Choosing the right broadband provider is not particularly easy. It is notably more difficult when there are more than 20 broadband providers in the UK. It is true more so when almost all of these providers have lock-in periods and lengthy contracts you need to sign. Therefore, you must carefully pick or else you will be stuck with unreliable internet for an extensive period. Worry less because we are here to help you decide! This article aims to bring you the best UK broadband deals in 2022 from providers such as Zen Internet, Sky Broadband, Virgin Media, and more!
Internet is everything nowadays. Everything in our daily lives shifted to the internet when the pandemic started. And I believe that our situations will stay the same for a little while more. Students still go to school while at home. Employees still do their jobs also from their work-from-home setups. Even small to large businesses jumped onto the internet platform to stay afloat. And for the longest time, we leaned onto the internet to help us go through lockdowns and self-quarantines. May it be streaming movies and TV shows or communicating with your friends or family, the internet supported us while we cope.
If the internet is everything, we owe it to ourselves to have a fast and reliable connection. Hence, our editors at LuxoDeals rated all the broadband plans from major internet providers to bring you the best UK broadband provider. Let us jump into it!
How to choose the best UK broadband provider 2022
Judging a broadband plan is not entirely based on the internet speed it offers. It is much deeper than that as it is a combination of complex factors. Let us clear up the confusion. So, you can more easily decide which broadband plan is best suited for your needs. Here is how you choose the best UK broadband provider.
Which is Better, Fibre or DSL?
This question is simple – Fibre beats DSL all day. In terms of speed and reliability, the Fibre connection is the king. However, it does have a problem of availability in some areas (most probably in remote rural areas) because fibre connection installation requires professional services. And thus, its initial upfront fee may be more expensive. However, when the time comes that it is more widespread, the cons of Fibre internet connection will disappear.
Check area coverage for all providers
Location is a prime factor in choosing a broadband provider. The reliability of an internet connection in a specific area varies per provider. Some neighbourhood may have weaker internet coverage, while some the opposite. So, checking if your area coverage is crucially essential.
Furthermore, the services broadband providers offer also depend on where you reside. For instance, the faster fibre connections need fibre cables to be installed in your area first. To verify if yours has, all major internet service providers have a page on their websites where you enter your postcode to check if your locale is suitable for the fibre connection. We advise you to do this before calling the provider.
Beware of lock-in periods and contract length
The minimum length of contracts for most broadband plans lasts 12 months. However, some ISPs may upsell you to get a longer 18-month or even a 2-year commitment. While this is fine for some broadband plans, this could mean that you will wait for this contract to expire before changing to a faster internet plan.
However, this does not mean you cannot back out of your contract, especially when the broadband provider did not meet their end of the deal. According to the Ofcom regulations, you can do so within the first month when your internet provider failed to deliver the speed they advertised you should get.
Consistency and reliability are just as important as speed
Internet speed is not the be-all and end-all of a broadband plan. We cannot stress that enough. Nowadays, all internet providers must tell their customers the average internet speed they should expect for their broadband plans. Although it is an okay place to start, you should not base your decision on that because it does not tell you how reliable the service is. Consistency and reliability are just as important as internet speed.
An intermittent internet connection leaves a nightmare for all of us. According to research, 60% of Brits prefer consistent and reliable internet connection over access to ultra-fast speeds. A stable and reliable internet connection means that the internet speed you are getting stays constant even during peak times.
We based our criteria on choosing the best UK broadband provider from personal experiences, other customer experiences, and the biannual performance report of Ofcom.
Quality of the Included Router
Does your router affect internet speed? The straight answer is YES! The router manages all the data that are passing and going. If your internet router cannot keep up with that, it may be a weak link despite having a fast internet connection. Thus, making your internet speed may feel sluggish at times.
As most experts say, your internet is only as fast as what your router can handle. A slow router may cause bottlenecks for an otherwise fast internet connection. Therefore, if you have the luxury of choosing the router, choose wisely.
