Our overall rating: 44 out of 50
Running on its own network bringing amazingly fast broadband to towns and rural communities that have been neglected by other fibre providers, Trooli's biggest strength can also be its disadvantage. Currently it is only available in 12 counties, so brilliant if you live in these areas, but not so brilliant if you don't. However, just by the fact you are reading this review, we’re guessing that you might be one of the lucky ones.
Apart from availability, everything is pretty bang on about this broadband. It not only offers one of the fastest speeds on the market, an incredible 2GB, it also offers it at the lowest price (£49.99 a month, October 24). All of its packages are ultrafast symmetrical connections, meaning that your upload speeds (think lag-free gaming) are identical to your download speeds.
The positives
The negatives
In our full review we take a look at the pros and cons of each area in more detail: speed, full fibre review, cost, setup and customer service.
Very fast! As a full fibre service on its own network, Trooli is much quicker than most other providers. Even its lowest speed of 150Mbps is twice as fast as the maximum speed you can achieve with traditional broadband. It uses its own full fibre connection to deliver lightning-fast speeds to households. If you are in a rural area this will very likely be the fastest – and sometimes the only – service available for you.
But remember, where you live will also play a big factor. We’ll list everything below, but you’ll also need to check your postcode to see what is currently available.
Find out what Wi-Fi is available with our postcode checker.
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You should decide what speed is right for you, based on your broadband habits at home. Here’s a handy guide to help show what bandwidth usage your different applications need.
There are four full-fibre options. All are symmetrical. This means that they give the same upload and download speeds. Upload speeds are normally considerably lower, which makes this a great choice if you need a connection that can handle very large file uploads and gaming.
Essential
With 150Mbps average download and upload speed, this plan is great for most family homes and can easily cope with 10+ devices being used at one time.
Extra
This super speedy service is great for larger households. Gamers will be kept happy with its equal-to-download speeds of 500Mbps.
Superior
Incredibly fast connection, perfect for large households, multiple devices and downloading and streaming movies and videogames in UHD (ultra high definition). This has an average download and upload speed of 900Mbps.
Pro
2GB speeds, woah there! This is 28 times faster than the national average broadband. Do you actually need this much bandwidth? Well, no, probably not. But when you can get it for under £50 and ensure your internet will always be living its best life, no matter what you’re throwing at it, then why not…
What exactly is full fibre?
All of Trooli’s plans are full fibre and it’s the fastest available internet in the UK.
Around two-thirds of homes in the UK can now access ultrafast broadband via fibre-optic technology called ‘G.fast’ or ‘Fibre To The Premises’ (FTTP).
Full fibre is the next generation of broadband. It removes the need to rely on copper phone lines and instead connects fibre cables straight to your home. This means there’s no slowdown on the data between the street cabinet and your property and the speed and strength are much more powerful than any previous fibre broadband technology as a result. Common internet issues like buffering and outages become almost non existent.
This technology will future-proof homes and businesses across the UK because, once it’s installed, properties won’t need to install new cables for their broadband for decades.
Trooli’s small-but-flourishing network stretches out to just under 350,000 rural homes and businesses across 14 counties - Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Berkshire, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Surrey, Buckinghamshire, Dorset, Hampshire, Fife and Lanarkshire - mainly in the south and south east.
Trooli runs on its own full fibre network to deliver its internet services. This is different to most of the big suppliers (main exception Virgin Media or any of the smaller, alternative networks) as they mainly rely on Openreach’s copper network for their connections. This seems to be a good thing as it doesn’t have to depend on another company to fix any faults or dictate their rollout locations.
Trooli isn’t currently signed up to Ofcom’s voluntary code practice on better broadband speeds, but customer scores are above average on its Trustpilot rating for connectivity.
For an extra £4 a month you can add Wi-Fi Plus to your package. This add-on uses Wi-Fi extenders to make sure you get seamless coverage all around your home.
Starting from £29.99 a month for full fibre speeds, Trooli isn’t necessarily the cheapest – that is unless you opt for its fastest 2GB package and then it becomes unbeatable value. At £49.99 (October 24) for this bandwidth, no other provider currently offers these speeds for less.
Trooli has no one-off upfront set-up costs or hidden fees. It also has a price lock that promises never to unexpectedly increase your price mid-contract, so your deal will stay the same for the whole time.
Average price guide
All of Trooli’s contracts are 24 months. At the end of these as prices rise and you’ll default to a higher rolling monthly payment.
Trooli doesn’t have TV or mobile packages you can bundle with its broadband, it just focuses on full fibre broadband.
Trooli doesn’t offer any phone services either with its broadband. Instead it recommends using VOIP (voice over internet protocol) Wi-Fi calling options alongside its broadband.
Trooli has a refer a friend incentive. Share your unique code with friends and family and if they sign up you’ll both get £25 cashback.
No, it doesn’t. It stands against the practice of mid-price hikes. On Trooli's homepage you’ll find this promise:
"Our price lock means that we guarantee to never unexpectedly increase your price mid-contract, giving you peace of mind for 24 months"
Because it uses its own network, there's a bit more time and effort needed for set up.
Your new fibre optic connection happens in two stages:
Trooli engineers put in fibre optic cables to the outside of your property, either through underground ducting or via overhead cables attached to nearby poles. Which is used all depends on what’s already in place in your local area.
These fibre optic cables are then bought into your property and connected to a router, which then connects to your personal devices (either using Wi-Fi or ethernet cables) and delivers your broadband service.
Once your order is placed, Trooli aims to connect your broadband service within 4 weeks.
Standard installation and activation is free. However, some properties may need additional infrastructure put into place and this could mean an engineer charge. But you should be told all of this before any of the work starts.
All packages – apart from the 2GB – come with the Cobra Technicolour router. This is a high-end bit of equipment sporting next generation Wi-Fi 6 technology. It is dual-band and has a USB port and four gigabit ethernet ports, in case you want to set up a direct wired connection with any of your other devices.
Anyone choosing the 2GB package will get a slightly more advanced version than the above, built to handle the mega bandwidth and speed on offer.
Trustpilot gives Trooli a strong 4.6 for its customer support score with 85% scoring the provider 5-stars. There’s plenty of positive feedback that points towards prompt, polite and friendly service. Have a look at the latest reviews here.
Trooli’s customer service team is available via: 0333 344 6601
Monday-Friday: 8.30am - 6pm
Weekends: 9am-5pm
Email for existing customers: helpdesk@trooli.com
Email for anyone looking to join: sales@trooli.com
Live chat (same hours as above): here
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