It’s no fun having to walk the United Kingdom’s minefield of often confusing broadband ISP choices, where internet speeds can vary due to a multitude of often opaque factors and service quality frequently fails to match expectations. So here’s our annual editors pick to help out.<\/p>\n
IMPORTANT:<\/strong> <\/span>This article has now been superseded by the new 2017 edition<\/em> – The Best Broadband ISPs for 2017<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As usual ISPreview.co.uk has looked back at the performance of fixed line ISPs throughout the past year (those with national availability = 50% coverage or more), irrespective of subscriber size, and concluded a selection based on three simple category types.<\/p>\n ISPreview.co.uk Editors Choice Categories<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n PAGE 1: Price<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0– For the budget conscious.<\/em><\/p>\n PAGE 2: Quality<\/span><\/strong> – For those who don’t mind paying a bit extra to get a good service.<\/em><\/p>\n PAGE 3: General Commendations<\/span><\/strong> – For smaller niche ISPs and those who didn’t quite make it but are still worthy of a mention.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The results effectively represent a summary of unordered personal editor choices, using our own experiences of observing the market, and thus selection should not be considered an award. It’s also important to say that we generally only pick ISPs that have been listed on our site for several years and tend to favour fully independent providers over vISPs and resellers.<\/p>\n On top of all this we have also written a useful guide to help you understand the market (just in case you don\u2019t already) – How to Choose a Broadband Internet Provider<\/strong><\/a> – and readers should similarly check out our Broadband Technology<\/strong><\/a> page in order to learn about the advantages and disadvantages of different connectivity types.<\/p>\n Elsewhere the Broadband Coverage Checker<\/strong><\/a> is handy to find which ISPs and networks operate in your area and our Top UK ISP Listings<\/strong><\/a> database can provide further details (ISP comparison) or links to related content for specific ISPs. We also recommend looking at the Awards<\/a><\/strong> and Special Offers<\/strong><\/a> article categories, which keeps track of related news from third party awards and price promotions. You should always thoroughly investigate any choices before signing-up.<\/p>\n There are plenty of affordable ISP solutions around but most of them seem to sacrifice service quality for a lower price point, which can result in inferior support and slow speeds. Paying less is not always a good idea but if you have to and still require a decent performance then the following tend to fit that bill.<\/p>\n PlusNet<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Not many budget conscious\u00a0ISPs have won as many awards as PlusNet<\/a> and their haul during 2013 appears to have been no less strong than in previous years (examples here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>\u00a0and here<\/a>), although they’re by no means perfect and the autumn months of 2013 saw a few gripes surrounding support quality. Similarly you shouldn’t necessarily expect the best speed or quality from cheaper providers,\u00a0yet they still do a reasonable job.<\/p>\n Prices tend to start at\u00a0just \u00a35.99 a month for their entry-level standard broadband package, which includes a 10GB usage allowance (unlimited overnight usage), free wireless router, free connection and 12 month contract (shorter contract options available). A Home Phone (line rental) service with free weekend calls or various other\u00a0call options can also be bundled from \u00a310.99 extra a month (cheaper bundle deals are often offered). But the unlimited broadband options start at only \u00a39.99 and are thus much more attractive.<\/p>\n On top of that they\u00a0have a superfast broadband (FTTC<\/a>) service and prices for that start at \u00a315.99 a month with a 40GB usage allowance and 18 month contract. It’s worth nothing that PlusNet<\/a> also offers a variety of packages that include unlimited usage at an extra cost (from \u00a319.99) and more expensive 1 month contract options are available alongside their standard broadband deals.<\/p>\n Pros:<\/strong> Cons:<\/strong> Sky Broadband<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Sky is perhaps more the choice for consumers\u00a0that want to bundle in a good quality TV service with their broadband and phone package. But on top of that they’re also quite affordable and appear to have a better reputation than the other big ISPs, with Ofcom<\/a>’s quarterly summary of consumer\u00a0gripes\u00a0persistently rating\u00a0them alongside Virgin as having the lowest level of complaints (here<\/a>).