Include upfront cost in your decision
Most broadband plans have an upfront cost for the initial setup and installation. Although some broadband deals have no outright fee, it does not mean they are the cheapest overall. To find which one has the lowest cost, you should calculate the total of the first-year cost.
Another tip is to pay the lump sum of your entire contract upfront. This way, the internet broadband provider may offer you a heavy discount (thus, saving you cash). You can also get a bill deduction and save money when you pay a year of your line rental too.
Look at what their customers say about them
Before buying a product or service, I often find myself scrolling through customer reviews. This method is the life hack I learned when deciding which one to get is too complicated. You can easily distinguish if their customers are satisfied with their services through their reviews.
Furthermore, you may gain helpful insights just by reading through customer reviews. Another method I use is to sort these reviews from 1-start to 5-star. Through this, you may learn the negative side of the product, and some may be a dealbreaker! So, watch out for those. I guess it is easier to choose a product by knowing its cons.
You can 100% trust these people because they have first-hand experience of the product or service. While some may be biased, these reviews are overall accurate.
The Importance of Customer Support
Poor customer service equates to an awful broadband plan and a dissatisfied customer. It is an integral part of a broadband deal. After all, customer support is part of the package deal in every broadband plan. Excellent customer service can save you a ton of headaches (and money if your livelihood is internet-based).
Another life hack I can share with you is to try their customer support first. While most customer services require you to have an account, there are other media you can test the quality of their customer support. For instance, you can contact customer support by sending them a message through Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. You can gauge how fast they respond this way. If they respond quickly, add it to their tally.
You can still contact their email and telephone lines to see how quick they respond. How fast they fix a technical problem is an entirely different topic as you can only rely on the first-hand accounts of current subscribers.
Best UK Broadband Providers 2022
Our editors scoured the internet, meticulously compared each one, and curated a list of the best UK broadband providers.
Related Read: Best Wi-Fi Extenders – Boost Your Wi-Fi Range
Zen Internet: A Premium Broadband with Excellent Customer Service
Zen Internet does not offer as many broadband plans compared to other broadband providers. You can choose from three broadband deals with varying internet speeds: Fast, superfast, and ultrafast broadband plans. Zen uses BT’s Openreach fibre-optic network and Cityfibre’s FTTP network. Therefore, the Superfast broadband plan is available for 95% of the UK. But the Ultrafast is only available for locations near major cities.
Zen Internet supplies its new subscribers with the FRITZ!Box 7530 router for FREE, while current subscribers can upgrade for £75.00. The FRITZ!Box 7530 is a dual-band Wi-Fi 5 wireless router which is a step-up over the routers other providers give. If your house is big and you worry about Wi-Fi weak spots, you can add FRITZ!Box mesh repeaters for an extra £8.00 a month.
Customer support is one of the strengths of Zen’s broadband plans. Since Zen’s customer market is not as big as other providers, we cannot get the official customer support numbers from Ofcom. But we heard great things directly from Zen Internet’s subscribers. According to surveys, most of Zen’s subscribers are extremely satisfied with its speed and reliability.
Zen Internet Broadband Plans
The Fast Broadband plan is great for casual everyday use like social media and email. HD video streaming is also possible with its decent download speed of 10 Mbps. However, the weakness of this broadband plan is its low upload speed of just 1 Mbps. So, it can be challenging for streamers to use this broadband plan. Moreover, video conferencing may feel choppy as most modern video conference apps like Zoom recommends 3 Mbps upload speed. At the monthly fee of £29.99, it more premium than its competitors.
The rest of Zen Internet’s broadband plans uses a faster fibre connection. The fibre broadband plans start at £29.99 for 35 Mbps download and 6 Mbps upload. If you are a power user, you can get the Ultrafast Broadband plan which reaches nearly up to a Gigabit per second. All broadband plans have no data cap on a 12-month contract. You can look at the summary of Zen Internet’s broadband plans below.
