Trying to choose the right broadband Internet Service Provider (ISP) can sometimes feel a little bit like walking through a minefield with a blindfold on, one wrong step is all it takes. This situation is not helped by the big price comparison sites, which often only list the largest providers and shun some of the smaller yet frequently better quality options.

IMPORTANT: This article has now been superseded by the new 2019 edition - The Best Broadband ISPs for 2020.

To that end ISPreview has looked back over the performance of ISPs throughout 2008, irrespective of scale, and managed to conclude a small selection based on a balance of reliability, price and performance. This represents a short list of personal editor choices based on our own experiences of observing the market; selection should not be considered an award.

We have grouped our selections into two primary categories; one for pure quality and the second for a balance of price and performance. The selections are not posted in any particular order.

Best Quality ISPs (Consumer and Business)

Small businesses, home workers and those seeking stronger reliability in general often have to consider paying a little extra for service quality. Here’s our pick of two highly reliable ISPs that both have a tendency to place quality and service above price.

Zen Internet (Type: BT based ADSL Broadband)
Reason: Zen are perhaps one of the longest standing and most well recognised of small and medium sized ISPs, complete with a big back history of awards to their name. They are also one of the highest reader rated ISPs on ISPreview (Zen Reviews) and we have never known them to have any truly major problems.

Typically such quality comes at a price, with just under £25 inc. VAT per month getting you an ‘up to’ 8Mbps package and 25GB’s (Gigabytes’) of monthly data allowance.  However potential subscribers should consider the mass of extra services too, with highlights including a 1 month contract, anti-virus filtering, 2GB of web space and up to 8 free static IP addresses.

IDNet (Type: BT based ADSL Broadband)
Reason: IDNet use to be a relatively unknown provider, though over the past few years all that has begun to change and they have gone from strength to strength by building a strong foundation upon reliability. IDNet often wins high praise from readers of independent consumer sites such as ours.

Like Zen, IDNet’s services don’t come cheap and just under £25 inc. VAT per month will net you the usual ‘up to’ 8Mbps connection, a healthy 30GB’s monthly data usage allowance, anti-virus/spam filtering, 2GB web space, 1 month contract and 1 free static IP address among other things.

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