In the last couple of years, BT has been stepping up its game to compete with the likes of Virgin, Sky, TalkTalk and others. In 2013, the firm expanded its TV portfolio to add BT Sport and later, in 2015, the telecoms giant added BT Mobile. This marked a new era for the BT Group, enabling to offer a complete package to its customers.
The modern BT is a very different company to the image many hold of it, however. Its traditional infrastructure backbone – the fibre and copper cables, exchanges and cabinets – is today owned and managed by Openreach, which was split-off from BT in 2006 at the request of government telecommunications watchdog, Ofcom.
It's this network that provides the internet connection for a majority of the UK's internet service providers (ISP), such as Sky, TalkTalk, Plusnet and so on. Virgin is the only other ISP that has its own network.
Openreach is run as an independent subsidiary, but despite the split, it's still owned by the BT Group, so if you're looking for a more reliable connection that's less prone to downtime and peak-time bottlenecking, BT should already be your favourite ISP.
However, BT's own broadband setup is expensive and Virgin offers a competitively priced package with much faster headline speeds – so how do the two compare, and are BT's Openreach rivals worth considering at all? I'll go through BT's various services and outline how its broadband services fare in Ofcom's tests, and I'll throw in my own experiences as well.
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BT Broadband (2017) review: Extras, rewards and packages
BT has a wide selection of packages and frequently offers discounts, especially to those wishing to combine broadband with TV and mobile phone services. It's therefore always advised to think of what you need before you jump head first into the broadband packages page. The telecoms giant also runs promotions, where you can get a faster speed for a discounted price or extras thrown in for free, such as a subscription to BT Sport.
The regular ADSL broadband packages include BT Virus Protect for two devices and BT Parental Controls. They also bundle BT Cloud storage, the BT Home Hub 4 wireless router, UK weekend calls, Call Protect (for nuisance calls), a BT reward card (pre-loaded MasterCard credit), and access to five million BT Wi-Fi hotspots.
With BT infinity – the firm's fibre optic broadband offering – you get more cloud storage, a larger amount on the BT reward card and the fantastic BT Smart Hub router, rather than a Home Hub 4.
It's clear that BT offers a lot of perks, but so do other providers. Because their services are provided by Openreach, most of the other ISPs have similar download and upload speeds, so they need to draw you in with extras that'll win you over.
Every broadband package BT offers is on a 12-month contract basis and includes 12-month phone line rental; but, be warned: once that (usually discounted) period finishes the cost will usually rise. You'll need to sign up to another 12-month contract at that point if you want to keep the price down.
BT Broadband (2017) review: Coverage
There are over 16 million homes that have access to BT Infinity, and if you're unlucky enough not to be in a connected area you'll still have the option of choosing its ADSL 2+ offering. You can check which BT services you can receive and your estimated download speed by using the post code checker on the BT website.
^ Estimated speeds in Wimbledon
BT Broadband (2017) review: ADSL broadband
As with all broadband providers, BT's cheapest packages start with regular ADSL broadband. There are two packages to choose from: the capped 12GB monthly usage package and the Unlimited Broadband option. They cost £25 and £33 respectively per month and both have an upfront cost of £10.
Choosing between the two options will depend on your own usage. If you think you'll be downloading large files, such as big game downloads and updates, or regularly streaming Full HD content, you'll want to get the unlimited package, as 12GB won't last you long.
As for speed, these packages deliver "up to" 17Mbits/sec for downloads, which is fine for most uses, although it'll struggle to stream 4K video.
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BT Broadband (2017) review: Fibre optic broadband - BT Infinity
If you're looking to get a more stable connection or live in a rural area that receives shocking estimated speeds, it might be worth investing in a fibre optic connection (if you can get it, that is).
BT Infinity starts at £30 per month for a 25GB monthly usage cap and "up to" 52Mbits/sec download speeds. It's £40 for the unlimited package, rising to £50 for the "up to" 76Mbits/sec service.
The amount of cloud storage you get varies depending on the package you select, too, with 5GB, 100GB and 500GB respectively available to each of the three packages. And all three come with the latest BT Smart Hub, a spectacularly good router that offers dual-band 2.4GHz and 5GHz 802.11ac wireless connectivity.
So, BT Infinity is more expensive than its ADSL 2+ offering, but it does provide superior speed and a guaranteed minimum connection rate as well. That means you'll be able to stream in 4K, have multiple people connected to the internet and won't have any problems with gaming.