| Zen Internet | Fast Broadband plan | Superfast Unlimited Fibre 1 Broadband plan | Superfast Unlimited Fibre 2 Broadband plan | Ultrafast Fibre Broadband plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly fee | £29.99 | £29.99 | £34.99 | £49.00 | £62.99 |
| Upfront fee | £19.99 | £19.99 | £19.99 | £29.99 |
| Includes Line Rental | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Average download speed | 10 Mbps | 35 Mbps | 66 Mbps | 300 Mbps | 900 Mbps |
| Average upload speed | 1 Mbps | 6 Mbps | 17 Mbps | 47 Mbps | 100 Mbps |
| Data cap allowance | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Contract Length | 12 months | 12 months | 12 months | From 12 months |
Plusnet: The Cheapest UK Broadband Provider
Plusnet has one of the cheapest broadband plans in the UK. You can get more savings when you get an 18-month contract. Deals and special offers are often. So, you better snatch one up when that time comes. Plusnet offers more services such as mobile data and TV plans.
With Plusnet, they either provide you with Hub Zero or a Hub One. You get the Hub Zero when you get an ADSL broadband plan, while Hub One for the fibre broadband plan. The Hub Zero is not the best in the world, but it gets the job done. I suggest that you immediately replace this router because it does not have the dual-band capabilities that other routers have.
On the other hand, the Hub One is not much of an upgrade over the Hub Zero. The Plusnet Hub One adds only dual-band channelling but nothing more. Additionally, users have reported having issues with Wi-Fi using the included Hub One. Again, it is better that you replace it with a more feature-rich router.
Plusnet Customer Service Satisfaction:
- Overall score: 81%
- Service speed score: 75%
- Complaint Handling Score: 47%
- Complaints per 100, 000 subscribers: 69
- Average call waiting time: 4 minutes, 52 seconds
In addition to being the cheapest, Plusnet has one of the most reliable customers supports on this list. To begin with, only 24% of subscribers who call their Yorkshire-based customer support has something to complain about their services. Thus, complaints are low because customers are generally satisfied. The 4 minutes and 52 seconds waiting time is on the lower end of the spectrum, however.
Although Plusnet has one of the most complaints per a hundred thousand subscribers, this number of complaints is down from 100 complaints per 100,000 subscribers. So, their customer support is getting better and is heading in the right direction.
Plusnet Broadband Plans
With Plusnet, you can choose from three different broadband plans. First of which is the Unlimited Broadband plan. This plan gets you 10 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload speeds. It is similar to the Fast Broadband plan offered by Zen, but £4.00 cheaper for the 12-month contract and £10.00 cheaper for the 18-month one. The upfront fees are also more affordable at only £5.00 per month. If you avail of the 18-month plan, Plusnet does not charge you any upfront costs.
Moving to Plusnet’s fibre broadband plans, the Unlimited Fibre plan on an 18-month contract is the cheapest broadband plan. At only £22.99, you get a fibre connection, whereas you only get ADSL plans from other broadband providers. The speeds of Plusnet’s fibre plans start at 36 Mbps and get as high as 66 Mbps.
| Plusnet | Unlimited Broadband (12 month / 18 months) | Unlimited Fibre (12 month / 18 months) | Unlimited Fibre Extra (12 month / 18 months) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly fee | £23.99 | £18.99 | £29.99 | £22.99 | £36.99 | £24.99 |
| Upfront fee | £5.00 | FREE | £10.00 | FREE | £10.00 | FREE |
| Includes line rental | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Average download speed | 8 – 16 Mbps | 36 Mbps | 66 Mbps |
| Average upload speed | 1 Mbps | 9 Mbps | 18 Mbps |
| Data cap allowance | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Contract Length | 12 month | 18 months | 12 month | 18 months | 12 month | 18 months |
EE Broadband: Ultrafast Broadband Plans for Cheap
The EE Broadband offers some of the best 5G and 4G mobile data plans. However, what about their home broadband plans? EE broadband plans are equally as great as their mobile data ones. Since EE Broadband is a part of the BT Group, you can expect that most of its services are widely available to neighbourhoods across the UK.
EE Broadband supplies its subscribers with EE’s Bright Box 1 for the ADSL broadband plan and the Smart Hub for the fibre broadband plans. The router that comes with the most basic broadband deal is nothing impressive. The EE Bright Box 1 is no exception, as it works as you expected it to but with no additional features.
