BT Broadband review 2025: Is it any good?
Dan Howdle • July 28th, 2025
BT is arguably the best-known broadband provider in the UK. But does this mean it’s also the best? We're going to take a thorough look at BT's broadband offering to find out if it's any good.
Our review of BT broadband
As a broadband provider, BT has some great selling points. However, depending on your individual needs and circumstances there are also some drawbacks to signing up for a BT broadband deal.
Reasons to buy
- Up to 900Mbps broadband
- Decent router, 'unbreakable' Wi-Fi
- Reliable
Reasons to avoid
- Expensive, and the best features cost extra
- Relies on EE TV for bundles
- Long contracts
What we like
Here's a run-down of the things we like most about BT Broadband:
Good speeds, good router
BT offers both ADSL and Standard Fibre broadband packages with speeds that will meet the needs of the majority of households. The brand also boasts the highly regarded BT Smart Hub 2 router, which is included free with their Standard Broadband packages, and, if they’re available in your area, with BT's Full Fibre 100, 300, 500 and 900 packages.
Comprehensive add-ons
BT offers some impressive add-on services to ensure your service is reliable. The Complete Wi‑Fi add-on provides up to three Wi‑Fi Discs that work with the BT Smart Hub 2 and the My BT app to ensure your Wi‑Fi signal reaches every corner of your home. It's backed by a £100 money‑back guarantee if you still can’t achieve a reliable signal in all rooms. BT’s Hybrid Connect add-on (previously BT Halo) includes a 4G EE‑powered backup router that springs into action if your primary broadband fails. BT markets Hybrid Connect as offering ‘unbreakable Wi‑Fi’, and it also helps BT detect network issues in real time.
Speed guarantee
One thing they don't charge extra for is the 'Stay Fast' speed guarantee on Full Fibre services. If your broadband falls below the guaranteed speed and it can’t be fixed within 30 days, you receive £20 cashback (it was previously £100, but is now £20).
Excellent TV options
As you'll find should you decide to order, BT also makes it extremely easy to bundle in various TV services via EE  TV (BT owns EE; formerly called BT  TV). There’s a selection of TV packages — from Entertainment and Sport to Big Entertainment, Big Sport and VIP — which includes Sky Cinema, TNT Sports and other streaming options.
Often offers cashback to new customers
BT is known for offering cashback deals to new broadband customers, usually as BT Reward Cards. Extras occasionally include Xbox Game Pass, security software, cloud storage or temporary upgrades. They also frequently waive set‑up and delivery fees during promotions.
Broadband near you
Our broadband postcode checker will find you the best deals, providers and speeds where you live. It's free and takes less than a minute to check and compare.
What we don't like
And here are the things we're less than keen on:
Long, long contracts
Though BT is a big player in the UK broadband market, it lacks the flexibility of some of the smaller providers. There are no month-to-month contracts, for example, and beware, the brand is known for hiking up its monthly price as soon as a contract ends. Although they're by no means unique in that regard – it's becoming the norm with Sky, TalkTalk and others joining the two-year fanclub. We still believe 24 months is an awfully long time to commit to a broadband contract.
Quite expensive compared to competitors
Generally speaking, BT broadband is usually at the more expensive end of the scale, though there are often price reductions, virtual reward cards or other incentives on offer which can help ease that. The basic packages are often much more expensive than competitors, and then BT will want you to pay more for some of its better features. Really, with such long contracts, BT Broadband should be cheaper, or at least on a par with the competition.
Limited availability on ultrafast speeds
BT's Full Fibre packages (offering speeds of 150Mbps, 500Mbps and even 900Mbps) are currently available to about a two thirds of UK homes. This is because they use Openreach's Full Fibre network. Openreach is rapidly expanding the network, and hope to reach over 80% of UK properties by the end of 2026. And since technically Openreach is part of the BT group, it's safe to say that where their network is available, you'll also find BT. But for now, BT Full Fibre availability is limited to around two thirds of households (higher in cities).
Broadband
10Mb
Average speed
Pay as you go calls
24
Month contract
Zero upfront cost
£33.68 Effective monthly cost
Effective monthly cost is calculated by adding up all the monthly costs, price rises and any discounts and dividing it by the contract length.
Full Fibre 150 + Entertainment
NOW EntertainmentNetflixTV provided by EE TV
150Mb
Average speed
110+ TV channels
No phone line
24
Month contract
Zero upfront cost
£54.53 Effective monthly cost
Effective monthly cost is calculated by adding up all the monthly costs, price rises and any discounts and dividing it by the contract length.
Claim your BT Reward Card within 3 months of placing your order by entering your details on www.bt.com/manage/bt-reward-card/. You must activate the card within 3 months of it being issued.
Full Fibre 500
Prices may vary depending on location
500Mb
Average speed
No phone line
24
Month contract
Zero upfront cost
£35.68 Effective monthly cost
Effective monthly cost is calculated by adding up all the monthly costs, price rises and any discounts and dividing it by the contract length.