<\/p>\n In terms of price, Sky\u00a0offers a FREE broadband\u00a0connection with a tiny 2GB usage allowance if you take\u00a0their TV service. But most people tend to prefer their\u00a0broadband unlimited package that costs from\u00a0\u00a37.50 to \u00a310\u00a0a month (\u00a37.50 with Sky TV), which includes \u201ctruly unlimited usage<\/em>\u201d, typical download speeds of up to 16Mbps, free UK weekend phone calls, a free SkyHub wireless router and free wifi<\/a> hotspot access (The Cloud<\/a>).\u00a0Take note that\u00a0Sky Line Rental must also be taken from the equivalent of \u00a311.70 a month (when paid 12 months in advance).<\/p>\n Sky also\u00a0sells a superfast Fibre Unlimited (FTTC<\/a>) package that offers download speeds of up to 38Mbps with unlimited usage from just \u00a320 a month or \u00a330 if you want the 76Mbps “Pro” package. The features are otherwise the same as their standard unlimited option above.<\/p>\n Pros:<\/strong> Cons:<\/strong> Virgin Media<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Virgin’s hybrid fibre optic \/ coax cable\u00a0(EuroDOCSIS3) network covers roughly half of the UK and is mostly only\u00a0available in urban areas where it can offer Internet download speeds of up to 120Mbps and a rich selection of premium TV\u00a0services. It’s quite well rated for service speed and, as with Sky above, tends to receive fewer consumer complaints than most of the other\u00a0big\u00a0ISPs (here<\/a>).<\/p>\n Admittedly Virgin are by no means perfect and those living outside of their cable network would be well advised to avoid their Virgin.net \/ Virgin National (ADSL2+) services, which offer poor performance next to their cable platform. The quality of customer support can also be very patchy.<\/p>\n Prices for\u00a0their entry-level 30Mbps broadband and phone bundle start at \u00a315.50 a month for unlimited downloads\u00a0(Traffic Management) and a free wireless router, which has to be taken alongside their Virgin Phone Line\u00a0service from an extra \u00a310.66 per month (when paid 12 months in advance); this includes free UK weekend calls. Note that you can also take broadband as standalone but it will cost from \u00a325 a month. Various other bundles are also offered, often at significantly discounted prices.<\/p>\n Generally Virgin’s strength is with its triple-play TV bundles and, unlike Sky, they also have a mobile service that’s \u00a35 a month cheaper if you’re already one of their Virgin Broadband, TV or home phone customers.<\/p>\n Pros:<\/strong> Cons:<\/strong> BTInfinity<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Sadly BT<\/a>’s standard broadband (ADSL2+) packages are somewhat of a mixed bag and they do receive a fair amount of complaints, although their Infinity superfast broadband (FTTC) options appear to represent an improvement. Just remember that BT<\/a> might be one of the cheaper FTTC ISPs but the quality of\u00a0their customer support\u00a0often represents more of a risk than some of the above options.<\/p>\n Otherwise prices start from \u00a315 a month for their up to 38Mbps package with a 20GB usage allowance and free UK weekend calls, which also includes unlimited BT\u00a0wifi<\/a> hotspot access, a free HomeHub5 router, 2GB of online storage, SmartTalk, free BTSport TV content (live football matches etc.) and more. Customers who want truly unlimited downloads\u00a0will have to pay from \u00a323 per month (\u00a326 for their\u00a076Mbps option). In all cases you also have to pay from \u00a311.75 a month for Line Rental (when paid 12 months in advance).<\/p>\n BT also has quite a reasonable range of TV (IPTV) products, which is in no small part down to their adoption of the YouView<\/a> platform and the free BTSport content that has given both Sky and Virgin\u00a0a serious run for their money. But we do see more complaints against their TV service than for their rivals so be careful.<\/p>\n Pros:<\/strong> Cons:<\/strong> <\/p>\n Affordability is always an important factor but some people, such as home workers, small businesses and those whom generally seek better reliability, might ultimately have to consider paying a bit extra in order to secure a higher quality of service, shorter contract\u00a0and proper UK-based technical support by real IT people.<\/p>\n The good news is that there are plenty of smaller ISP options out there that offer a highly reliable service where quality, support and service are frequently placed above the mass market desire for lower pricing.<\/p>\n Zen Internet<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Zen, over\u00a0a period of\u00a0many years,\u00a0has managed to earn itself a solid reputation for quality. The service\u00a0has also won multiple awards along the way and they’re\u00a0highly rated among visitors to our website (Zen\u2019s Reviews<\/a>). On top of that they’re also one of the largest\u00a0medium sized\u00a0ISPs and have a broadband subscriber base of around 100,000 customers. Most recently Zen has invested\u00a0\u00a33.5m<\/strong> into their core infrastructure (here<\/a>) and used that to help build a new network of local telephone exchange PoPs (Points of Presence).