Vodafone, Plusnet and BT win latest Best Broadband Provider awards

Expert Reviews has released the winners of its Best Broadband Awards 2026, based on feedback from 1,544 UK adults surveyed during September 2025. The poll asked broadband customers to rate areas such as performance, value, reliability and customer service.

Vodafone dominated this year’s results, taking the overall award for Best Broadband Provider and winning six categories in total. Plusnet followed with four category wins, while BT Broadband and EE each won one.

Only providers with at least 50 survey responses qualified, so smaller and local ISPs were excluded.

How the awards were decided

The awards come from customer feedback rather than lab testing. Survey respondents were asked about their broadband service across themes such as reliability, value for money, performance, service quality and how helpful their provider was when something went wrong.

Expert Reviews then used those responses to name winners across 12 categories. Because the survey only included providers with 50+ respondents, the awards mainly reflect larger national brands.

Winners across Vodafone, Plusnet, BT and EE

Four providers shared the 12 category wins:

• Vodafone: six categories (including Best Broadband Provider overall)
• Plusnet: four categories
• BT Broadband: one category
• EE: one category

Below is what each category is meant to capture in plain English, followed by a brief look at what the winning provider currently offers that relates to that theme.

Best Broadband Provider: Vodafone

This is the broad “all-rounder” award. It reflects overall satisfaction, which usually means customers feel their service performs reliably day to day, offers good value, and gives a smooth experience across Wi-Fi, speed and fault resolution.

Vodafone offers a range of fibre broadband packages, including full fibre in many areas, with options that scale up to very fast speeds where available. Its newer router options and whole-home Wi-Fi add-ons focus on improving coverage in larger households, which can influence how people rate the overall experience at home.

Best Value Broadband Provider: Plusnet

Value is about what customers feel they get for the monthly price. That normally includes how the provider prices its packages, how clear the deal is, and whether the service feels worth paying for once it is installed.

Plusnet offers broadband across standard fibre and full fibre options, largely using the Openreach network in many areas. It often focuses on straightforward broadband packages, which can suit people who want fibre without extra entertainment services bundled in.

Most Recommended: Vodafone

This category tracks whether customers would recommend their broadband provider to others. It tends to reflect a mix of reliability, speed experience at home and how quickly issues get fixed.

Vodafone’s broadband range includes options that pair faster full fibre packages with Wi-Fi upgrades for better coverage. It also offers add-ons such as Wi-Fi boosters, which can help reduce common reasons people complain, like poor signal in certain rooms.

Best for Customer Service: Plusnet

Customer service awards normally come down to how quickly customers can get help, how clear the communication is, and whether problems get sorted without repeated contacts.

Plusnet has a long-running reputation for offering broadband with a simple package structure. A simpler product range can make account changes and troubleshooting more straightforward for some customers, especially compared with providers that combine multiple services into one bill.

Best for Families: BT Broadband

A family-focused category usually rewards providers that suit multi-device homes, where several people stream video, join video calls and play online games at the same time. It often also reflects parental controls and Wi-Fi coverage across the home.

BT offers fibre and full fibre packages with speeds that rise to fast plans where full fibre is available. BT also provides parental control tools at the router level, which can help families manage what younger users can access on the home connection.

Best for Speed: Vodafone

Speed categories focus on the faster packages a provider offers and whether customers feel they get quick downloads and smooth performance when several devices are active.

Vodafone offers very fast full fibre packages in areas where the network is available, including plans that reach multi-gigabit speeds in some locations. For households that regularly download large games, update multiple devices, or stream in 4K on several screens, access to these faster packages can influence how customers rate speed.

Most Reliable: Plusnet

Reliability is about staying connected consistently: fewer dropouts, fewer slowdowns at busy times, and fewer faults that lead to engineer visits.

Plusnet offers fibre and full fibre broadband in many parts of the UK using the Openreach network. For many premises, full fibre connections tend to deliver a more consistent experience than older part-fibre connections, so availability of full fibre at an address can strongly shape reliability ratings.

Best for Bundles: Vodafone

Bundles refer to broadband packages that include extras such as TV hardware, subscriptions, calls or mobile-related benefits. This category tends to reward providers that combine services without making the plan complicated.

Vodafone offers broadband bundles that combine home broadband with entertainment options on selected deals, alongside packages that focus on connectivity extras like whole-home Wi-Fi. That split approach gives customers the choice between a broadband-only style package and a broadband bundle with add-ons.

Best Provider Equipment: Plusnet

Equipment awards focus on the router and any included Wi-Fi extras. Customers usually rate how easy the kit is to set up, how consistent Wi-Fi feels across the home, and whether the router settings are easy to manage.

Plusnet provides its own router with its broadband packages, with models that suit typical household needs such as dual-band Wi-Fi and multiple Ethernet ports for wired connections. Wired connections are still the simplest way to improve consistency for consoles, PCs and smart TVs.

Best for Streaming: Vodafone

Streaming performance depends on more than just maximum speed. It is mainly about consistent bandwidth at peak times and strong Wi-Fi coverage where the TV or streaming stick sits.

Vodafone’s full fibre packages, where available, offer the kind of bandwidth that suits multi-device homes streaming video at the same time. Its Wi-Fi upgrade options can also help households that struggle with buffering because the TV is far from the router.

Best for Online Gaming: Vodafone

Gaming focuses on low latency and consistent connection quality. A connection can deliver fast download speeds but still feel poor for gaming if the ping is high, if latency spikes, or if Wi-Fi drops out.

Vodafone offers full fibre packages that can deliver the bandwidth gamers want for downloads and updates, and it also provides options that improve Wi-Fi coverage across the home. For competitive play, using an Ethernet cable from router to console or PC remains one of the most effective ways to keep latency consistent.

Best for Working From Home: EE

Working from home broadband needs reliable performance, strong Wi-Fi where you work, and good upload speeds for video calls and sending files. Consistency matters more than peak speed for many remote workers.

EE offers full fibre broadband packages in areas with coverage, including very fast plans in some locations. It also offers broadband options that bundle in extras, and its place within the BT Group means it can be available in many areas where Openreach full fibre has reached customers’ premises.

Using the results in broadband comparisons

Awards based on consumer surveys can be useful as a snapshot of satisfaction, but they do not replace the basics that decide whether a package will suit your home, and it is best to compare broadband by checking availability at your postcode, reviewing typical download and upload speeds, and weighing up contract length, price changes after any introductory period, and any setup fees before you switch.

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