Claim your BT Reward Card within 3 months of placing your order by entering your details on www.bt.com/manage/bt-reward-card/. You must activate the card within 3 months of it being issued.
Key features
Here’s a quick look at what you can expect with a BT broadband deal, depending upon which package you choose. Keep in mind not all extras are available with every deal.
| Download speeds | 10-900Mbps |
|---|---|
| Upload speeds | 1-110Mbps |
| Broadband | ADSL, Standard Fibre and Full Fibre |
| Home phone | Yes, Optional |
| Freebies to look for | Virtual reward cards, free set-up and delivery |
| Packages available | Broadband only, Broadband & landline, Broadband & TV |
| Router | BT Smart Hub 2 |
| Contract length | 24 months |
| Prices from | £29.99 per month |
Broadband speeds
In general, the more people in your home, the more bandwidth you'll need so they can continue doing the activities they enjoy (such as gaming, streaming TV and movies or even attending video calls). You can read more about what broadband speed you’re going to need in our separate guide.
| Broadband Package | Download Speed | Upload Speed | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Broadband | 10Mbps | 1Mbps | £29.99 per month |
| BT Fibre 1 | 50Mbps | 9.5Mbps | £26.99 per month |
| Fibre Essential | 36Mbps | 9.5Mbps | £27.99 per month |
| BT Fibre 2 | 67Mbps | 19Mbps | £27.99 per month |
| BT Full Fibre 2 | 80Mbps | 20Mbps | £27.99 per month |
| BT Full Fibre 150 | 150Mbps | 28Mbps | £28.99 per month |
| BT Full Fibre 300 | 300Mbps | 49Mbps | £30.99 per month |
| BT Full Fibre 500 | 500Mbps | 73Mbps | £31.99 per month |
| BT Full Fibre 900 | 900Mbps | 110Mbps | £37.99 per month |
BT offers a range of broadband speeds to suit the differing needs of households:
BT ADSL broadband
BT’s ADSL broadband package (i.e. not fibre) offers average speeds of around 10Mbps – just about adequate for people who don’t use the internet for anything more intensive than online shopping and scrolling through social media. But it's not good if you need to work from home using Zoom calls (where you'll be relying on a dismal upload speed, usually 1Mbps) or want to do a lot of (or any) live gaming. While technically still available, you can only get it if you can't get anything else where you live, and that's now just a handful of homes across the UK, so worry not.
BT Standard Fibre
Standard Fibre broadband is typically faster and more reliable than ADSL, making it better for households that spend a bit more time online, enjoying activities like gaming and streaming TV and films. BT currently offers three different Standard Fibre packages. Bear in mind you won't be offered these if you can get Full Fibre or if you're unlucky enough to only be able to get ADSL.
- Fibre Essential has average download speeds of 36Mbps
- Fibre 1 has average download speeds of 50Mbps
- Fibre 2 has average download speeds of 67Mbps
Our comprehensive guide to BT fibre broadband will tell you everything you need to know about these three deals, and the differences between them, helping you choose one that’s right for you.
BT Full Fibre
Although not available everywhere yet, BT also offers Full Fibre, with speeds far in excess of previous Standard Fibre broadband technology. The rollout of these high-speed connections is ongoing, but they are currently available to 79% of homes at last count.
With a Full Fibre connection, the fibre cables connect directly into your home without the need for a phone line, providing exceptionally high speeds – there's no copper cable to get in the way. So, perfect if you have a large household with several people online all the time. In fact, in many cases BT is now delivering it's Standard Fibre broadband using Full Fibre technology, so even the 'slower' speed packages are becoming more reliable.
- Full Fibre 100 has average download speeds of 150Mbps
- Full Fibre 300 has average download speeds of 300Mbps
- Full Fibre 500 has average download speeds of 500Mbps
- Full Fibre 900 has average download speeds of 900Mbps
To find out if you can get BT Full Fibre at your address, visit BT’s broadband availability page and type in your postcode checker to see if it is available in your area.
Upload speeds
Upload speeds dictate how fast you can send, rather than just receive data. It's true that most of us receive more data than we send, making upload speed, in theory, much less important than download speed. And the providers certainly don't shout about the numbers so much. But if you do much gaming, or work from home and have to attend meetings via video, you'll know just how essential fast upload speeds can be.
ADSL BT Broadband has an average upload speed of around 1Mbps. So, very slow. BT broadband customers with Fibre Essential and Fibre 1 get upload speeds of up to 9.5Mbps, and Fibre 2 users benefit from upload speeds of around 20Mbps. BT Full Fibre customers on 150Mbps will receive an upload speed of 30Mbps, those on 500Mbps will get an upload speed of 73Mbps and those on 900Mbps will receive an upload speed of 110Mbps. So you can see from those figures how much quicker Full Fibre can really be.
