Best Provider
The UK’s Best Broadband Provider is Plusnet
Strategist at Broadband Genie
Once again, Plusnet has seriously impressed us with its well-rounded service. This year alone, it’s performed exceptionally well for Reliability, Value for Money, and User Friendliness.
You won’t find any fancy frills with Plusnet: no TV or phone bundles here. And while flashy rewards for new switches are few and far between, its straightforward ‘broadband only ‘ deals are a real win. No set-up costs, no line rental, great support, and the peace of mind that comes with good customer service if anything goes wrong. Take to the podium, Plusnet!
Full results:
- Plusnet
- 79%
- Vodafone
- 78%
- Zen Internet
- 77%
- Sky
- 77%
- BT
- 75%
- Virgin Media
- 75%
- TalkTalk
- 73%
- Direct Save
- 71%
- Three
- 71%
- NOW
- 70%
Fastest Widely Available Provider
The fastest broadband most can get
Strategist at Broadband Genie
For this category, we weren’t just looking for the fastest. We wanted to shine a light on the speediest provider that the majority of the UK can get.
Over 55% of UK households can sign up to a Virgin Media deal. And while even more homes may be able to access full fibre from Openreach providers, those speeds just can’t match Virgin’s download speeds of 1.1Gb - or even 2Gb in some spots.
Full results:
- Virgin Media
- 188Mb
- IDNet
- 177Mb
- Zen Internet
- 112Mb
- Cuckoo
- 99Mb
- Vodafone
- 95Mb
- Andrew & Arnold
- 72Mb
- BT
- 71Mb
- Sky
- 60Mb
- Three
- 55Mb
- EE
- 51Mb
- Plusnet
- 50Mb
- uno Communications
- 45Mb
- TalkTalk
- 35Mb
- Onestream
- 32Mb
- O2
- 31Mb
- NOW
- 30Mb
- EE Mobile
- 30Mb
- Vodafone Mobile Broadband
- 29Mb
- SSE
- 23Mb
Fastest Wireless Provider
For fast speeds without a fixed line
Head of Marketing at Broadband Genie
Although the achievable speeds on Three 4G and 5G Home Broadband vary depending on network signal, we’ve worked out the average speed across the UK from this provider is 55Mb. That means you’ll more than keep pace with entry-level fibre using Three - no fixed line cables required! Perfect for short-term lets or homes without decent fibre options.
Full results:
- Three
- 55Mb
- O2
- 35Mb
- EE Mobile
- 34Mb
- Vodafone Mobile
- 33Mb
Best Value for Money
Providers delivering promised speeds
Head of Commercial at Broadband Genie
With bills ever soaring, we would have liked to have seen more hustle for our ‘Best Value for Money’ category. Sadly, satisfaction was pretty low this year. The best of the bunch was Vodafone. Not only does it offer some of the cheapest fast deals in the industry, it regularly dishes up high-value gift cards. Customers agreed with us that its deal showed the best value for money and scored it 75%. Here’s hoping for fiercer competition in 2026.
Full results:
- Vodafone
- 75%
- Zen Internet
- 73%
- Plusnet
- 73%
- Direct Save
- 72%
- NOW
- 71%
- Three
- 70%
- Sky
- 68%
- TalkTalk
- 67%
- BT
- 64%
- Virgin Media
- 64%
Best Provider for Speed Satisfaction
Providers delivering promised speeds
Strategist at Broadband Genie
We know that getting the speeds you need is even more important than having the fastest broadband. Not only is Virgin Media the ‘Fastest Widely Available Provider’, customers are happy with speed performance and scored it 77%.
This one was a close call, though, with Vodafone hot in second place and only a 0.5% score in it.
Full results:
- Virgin Media
- 77%
- Vodafone
- 77%
- Zen Internet
- 76%
- Plusnet
- 76%
- Sky
- 75%
- BT
- 75%
- TalkTalk
- 74%
- NOW
- 71%
- Direct Save
- 71%
- Three
- 66%
Most Reliable Provider
Broadband that just works
Editor at Broadband Genie
Really, the best broadband is one you can forget you have. Being a satisfied Plusnet customer myself and experiencing minimal downtime, it’s great to see others feel the same. This category saw the highest satisfaction score of all - 80%! Best of all, pretty much all homes in the UK can sign up to its service through the Openreach network.
Full results:
- Plusnet
- 80%
- Vodafone
- 79%
- BT
- 79%
- Virgin Media
- 79%
- Sky
- 78%
- Zen Internet
- 78%
- TalkTalk
- 75%
- NOW
- 74%
- Direct Save
- 74%
- Three
- 70%
Best Customer Service
Great customer care & solutions
Head of Marketing at Broadband Genie
When we looked at how well providers dealt with customer queries, the results were close. A mere 1.6% satisfaction separated the top 5, and it’s worth noting, this was the lowest average score across all categories. Whilst we’ve stuck true to the results and awarded NOW this title (73% satisfaction), we want to see more improvement for next year from all providers when it comes to customer service.
