Ofcom is the UK communications regulator. We've been Ofcom accredited since April 2010, and undergo strict, independent audits every 12 to 18 months, plus more frequent spot checks to ensure our broadband checker meets Ofcom's requirements to provide accurate, up-to-date, accessible and comprehensive information about the broadband deals that we list. This means you can be confident that our search results will provide you with accurate comparison costs and let you know what's included in each package, so you don't need to worry about visiting each broadband provider individually to find the best deals for you.
As well as our checker, the accreditation covers our deal comparison tables and our individual provider pages, which include detailed buyers guides with both pros and cons for choosing that supplier's services. Ofcom have also assessed our accessibility, ensured we can be contacted by both telephone and email, and that we provide a speed test and up-to-date consumer information relating to broadband.
Between the accuracy of our checker results and the detailed information we provide about providers and the deals on offer, we're confident you can find a broadband package that fits your needs using our services.
After the popularity of our previous exclusive offer with EE, Broadband.co.uk is pleased to announce a new exclusive offer of £50 Amazon.co.uk gift vouchers with all EE Home Broadband deals. This voucher can be combined with current EE offers, including:
Up to 17Mb standard unlimited home broadband only £2.50 for 12 months
Standard up to 38Mb unlimited Fibre broadband £5 for 3 months
Unlimited Fibre Plus £15 for 3 months with speeds up to 76Mb
As an added bonus, EE's cheapest deals are now available to all customers in their network area, not just EE, T-Mobile and Orange mobile phone and mobile broadband customers, and all EE broadband customers will be able to take advantage of perks like EE Film 2-for-1 cinema tickets on Wednesdays.
Voucher only available online. Line rental required, available from £11 monthly equivalent price if paid a year upfront. Quoted prices and features may only be available in EE network areas. Speed achieved depends on factors such as your distance from the telephone exchange, you will be provided with the fastest connection available. Full details will be provided before you sign up.
With improvements in technology and speed of broadband, it's becoming increasingly common for people to work from home rather than travel to an office. Whether you’re an employee connecting to your employer from home, or self-employed and running a business from your home office, it's important to be able to rely on a robust, stable broadband connection.
While you may find your home broadband connection is adequate for your work from home needs, you might be surprised to find that a business broadband package can offer significant additional benefits and be a lot more affordable than you'd think. We've created a guide to guide to Home Office Broadband explaining all the features and advantages of using business broadband when you work from home.
TalkTalk Business offers a range of products to suit your business needs, all including unlimited usage. Their Simply product is ideal for home office workers or small premises while their Complete package adds free premise moves, business call features and up to 4 static IP addresses. Up to 76Mb fibre options provided where available.
Right now you can save up to £754* compared to BT Business Broadband with TalkTalk Business Fibre!
Simply Broadband - £4 per month, up to 17Mb download and up to 1Mb upload, 1 static IP
Simply Fibre - £19 per month, up to 76Mb download and up to 20Mb upload, 1 static IP
Complete Broadband - £10.50 per month, up to 17Mb download and up to 1Mb upload, up to 4 static IPs, free business call features
Complete Fibre - £25.50 per month, up to 76Mb download and up to 20Mb upload, up to 4 static IPs, free business call features
All prices exc VAT. Monthly line rental of £14.50 required on all packages. *See TalkTalk Business site for more details of BT Business Broadband comparison claims.
Moving home is daunting enough with arranging moving dates, packing, getting your belongings safely to a new location, and hoping that all the financial gubbins goes through smoothly so you can actually get into your new house as planned. The hassle of what to do about your broadband on top of all that is a stress that none of us really want to deal with. Making the decision of what to do then phoning up customer services, explaining the situation, relaying all the necessary information over the phone, arranging all the dates... it's all a recipe for one giant headache.
To help make the process a little easier for you, we've revamped our guide to moving your broadband when moving house to help you make the best decision for broadband at your new home and make it as easy as possible to move your broadband to your new home, whether you're signing up with a new provider or taking advantage of your existing provider's Home Move service.
We've gone into detail about the type of process, problems, gotchas and unexpected delays or charges you might experience during a broadband home move, and we've also provided handy bulletpoint summary sections to help when you're in a rush.
