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BT Broadband Review: Overview
When it comes to British Telecommunications (BT) as a home broadband provider, they are definitely one of the big dogs.
In this review, we showcase the best BT broadband deals in the UK to ensure that you get a package that suits you.
Claiming to be the most widespread broadband provider in the UK, in this review we will be finding out whether they live up to the hype.
They offer fast and consistent connections with access to 5 million BT Wi-Fi hotspots, however, they are one of the priciest providers on the market.
BT only offer 18-month contracts, meaning that you will want to keep an eye on your contract dates as at the end of the term, the price will usually jump up.
When it comes to your BT broadband renewal date you can almost always negotiate a better deal.
So if you don’t want to take a kidney shot, it’s either renewing for another 18-month or jump ship to another provider.
BT claim to have the most powerful smart hub in the UK, apparently its better than the one offered by the other big providers.
BT almost always have promotional offers on, you will almost always get a better package if you move your mobile phone and landline over to them.
They currently have an offer on at the minute where if you sign up to any of their packages online, you will receive up to £140 on a reward card.
This isn’t necessary but they will almost always try to entice you to move over for a couple of pounds discount on your line rental.
BT also offers BT Virus Protect, which is anti-virus software that can be used on a laptop or PC, another nice touch to their package. Let’s take a look at why BT is one of the most trusted providers in the UK.
BT Broadband Review: Packages
BT offers 5 different broadband packages; they all offer different speeds and prices to suit the needs of almost every customer.
The general rule of thumb here is the more people in the house and more devices connected to Wi-Fi, the faster speeds you will need if you don’t want to be waiting around for movies to buffer.
See Related:
*Virgin Broadband Review*
*TalkTalk Broadband Review*
*Plusnet Broadband Review*
*NOW Broadband Review*
*Hyperoptic Broadband Review*
Speeds of broadband largely depend on the area of the country you are in, for example, if you’re located in a city, you can rely on the speeds quoted to you.
However if your way out in the countryside you will more than likely struggle to hit the speeds quoted.
That being said if you do find that the speeds you receive are significantly lower than the minimum guaranteed speed quoted to you, then this is generally a clause in the contract and can permit you to leave with no fee.
The packages and BT broadband deals currently on offer here in the UK:
BT has got a package for you whether you’re an occasional user of your broadband, you depend on it for work or happen to be a gamer than needs fast speeds.
As you can see the BT broadband deals in the UK are pretty impressive, offering value for money in the sense of strong, competitive broadband packages.
They have a no price rise guarantee until the end of the contract, meaning that the price quoted to you will remain exactly the same from the start to the end of the contract.
BT Broadband Review: Coverage
BT has one of the strongest areas of coverage throughout the UK, over 16Million homes have access to their open reach fibre network, you can check which plans are available in your area through the AVAILABILITY CHECKER.
We definitely recommend typing in your postcode in the checker to ensure that your area is eligible for the speeds that you require.
If Plusnet or EE is currently providing you, then you are most certainly eligible, as these providers are owned by BT and run from the same lines and infrastructure.
We did find that the BT Ultrafast package is extremely limited right now in the UK, we suspect that in the coming years this package will become more readily available for consumers.
BT Broadband Review: Performance
Most people don’t tend to use their landline as much in 2019, but BT is still the king and offers unlimited weekend calls completely for free when taking out a broadband package.
BT landline includes ‘BT Call Protect’ completely for free too, which is essentially a spam blocker and can help you get rid of a nuisance call, this is an excellent service that we found extremely useful.
We did notice though when checking out BT’s landline packages, is that none of them offers calls to mobiles, so if that is something you’re looking for then you may want to check out our Virgin Media review. Let’s take a look at the landline packages that BT offer:
- Unlimited Weekend Calls – This includes BT Call Protect and gives you the ability to make unlimited calls to UK landlines on a weekend, international calls can be added at an extra cost. This package is completely FREE!
- Unlimited Evening and Weekend Calls – This package is ideal for those who love a chat with family after they finish work, it includes UK landline calls, all weekend and between 7 pm and 7 am on weekdays.
- Unlimited Anytime Calls – This package allows you to make calls to landlines whenever you want, it also includes BT Call Protect to help dodge them nuisance calls and again international calls can be added for an extra fee.
The home phone also offers mobile sync features with built-in answerphone; it looks good and offers good call quality too. BT does offer TV packages too; they have a couple of simple packages which are as follows:
- Starter – Basic Freeview (up to 80 channels), plus some extras
- Entertainment – Up to 80 Freeview channels, 15 in HD and 20 premium channels plus a box that records.
- Essential – Catch up TV, plus rent and buy films from the BT TV Store
- Classic – Seven days of catch up, up to 80 channels with 15 being in HD
- Max – 140 channels, inclusive of BT sports and a 4K ready box.
BT TV is mainly used to obtain BT sports, so if your big into your football or sports in general then this may be something worth looking into.
If you are coming up to your BT broadband renewal date, then we definitely recommend trying to negotiate a stronger package with a built-in TV package, as we have found this to be a great way to get more value for money.
However this certainly isn’t the best TV package we have seen, and if TV is what you’re looking for then you will want to check out our Sky Home Broadband Review.
Let’s take a closer look at each broadband package and what they offer..
BT Standard ADSL Broadband
This package is the cheapest that BT offer, currently being priced at £24.99 and offering an average speed of 10MB, it’s not going to blow your socks off when it comes to speed.