However, the EE Smart Hub is different. The Smart Hub surprised as to the amount of technology EE Broadband packed in this router. This router supports AC wireless for a more stable and faster 5GHz internet connection. The array of ports on the back of the router is no slouch either. The EE Smart Hub’s most notable port is the gigabit port which can support faster data transmission.
EE Broadband Customer Service Satisfaction:
- Overall score: 82%
- Service speed score: 78%
- Complaint Handling Score: 47%
- Complaints per 100, 000 subscribers: 20
- Average call waiting time: 1 minute, 15 seconds
Out of nine broadband providers, EE Broadband has the highest overall score. The most recent Ofcom report studied all major broadband providers, which include EE’s rivals. It is not that surprising because they have the lowest number of complaints per 100,000 subscribers. Moreover, the average call waiting time is the shortest time among these nine providers. Considering that the national average waiting time is 4 minutes and 5 seconds, its 1-minute-and-15-second call waiting time becomes more impressive.
That is not all! According to the Ofcom Customer Satisfaction tracker for November/December 2020, only EE broadband is the only broadband provider that is more likely to recommend to a friend, despite having a significant decline in satisfaction versus 2019.
EE Broadband Plans
Just by looking at the table below, one can conclude that the EE broadband plans are cheap. The cheapest of which is their ADSL plan which gets you 10 Mbps download speed at £23.50. What makes the EE’s ADSL plan more enticing is the £0.00 upfront costs.
The fibre broadband plans are also affordable, starting at only £27.50 for a 36 Mbps download speed. EE Broadband takes it up a notch in the internet speed department with their Fibre Max Broadband plans, giving them an edge over Plusnet. While the highest internet speed from Plusnet reaches only 66 Mbps, you can get up to 900 Mbps from EE Broadband.
Since EE Broadband takes pride in having the best mobile data plans, you can experience it with the free mobile data you get in every broadband plans. The amount of free mobile data varies from plan to plan. Check the table below to see the free mobile data allowance.
| EE Broadband | Standard Broadband | Fibre Broadband | Fibre Plus Broadband | Fibre Max 100 Broadband | Fibre Max 300 Broadband | Fibre Max 900 Broadband |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly fee | £23.50 | £27.50 | £31.00 | £39.00 | £47.00 | £60.00 |
| Upfront fee | FREE | FREE | FREE | £25.00 | £25.00 | £25.00 |
| Average speed | 10 Mbps | 36 Mbps | 67 Mbps | 145 Mbps | 300 Mbps | 900 Mbps |
| Free mobile data allowance | 5 Gb | 5 Gb | 5 Gb | 20 Gb | 20 Gb | 20 Gb |
| Data cap allowance | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Contract Length | 18 months | 18 months | 18 months | 18 months | 18 months | 18 months |
Sky Broadband: Guaranteed Fast and Stable
At first glance, Sky Broadband’s internet plans do not differ from other providers. Well, its broadband plans are pretty average. But if you check these plans, you are getting a pretty good deal. The only difference you may see is the Wi-Fi guarantee.
What is a Wi-Fi guarantee? Long story short, it is a guarantee that every room in your home has at least 3 Mbps Wi-Fi. It uses the Sky Broadband Hub to achieve this. Sky even offered money-back if not met. This add-on is available for every subscription they offer. For more extensive information, check the official page of this service by clicking here.
Sky Broadband Customer Service Satisfaction:
- Overall score: 80%
- Service speed score: 80%
- Complaint Handling Score: 59%
- Complaints per 100, 000 subscribers: 23
- Average call waiting time: 3 minutes, 21 seconds
Sky Broadband’s customer support is one of the best in handling complaints. Additionally, their support resolves 42% of complaints on customer’s first contact. That is why it comes as no surprise Sky Broadband won the Best Performing Major Broadband Provider Ofcom Complaints Data Q3 2020.