We've even gathered together details of the procedure for moving home for each of the home broadband providers we list, so you can quickly find exactly where on your provider's website you need to look or which phone number you need to call to set your broadband home move in action.
As the top broadband speeds increase, new marketing terms like ultrafast, hyperfast and gigabit broadband are becoming commonplace. We understand how confusing terms like this can be, especially when most broadband buzzwords all seem to be another way of saying 'very fast', so we've produced a new guide to ultrafast and hyperfast broadband that should help to answer all your questions.
More people than ever can enjoy ultrafast broadband speeds as Virgin Media's ultrafast 120Mb broadband increases in speed to up to 152Mb, double that of most fibre to the cabinet services. Virgin Media's mid-range formerly up to 60Mb service is now also increased to 100Mb, making it the most affordable ultrafast broadband on the market. Ultrafast deals start from £12.50 per month for the first 6 months.
Meanwhile hyperfast broadband provider Hyperoptic has started to install their gigabit fibre to the building services outside of London, with select apartment buildings now activated in Bristol, Cardiff and Reading. These join over 250 postcode areas already hooked up in London, with more added every day. Hyperoptic offer the UK's fastest broadband at up to 1Gb (or 1000Mb) making this a truly hyperfast service, what's more their connections are symmetric offering the same speed regardless of whether you're downloading or uploading. You can sign up for a gigabit service for only £25 per month for the first 6 months.
If you're not sure whether Virgin Media or Hyperoptic's services are available in your area, our broadband checker will tell you if either are serving your postcode and will allow you to compare their prices and features with other broadband suppliers.
All prices quoted are introductory offers that require montlhy line rental. Hyperoptic charge £12.50 for line rental and Virgin Media £15.99. All services mentioned are also available without any telephone line installed at your home. Hyperoptic charges £40 for setup, or more if your home doesn't have a faceplate preinstalled. Virgin Media is currently offering free installation as a limited offer.
March 2014 saw the national average download speeds recorded by users of our Broadband Speed Test surpass 20Mb for the first time, with most providers seeing a healthy speed increase and a 3.53Mb rise overall, bringing the UK average speed to 20.63Mb. Average upload speeds also saw an increase, rising by 0.39Mb to 3.45Mb overall.
Virgin Media's average download speeds increased significantly over the previous month, rising by 4.94Mb, and they retain first place at the top of the speed table at 38.19Mb. Upload speeds were also up by 0.44Mb averaging at 4.14Mb.
Early last month Virgin launched their boost from up to 120Mb to 152Mb, from up to 60Mb to 100Mb and from up to 30Mb to 50Mb, which has undoubtedly contributed to their average download speed increases. While the boost was initially for new customers only, these average speed increases are set to continue as Virgin roll out the higher speeds to existing customers over the next year, with customers in several areas already enjoying the boost.
BT Broadband came in second place on the speed table, with a download speed increase of 2.13Mb taking them to an average speed of 22.33Mb. BT also saw an upload speed increase of 0.56Mbps, with uploads now averaging higher than Virgin at 5.47Mb, in part thanks to the higher upload speed of BT Infinity 2 compared to Virgin's maximum.
EE have taken third place, overtaking both Plusnet and Sky with average download speeds of 14.21Mb (an impressive 4.55Mb increase over last month).
EE have started traffic shaping to prioritise web and streaming traffic, allowing them to last month announce a new headline speed of up to 17Mb. At least 10% of their customers have to be able to achieve this speed in order for them to advertise it, making them faster than any other standard UK phoneline broadband supplier! We're currently running an exclusive £70 Amazon gift voucher offer with EE that stacks with their reduced price offers. It's a limited offer for this week only, so hurry to take advantage of it!
While Plusnet have dropped into fourth place, their average download speeds have actually improved by 1.47Mb, taking them to 14.13Mb. Similarly, Sky have dropped to fifth place, but have a 0.86Mbps increase in download speeds, averaging at 11.2Mb. As spring arrives with sunnier weekends and brighter evenings, we'll likely see further small increases across all providers as peak time congestion from video services reduces due to more people en. The availability of higher speed fibre services also continues to roll out to more exchanges.