Full results:
- NOW
- 73%
- TalkTalk
- 73%
- Vodafone
- 73%
- BT
- 72%
- Virgin Media
- 72%
- Sky
- 72%
- Three
- 69%
- Plusnet
- 69%
- Zen Internet
- 64%
- Direct Save
- 58%
Best Social Tariff
The best broadband on benefits
Editor at Broadband Genie
Social Tariffs are available to protect the most vulnerable customers, so we took this category on with extra care. The Broadband Genie team awarded Vodafone this title for ‘Fibre 2 Essentials’ for the 2nd year in a row.
We judged this package to be the best option, thanks to a winning combination of availability for those who most need it, the price point (£20p/m), customer eligibility criteria and the speed it offers (up to 73Mb).
Full results:
- Vodafone
- 91%
- Connect Fibre
- 90%
- Hey!Broadband
- 90%
- YouFibre
- 90%
- VOXI
- 90%
- 4th Utility
- 89%
- Virgin Media
- 89%
- SMARTY
- 88%
- Quickline
- 88%
- Lightning Fibre
- 87%
- BT
- 85%
- EE
- 85%
- Hyperoptic
- 85%
- KCOM
- 84%
- WightFibre
- 83%
- NOW
- 82%
- Sky
- 82%
- Highland Broadband
- 80%
- Country Connect
- 79%
- Grayshott Gigabit
- 78%
- Community Fibre
- 77%
- O2
- 76%
- Fibrus
- 76%
- Truespeed
- 74%
- toob
- 73%
- Runfibre
- 73%
- G.Network
- 72%
- Wildanet
- 72%
Best Provider for Home Working
Reliable internet for remote workers
Head of Marketing at Broadband Genie
We asked for feedback from customers who frequently work from home, and they told us that fast speeds and winning customer service were the most important factors for a flawless remote office experience. With Virgin Media coming top for speed in the top 4 for reliability, it made sense for it to scoop this award. No awkward buffering video calls here.
Full results:
- Virgin Media
- 79%
- BT
- 78%
- Vodafone
- 77%
- Zen Internet
- 77%
- Sky
- 76%
- Plusnet
- 76%
- TalkTalk
- 73%
- Direct Save
- 70%
- NOW
- 69%
- Three
- 67%
Best Provider for Online Gaming
Star performer for first-person shooters
Head of Marketing at Broadband Genie
Virgin Media has proven itself to be a main character in this year’s awards. Thanks to its high speeds and low latency, it tops the leaderboard for online gaming and offers packages suitable for even the most serious of gamers. Hot in second place was Vodafone, which also performed well in our speed test and speed satisfaction survey.
Full results:
- Virgin Media
- 77%
- Vodafone
- 74%
- Sky
- 73%
- BT
- 71%
- Plusnet
- 71%
- TalkTalk
- 68%
- Three
- 66%
- Zen Internet
- 65%
- NOW
- 65%
- Direct Save
- 63%
Best Provider for Streaming
Flawless film & TV viewing
Head of Commercial at Broadband Genie
This was a close call with only 0.6% in it between Vodafone and Virgin Media. However, with the introduction of Flex in the past year (its flexible, £5+ per month, 30-day rolling TV option), we reckon Virgin made a worthy winner. Add to that the opportunity to catch up on the move with Virgin Media TV Go app, and we can see why customers are happy.
Full results:
- Virgin Media
- 79%
- Vodafone
- 79%
- Sky
- 77%
- Plusnet
- 77%
- BT
- 76%
- Zen Internet
- 76%
- TalkTalk
- 75%
- Three
- 72%
- NOW
- 70%
- Direct Save
- 69%
Most User Friendly
The star of keeping things simple
Editor at Broadband Genie
Without any complicated bundles to decipher, clear communication and an easy-to-use website, it’s no wonder Plusnet topped the charts for user-friendliness. Plusnet is the perfect provider if you just want a good, solid broadband-only connection and don’t want to get bogged down with complex choices. Plus, there’s the added bonus of UK-based support if you need a helping hand.
Full results:
- Plusnet
- 77%
- Vodafone
- 76%
- Sky
- 76%
- BT
- 74%
- Zen Internet
- 74%
- Virgin Media
- 73%
- Direct Save
- 72%
- NOW
- 72%
- TalkTalk
- 71%
- Three
- 70%
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Methodology
How we decided on the winners: our methodology
The 2025 award winners were decided on using responses from 3,997 broadband customers.
Users were asked to rate their broadband provider between 0-100 for the following categories:
- Best Provider
- Best Value for Money
- Best for Speed Satisfaction
- Most Reliable Provider
- Best Customer Service
- Most User Friendly
- Best Provider for Home Working
- Best Provider for Online Gaming
- Best Provider for Streaming
Meanwhile, collected speed test data was used to determine the winners of the following awards:
- Fastest Widely Available Provider
- Fastest Wireless Provider
And the Broadband Genie judges examined all discounted broadband packages for customers on benefits to determine the ‘Best Social Tariff’.
Want to reach out?
Alex Tofts (PR queries)
Strategist at Broadband Genie
[email protected]
Chris Said (Commercial queries)
Head of Commercial at Broadband Genie
[email protected]
Peter Ames (Marketing queries)
Head of Marketing at Broadband Genie
[email protected]
Eliza Vlachou
CEO at Broadband Genie
[email protected]