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No broadband provider is right for every household, which is why you must do your research when it comes to picking the right broadband package for you.
To make your journey easier, our Home Tech Expert Rachel has catalogued some of the best broadband providers in the country, all the top speeds on offer, and the types of broadband you can access.
We surveyed 2,000 broadband customers in the UK to better understand how people feel about their broadband services. We asked them over 20 questions regarding their current broadband provider, including how they felt about the speeds they receive, the pricing of their plan, value for money and their overall satisfaction.
Consumers were also asked about internet usage, the ease of contacting their provider, price increases and technical support. We used this data to discover which factors residents deem most important when looking at a broadband deal to create an overarching score for each broadband provider. Our overall score includes value for money, speed, customer service, reliability, ease of contact and technical support.
According to respondents, the four most important factors when choosing a new provider were Price, Promotions/Discounts, Speed and Reliability.
Sky was the most popular broadband provider, followed by BT Broadband, Virgin Media and TalkTalk, with the first three providers supplying more than 60 per cent of those surveyed.
Vodafone, EE, Plusnet and EE customers were most likely to say they hadn’t encountered any issues with their current broadband, while customers of TalkTalk, Sky and Virgin Media were the least likely to say the same.
The two most common types of broadband connections currently used in the UK are ultrafast full fibre broadband (46 per cent) and partial fibre broadband (31 per cent). Access to full fibre is highly dependent on region; respondents in Large Towns had the highest average advertised broadband speed at 189Mbps while those living in Rural Areas had the lowest (129Mbps).
In terms of pricing, 19 per cent of those surveyed claimed that the value for money they got for their broadband service was Excellent, with only 2 per cent claiming that it was Very Poor. On average, UK broadband users pay £53 per month for their broadband service, with residents living in Greater London paying the most (£61), and those in the South East paying the least (£47).
Survey of broadband customers aged between 24-64 conducted on Censuswide, 11-14 March 2024. Survey sample: 2,003 respondents, totalling 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), Unsure (7). 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,” “How would you rate the transparency of pricing and additional fees in your broadband service”.
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% | 59% |
| 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 Broadband | ★★★½ | 78% | 64% | 62% | 73% | 76% |
| TalkTalk | ★★★ | 78% | 57% | 53% | 80% | 59% |
| Virgin Media | ★★★ | 83% | 56% | 54% | 79% | 58% |
Through a combination of survey results and our experts’ research, we established that the following are the top five broadband providers in the UK.
Hyperoptic broadband takes the top spot on our best providers list – 100 per cent of customers said they were happy with the service they receive from the provider. Hyperoptic offers a number of attractive benefits with its full-fibre deals such as a price match guarantee and no mid-contract price rises. We recommend this provider for people looking for reliability, as 93 per cent of customers find Hyperoptic’s service to be reliable and 64 per cent mostly receive their advertised speed – the second highest score on our list.
EE, now owned by BT Group, first became a household name for its mobile services, but it’s now favoured by customers for its superfast broadband speeds. EE is a great option for anyone who streams content or works from home: our survey showed 63 per cent of customers are satisfied with EE’s speeds and customers mostly receive the speeds advertised by the provider. We think its broadband bundle options really set this provider apart from competitors: customers can add unlimited mobile data to their plan, or TV packages.
Plusnet is our best provider for customer service. 69 per cent of respondents to our survey rated its customer service as excellent and it scored the highest of all providers (79 per cent) for ease of contact. We think this has something to do with Plusnet’s UK-based customer service team, who are contactable seven days per week. Plusnet’s customers automatically gain access to Plusnet Perks, the provider’s loyalty reward programme, which unlocks lots of offers and deals from restaurants and shops.
However, it’s worth noting that only 53 per cent of customers interviewed agreed they always receive Plusnet’s advertised speeds, so we’d recommend checking whether the package’s minimum advertised speed is enough for your household’s needs.
Like EE, Vodafone has been a mainstay in the world of mobile phone networks for decades but is still relatively new to broadband. Despite this, it scored highly in our survey for Value for Money (76 per cent), Speed (60 per cent) and Reliability (85 per cent). Vodafone has an expansive catalogue of deals at various price points. It also offers bundle options, allowing customers to include Apple TV with their broadband package, add unlimited mobile data to a broadband and mobile bundle, and more.