Sky Broadband Plans
As said above, Sky Broadband plans are average. It gives you enough speed for the right price. However, Sky Broadband does not have the resources yet to venture to the Gigabit internet speeds. Hence, it offers only up to 145 Mbps internet as the fastest plan. One advantage of Sky is that you can bundle it with their Sky TV.
| Sky Broadband | Essential Plan | Superfast Plan | Superfast Plan with Wi-Fi Guarantee | Ultrafast Plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly fee | £25.00 | £28.00 | £33.00 | £35.00 |
| Upfront fee | £119.95 | £19.95 | £19.95 | £19.95 |
| Average download speed | 11 – 17 Mbps | 59 Mbps | 59 Mbps | 145 Mbps |
| Average upload speed | 0.8 – 1.1 Mbps | 16 Mbps | 16 Mbps | 27 Mbps |
| Data cap allowance | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Contract Length | 18 months | 18 months | 18 months | 18 months |
BT Broadband: The Biggest UK Broadband Provider
BT Broadband is the largest broadband provider in the UK. But does that mean you should get it? At first glance, the broadband plans of both EE and BT broadband are eerily similar. However, it is not that strange when you realise that EE is under the BT Group.
Their similarities do no end there as both providers supply the same Smart Hub router for their fibre-optics subscribers. Yes, this is the same spectacular Smart Hub that EE Broadband offers.
BT Broadband Customer Service Satisfaction:
- Overall score: 80%
- Service speed score: 80%
- Complaint Handling Score: 55%
- Complaints per 100, 000 subscribers: 50
- Average call waiting time: 3 minutes, 28 seconds
Why complain when all your subscribers are contented customers? Among all major broadband providers on this list, BT broadband has the least customers to have a complaint. Handling customer issues is also impressive because BT’s customer support is well above the national average. Moreover, BT placed third in complaints per 100,000 customers versus other big providers.
BT Broadband Plans
The plans from BT Broadband is not the cheapest in the UK – we have already established that Plusnet is. BT offers a wide range of broadband plans from the basic ADSL to the fastest 900-Mbps Fibre broadband.
The BT Broadband plans are good enough for the typical household. If I were to choose which one is the best, I would probably go for the Fibre 1 package with 50 Mbps download speed. BT Broadband also offers TV bundles that give superb value.
Among all broadband provider in this list, only BT broadband plans require a contract length of 24 months. Furthermore, their deals become more expensive after your first year. You cannot do anything because you signed a 2-year contract, after all. If you want to change broadband provider, you can easily do so because BT Broadband uses Openreach. As you may recall, other major broadband providers (except Virgin) use this network also. So, your transition from BT to another provider would be seamless.
| BT Broadband | Broadband | BT Fibre Essential | BT Fibre 1 | BT Fibre 2 | BT Fibre 100 | BT Fibre 300 | BT Fibre 900 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly fee | £27.99 | £27.99 | £28.99 | £32.99 | £39.99 | £49.99 | £59.99 |
| Upfront fee | £19.99 | £19.99 | £9.99 | £9.99 | £9.99 | £9.99 | £9.99 |
| Average speed | 10 Mbps | 36 Mbps | 50 Mbps | 67 Mbps | 145 Mbps | 300 Mbps | 900 Mbps |
| Data cap allowance | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Contract Length | 24 months | 24 months | 24 months | 24 months | 24 months | 24 months | 24 months |
TalkTalk: Letting their Broadband Plans do the Talking
TalkTalk brands themselves as the “UK’s leading value for money connectivity provider”. While we can see their “value” on the table below, there are things that need more clarification. The value of a broadband plan depends on the needs of the customer. If the customers are content with such services, they are less likely to complain. Since TalkTalk’s customer satisfaction is not the greatest, our editors wonder what value TalkTalk mentions.
If TalkTalk is talking about how cheap their broadband plans, then they are not the leading in that category since Plusnet offers the cheapest ones. But if TalkTalk is referring to their triple-play bundles, then they might be true. However, we are strictly speaking about broadband plans in this article, giving them no bearing.
