countybroadband.co.uk now redirects to truespeed.com. Truespeed completed a merger with Freedom Fibre in April 2026. Existing County Broadband customers were told their contracts would not change.
Virgin Media, Sky and the rest
Virgin Media’s cable network reached 43.6% of Norfolk premises in September 2026: 79.7% in Norwich, 23.6% in Breckland. Sky, Vodafone, TalkTalk and Zen sell over Openreach, and some over CityFibre. None of them adds coverage; they sell on lines someone else has built.
Starlink
For a house with no fibre and no usable mobile signal, Starlink’s satellite service is the fallback. thinkbroadband had too few Norfolk speed tests over satellite last quarter to publish a median, so we have no local figure for it.
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How to check an address
Estate agent listings may describe the postcode rather than the house, and a postcode can hide two answers: fibre is built house by house, and two properties on the same lane can sit on different networks. Check the property itself.
- Put the full address into Ofcom’s broadband checker, which lists the speeds available from each network.
- Cross-check the postcode on thinkbroadband.com, which shows which networks are present, including the smaller ones.
- If a network’s map says a street is “coming soon”, ask the network for a date in writing. Buy on what is live today.
- Check mobile coverage for each network on Ofcom’s mobile coverage checker, and try your phone at the property. A 4G or 5G router can cover you when the fixed line fails.
- Look at upload speed as well as download; video calls depend on it.
If an address cannot get 10 Mbps, the Universal Service Obligation has given occupiers a legal right since March 2020 to request a connection that can, at no cost if it can be delivered for under £3,400. In September 2026, 0.83% of Norfolk premises were below 10 Mbps, about 4,000.
Working from home
Upload is where the older lines fall short. In Norfolk speed tests over the last quarter, the median fibre-to-the-cabinet connection managed 40.0 Mbps down and 8.8 Mbps up. The median full fibre connection managed 158.0 Mbps down and 51.8 Mbps up, and the median Virgin Media cable connection 270.9 down and 26.0 up. The few remaining ADSL lines managed 6.6 down and 0.6 up. Medians partly reflect the package people chose as well as the line. Even so, full fibre’s median upload was nearly six times the cabinet figure.
If you are moving to Norfolk to work remotely, our guide to the best places for remote workers compares the towns, and the Norfolk transport guide covers the days you still have to go in.
Frequently asked questions
What broadband speeds can I get in Norfolk?
It depends on the address. In September 2026, 77.2% of Norfolk premises could order full fibre, and 97.7% could get superfast broadband of 30 Mbps or more. About 0.8% could not get 10 Mbps, mostly outside the towns.
Is full fibre broadband available in rural Norfolk?
In parts. In January 2026, half the premises outside Norfolk’s built-up areas could get a gigabit-capable line. CityFibre’s Project Gigabit contract is adding around 62,000 rural homes and businesses.
Which is the best broadband provider in Norfolk?
The one whose network reaches your address. Openreach covers the most homes and is sold by BT, Sky and others; CityFibre and Truespeed, formerly County Broadband, build their own networks; Virgin Media covers parts of the larger towns.
Can I work from home in Norfolk with the broadband speeds available?
In the towns, almost always: 99% of town premises can get 30 Mbps or more. Outside the built-up areas, one premises in eight cannot, so check the address and the upload speed before you buy.
Related guides
- Best places for remote workers
- Is Norfolk a good place to live?
- Moving to Norfolk checklist
- Living in Norwich
- Living in Holt
Plan the move
How we produced this guide
District and county coverage, network shares and speed test medians are from thinkbroadband’s local statistics pages, read on 24 September 2026, with coverage generated on 19 September 2026. The town, village and countryside table uses Ofcom’s Connected Nations spring 2026 output-area data (January 2026), which we matched to ONS’s 2022 built-up areas with the ONS output area lookup and weighted by premises. Details of the CityFibre and Project Gigabit builds come from CityFibre’s announcements, and the County Broadband and Truespeed changes from the two companies’ websites. See our methodology page for how we source figures.
Data sources: Ofcom Connected Nations (January 2026 data), thinkbroadband (September 2026). Figures checked 24 September 2026. Author: Tom Fletcher, Property and Transport Editor.
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