Home broadband deals in NI
Good news for Northern Ireland residents when it comes to home broadband. Almost 100% of properties have access to fibre broadband!
This means everyone should have access to the best value packages from popular broadband providers such as Sky, Plusnet, BT, Vodafone and TalkTalk among others.
Part of this is thanks to Project Stratum and Hyperfast NI: a publicly funded telecommunications infrastructure project, delivered by provider, Fibrus
Who offers the best broadband deals in Northern Ireland?
Just because a particular broadband service is available at your nearest exchange, doesn't mean you're guaranteed to get it at your home or business.
Factors such as distance from the exchange and whether fibre optic has been installed in your street can play a part in availability. For example, in Northern Ireland, although over 86% of properties in Belfast can sign up to a Virgin deal, other areas don’t have access at all.
The easiest way to see the choice of internet providers available to your home is to enter your address into our deals checker at the top of this page. This will filter the results to show only the deals available to your property.
If you're looking for a specific type of package, such as an internet only deal or broadband with no upfront costs, you can use the filters to the left of the page to view these and other types of offers.
Best broadband deals in NI with alternative providers (altnets)
Fibrus has pledged to provide every home in regional parts of Northern Ireland with full fibre broadband by 2025.
You can use its postcode checker to see if you’re able to get connected to a Fibrus deal.
All Fibrus home broadband packages are available without a set-up fee. There’s a chance it will also help buy you out of an existing contract, if you’re still within the minimum term with another broadband provider, but would like to move to Fibrus.
What type of broadband can I get in Northern Ireland?
ADSL Broadband
Basic ADSL broadband delivered over a telephone line used to be the cheapest and easiest way you'd get broadband in Northern Ireland. However, the copper phone lines across the UK will be switched off by January 2027 in favour of Digital Voice. If you have access to fibre optic broadband in your area of any type, you might not be able to sign up to an ADSL broadband deal anymore.
You may also find that as providers try to steer new customers away from this older broadband technology, these actually end up pricier than a basic superfast fibre package.
Standard fibre (‘Fibre to the cabinet’ or ‘FTTC’)
Standard fibre deals (also known as ‘Fibre to the Cabinet’ or ‘FTTC) are delivered in Northern Ireland by providers on the Openreach network. Here, fibre optic cables stop at the street cabinet. The final part of the journey to your home still uses older copper telephone wires. This makes it slower than a full fibre service. The maximum download speeds you can get on a FTTC deal is around 35Mb or 65Mb.
For more information on changes to the copper telephone network and the switch to Digital Voice, visit our ‘PSTN Switch Off’ guide.
Full Fibre (‘Fibre to the premises’ or 'FTTP')
Expect more homes in Northern Ireland to have access to full fibre broadband offers within the next year or so as 'Project Stratum' picks up pace.
Ultrafast and gigabit fibre deals are the perfect option for heavier users, streamers or those who enjoy playing online games or downloading large files. It’s also a wise choice if you’re in a home where there’s more than four of you.
Cable Broadband
Virgin Media cable broadband is only available to under half of properties in the Northern Ireland area. It tends to focus its energy on larger districts, including Belfast, Atrim and Newtonabbey. You’ll be lucky if you can sign up to Virgin Media in Fermanagh and Omagh, Mid Ulster, or Mourne and Down.
Comparing mobile broadband in Belfast and other NI areas
There’s excellent coverage throughout Northern Ireland on all four mobile network operators.
Belfast enjoys from all four main mobile internet operators - Three, EE, O2 and Vodafone, with each serving up 5G in the area.
In general, O2 is the best provider if you want to make use of 5G throughout the rest of Northern Ireland.
Make sure to check operator coverage maps before you think about your mobile broadband options, especially if you’re based in a more rural area.
Here’s a quick link to all four:
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How do I find the best internet deals in my area?
Broadband Genie’s deals checker makes it easy for you to find the cheapest or fastest broadband in your area. By typing in your address, we’ll be able to avoid showing you deals that aren’t available for you.
Once you’ve entered your address, here are some key considerations:
Broadband speed
The most suitable broadband speed for you will depend on how you use your internet connection, and how many people are online at one time in your home.
For more help to understand broadband speeds, read our guide: ‘what broadband speed do I need? Do I need fast broadband?’
Monthly cost
Cheap broadband deals aren’t always the most cost-effective in the long-run. Make sure to check all the extras, such as set-up costs to pay for installation or Wi-Fi routers, and consider the length of the contract. With good timing, you might be able to slash the effective monthly cost by cashing in on a voucher or bill credit as a new customer.
We recommend bookmarking our broadband rewards and cashback page. You’ll regularly find offers from all the major ISPs, including BT Broadband, TalkTalk, Virgin Media, Sky Broadband and Vodafone.
Unfortunately, a lot of major broadband providers now raise their prices on an annual basis, even if you’re still within your contract. Smaller altnets who operate their own broadband networks are less likely to bump up prices during a contract.
You’ll be able to find details of this as well as clear effective monthly price calculations by expanding on the ‘offer details and pricing’ in the comparison tables.
For more help on rising broadband costs, you can read our guide: 'broadband price increases in 2024'.
- See also: ‘what are altnets?’
Contract Length
Many broadband packages now ask for a minimum commitment of 18-months or 24-month contracts. However, it is still possible to track down rolling monthly deals from some providers. For example, Three mobile home broadband offers very reasonably priced no-contract deals.
You’ll often need to pay an expensive early termination fee to get out of a contract ahead of time. If you’re unsure of your circumstances, it’s best to play it safe. Getting out of a broadband contract early can be tricky.
Broadband with TV packages and other bundle deals
If you use a landline phone, or you’re a telly addict, it could end up being more cost-effective to track down a bundle deal. We make the searching easy with these pages:
Alternatively, you might find there are options for more flexible call packages, such as ‘anytime calls’ once you get through to the checkout.
Broadband provider reviews
Still confused about who’s best to sign up to? Head to our broadband provider reviews for a more in-depth look at some of the most popular ISPs.
Where we get our information
We strive to keep our local broadband information as up-to-date as possible. This means using trustworthy sources with regular checks. The information on this page comes from the following sources:
- Local broadband speed information: labs.thinkbroadband.com/local
- Mobile broadband coverage (1): nperf.com
- Mobile broadband coverage (2): checker.ofcom.org.uk/en-gb/mobile-coverage
