BT Broadband | Our Expert Review

Jonathan Victoria • 11 Sep 2024

The UK’s most popular broadband provider.

What is BT Broadband?

BT Broadband is the UK’s most popular provider, with over nine million subscribers to their service (including Plusnet and EE who are part of BT Group).

Across the board, BT customers are fairly satisfied with every aspect of BT’s service, showing why BT are one of the nation's favourite providers.

What network does BT Broadband use?

As well as offering its own great service, BT also owns and operates the most widely used network, Openreach, to provide a connection to its customers.

Many other providers also use the Openreach network, owing to its strength and availability. They are also in the process of a nationwide full-fibre rollout, connecting over 12.5m premises already and with the aim of reaching 25 million by the end of December 2025.

Is BT Broadband any good?

BT has many positives to its service but also a couple of downsides; however, we see the good things outweighing the bad.

Here are some of the good things:

• Range of packages – Several broadband-only options for both fibre and full fibre, allowing access for practically every home in the UK.
• Speed guarantee –  £100 cashback should customers find they’re not getting the minimum speeds BT promised at the beginning of the contract
• Great TV deals – EE TV (formerly BT TV) is comprehensive, and BT offers packages that put together their broadband and TV service plus add-ons.

One of the downsides to BT Broadband, though, is the length of their contracts, locking you into a 24-month plan. They have no month-to-month plans like many providers offer these days.

How much is BT Broadband?

Another downside to BT is that they are one of the more costly providers on the market, with their basic packages often more expensive than their competitors.

While they do offer deals on many of their packages often, they still come out to be quite costly compared to the likes of Sky and Virgin Media.

BT Broadband packages

BT have various fibre and full-fibre broadband offerings to allow for everyone to benefit from their service.

As mentioned, they are on the slightly more pricey side per month, but like most major providers, BT regularly offers great deals on many of their packages.

Here are the broadband-only packages BT has available, displayed with their standard price. Be sure to check the BT website or here on Broadband Finder to find a better deal.

Note: Prices may change during your contract. Virgin Media will give you adequate notice via your preferred contact method, usually by email, about any pricing changes.

Prices correct as of 05/03/24.

BT Broadband and TV packages

BT also offers packages that put together broadband and their strong TV service. Here are the packages we have available:

Note: Prices may change during your contract. Virgin Media will give you adequate notice via your preferred contact method, usually by email, about any pricing changes.

Prices correct as of 05/03/24.

EE TV

EE TV, formerly known as BT TV, offers an amazingly extensive service with live TV channels as well as many on-demand shows and movies.

With EE TV, customers can choose from a number of add-ons from partners such as Netflix, Discovery+ and Apple TV+, providing even more exclusive and critically acclaimed content.

TNT Sports on BT TV

TNT Sports is the home of sports on BT TV, providing exclusive competitions from a range of sports including: 

• European club football competitions (Champions League etc.)
• National League football (incl. FA Trophy & FA Vase)
• Premiership rugby
• UFC
• WWE
• NBA
• MLB
• MotoGP

As well as these exclusively on TNT Sports, they also have 52 Premier League games across the season, including the early kickoffs on Saturdays (12:30pm).

BT and EE

BT and EE are now working together which sees EE as the primary consumer brand for BT, meaning many of the services from BT have been renamed to EE, such as EE TV.

Their partnership sees the two looking to create the UK’s best broadband and mobile provider.

They aim to bring much more to their customers, in particular for broadband where they will deliver better connectivity and faster speeds.

BT Broadband: Technical specs & installation

New BT customers will receive one of two hubs depending on the package, with one being for ADSL connections and one for fibre and full fibre. The two hubs are:

• Smart Hub 2
• Home Hub 5

The Smart Hub 2 is for fibre and fibre connections, utilising some of the latest WiFi technology to deliver the best speeds, even all the way up to hyperfast broadband (900Mbps+).

As for the Home Hub 5, it is perfect for BT’s ADSL packages, although there aren’t many of those being advertised anymore as the technology for it has been surpassed by fibre.

Installation

Setting up the BT Hub is very straightforward if an FTTC connection is not required to be installed.

The hub itself will be sent via the post, with the hub being slim enough to fit through the letterbox. If installation is not required, the customer can simply plug it in and, wait for the router to set itself up, and then it's good to go.

If an engineer is needed, they will sort everything out for you. BT says it takes around three hours but variables inside and outside the property may change that.

BT don’t charge for most of their engineer visits, but you should check with BT before purchasing your package if that will be the case. Sometimes providers will charge if a new line has to be installed.

BT Broadband customer service

BT has several ways in which customers can contact about any issues. They can either use the live chat, which is the quickest and easiest way to contact BT, or they can phone 0800 023 2023 for things like info or reporting an issue.

BT’s customer service isn’t quite known for being the best, normally being quite busy with many people looking for information, but that is similar for most large providers. Remember, BT has the most subscribers in the UK, and dealing with them all in a timely manner is not easy.

BT Broadband: Best bits

• Multiple fibre & full fibre package options
• Excellent speeds
• Unlimited broadband
• Great TV package deals
• Brilliant speed guarantee

BT Broadband: What we think

While rather expensive, BT Broadband certainly deserves to be the UK’s most popular provider. 

The connection provided is fast and reliable so whatever your needs, you will be satisfied with the result.