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BT Broadband (2017) review: BT broadband prices and packages in 2017
BT Broadband | BT Unlimited Broadband | BT Infinity 1 | BT Unlimited Infinity 1 | BT Unlimited Infinity 2 | |
Price per month, including line rental | £25 (for 12 months, then £34) | £33 (for 12 months, then £41) | £30 (for 12 months, then £42.49) | £40 (for 12 months, then £47.49) | £50 (for 12 months, then £54) |
Upfront cost | £10 | £10 | £60 | £60 | £30 |
“Up to” speed | 17Mbits/sec | 17Mbits/sec | 52Mbits/sec | 52Mbits/sec | 76Mbits/sec |
Usage allowance | 12GB | Unlimited | 25GB | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Contract length | 12 months | 12 months | 12 months | 12 months | 12 months |
BT Broadband (2017) review: Performance, speed and router
At home, I have BT's Unlimited Infinity 2 package as I'm a heavy user and play competitive games, upload videos to YouTube regularly and need a reliable service that won't cut out. I get around 68Mbits/sec download and around 20Mbits/sec upload speeds. I share the connection with one other person in, but they're a very light user in comparison.
Personally, I've not experienced any dropouts or had any problems connecting to the internet. In fact, the last time I had a dropout was when Openreach accidentally pulled out my connection to the local exchange – a user error, not the network's fault. Being a competitive gamer on CS:GO, ping is also very important to me and I'm pleased to have a very low ping and a stable internet connection, however, your ping will vary depending depending on how far you are from the cabinet and how far the cabinet is to the exchange.
Having had past experiences with Sky and Virgin, BT's main competitors, I feel BT offers a more complete and consistent package. The most important thing to note here is the bundled router and the option to change to a non-BT-branded router. Most won't need to do this, but in case you do it's easy with BT.
Due to the way Sky authenticates via MER, however, it's much more difficult to replace the router. Only a very few third-party routers support this form of authentication natively, and Sky locks your username and password to your router (and won't provide the details on request), so you'll also need to hack the router to get the necessary login details.
In comparison with Virgin, it's consistency that sets BT apart. Ofcom's UK Home Broadband performance report, conducted in November 2015 and compiled in March 2016, shows that on a regular BT ADSL2+ broadband connection, 70% of customers surveyed received greater than 90% of the headline speed during peak periods, which is better than Sky, TalkTalk or Plusnet.
While looking at its FTTC packages (fibre to the cabinet) performance, customers using BT Infinity's 38Mbits/sec service (now up to 52Mbits/sec) and 76Mbits/sec services experienced the most reliable speeds. An impressive 90% of these testers received greater than 90% of their quoted speeds on average during peak time. In comparison, Virgin's up to 50/100/200Mbits/sec customers received 70%, 60% and 35% of their quoted speeds. Of course, this is all relative, as Virgin 200Mbits/sec customers were still receiving over 70Mbits/sec on average at these times.
^ Source: Ofcom
Another important measurement to check is the difference between the stated maximum, average and peak-time upload speeds during peak times (8pm-10pm during the week). BT's results were good, although it was outclassed by EE's 76Mbits/sec package. Impressively, BT's 38Mbits/sec (now 54Mbits/sec) did better than Virgin's 50- and 100Mbits/sec packages, however
Overall, BT's reliability, speeds, performance and excellent router provide a solid all-round offering. Whether you're on regular broadband or the Infinity package, you'll experience the same reliability.
BT Broadband (2017) review: Customer complaints
One thing that has let down BT recently, however, is the number of complaints that have been filed to Ofcom over customer service. Of course, this is all relative, as Ofcom only reports on people who have complained directly to itself, rather than the respective ISP.
Nevertheless, it's something I felt I should point out, as it does raise concern. In comparison to Sky and Virgin, BT had five times the complaints due to outages and line problems.
BT Broadband review 2017: Verdict
BT's broadband packages are rather impressive. The telecoms giant offers one of the most consistent internet connections, has reliable speeds, a fantastic router for its Infinity customers, and can be combined with other services to provide a complete package. See the latest BT Broadband deals at BT.
Its only downside is its prices, which comes in at a premium in comparison to other ISPs. As the old saying goes, you get what you pay for. If you're looking for reliability, BT is the way to go.