The Independent’s journalism is supported by our readers. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn commission. Why trust us?
Trying to find the best broadband provider in the UK? To help you choose the right broadband deal, we surveyed 2,000 broadband customers across the country, asking them to rank their internet provider on areas such as speed, price and more.
To make your decision process even easier, our Home Tech Expert Rachel Sadler has analysed the best broadband providers in the country, all the top speeds on offer and the types of broadband you can access. Her best picks include EE for speed, Plusnet for customer service and Vodafone for value.
Best for customer service: Plusnet
Best for value for money: Vodafone
Best for reliable connection: BT
To get an insight into how people feel about their internet services, we surveyed 2,000 broadband customers across the UK*. Participants answered more than 20 questions in relation to their current broadband provider, including their opinion about the speeds they receive, the pricing of their plan, the value for money and their overall satisfaction.
We also asked consumers about their internet usage, the ease of contacting their provider, price increases and technical support. We then analysed this data to determine the factors customers deem most important when looking at a broadband deal and created an overarching score for each broadband provider. This overall score includes value for money, speed, customer service, reliability, ease of contact and technical support.
Survey of broadband customers aged between 24 and 64 conducted on Censuswide, 11-14 March 2024. Survey sample: 2,003 respondents from Sky (489), BT Broadband (412), Virgin Media (396), EE (134), Vodafone (124), Other (102), Plusnet (66), NOW Broadband (45), Three (31), Hyperoptic (14), Community Fibre (8) and Unsure (7). Respondents who selected Hyperoptic, Community Fibre, Other or Unsure were discarded from our review; however, the information gathered for Hyperoptic and Community Fibre was used in our broadband providers evaluation. Respondents were asked to rate each category on a five-point scale, from “Very Poor” to “Excellent” or from “Never” to “Always”, with the option of selecting “Don’t Know” for all questions. For the third question (“What issues, if any, have you experienced with your current broadband provider?”), respondents could select from the following: “Price Hikes”, “Slow Speeds”, “High Prices”, “Frequent Disconnections”, “Poor Customer Service”, “Billing Issues”, “Other” and “N/A”. The questions used to calculate our score were: “How often, if at all, do you feel the actual speed of your broadband service matches the advertised speed?”, “How would you rate your experience with customer service and support from your broadband provider?” “What issues, if any, have you experienced with your current broadband provider? (Select all that apply)”, “How easy or difficult is it/would it be to reach your provider using your preferred method?” “How do you rate the value for money of your broadband service?” and “How would you rate the transparency of pricing and additional fees in your broadband service?”.
Our Independent Advisor rating combines our Home Tech team’s expertise (60 per cent) with the data collated from our customer survey (40 per cent).
In addition to the survey data, our experts looked at the following criteria:
Based on the survey we conducted, these are the best internet providers in the UK.
| Broadband provider | Independent Advisor rating | Customer satisfaction | Speed | Customer service | Reliability | Value for money |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hyperoptic* | ★★★★ | 100% | 64% | 64% | 93% | 79% |
| Community Fibre* | ★★★★ | 75% | 63% | 75% | 80% | 100% |
| EE | ★★★½ | 90% | 66% | 73% | 84% | 67% |
| Plusnet | ★★★½ | 88% | 53% | 68% | 83% | 74% |
| Vodafone | ★★★½ | 86% | 60% | 69% | 85% | 76% |
| BT | ★★★½ | 85% | 62% | 61% | 87% | 59% |
| Sky | ★★★½ | 82% | 62% | 64% | 81% | 57% |
| Three | ★★★½ | 74% | 61% | 74% | 68% | 77% |
| NOW | ★★★½ | 78% | 64% | 62% | 73% | 76% |
| TalkTalk | ★★★ | 78% | 57% | 53% | 80% | 59% |
| Virgin Media | ★★★ | 83% | 56% | 54% | 79% | 58% |
By combining our customer survey results with the findings of our expert team, we determined the following as the top five broadband providers in the UK.
With 100 per cent of the customers we surveyed reporting they were happy with the service they receive, Hyperoptic broadband is top of our best providers list.
Choose a Hyperoptic deal if speed, reliable connection and price are important to you. Hyperoptic is one of few providers who prioritise pricing transparency and feature no mid-contract price rises. According to our survey, Hyperoptic was ranked second for value for money, with 100 per cent of customers agreeing its pricing is transparent.