<\/p>\n Admittedly Zen’s packages aren’t always the cheapest but you get what you pay for. Prices for their standard broadband (up to 16Mbps) packages start at \u00a318.37 inc. VAT for Zen Lite, which includes a 50GB usage allowance and 1 month contract (this\u00a0comes with\u00a0free email, 2GB of web space, a static IP address and other features). By comparison the mid-range Zen Active package includes 200GB of usage but costs \u00a325.52 per month.<\/p>\n The ISP also offers a range of highly attractive home superfast broadband (FTTC) packages, which start at \u00a319.50\u00a0for a 50GB usage allowance and up to 38Mbps download speeds (plus \u00a330 setup). The next option up costs \u00a327 and offers UNLIMITED allowance with up to 38Mbps speeds or \u00a330 for 76Mbps; this is enough to give some of the bigger ISPs a run for their money! Some packages also require\u00a0phone line rental from \u00a315.44 a month.<\/p>\n Pros:<\/strong> Cons:<\/strong> AAISP<\/strong><\/p>\n Andrews and Arnold is a technically niche ISP that use to be best targeted towards businesses, home workers and those familiar with telecoms jargon. But they’ve since simplified their packages for home users (Home::1) and continue to offer strong reliability and extremely knowledgeable support staff that often go out of their way to help customers, which earns them plenty of praise (AAISP Reviews<\/a>).<\/p>\n Prices\u00a0typically to start at around \u00a325 per month for a standard home broadband service with a 100GB usage allowance (+\u00a310 per 50GB top-up) and you can add a superfast FTTC line for an extra +\u00a310 per month. Native IPv6 support and a free router are some of the highlights, not to mention the usual phone line and calling solutions (line rental from an extra +\u00a310 a month). Bigger allowances and faster speeds are also available at extra cost.<\/p>\n Pros:<\/strong> Cons:<\/strong> IDNet<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n A generally strong and reliable ISP (IDNet Reviews<\/a>) that focuses more on businesses but still has a soft spot for home workers too, provided you don’t mind paying a bit extra. Prices start at \u00a319.80 inc. VAT per month (up to 20Mbps speed, 25GB usage) and this rises to \u00a327 if you want a superfast broadband (FTTC) connection.\u00a0Take note that\u00a0\u00a325.80 will get you a monthly data usage allowance of 100GB (\u00a335.40 if you connect with FTTC).<\/p>\n All packages come with anti-virus\/spam filtering, static IP, native IPv6 support, a 1 month contract (except FTTC that requires 12 months) and these can also be bundled alongside a phone service from an extra +\u00a312 per month (various free call options are also available at extra cost).<\/p>\n Pros:<\/strong> Cons:<\/strong> XILO (Uno<\/a> Broadband)<\/strong><\/p>\n Despite a few autumn 2013 gripes about customer service, which mostly appeared to afflict\u00a0their sales contacts rather than support, XILO has otherwise continued to be a highly rated ISP (XILO Reviews<\/a>) and thus they maintain their\u00a0position as a recommended choice; though the presentation of their broadband packages\u00a0could benefit from a little more clarity and less platform type\u00a0jargon.<\/p>\n Prices start at \u00a313.99 inc. VAT\u00a0per month for an up to 24Mbps capable service with\u00a010-100GB data\u00a0usage and a static IP address. Each package also includes 250MB of UK web and email space, plus unlimited email addresses protected by security. A superfast broadband (FTTC) service is also available from \u00a322.99 with speeds of up to 40Mbps and a 15-125GB usage allowance (unlimited overnight usage).<\/p>\n Pros:<\/strong> Cons:<\/strong> ICUK<\/strong><\/p>\n A moderately well priced ISP that continues to hold plenty of positive feedback in our review system (ICUK Reviews<\/a>), although their extensive array of broadband packages and platforms could confuse some customers. The ISP also offers a nice range of phone line rental \/ call services and most packages include email, anti-virus\/spam filtering and even static IPv6 addresses.<\/p>\n Prices start at just \u00a310 per month for a bog standard up to 24Mbps package with a 4GB usage allowance, while \u00a325 will get you an unlimited (LLU) service. The ISP also offers an expensive mix of superfast broadband (FTTC and FTTP<\/a>) options, with prices starting from \u00a320 for a 10GB usage allowance (plus 50GB off-peak).<\/p>\n Pros:<\/strong> Cons:<\/strong> Aquiss<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Aquiss<\/a> might not have the same historic reputation for quality as some of the others above but they’ve still managed to carve a nice corner of the market out for themselves and receive a lot of general praise (Aquiss Reviews<\/a>). They’re also one of the few ISPs to offer a home phone line rental service alongside a 1 month contract from \u00a313 inc. VAT per month. On the other hand the loss of their cheaper LLU packages make the service look a lot less attractive than last year.<\/p>\n Prices tend to start at \u00a327 per month for a 19Mbps connection with unlimited usage (includes a static IP address, email, email security) and the option of a 1 month contract. Meanwhile those who want a superfast 38Mbps (FTTC) connection will have to shell out a hefty \u00a336 per month but they do get unlimited usage and IPv6 support.<\/p>\n Pros:<\/strong> Cons:<\/strong> <\/p>\n The ISPs listed below haven\u2019t quite made the top recommendations and this is\u00a0often due to a lack of\u00a0customer feedback, mixed ratings or the fact that the ISPs only provide a niche service to particular areas of the country (i.e. no national coverage). Never the less we still consider them to be worthy of consideration.<\/p>\n Readers are also urged to visit out our Top 10 Reader Reviewed ISPs<\/strong><\/a> page and the Reader ISP Reviews<\/strong><\/a> section in general for further options. There are usually plenty of other good ISPs around that might interest you. Now on to the commendations..<\/p>\n * Timico<\/strong><\/p>\n Admittedly Timico are more aggressively business focused, we don’t have as much feedback for them\u00a0and they’re perhaps a bit too expensive for\u00a0home users. Never the less Timico has built itself a strong reputation for quality and their broadband packages are now a lot more accessible, which makes them deserving of a mention.<\/em><\/p>\n * B4RN<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n A truly excellent community built\u00a0project in the Lower Lune Valley area of rural Lancashire (England), which is rolling out a 1000Mbps capable fibre optic broadband (FTTH<\/a>) network to local premises.<\/em><\/p>\nBest UK Consumer ISPs for Price<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
\n\u2022 Speed (on the superfast packages)<\/em>
\n \u2022 Price<\/em>
\n \u2022 Support<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Don\u2019t expect stellar quality for such low prices.<\/em>
\n\u2022 Some support woes in late 2013 but nothing major.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\u2022 Price (especially the Sky TV bundles)<\/em>
\n \u2022 Speed<\/em>
\n \u2022 Truly Unlimited Usage<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\u2022 The old BT<\/a> based ‘Connect’ package should be avoided<\/em>
\n \u2022 Email support can be slow<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\u2022 Price<\/em>
\n \u2022 Speeds (cable service)<\/em>
\n \u2022 Strong TV Bundles (with TiVo)<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Support<\/em>
\n \u2022 Virgin.net (Virgin National) performance<\/em>
\n \u2022 Confusing Traffic Management Policy<\/em>
\n \u2022 Latency is a little higher than some of their rivals<\/em>
\n \u2022 Upload speeds aren’t quite as good as the top FTTC<\/a> services.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\u2022 Speed<\/em>
\n \u2022 Truly Unlimited Usage Options<\/em>
\n \u2022 BTSport TV Content<\/em>
\n\u2022 Nice range of included extras<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Non-BTInfinity<\/a> packages can be poor<\/em>
\n \u2022 Support<\/em>
\n \u2022 The TV products seem to attract a lot of complaints<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\nBest UK Consumer ISPs for Quality<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
\n\u2022 Speed<\/em>
\n \u2022 Support<\/em>
\n \u2022 Additional Services<\/em><\/p>\n
\n \u2022 Standard Broadband is a little pricey<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\u2022 Speed<\/em>
\n \u2022 Support<\/em>
\n \u2022 Additional Services<\/em>
\n \u2022 Honesty (everything is in the open)<\/em><\/p>\n
\n \u2022 Price<\/em>
\n \u2022 Jargon (could confuse some people)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\u2022 Speed<\/em>
\n\u2022 Support<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Usage Allowance<\/em>
\n\u2022 Price<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\u2022 Speed<\/em>
\n\u2022 Price (Pro Package)<\/em>
\n\u2022 Additional Services<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Some will be confused by the jargon rich\u00a0package names<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\u2022 Speed<\/em>
\n\u2022 Support<\/em>
\n\u2022 Additional Services<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Some packages only offer small usage allowances<\/em>
\n\u2022 FTTC\/P options can be expensive<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\u2022 Speed<\/em>
\n\u2022 Support<\/em>
\n\u2022 Honesty about extra charges<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Price<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\nGeneral Commendations<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n