Who is the best broadband provider?

We know getting stuck with a bad internet supplier means wasting time, money and energy – but how do you find the best broadband provider in the UK? With so many home broadband providers on the market, it can be difficult to know where to start when it comes to picking the right option for your household. Here we break down the major providers by the factors that will be most important to your customer experience. An affordable price and the right speed are always key components to the best deal, but it is important not to overlook other areas such as reliability and customer service when choosing the best broadband provider.

Which broadband provider is best?

If there is one part of a broadband deal that you value above all else, you may want to pick a provider that specialises in that area. Here we cover some of the most important features of top broadband deals and give our views on which suppliers are better than the rest.

Best broadband for cost: Vodafone

Vodafone has made a relatively late move into offering broadband, considering it is such a well-established mobile network in the UK. Its efforts to make up ground seem to be good for consumers, as Vodafone’s offerings are currently very competitively priced. This is especially true if you are happy to take a longer contract of 24 months.

Best broadband for cost goes to Vodafone because its prices for fibre broadband – the most common type of connection in the UK – are consistently the cheapest around. On top of an affordable monthly price, Vodafone does not currently charge set-up costs. This can make a big difference when you compare the total cost of switching broadband providers.

Some Vodafone deals also come with great added bonuses and rewards, including shopping vouchers of up to £150. These can be used almost anywhere, so are worth taking into account when comparing the best broadband prices.

We have more information in our independent 'Vodafone Broadband Review'.

Best broadband for speed: Sky Broadband

If you are simply looking for whoever is topping the speed gun among broadband providers in the UK, Sky is the surprise number one. While Virgin Media has previously held the crown thanks to its own coaxial cables being able to bypass the ageing copper wiring found in most homes, the full fibre rollout has changed things. It was true for a long time that though Virgin Media requires a more intensive installation if your property has not had the service in the past, your speeds would far exceed anything a standard broadband set-up can offer. Now, Sky's Full Fibre 5 Gigafast+ service offers a rapid 5,000Mbps, blows Virgin Media's Gig1 package out of the water.

Of course, this will only be relevant to households with a very high level of usage. If you need to know more about broadband speed, you can read more about it in our article 'What broadband speed do I need?'.

Virgin Media was voted ‘Fastest Broadband Provider’ by Uswitch for ten years in a row, and it is still a good bet for a reliable service at the top speeds thanks to its unique connection setup. You can find out more about the different types of broadband by reading our article 'Which broadband is best?'. However, for pure speed, they are beaten by Sky.

We have more information in our independent 'Sky Broadband Review'.

Best broadband for customer service: Zen Internet

Zen Internet is a small provider, but recently ran away with a Which? broadband satisfaction survey. It scored a huge 81%, well above big names like BT at 59%, Sky at 56% and Virgin Media at 54%. It is not the cheapest option, charging £32 for up to 36Mbps, £35 per month for up to 100Mbps, £42 per month for up to 500Mbps, £50 per month for up to 910Mbps and £65 per month for up to 1,600Mbps. However, customers seem to think this extra cost is outweighed by the strength of its service, as it score four starts out of five for value for money in the Which? survey.

A big part of Zen's popularity is likely to stem from its price promise. It does not hike broadband bills during the term of a contract, unlike almost every other major competitor. This means that the price you sign up at is the price you will pay until your contract expires. So while it may not be the cheapest option, you will know what you will be paying for the foreseeable future.

We rank Zen as our number one for customer service due to how easy it is to reach a member of staff and access technical support. For some people, this will not be a good enough reason to pay more than a competitor with a worse customer-service record, so you will need to assess your priorities as you compare broadband deals.

Best Broadband for a top router: BT

A bad router can stop your household accessing the broadband speed you are paying for. This could be because it has poor range, slow connectivity or cannot handle multiple devices at once. A good router will help you get your money’s worth by connecting your devices to your broadband as efficiently as possible.

BT walks away with our top pick thanks to the BT Smart Hub 2. The router gets a score of 64% from Which? thanks to its speed, coverage and ability to connect with multiple devices at once without slowing down. It is provided as part of all new BT contracts and is the best router included in any broadband package.

Best broadband for reliability: Zen Internet

It may not yet be a household name, but Zen Internet has steadily gained a reputation as a reliable service provider. According to research by Which? magazine, households supplied by Zen were less likely to lose connection, suffer slow download speeds or experience disrupted streaming than customers of competitors.

Zen has topped the Which? Satisfaction survey for seven years in a row and was the only provider surveyed to score four stars for reliability this year. It is also rated as 'Excellent', scoring an impressive 4.3 out of 5.0 on independent customer review site Trustpilot. So while it may feel natural to go for a big name in search of reliability, Zen is proving that smaller companies are able to offer a popular broadband service to match the competition.

Zen also offers static IP addresses as standard, which can improve internet security and allows users to host their own servers.

Best broadband for flexibility: Onestream

At the time of writing, none of the major UK broadband companies offer 12-months deals. This makes it a real challenge for anyone who values flexibility to find a good deal. Signing up to an 18-month or 24-month contract is simply not possible for a lot of renters or people with unstable living situations. Doing so could leave you having to pay expensive early termination charges in order to get out of the contract.

Among the few companies that do offer 12-month deals, Onestream tends to be the cheapest option and offers a range of speeds that should suit most households.

Best broadband for a TV package: Sky

Sky is one of the biggest names in UK sport and entertainment, but the services usually come with a hefty price tag. Premier League football, HBO dramas and big-budget action films do not come cheap, but bundling your TV needs in with your broadband can help to bring down the cost.

Sky is our top pick because combining all their entertainment services with a solid broadband offering can work out surprisingly cost-effective. If your household does not already have or need the TV side of the deal, Sky is probably not the package for you. But if you want to watch the football in HD every weekend, Sky Broadband could work out to be the top deal for you.

It is also worth remembering that Sky is no slouch when it comes to speed. If you live in an area where it offers a full fibre package, you should be able to access speeds that match or even beat Virgin Media.

Check out our 'Sky Broadband Review' for additional information.

Best broadband for rewards: Plusnet

Broadband deals are constantly changing, so it is important to remember that the best broadband deal today, might not be the best deal tomorrow. At the time of writing it is hard to beat Plusnet's special offer of a £150 reward voucher with most of its packages.

As the voucher can be used at all of the major supermarkets, it should be easy to spend it on items you would have bought anyway. This essentially reduces the cost of a 24-month deal by £6.25 per month, though do keep in mind that all of Plusnet's packages will go up by £4 every April.

We go into more detail on the Plusnet service in our 'Plusnet Broadband Review'.

Best broadband for landline calls: Vodafone

The cost of making landline calls might not be something you immediately think about when you compare broadband deals, but it can make a big difference. Even the cheapest package can quickly become one of the most expensive after a few lengthy phone calls from your landline.

Vodafone is our pick for calls because they offer a package with free anytime calls that still includes a strong broadband speed. If you need your broadband package to also cover the cost of phone calls, and you don’t want to be hit by any surprising bills at the end of the month, this is likely to be the option for you.

You can find out more about Vodafone broadband in our independent 'Vodafone Broadband Review'.

Compare a range of providers by using a comparison service such as Uswitch* to find out exactly what is available in your area.