Home to some of the speediest deals on the market, Hyperoptic offers superfast and reliable full-fibre broadband at reasonable prices. Our survey results show 64 per cent of customers reported they always or mostly receive their advertised speed, and the provider was ranked first for reliability and technical support.
What we like: there are no mid-contract price increases. The fastest deal, offering an average speed of 900Mbps, costs just £36.
What we don’t like: your home needs access to full fibre, which is only available to those living in major cities, including London, Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool.
Now owned by BT Group, EE originally became a household name for its mobile services. Today, it’s favoured by customers for its superfast broadband.
EE offers ultrafast fibre broadband powered by BT technology. The provider’s service includes regular connection checks to ensure reliability; according to our survey, EE was ranked third in that category.
Our survey results ranked the provider first in terms of speed (66 per cent of users reported receiving the speeds advertised on their deal or faster). We recommend EE as one of the best providers overall alongside Hyperoptic: it was ranked second for customer satisfaction and third for customer service.
EE doesn’t claim to be the most budget provider, a fact which is reflected in the price of its deals and our survey data. It was the fourth worst provider in terms of value for money, which means you may still get a good price but will also have to spend some time comparing deals.
What we like: it offers many bundles. Customers can add unlimited mobile data or a TV package.
What we don’t like: compared to the other providers’ deals, EE is not the best value for money. We recommend checking whether a cheaper deal with the same speed is available in your area.
Plusnet is the right provider for you if you value excellent customer service; it has a UK-based call centre that’s contactable seven days a week. In our survey, 69 per cent of respondents rated the provider’s customer service as excellent and it scored the highest of all providers for ease of contact. We know this is important to customers, as 48 per cent of respondents in our survey said their preferred method of engaging with their provider is over the phone.
Plusnet boasts a well-rounded service with perks and affordable deals. Customers are offered Plusnet Perks, the provider’s loyalty programme, which unlocks lots of offers and deals from restaurants and shops. Plusnet’s overall customer satisfaction is high, the provider coming in third in our survey (88 per cent) just behind EE (90 per cent).
That said, Plusnet scored the lowest in terms of speed. Just 53 per cent of customers in our survey reported that they receive Plusnet’s advertised speeds always or most of the time. For that reason, we recommend checking whether the package’s minimum advertised speed is enough for your household’s needs.
What we like: Plusnet is a great provider for families with young children. Plusnet Protect and Plusnet Safeguard are included with all plans, protecting your devices from security risks and giving you control over the content your children can access.
What we don’t like: its fastest deal – Full Fibre 900Mb – is expensive compared to competitors. Deals for 500Mbps and below are reasonably priced.
Similar to EE, Vodafone has been a mainstay in the UK’s mobile phone market for decades but is still relatively new to broadband. In our survey, this internet provider was ranked one of the highest in terms of value for money (76 per cent).
Our experts also chose Vodafone as the best value for money, and it scored highly across several categories. It ranked fourth on our list for overall customer satisfaction (86 per cent), customer service (69 per cent) and pricing transparency (74 per cent). Vodafone also shines for its bundle options, which allow customers to include Apple TV with their broadband package, add unlimited mobile data to a broadband and mobile bundle and more.
We asked our survey participants “How do you rate the value for money of your broadband service?” Here are the results:
Best providers
Worst providers
If you’re looking for top speed, we wouldn’t recommend Vodafone. As it fell outside the top five (with 60 per cent), be wary of its advertised speeds.
Although Vodafone is reasonably priced, you may find you have better options. If you live in London, check out Community Fibre’s deals – they’re good value and there are no mid-contract price rises.
What we like: you can bundle broadband and mobile to save money, and a basic broadband deal costs less than £30.
What we don’t like: Vodafone isn’t so strong when it comes to TV bundles, which is only an issue if you watch live TV. However, it does still offer a streaming package.
As one of the UK’s largest broadband providers, it should come as no surprise that BT took the top spot in our survey for reliability (87 per cent).
If you’re looking to bundle phone and TV services, BT stands out for its selection of Sky channels. It’s also fifth on our list for overall customer satisfaction (85 per cent), and our survey showed that customers were least likely to say they had encountered issues with their BT broadband service.
However, if you’re on a budget, this may not be the provider for you. In our customer survey, BT came in the bottom three for value for money – just 59 per cent agreed it was good value. Nor is BT the best provider for speed – it took fifth place.