This plan does come with the BT Home Hub 4, not quite as impressive as there BT Smart Hub but it is just fine for ADSL, it’s a better router than what you will find with some of the cheaper broadband providers.
You may find that your BT broadband speed is slow if you opt for this package, most end up regrading to a faster fibre package within the first 6 months.
This package does come with BT Virus Protect too, meaning you’ve got your PC or laptop covered when it comes to anti-virus, the price is consistent too so you know that all you will pay is the flat £24.99.
Now there is an upfront cost of £30 to get you all set up, ADSL isn’t going to win any medals but it’s just fine for connecting 2 or 3 devices and is enough to let you download HD movies without too much buffer.
BT Superfast Fibre Essential
This plan comes at a price of £29.99 and includes the more powerful BT Smart Hub; this is supposedly the best router in the UK at the moment with it having the latest tech such as AC wireless and smart Wi-Fi that can cut past interference.
With an average speed of 36MB, this package combines with the router will see you have a significantly better experience when compared to the regular ADSL, streaming and gaming will all be much smoother on this package with little to no lag.
BT Virus Protect is also included in this package and it is even eligible for 2 devices this time, giving you parental control of what your kids see on the internet, this is great as it acts as a filter and can cut out potentially damaging content.
Again with this plan there is a £30 connection fee to get it all set up, but once that is paid there is no price changes during the 18-month contract.
BT Superfast Fibre
This package is getting onto some of the best that BT offer, offering you an average speed of 50MB with a price of £35.99 and a setup fee of £10.
This is for those who need consistently good speeds for gaming or because they have multiple devices connected in the home.
This package ensures that your BT broadband speed is not slow, and is plenty for watching Netflix, gaming and even working from home.
The BT Smart Hub is, of course, included along with the BT Virus Protect on 2 devices with parental controls over the broadband.
As well as this you will receive unlimited weekend calls to landlines that are completely free, perfect for those who are still using a landline.
BT Superfast Fibre 2
This fibre package is almost at the pinnacle of what BT offers; it costs £45.99 currently and has a £10 setup fee.
You can expect speeds of 67MB with this package that is ideal for those who work from home and rely on a stable and fast broadband connection.
The benefits of this package include doubling the data of a mobile device that you have connected on the same BT account;
this is great if you’re currently a BT mobile customer. BT also offers a Wi-Fi extender; this allows you to get wireless signal to even the furthest parts of the house, it’s perfect for those with loft conversions or who have basements.
This plan includes everything from the previous plans such as the BT Virus Protect for 2 devices as well as the parental controls.
BT Ultrafast
This package is the best you can possibly get with BT, well if you’re lucky enough to have the choice.
This package offers a ‘Keep Connected Promise’ meaning that if you drop out of connection for a second BT will immediately get you back online.
It is the perfect package for those who work from home and can’t lose connection for a single minute. BT Virus Protect with up to 15 devices is included with this package too, as well as the Smart Hub of course.
Again with this package if you are a BT mobile customer and have connected devices on the account, all of the data will be doubled if you’re on this package.
This package will ensure that your BT broadband speed is far from slow, this is fast enough for almost any type of customer.
This all sounds great but we tested 20 different postcodes from around the UK and only 2 were available to get this package, so good luck!
BT Broadband Review: Data Throttling
As you would expect with BT they do not slow your speeds down at all no matter time of day it is, this is a thing of the past and most broadband providers have completely stopped doing this now.
This means that the speeds quoted will be as accurate as possible at every second you’re connected to the Wi-Fi. All of the packages are truly unlimited too, so you can download and stream till your hearts content.
BT Broadband Review: Setup
When it comes to the setup fee with BT it’s rather cheap, that being as long as you currently have a BT line installed in your home.
If not then there is generally a £50 line installation fee and a BT engineer will need to come out to your property to install one.
It is highly unlikely that this would be the case though as the BT infrastructure is the most widespread throughout the UK.
BT handle everything when it comes to getting you set up too, meaning you don’t need to contact your previous provider or make multiple phone calls, it’s a stress-free setup.
On the Standard and Fibre Essential package there is an upfront cost of £30 to get set up, and the Superfast Fibre and above packages all have a small £10 fee.
BT Broadband Review: Customer Satisfaction
Over recent years BT’s customer service has taken a big nosedive, they used to be excellent but in the last couple of years they have had more complaints than any of the other major providers.
That being said when we called BT for a chat to gather some information around this review, they were extremely helpful and were more than happy to provide us with the information we needed.
Ofcom did a report that shows that the average time to be on hold before speaking to an agent is 4 minutes, which is rather high, and a whopping 13% of customers will hang up before they get through.
BT Broadband Review: Summary
So what’s our final verdict on BT as a home broadband provider? Well, they certainly aren’t cheap, that’s for sure!
BT is without a doubt one of the more expensive providers here in the UK, but they do offer consistency and fast installation.
The fact that they have such a big infrastructure speaks for itself, they really do provide a strong connection even in the hard to reach places. The TV isn’t a big thing for BT, but we found that the BT sports perk is extremely valuable to customers and most people would love this aspect of BT broadband.
The speeds they offer however aren’t anywhere near what EE and Virgin Media offer, so if you’re thinking about your BT broadband renewal and its speed you’re after then you will need to check out some of our other Home Broadband Reviews.
Overall think BT is a solid, reliable and trusted source to take home broadband from and it’s easy to see why they have such a huge customer base throughout the UK.
(If you consider signing up for BT Home Broadband and could do so by following through on one of the links we provided. This may earn us a small commission to help Tech Blogs like us bring you more reviews weekly.)