BT is one of the largest UK broadband providers, so it came as no surprise that 87 per cent of survey respondents rated its reliability as excellent. If you’re looking for a provider to bundle phone and TV services, we would highly recommend BT for its selection of Sky channels.
We recommend choosing a less expensive provider if you’re on a budget, however. BT was in the bottom three for value for money in our survey results – just 59 per cent agreed it was good value.
Our survey revealed the main reasons customers have considered switching to another broadband provider in the last year were:
No broadband provider can deliver an adequate service for everyone in the country, so you must ensure you pick a provider that will work for you.
For example, if your home does not have access to FTTP broadband, also known as fibre-to-the-premises, you won’t be able to benefit from full fibre broadband deals. According to Ofcom, only 57 per cent of UK homes have access to full fibre broadband. If you live in a rural area, your scope of available providers will be more limited than those living in cities and urban areas: some providers such as Community Fibre and G.Network only operate in London, for example.
The easiest way to find all the best broadband deals in your area is to use the postcode checker at the top of this page; once you know which providers operate in your area, you can filter according to the contract length, speed, cost and other factors that matter to you to find the best package for your needs.
Monthly cost may rise during contract
Choosing the right broadband provider for you can be summed up into three simple steps:
The fastest broadband widely available in the UK is usually 1Gbps, or 1,000Mbps (although some providers’ advertised speeds may greatly exceed this level).
Some things to consider:
The chart below shows customers’ feedback on the broadband speeds they actually receive compared to what is advertised by their provider.
If you want to find out more about broadband speeds and how to measure them, read our guide for more information.
There are various types of deals available from different broadband providers, both in terms of contract length and package type.
No-contract broadband: no-contract broadband packages provide flexibility and can be cancelled at any time with no exit fee, provided you give a month’s notice. Not all providers offer this type of contract, and they tend to be more expensive with higher set-up fees – we found Hyperoptic, Now Broadband and G.Network offer some of the best deals
Mobile broadband: mobile broadband uses a portable router and connects to 5G or 4G
Wireless broadband: wireless broadband packages provide a stable internet connection through a wireless local area network, making them ideal for households in more rural areas
Satellite broadband: satellite broadband deals are another great option for those without access to a fixed internet line, although they are generally more expensive than traditional broadband deals and come with limited speeds
Broadband and phone: if you want additional features with your package, you can find a variety of broadband and phone services from a range of providers, although it’s worth noting that landlines are starting to be phased out and replaced with a service called Digital Voice
Broadband and TV: TV and broadband packages come with services such as additional TV channels or subscriptions to popular streaming platforms, which can ultimately be cheaper than purchasing them separately
In our survey, we asked people whether they thought their broadband provider offers good value for money. When choosing a broadband provider, over 9 in 10 (94 per cent) said price was an important factor in their decision-making. 79 per cent of Hyperoptic customers rated the provider excellent value for money, as did 76 per cent of Vodafone’s customers.
Our Home Tech Expert Rachel recommends Community Fibre if you’re London-based as 100 per cent of its customers rated it highly in terms of value for money. If you live in another area, Three’s mobile broadband is a great choice for you, and 77 per cent of its customers agreed it provided good value for money.
If you’re on certain benefits, you may be eligible for a cheaper social tariff broadband package. There are a number of benefits to these packages:
You may be eligible if you receive the following benefits:
Internet providers are regulated by the Office of Communications, otherwise known as Ofcom. Broadband providers must follow Ofcom’s rules and regulations to ensure customers receive a fair service. Its 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 the internet providers in your area, you should consider:
According to the latest Ofcom report, Plusnet scored the highest customer satisfaction rating out of the major providers at 89 per cent. Plusnet was also the highest-scored provider in terms of customer service quality in our survey, with 69 per cent of its customers rating it excellently in that department.
If your current and your new broadband provider are both on Openreach your current provider will cancel your old contract for you and take care of the switch including any new cables that need to be fitted. If both your new and current service are not on Openreach, you’ll need to cancel your old service yourself and you may need to arrange for new cables to be fitted depending on which type of broadband you’ve chosen.