What we like: its TV deals include Netflix plans as well as sports and entertainment bundles.
What we don’t like: deals are very expensive compared to other providers and involve mid-contract price rises.
Our survey also uncovered the main reasons customers have considered switching broadband providers in the last year:
The survey also revealed that smaller broadband providers were more popular, with Hyperoptic and London-based Community Fibre ranking first and second overall.
When it comes to choosing a broadband provider in the UK, there’s no shortage of options. But with each internet provider offering different speeds, contract lengths and bundled services, it can be overwhelming. To help make the process easier, we’ve identified the main factors you need to consider as you figure out the best deal for you.
In addition to reviews and ratings, another important metric is the number of complaints a broadband provider receives. The table below shows the number of complaints each provider received per 100,000 customers during the fourth quarter of 2023.
The fastest broadband widely available in the UK is generally 1Gbps (1,000Mbps), though some providers’ advertised speeds may greatly exceed this level.
With 1,600Mbps, EE offers the fastest advertised broadband speeds, followed by Vodafone at 910Mbps. Meanwhile, Plusnet, Hyperoptic and BT all provide top speeds of 900Mbps.
When you’re looking at broadband speed, bear in mind the following:
See our guide for more about broadband speeds and how to measure them.
“To improve your broadband speed, you need to get to the root cause of the issue. Bear in mind that when you sign up for any broadband package, the provider’s advertised speed is not necessarily what you’ll always get. Be sure to check the small print for your provider’s guaranteed minimum speed. If your speeds still don’t match the guaranteed minimum speeds in your contract, you could try moving your router, using a wifi booster or ethernet cable or even jumping ship and switching providers.”
Our experts found that it can take up to three weeks to successfully switch providers. We found Community Fibre can be installed in up to five working days – the fastest based on our research. We also researched the number of steps it takes from choosing your package to installation. TalkTalk and BT had the fewest number of steps.
| Broadband provider | Time until engineer visit | Number of steps involved in the setup process |
|---|---|---|
| BT | Up to 10 days | 3 |
| Virgin Media | Up to 7 working days | 4 |
| TalkTalk | 1-2 weeks | 3 |
| Community Fibre | Up to 5 working days | 4 |
| Sky | 2-3 weeks | 4 |
| Vodafone | 2-3 weeks | 4 |
| Plusnet | 2-3 weeks | 4 |
Most broadband providers offer a range of package types, contract lengths and bundle services. These include:
At just £24 per month, we found NOW Broadband’s Full Fibre 75 package to be the cheapest on the market.
But the best broadband provider for you – especially when it comes to pricing – will depend on your circumstances. If you live in London, our broadband expert Rachel recommends Community Fibre, as 100 per cent of its customers rated it highly in terms of value for money. If you live elsewhere in the UK, Three’s mobile broadband is a great choice; 77 per cent of its customers agreed it provided good value for money.
According to our survey, internet users in the UK pay an average £53 per month for their broadband package.
The Sky customers we surveyed pay an average of £60 a month for their broadband package compared to TalkTalk customers, who pay an average of £44 per month. While broadband-only customers pay £41 per month on average, those with a broadband, phone, TV and mobile bundle pay an average of £74 per month.
Internet providers are regulated by the Office of Communications, otherwise known as Ofcom. Broadband providers must abide by Ofcom’s rules and regulations to ensure their customers receive a fair service. These rules are regularly reviewed and kept in line with new technology and industry changes.
If you have any issues with your broadband provider, you may be able to make a complaint to Ofcom.
When comparing internet providers in your area, be sure to check:
In Ofcom’s most recent report, out of the major internet providers in the UK, Plusnet scored the highest customer satisfaction rating at 89 per cent. In our own survey, Plusnet was also the highest scorer in terms of customer service quality, with 69 per cent of its customers giving it an excellent rating in that department.
If both your current and your new provider are on Openreach’s network, your new provider will take care of cancelling your old contract and making the switch, including fitting any new cables you need. However, if they’re not on Openreach, you’ll need to cancel your old service yourself, and, depending on the type of broadband you’ve chosen, you may need to arrange for new cables to be fitted.
If you’re receiving certain government benefits, you may be eligible for a cheaper social tariff broadband package. There are several advantages to these packages:
You may be eligible for a social tariff broadband package if you receive the following benefits:
