Expert Reviews Business Mobile Network Awards 2023: The results

People who run their own businesses are always on the go, and small business owners in particular know work doesn’t just stop when the clock strikes 5pm. That’s why having a reliable, good-value mobile network is critical to ensure you don’t miss any vital emails, messages or calls.

To help us determine the UK’s best business mobile network, we asked the readers of Expert Reviews to rate the companies that offer tariffs specifically for business customers.

We asked our readers to rate the networks on a number of different factors, including customer service, reliability, value for money, coverage and speed. We also wanted views on the range of handsets that the networks offer their business customers.

In each category, we’ve picked a winner and given a Highly Commended award, then we’ve combined these results to decide the overall winner and a runner-up. For more details on the four major networks rated here, we have individual reviews for each of them where we drill down into the tariffs they offer, roaming charges and much more.

Read on to find out which mobile network deserves your business.

READ NEXT: Business broadband awards

Expert Reviews Best Business Mobile Network Awards 2023

Overall winner: EE

Highly Commended: Vodafone

Although the voting was close in many of the categories, EE swept the board for all but one, making the BT-owned network the clear winner.

Eight out of ten EE customers said they were likely to recommend the network, which is certainly a ringing (ahem) endorsement for the company. Reliability and coverage were two of EE’s biggest strengths, according to our survey respondents – key factors for any business owner.

Vodafone put up a strong fight, managing to snatch the overall Highly Commended award. It was voted the best for network coverage and also won Highly Commended awards for speed, reliability, customer service and the choice of phones it offers.

Read our full EE Business mobile review for more details

Read our full Vodafone Business mobile review for more details

Best customer service: EE

Highly Commended: Vodafone

Customer service is clearly a strength for EE. A very healthy 93% of its customers said they were satisfied or very satisfied with the customer service offered by the network.

This was a category with high scores for every provider – the average satisfaction level across all four networks was an impressive 88% – but Vodafone nudged ahead of O2 to claim the Highly Commended award, with 88% of its customers declaring themselves satisfied with the network’s customer service.

Read our full EE Business mobile review for more details

Read our full Vodafone Business mobile review for more details

Most reliable: EE

Highly Commended: Vodafone

Knowing your network will be there when you need it is a priority for business customers so, again, it’s pleasing to see high satisfaction scores in the reliability category across all four of the networks we surveyed.

EE just managed to edge out Vodafone to take the top spot, with 91% of its customers satisfied with the stability of the network.

Vodafone claims the Highly Commended award with 90% satisfaction among its customers.

Read our full EE business mobile review for more details

Read our full Vodafone business mobile review for more details

Best value for money: EE

Highly Commended: O2

You can offer the cheapest tariffs and the best deals on handsets, but business owners aren’t easily fooled. A mobile network is only good value if it’s there when you need it, and given EE’s strong performance overall, it’s no surprise to see the network claim this gong, too.

Eight out of ten EE customers were satisfied with the value for money on offer and, when you consider that EE is by no means the cheapest provider, this is a testament to its well-rounded service.

O2 pushed EE extremely close in this category, as it too had eight out of ten satisfied customers when it came to value. However, a slightly greater proportion of unhappy O2 customers tipped the scales in EE’s favour.

Read our full EE Business mobile review for more details

Read our full O2 Business mobile review for more details

Best coverage: Vodafone

Highly Commended: EE

For many business customers, extensive network coverage is crucial. If you’re a vet, a mechanic, a plumber or one of any number of professions that spend the majority of their working day out of the office visiting customers, then knowing you’ll have a strong signal is crucial.

Network maps tend not to account for trees or other structures that might block the signal, so they can be notoriously unreliable. Every network claims to have 99% coverage or better, but what do their customers think? Well, in our survey it was Vodafone customers who were most satisfied with their coverage, with 92% happy with the signal strength.

EE claimed an identical number of satisfied customers but had slightly more malcontents in its customer base, meaning this was the one award where it had to settle for a Highly Commended award instead of the winner’s gong.

Read our full Vodafone Business mobile review for more details

Read our full EE Business mobile review for more details

Best speed: EE

Highly Commended: Vodafone

Speed matters when you need to download large email attachments or upload a customer invoice while you’re out on the road. 5G networks were meant to be a step closer to never worrying about speed again, but even those (still far from ubiquitous) 5G regions can suffer congestion.

EE triumphs again when it comes to delivering downloads, with 90% of its customers satisfied with the speeds on offer. Vodafone comes close once more, with 89% of its customers happy with the speed on offer.

Read our full EE Business mobile review for more details

Read our full Vodafone Business mobile review for more details

Best choice of phones: EE

Highly Commended: Vodafone

The choice of handset can be an important factor for businesses. You can count on pretty much every network to offer the latest iPhone or flagship Samsung Galaxy, but what if your business doesn’t want to spend £1,000 or thereabouts on a new phone? What if you value affordability or repairability more?

EE was the network that won the most praise for the range of handsets it carries, with an impressive 95% of business customers satisfied with the phones on offer.

Vodafone scores another Highly Commended award in this category, with 93% of its customers happy with what’s available.

Read our full EE Business mobile review for more details

Read our full Vodafone Business mobile review for more details

Methodology

Unless otherwise stated, all of the figures are drawn from a survey commissioned by Expert Reviews, with respondents and data supplied by Centiment. The total sample size was 1,053 business decision makers and the survey was conducted online. The figures have been weighted and are considered representative of all British adults (aged over 18).

We asked people how likely they would be to recommend their business mobile network to others and to rate its customer service, reliability, value, speed and choice of phones. Only the four networks with over 50 respondents are included in our results.