uSwitch 2018 Awards Name the UK Best Mobile and Broadband ISPs
The annual uSwitch.com Awards 2018 were held last night, which saw budget ISP Plusnet pick-up the most wins for fixed line home broadband services and giffgaff grab the largest number of awards for their mobile service. Meanwhile NOW TV was named as the best TV provider.
The winners appear to have been selected via a combination of methods, including respondents from a UK consumer survey of 5,603 adults (collected between 18th December 2017 and 2nd January 2018), a panel of fifteen judges from the national and technology press and a couple were selected by using other data that uSwitch had collected.
Apparently the ‘Most Popular Broadband Provider’ award and ‘Most Popular Mobile Network’ award were calculated using the consumer panel and uSwitch sales. Meanwhile the ‘Fastest Broadband Provider of the Year’ award was based on data collected via uSwitch’s consumer speed testing tool between 1st January 2017 and 31st December 2017 (i.e. over 1 million speed tests).
Perhaps unsurprisingly for a big commercial comparison site, smaller broadband ISPs were nowhere to be seen in the award selection. As a result it’s no real surprise to find that Virgin Media picked up the award for ‘Fastest Broadband Provider’, even though faster residential ISPs do exist (B4RN. Hyperoptic, Gigaclear etc.). Take with the usual pinch of salt.
2018 Award Winners & Runners Up
| Broadband & TV Categories | Winner | Runner-up |
| Best Broadband, TV & Home Phone | TalkTalk | Sky Broadband |
| Best Provider Customer Service | Plusnet | Vodafone |
| Best Smart Media Device (judges’ award) | Amazon Fire Stick | Sky Q |
| Best TV Content (judges’ award) | Netflix | Sky TV |
| Best TV Streaming Service | Netflix | Amazon Video |
| Best Value Broadband Provider | Plusnet | TalkTalk |
| Broadband Provider of the Year | Plusnet | TalkTalk |
| Fastest Broadband Provider | Virgin Media | BT |
| TV Provider of the Year | NOW TV | TalkTalk |
| Most Popular Broadband Provider | BT | Sky Broadband |
| Mobile Categories | Winner | Runner-up |
| Best Network Coverage | O2 | Vodafone |
| Best Network for Customer Service | Tesco Mobile | Virgin Media |
| Best Network for Data | giffgaff | BT Mobile |
| Best Network for Roaming | Three | EE |
| Best Pay Monthly Network | Tesco Mobile | BT Mobile |
| Best PAYG Network | giffgaff | Asda |
| Best Retailer for Customer Service | Virgin Media | Apple |
| Best SIM Only Network | giffgaff | Virgin Media |
| Best Value Pay Monthly | Tesco Mobile | Virgin Media |
| Best Value SIM Only | Plusnet Mobile | iD Mobile |
| Handset of the Year (judges’ award) | Apple iPhone X | Samsung Galaxy S8/S8+ |
| High Street Retailer of the Year | Tesco | Three |
| Mobile Manufacturer of the Year (judges’ award) | Samsung | Apple |
| Mobile Reseller of the Year | Mobiles.co.uk | Mobile Phones Direct |
| Online Retailer of the Year | Apple | eBay |
| Most Popular Mobile Network | Three | EE |
| Network of the Year | giffgaff | Sky |
| Mobiles, Broadband & TV Categories | Winner | Runner-up |
| Telecoms Innovation Award (judges’ award) | Face ID | Google Home |
| Quadplay Provider of the Year | Sky Broadband |
TalkTalk |
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook and Linkedin.
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Plusnet “Best Customer Service ” award!
So the 2nd most complained about ISP has the best service? (From OFCOM surveys)
Doesn’t add up.
Need more than a pinch to take this result seriously.
Yeah you say that but then some of the other results make sense? Especially the cellular awards, then again it hasn’t TalkTalk above Sky for combined package includes my TV????
Very strange indeed…
I suggest a whole salt cellar is required.
What rubbish! Shame on uSwitch, you’ve lost a lot of credibility here!
There’s a load in there just not making sense – I’d be questioning the data source and what parts of the public were interviewed. Very odd!
so this is just who paid uswitch more money, what a load of crap this is!
GiffGaff award for the Best Mobile Data, they are well known for having the slowest data speeds? Also Virgin Media, running up for Customer Service, what a joke! Indeed how much money has been given here for these awards.
Wow. A bit Oprah Winfrey in the Mobile awards. Everyone wins one!
When did uSwitch have credibility?
So to be the Best Broadband, TV & Home Phone provider you have to get hacked several times and get fined £400,000 by the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) for security failings that allowed a cyber attacker to access customer data “with ease”.
How exactly does that work?
U switch unbelievable you get a back hander from broadband suppliers what a copy n will report this to the obudsman because it sounds to me you conning the public you lot should be investigated
Can’t trust here clearly!!
Talk talk have been nothing but crap.
I work for a major cp, and have to apply to Ofcom rwgulations or you can get massively fined, as in millions.
And talk talk dont give a crap.. dont log anything on my complaint.. useless.