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Broadband is a utility, but its not like gas or electricity. Your choice of provider can have a huge impact on the performance and reliability of your connection, whereas the gas doesnt come out of the pipes any faster if you switch providers.
That means choosing the right provider is key, not least because youll likely be chained to them for the next two years under the terms of the standard contract. And thats why, once again, weve surveyed thousands of broadband customers to help ensure youre getting first-hand feedback on how Britains biggest providers really perform.
So, lets cut through the marketing bluster of ultrafast and gigabit connections and consider all of the factors you should take into consideration when choosing a new broadband provider. Jump to our buying guide at the bottom of page to read all about it. Well also reveal our top picks from this years awards, so you can pick the provider that best suits your familys needs.
| Best broadband: At a glance | ||
|---|---|---|
| Best all-round | Vodafone | |
| Best for speed | Zen Internet | |
| Best for reliability | Virgin Media | |
The best broadband providers in 2025
1. Vodafone: Best all-round broadband provider
Price when reviewed: From £24/mth | View deals at Vodafone
| Important info | |
|---|---|
| Last reviewed by Expert Reviews | February 2025 |
| Mid-contract price increases? | Prices will increase by £3 from April 2026 |
Vodafone secured a top three place in every category of this years awards, handing the company the crown.
It had the highest customer service satisfaction of any of the eight providers on test, with 62% of the Vodafone customers we surveyed praising the service. It won highly commended awards for speed and value for money too.
Vodafone also offers some of the cheapest deals on full-fibre connections available from any provider. Strong performance, good service and cheap prices has to be a winning combination.
Read our full Vodafone review
2. Zen Internet: Best broadband provider for speed and value
Price when reviewed: From £32/mth | View deals at Zen Internet
| Important info | |
|---|---|
| Last reviewed by Expert Reviews | February 2025 |
| Mid-contract price increases? | No |
Zen customers are almost universally impressed with the speed they get from their connection. A whopping 95% were satisfied with the performance of their line, which is incredible given the sheer number of factors involved in delivering broadband connections, not all of them within the providers control.
Zen has long been admired for its customer service, with its team in Rochdale not reading off scripts, but genuinely answering customers queries. It claimed a highly commended award for customer service, just pipped by Vodafone, and won another highly commended for value for money.
The one chink in Zens armour this year is reliability, with a poor score of 41% thats very out of character for this company. Lets hope its a temporary blip.
Read our full Zen Internet review
3. Virgin Media: Best broadband provider for reliability
Price when reviewed: From £26/mth | View deals at Virgin Media
| Important info | |
|---|---|
| Last reviewed by Expert Reviews | February 2025 |
| Mid-contract price increases? | Prices will increase by £3.50 from April 2026 |
Virgin Media has spent decades building its cable network here in the UK. Now rapidly being upgraded to full-fibre, its clear the company is reaping the benefits of improved reliability.
Seven out of ten Virgin Media customers were satisfied with the reliability on offer from the network, enough to claim the 2025 reliability award. It doesnt fare badly for speed, either, with 79% of customers satisfied with performance.
If only Virgin could get its customer service sorted. A poor score of 40% echoes past surveys, where grumbles about customer care have been a persistent theme. Its prices have dropped significantly since last years survey, although not quickly enough to prevent it from finishing bottom of the table for value for money
Read our full Virgin Media Broadband review
How to choose the best broadband provider for you
Are you in a full-fibre area?
The key to whether you can get the fastest possible speeds is whether you live in an area covered by a full-fibre network.
The good news is regulator Ofcom estimates that well over 80% of British households are within reach of gigabit-capable service now, and the full-fibre networks are continuing to expand, so chances are you can enjoy the fastest speeds or will be able to soon.
Its worth noting at this point that Britain has seen an influx of smaller, regional fibre providers over the past few years, so even if the eight major providers we review here cannot supply you with a full-fibre connection, you may be able to get a faster service elsewhere.
Openreach is the biggest UK full-fibre provider, reaching more than half of UK homes. Virgin Medias network is of a similar size too. Increasingly, broadband providers are striking deals with more than one fibre network. For example, the award-winning Vodafone and Zen Internet both have deals with Openreach and CityFibre, meaning they can offer faster speeds to a greater chunk of the country than they could do if they relied on Openreach alone (as BT Broadband, EE and Plusnet do).
What speed of broadband do you need?
Its very easy to end up ordering a faster broadband connection than you actually need. Companies will always try and talk you into the fastest tariffs, perhaps offering introductory offers that make it cheaper for the first few months, but you can easily find yourself wasting hundreds of pounds per year on a connection faster than your requirements. For example, if youre a small household (one or two people) who just uses the internet for basic browsing, email, watching Netflix or iPlayer in the evenings, you really dont need an internet connection faster than 100Mbits/sec. Even that might be overkill.
The gigabit (1,000Mbits/sec) or even multigigabit connections being offered today will only really be exploited by large households with several people doing bandwidth-sapping tasks: downloading video games, watching multiple 4K video streams, downloading/uploading large files when working from home.
However, these top-notch connections can cost upwards of £50/mth, so make sure youre really going to need those speeds before placing the order, as its often not easy to downgrade within a contract.
The right router
The router supplied by your broadband provider is critical to the home internet experience. A poor router can mean Wi-Fi struggling to reach every room in the home and you only getting a small fraction of the speed youre paying for on your devices.
Theres a wide range of router equipment supplied by broadband providers. Some are still supplying Wi-Fi 5 routers that are now two generations old and wont give you the best experience. Others are offering bang-up-to-date Wi-Fi 7 equipment, however theres usually a premium to pay for such routers, which are only offered with the fastest gigabit-speed connections.
Make sure to read our reviews carefully to find out which router equipment is supplied by each provider. Many broadband providers dont support customers who buy their own router equipment, so you could be stuck with whatever they supply, unless youre technically competent enough to deal with your own Wi-Fi issues.
Broadband extras
Although the days of broadband/TV/mobile bundles are fading, there are still providers such as Sky and Virgin Media who will package together different services. These can be cost effective if youre already subscribing separately, but its always worth checking the price of the individual components first, as the bundle deals arent always the bargain they might seem.
Broadband providers will also often try and pin on expensive extras, such as whole-home coverage or security packages. These can be very expensive and there might be cheaper ways of achieving the same thing. For example, you can often buy Wi-Fi extenders for a one-off fee, rather than paying your provider, say, £10/mth for whole home coverage. Compatibility can be an issue, so read reviews carefully.
Price rises
Regulator Ofcoms new broadband rules prevent providers from imposing inflation-linked price rises. Now, providers are required to state any mid-contract price rises in pounds and pence before you sign up. Most providers list these on their websites, so be prepared for your deal price to increase before the contract expires. Some providers, such as Zen Internet, dont impose mid-contract price hikes, so although they may look more expensive to start with, the prices may be equalised over the two-year term of most deals.
Our survey methodology
Unless otherwise stated, all figures are drawn from a comprehensive survey conducted by Expert Reviews in December 2024, targeting a representative sample of 2,162 UK residents aged 18 and over. This sample size allows for statistically significant analysis across eight internet service providers, ensuring confidence in the results.
The figures are derived from responses to six survey questions targeting value for money, speed, customer service and reliability. We then take an average of these scores to produce an overall satisfaction metric, which we use to name our winner and runner-up.
