Fibre or cable internet in the Netherlands: which should you choose?

As of 29 September 2026: if your address has both, choose fibre (glasvezel) when you upload a lot, work from home with video calls or want the widest choice of providers; choose cable (kabel) when a Ziggo deal is cheaper for the speed you need. The price difference is small: the median first-year price for internet only is €35.58 a month on fibre and €34.03 on cable (Kiesbeter Internet Price Index, n = 434). The real difference is upload: Ziggo's cable plans offer 25 to 120 Mbit/s upload on 200 Mbit/s to 2 Gbit/s download (Ziggo), while fibre plans usually have the same speed in both directions. DSL is a last resort: KPN is replacing its copper network with fibre and wants to switch it off before 2030 (KPN).

Fibre is a glass line that carries light all the way into your home; cable is the coaxial TV cable, owned in the Netherlands by VodafoneZiggo. Both are fast enough for almost every household. They differ in upload speed, latency, provider choice and how much headroom they have for the future.

Sources: Kiesbeter Internet Price Index (29 September 2026), Ziggo internet plans (checked 29 September 2026), KPN. Which networks and providers exist is covered in internet providers in the Netherlands explained; the technology itself in what is fibre (in Dutch) and what is DOCSIS cable internet (in Dutch).

Fibre is now the most-used fixed connection. Based on ACM Telecommonitor data for the first quarter of 2026, the Netherlands had 3.49 million active fibre connections (44.9 percent), 3.01 million cable connections (38.7 percent) and 1.28 million DSL connections (16.5 percent). Fibre passed cable for the first time, and 91.6 percent of households could get 100 Mbit/s or more (Overstappen.nl via ANP, 26 August 2026).

Many homes have both a cable socket and a fibre box, because fibre was laid next to the existing TV cable. In older city centres and some rental blocks, only cable may be available. Always check your exact address, including any house number suffix, on our internet comparison.

Fibre wins when upload speed, latency or future-proofing matters to you. Situations where that is the case:

• You work from home with video calls, large file uploads or cloud backups. A 1080p group call in Zoom needs about 3.0 Mbit/s up per person (Zoom); with several people calling and a backup running, cable upload can become the bottleneck.
• You create content: uploading video, streaming on Twitch or syncing photo libraries.
• You game online and care about stable, low latency; see ping and latency for gaming (in Dutch).
• You want provider choice. On open fibre networks you can switch between several providers without changing the line in your home; see what is an open fibre network (in Dutch).

Choosing between fibre providers is mostly about price, contract length and service. For a speed recommendation for your household, see how fast internet do you need.

Cable is fine for most households that mainly download: streaming, browsing, gaming downloads and the occasional video call. Ziggo's 1 Gbit/s plan has 100 Mbit/s upload (Ziggo), which is enough for several simultaneous video calls. Cable also has practical advantages for newcomers:

• Fast installation: Ziggo says it can connect you within 3 working days on an active cable socket, or you can pick up equipment in a shop (Ziggo, English page).
• English service: Ziggo says it has an English-speaking team available 24/7 (Ziggo).
• TV on the same line: if you want Dutch TV with BBC One, cable TV is straightforward; see English-language TV in the Netherlands.

Cable is also being upgraded. Ziggo announced plans to move to DOCSIS 4.0 and offer up to 8 Gbit/s download by the end of 2026 (Telecompaper); how much upload it will offer has not been announced as far as we could verify.

1. Check your address on our internet comparison to see which of fibre, cable and DSL reach you.
2. Work out the speed you need with the speed advice tool. Most households are fine with 100 to 500 Mbit/s.
3. Look at upload if anyone works from home or uploads video. If upload matters and fibre is available, choose fibre.
4. Compare the total over the contract, not the first month. Introductory discounts can hide a higher price later; see Dutch telecom contracts explained.
5. Check delivery time on our delivery time page if you need internet quickly after moving in.

More detail in Dutch: fibre in a rental home (in Dutch) and is fibre more expensive than cable or DSL? (in Dutch).