TalkTalk Customer Service Satisfaction:
- Overall score: 77%
- Service speed score: 71%
- Complaint Handling Score: 47%
- Complaints per 100, 000 subscribers: 81
- Average call waiting time: 1 minute, 46 seconds
While the average call waiting time is well below the national average, other aspects of TalkTalk’s customer service needs a bit of improvement. Firstly, let us acknowledge that TalkTalk has the lowest overall customer satisfaction score of all the broadband providers on this list. However, do not dismiss TalkTalk just yet because they are slowly improving their customer service.
TalkTalk Broadband Plans
Let us look at TalkTalk’s broadband plans to verify their claim as the UK’s leading value for money connectivity provider. In terms of their fibre plans, our editors can see why they claim this. Starting at only £29.00 with no upfront fee, TalkTalk offers a fast 38-Mbps fibre internet connection. Both the Fibre 35 and Fibre 65 can trade blow with the offerings of the cheapest broadband, Plusnet.
However, things are different on the ADSL side of things. TalkTalk’s fast broadband plan has a high monthly fee of £31.99 and an upfront cost of £9.99. These two figures alone can scare possible customers away. Then you add the average 10 Mbps download speed on an 18-month contract, do not be surprised if consumers look for something better.
| TalkTalk | Fast Broadband | Fibre 35 | Fibre 65 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly fee | £31.99 | £29.00 | £32.00 |
| Upfront fee | £9.95 | FREE | FREE |
| Includes line rental | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Average speed | 10 Mbps | 38 Mbps | 67 Mbps |
| Data cap allowance | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Contract Length | 18 months | 18 months | 18 months |
Virgin Media: Fastest Internet Speed
The unique thing about the Virgin Media Broadband is that they only offer fibre-optic broadband plans. They are the leading provider for ultrafast internet speed, after all. So, you can expect faster internet plans and a more premium price tag. Just for perspective, Plusnet’s flagship plan provides 66 Mbps download speed, while Virgin Media’s entry-level deal starts at 54 Mbps!
However, Virgin Media is not yet as widespread, unlike services that run on the Openreach network. Virgin internet services only cover 45% of UK household, but reports show that Virgin is trying to get it up to 53% soon.
Virgin Media Customer Service Satisfaction:
- Overall score: 80%
- Service speed score: 82%
- Complaint Handling Score: 48%
- Complaints per 100, 000 subscribers: 69
- Average call waiting time: 7 minutes, 40 seconds
As mentioned before, internet speed is not everything. Although we can confidently say that their internet is reliable, we cannot say the same with their customer service. Customer service satisfaction is below the national average. While other broadband providers have seen a decrease in the number of complaints per hundred thousand subscribers, Virgin has seen the opposite. Moreover, they have the most lengthy call waiting time which is nearly double the national average.
Virgin Media Broadband Plans
Giving you the fastest internet speed is the main focus of Virgin. So, the difference among their broadband plans is the speed. Choosing is easy because you choose the speed you need. Refer to the table below for reference.
| Virgin Media | M50 | M100 | M200 | M350 | M500 | M600 | Gig1 Fibre Broadband |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly fee | £28.00 | £34.00 | £40.00 | £46.00 | £52.00 | £52.00 | From £62.00 |
| Upfront fee | £35.00 | £35.00 | £35.00 | £35.00 | £35.00 | £35.00 | £35.00 |
| Includes line rental | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Average speed | 54 Mbps | 108 Mbps | 210 Mbps | 362 Mbps | 512 Mbps | 630 Mbps | 1130 Mbps |
| Data cap allowance | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Contract Length | 18 months | 18 months | 18 months | 18 months | 18 months | 18 months | From 18 months |
Final Verdict
Our editors choose the EE Broadband as the best overall broadband provider. Their broadband plans offer a balance of speed, reliability and customer service quality.
Our honourable mention is Plusnet. Although they have the cheapest plans and excellent customer support, we saw the lack of higher internet speeds from EE Broadband and Zen Internet as a major turnoff. Until they offer such internet speeds, our votes go to EE Broadband.
