EE Broadband review: A strong all-round performer, but the quality comes at a price

If Plusnet is the bargain basement of the BT family of providers, EE is the flashy penthouse. The one with the fastest headline speeds, the shiny new router equipment, and a huge range of tariffs with plenty of add-ons. And, as you might expect, it’s notably pricier than its stablemate, too. 

EE won the Best for Working From Home category in our 2026 Expert Reviews Broadband Awards – earning a spot on our roundup of the best broadband providers – and it put in a strong show in a few others, including many of the key ones. It finishes in third place (behind Vodafone and Plusnet each time) in the Overall category, the Value category, Most Recommended and Most Reliable. It came third again for Customer Service and in the Best for Families category. And it claimed second place in Best Bundles.

Like Vodafone, EE largely made its name in the mobile phone business (it was the result of a merger between Orange and T-Mobile), but it has been in the landline broadband business for many years now. That means it’s a prime candidate for bundle deals, and if you already get your mobile phone service from EE, you may well get a cheaper deal on your broadband, too.

Let’s explore in detail what EE has to offer.

Packages and pricing

33-36Mbps Core, 45-50Mbps Core, 66-73Mbps Core

These are the tariffs for people who are still waiting to be connected to full fibre, instead relying on the slower fibre-to-the-cabinet. 

Why EE has three different speed tariffs here is baffling: the real-world difference between the 33-36Mbits/sec and 45-50Mbits/sec connections in particular will be negligible. Yet, none of these packages really appeal when stablemate Plusnet offers up to 74Mbits/sec connections for £24/mth – a full £5/mth cheaper than EE’s equivalent speed. 

Later this year, EE will offer Starlink-based satellite broadband deals for those who want fast connections, but aren’t within reach of full fibre.

Full Fibre 74, 100, 150, 300, 500 and 900 Core, and 1.6Gbps Premium

As for those who do have access, there’s plenty of choice, but plenty of complexity, too. So let us begin by explaining how EE’s wide array of tariffs work.

All speeds up to 900Mbits/sec are available on the “Core” plan type – the no-frills plan that delivers pretty much just the basics, and are quoted in the table below. 

Then come Standard, Premium and Ultimate tiers, which add in extra features such as a “keep connected promise”, cybersecurity tools and even home visits from EE engineers. These add extra cost to the subscription, so you need to decide whether you want these services in advance. The very fastest connection of 1.6Gbits/sec is only available on Premium and Ultimate.

For speeds up to 900Mbits/sec you’re going to get the Smart Hub 7 Plus router, a dual-band router based on the latest Wi-Fi 7 technology. By comparison, Plusnet and BT are still sending out routers based on Wi-Fi 5.

Those opting for the fastest 1.6Gbits/sec connection get the tri-band Smart Hub 7 Pro router band. This means it makes use of the relatively new 6GHz band, which should be largely free from interference from neighbours’ Wi-Fi equipment, maximising the chances of your Wi-Fi delivering the speed you’re paying for around the home.

We don’t go into bundle deals here, but EE also offers mobile, television and other tech deals, so if you want to add other services in with your broadband you can, often at discount prices. EE also offers deals specifically for students.

Note that £4 per year fixed price rises are built into all contracts.

Coverage

As with all of the BT-owned providers, EE relies solely on the Openreach network. This now offers full-fibre broadband to 25m premises in the UK, which is around 63% of the country. The vast bulk of the remaining 37% will be limited to the far slower fibre-to-the-cabinet connections until the Openreach vans start rolling down their streets.

Other providers, such as Vodafone and Sky, have deals with multiple fibre networks, so if EE can’t deliver the fast stuff in your area, you may wish to look elsewhere.

Performance and customer satisfaction

One of the prime indicators of whether a broadband provider is any good is whether its own customers would recommend others join. In EE’s case, 42% of customers said, in our 2026 customer broadband survey, that they would actively recommend the network to others. That might not sound particularly impressive, but it was a hair’s breadth away from being the most recommended broadband provider of them all (only Vodafone scored better).

EE customers think they’re getting decent value, too, despite prices that are higher than several of its competitors. A healthy 83% of the EE customers we surveyed were satisfied with the value for money on offer. 

Satisfaction scores for customer service (79% satisfied) and reliability (74%) were also solid. And 90% of EE customers were satisfied with their speed, although a smaller proportion of customers describing themselves as “very satisfied” pushed EE into the middle of the speed table.

EE’s biggest success came when we asked customers to rate their experience when using the service for working from home. Here, 80% of respondents were satisfied with the speeds they were seeing, and 60% were satisfied with the frequency of drop-outs, giving EE the best overall score in the category. This is not an objective metric – just a measure of perceived performance – but it’s a glowing endorsement of EE’s service all the same.

Should you choose EE Broadband?

EE posts a strong set of scores across pretty much all of our awards categories, without coming out top in any of them.

If you can stomach the slightly higher prices, you’ll get modern equipment, reliable broadband and all manner of deals to choose from.

Survey methodology

Our survey, conducted in September 2025, targeted a representative sample of 1,544 UK residents aged 18 and over.  

Across 14 questions, our survey captured data on  8 broadband providers. To ensure the integrity of our analysis, we applied a minimum sample size of 50 respondents, which qualified 7 of these for analysis. 

Analysis Brands:BT, Sky, Virgin Media, Vodafone, Plusnet, TalkTalk, EE, Zen Internet

Eligibile brands: BT, Sky, Virgin Media, Vodafone, Plusnet, TalkTalk, EE

Written By

Barry Collins

Barry Collins has been a technology writer, editor and broadcaster for more than 25 years. He was assistant editor of The Sunday Times’ technology section, editor of PC Pro and has written for more than a dozen different publications and websites over the years. He’s made regular TV and radio appearances as a technology pundit, including on BBC Newsnight, ITV News and Sky News. Now a senior contributor at Forbes.com, he also presents and produces tech-related podcasts.  

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