Gig1 Fibre Broadband
Fixed price until March 2026 bill
1.1Gb
Average speed
No phone line
24
Month contract
Zero upfront cost
£35.21 Effective monthly cost
Effective monthly cost is calculated by adding up all the monthly costs, price rises and any discounts and dividing it by the contract length.
The Virgin Media bill credit will be applied to your first bills, so you'll pay nothing for the first 3 months and month 4 will be discounted. The Virgin Media bill credit will be applied to your first bill. Any remaining balance will be applied to subsequent bills until the credit is used.
M500 Fibre Broadband
Fixed price until March 2026 bill
516Mb
Average speed
No phone line
24
Month contract
Zero upfront cost
£30.21 Effective monthly cost
Effective monthly cost is calculated by adding up all the monthly costs, price rises and any discounts and dividing it by the contract length.
The Virgin Media bill credit will be applied to your first bills, so you'll pay nothing for the first 2 months and month 3 will be discounted. The Virgin Media bill credit will be applied to your first bill. Any remaining balance will be applied to subsequent bills until the credit is used.
Full Fibre 500
400Mbps speed guarantee£5 fee refunded to first bill
500Mb
Average speed
Pay as you go calls
24
Month contract
Zero upfront cost
£29.00 Effective monthly cost
Effective monthly cost is calculated by adding up all the monthly costs, price rises and any discounts and dividing it by the contract length.
You will be sent instructions on how to choose your Gift Card up to 120 days after your purchase. You will have 90 days to claim your Gift Card by sending it to your email or mobile phone.
Packages
BT offers both landline and TV packages with its broadband and they’re certainly worth a look.
Broadband and landline – BT no longer includes free landline calls with any of its broadband packages, and only includes a PAYG landline with its ADSL package. This is now very common as the county transitions to the newer Full Fibre technology. However, you can of course choose to pay extra and upgrade to include a phone line, add anytime calls or even international calls if you still need to use your home phone.
Broadband and TV – If you want to take advantage of BT’s TV offering, first note that this is now branded as EE TV, but that the same rules apply: You can only get it with a BT Broadband deal. You can choose from a handful of entry-level EE TV packages including Entertainment (which includes Netflix, and a NOW Entertainment Membership) or TNT Sports. EE TV’s higher-end packages are Big Sport (which includes a NOW Sports membership and Eurosport channels), Big Entertainment (essentially more Sky channels including Sky Cinema ), and the Full Works package which includes absolutely everything.
Routers and installation
BT claims that their Smart Hub 2 router. It's undeniably a good router, with seven aerials that send Wi-Fi signals to more rooms in your house.
The Smart Hub 2 is BT's most advanced router yet. It's an award winning bit of kit, and includes clever features like Smart Channel Selection and Smart Scan, both of which can really help with the reliability of your Wi-Fi connections, especially if there are a lot of devices in your home. It's currently provided to new customers who sign up for BT Hybrid Connect, and it's also available to Halo 3+ customers who don’t already have one. Alternatively, you can choose to buy it outright.
Standard BT broadband comes with BT Home Hub, a basic model that’s perfectly adequate for most smaller households on those lower speeds.
For full details, including a BT Smart Hub 2 review, read our guide on BT Smart Hub routers.
Installation
On average, installation of BT broadband takes two weeks. You'll need a new line installed if you don’t already have the type of line that's appropriate for the package you're choosing. For example, you may need a Full Fibre line installed if your home has never had Full Fibre before.
BT generally charges a one-off set up fee for all broadband packages, but waives it at various times of the year. If you’re not happy with this, consider comparing broadband providers with no upfront costs. Or alternatively, play the waiting game and they'll probably offer a fee-free package that fits your needs in the near future.
Customer service
For BT broadband help, call Customer Services, call 0800 800 150 or text HELP to 61998. Lines are open on Monday to Friday, 8am – 9pm and on Saturday and Sunday, 8am – 8pm. Having your account number to hand will help you deal with your issue more speedily. Alternatively, they offer assistance via message, text, a variety of online tools or even by posing a question to their online community.
Our verdict: Very good
It’s no wonder that BT is a household name for phone and broadband – it has a range of options available and speeds that will impress, along with an excellent reputation for reliability when it comes to home broadband and Wi-Fi. Its Fibre 2 deal, with an average speed of 67Mbps, can offer fairly good value if you want relatively fast broadband at a reasonable price, but it's becoming less available as Full Fibre becomes the norm.
If you're lucky enough to be in an area where it's available (and you sign up when they're offering a generous reward), then any of their Full Fibre packages are a smart choice. And, due to various regional discounts, you may even find you get an especially low price just by accident of where you live.
Adding TV and phone service bundles is very simple and you can find some highly competitive offers. That said, BT is still one of the more expensive providers on the market (much more so if you add extras like BT Hybrid Connect and BT Complete Wi-Fi). Still, its regular offers make it a solid contender for anyone seeking a new home broadband deal. So keep an eye out for a those price reductions and virtual reward cards if you're considering switching.