Broadband.co.uk has secured an exclusive £70 Amazon.co.uk gift voucher offer on all EE Home Broadband deals. This offer combines with EE's existing offers, including:
£10 monthly discount for EE, T-Mobile and Orange mobile phone and mobile broadband customers
Up to 17Mb standard unlimited home broadband only £2 for 12 months
Fibre optic broadband half price for 6 months, from £8 a month for up to 38Mb unlimited fibre
EE's headline speed for standard broadband has also recently increased from 16Mb to 17Mb thanks to traffic shaping to prioritise web and streaming traffic at peak times, making EE the fastest phoneline broadband on the market.
Voucher only available online. Line rental required, available from £11 monthly equivalent price if paid a year upfront. Quoted prices and features may only be available in EE network areas. Speed achieved depends on factors such as your distance from the telephone exchange, you will be provided with the fastest connection available. Full details will be provided before you sign up.
Existing TalkTalk broadband and phone customers have until Tuesday the 17th of December to order an upgrade to TalkTalk's TV packages for delivery just in time for Christmas.
Customers can choose between Essentials TV or Plus TV packages. Both come with YouView 7 day catch up TV and the ability to pause and rewind live TV, add over 60 additional channels including Sky Movies and Sky Sports, and rent movies using TalkTalk Box Office and Sky On Demand. Plus TV also comes with the facility to record 200+ hours of Freeview TV using the YouView+ box.
Extra channels and on demand content can be added using monthly boosts, which can be easily added or removed without more than a month's commitment, and right now the Entertainment Boost is still half price for the first 2 months, which could be the perfect way to treat the family over the holiday season.
Minimum broadband line speed of 3Mb required for TalkTalk TV and 5Mb for TV Boosts. Installation and delivery charges may apply. 24 month contract applies to upgrades. Free equipment may be charged at £100 if contract is ended early. Give 48 hours notice to remove boosts. See TalkTalk site for full terms and conditions.
As a limited special offer EE are offering free 7-inch Android tablets with many of their superfast 4G mobile broadband deals. Just choose a data allowance of 5GB or more on a 24 month contract and, as well as either a USB dongle or mobile WiFi device, you'll receive the Alcatel One Touch 7 Android WiFi tablet at no extra cost!
Prices start from £21 a month and available usage allowances go up to 50GB per month. What's more, these deals all come with EE's new double speed 4G, the fastest mobile broadband available in the UK, with the most 4G-enabled cities!
All EE mobile broadband packages come with extra bonuses: you can enjoy inclusive WiFi at BT hotspots and London Underground coverage from Virgin Media, and free film downloads and 2 for 1 Wednesday cinema tickets with EE Film.
Superfast 4G speed depends on location and number of users. Data outside your monthly allowance can be purchased for £6 for 500MB or £15 for 2GB. Prices may increase during the life of your plan.
TalkTalk's great value TV bundles, which include phone services, truly unlimited broadband and TV services with Freeview, YouView, catchup TV, on demand and extra channels are now even better value with a promotion offering 2 months half price on the Entertainment Boost!
For only £10 extra per month, the Entertainment Boost adds an additional 33 channels to your TV service, including Sky 1 and 2, Sky Living, FOX, Universal, Watch, GOLD, Comedy Central and Discovery. And now for a limited period, you'll get your first two months of the boost for only £5 per month!
The boost is compatible with both of TalkTalk's TV bundles:
TalkTalk Essentials TV - £7.50 per month - Freeview + 7 day catchup TV + 30 minutes pause and rewind TV + evening and weekend calls
TalkTalk Plus TV - £15.50 per month - Record Freeview + 7 day catchup TV + pause and rewind TV + anytime calls + £30 shopping voucher
Other boosts are available adding up to 65 channels that aren't available on BT TV. You can also add Sky Movies and Sky Sports, with 5 decidated sports channels and 11 movie channels available.
On Demand services allow you to rent the latest Hollywood movies for 48 hours using TalkTalk Box Office.
TV services are available to both new and existing TalkTalk customers. Boosts can be added or removed on a monthly basis, just give 48 hours notice to remove a boost. Line rental is required, save by paying for a year up front, equivalent to £9.50 per month.
