BT broadband review

BT broadband deals review

In this review

• BT broadband deals
• BT broadband ummary
• BT broadband features
• BT broadband speeds
• BT Smart Hub 2 wireless router
• Positive reasons to buy BT broadband
• Potential negatives with using BT broadband
• BT broadband rating

Summary

BT are one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world so a broadband contract via BT will be underpinned by a world class infrastructure servicing many millions of existing broadband customers.

But are BT any good as a broadband provider I hear you ask? Read on for our full BT broadband review.

BT broadband features

BT give you the choice of ADSL or various different fibre broadband speed options backed up with an award winning BT Smart Hub 2 wireless router (formally known as the BT Home Hub range).

Home phone lines are included in the price of broadband at BT and their broadband is unlimited so there won’t be any hidden charges for downloading or streaming huge amounts of data.

There are many BT broadband deals on offer at any one time. Usually in the form of prepaid MasterCard’s with values ranging from £30 up to £100 or more. Also look out for free tech giveaways such as wireless speakers, free tablets and free headphones.

BT broadband speeds

BT offer a wide range of broadband contracts with a variety of download speeds so you are bound to find a contract that will suit both your budget and your download requirements.

At the lower end of the market BT offer ADSL broadband which is both the cheapest and the slowest of their broadband range. Average download speeds for BT ADSL are 10Mbps so this contract would suit those who are light users of the Internet and on a tight budget.

BT Fibre contracts start at 36Mbps (average download speed) and generally speaking we would recommend fibre optic broadband contracts above ADSL. Many providers are starting to phase out ADSL so to future proof yourself if makes most sense to consider BT Fibre broadband contracts.

If you’re looking for that extra bit of oomph look at the BT Superfast Fibre range which offer average download speeds of 50Mbps or 67Mbps which is more than enough for most households. Either of those speeds will allow multiple household occupants to download, stream music or movies and browse the Internet all at the same time with no problems.

For those who value an extremely fast broadband connection, there is a roll out of BT Ultrafast Fibre which averages 145Mbps download speeds and is one of the fastest broadband products on the market currently.

When considering a BT broadband contract remember that all BT broadband contracts offer unlimited data transfer with no throttling or traffic shaping so you should have a consistently fast broadband connection with no dips or drops in performance at peak times.

BT Smart Hub 2 wireless router review

If you take out a new fibre optic broadband contract at BT you will be given the BT Smart Hub 2 wireless router as part of your contract (an upgrade on the original Smart Hub model). These routers were upgrades of the long line of BT Home Hub versions that were previously offered to customers – the last of which was the BT Home Hub 5.

BT claim that their Smart Hub 2 is their best wireless router yet and it is hard to argue with them. It features the latest version of AC wireless which really future proofs the router. If you choose to run your devices over the 2.5GHz wi-fi band you can get 3×3 11b/g/n/ac capabilities and over the 5GHz wi-fi band it is 4×4 11a/n/ac. There are also an increased number of antennae when compared to the previous Home Hub 5 model (7 versus 5) and there is clever inbuilt tech that is designed to filter out interference so that wireless devices get a cleaner signal.

As usual there are 4 giga ethernet ports capable of 1Gb speeds so you can use wired connections to your devices for extra line stability and the backend software to manage the Smart Hub 2 settings is powerful and intuitive.

Essentially the BT Smart Hub 2 is widely recognised as one of the best if not the best wireless routers provided free of charge by an ISP in the UK.

To ensure your PC, laptop, tablet work in every corner of your home BT are offering Complete WiFi via the use of a WiFi disc that extends your signal around your home. Working alongside the Smart Hub 2 devices will automatically connect to the strongest signal with no need for multiple sign ins or passwords. If one disc doesn’t give your home the flawless connection intended to then BT will send up to three discs for free. Should that still not be enough then you can request a £100 back.

Hybrid Connect

In the unlikely event that your broadband goes down the hybrid connect device backed up by EEs mobile network will automatically reconnect you. BT broadband backed up by EEs mobile network results in what BT believe to be the first unbreakable broadband network.

BT broadband positives and negatives

Positive reasons to buy BT broadband

• BT is an established brand and one of the largest providers of telecommunications services in the world.
• With BT Superfast Fibre 2 the average download speed is a 67Mb.
• BT offer an Ultrafast Fibre Plus service that provides 300Mbps with a 100Mbps speed guarantee!
• There are a wide variety of broadband products which cover different download speed requirements and price points, so there will likely be a package to suit most people.
• Broadband coverage from BT is nationwide with a vast number of telephone exchanges around the country to provide services even to many of the most remote areas within the UK.
• By taking out one of the various BT broadband packages you will be entitled to a variety of free extras such as BT Virus Protect, BT Call Protect, BT Parental Controls, and BT Email.
• BT offer state of the art Home Hubs to get you online that feature industry standard encryption technology to keep your wi-fi network safe along with an integrated firewall which will monitor incoming and outgoing web traffic. Updates are regularly sent to the Home Hub so that the latest security fixes are applied automatically.
• BT broadband comes with free BT wi-fi which means when you are out and about you can connect to one of the 5 million BT wi-fi hotspots around the UK.
• A real benefit to using BT broadband is that there is no traffic management in operation so your connections will not be intentionally slowed down by BT at any time.
• There are often a number of special deals on broadband with many being online exclusives.
• BT offer a great TV service which can be taken as a bundle – broadband, calls and TV.
• The BT TV service is powered by YouView and works as a TV catch up and on demand service with some models of BT TV box providing recording features (similar to what you would get via a Sky+ box). Various apps can be used to stream content on a BT TV box such as Netflix, ITV Hub, NowTv, BBC iPlayer, etc.
• BT Sport is offered to all broadband customers not just users of BT TV and is currently home to a wide range of UEFA Champions League games as well as numerous other sports.

Potential negatives with using BT broadband

• BT is not the cheapest broadband provider on the market although on speed of download and upload there are few providers that can match their high speeds.
• The fastest fibre optic broadband is not available in all areas of the UK yet.
• The TV packages do not offer the same range of channels as those of Sky or Virgin at the moment.
• Standard contracts do not have fixed term price guarantees so your price could increase during the term of the contract (with BT Plus you would get a fixed price guarantee as well as enhanced support).
• Contracts for broadband are fixed at 18 months – there are no shorter contracts available.
• The latest Home Hub is not available on standard broadband – you need to take out a contract on the faster BT Superfast or Ultrafast broadband service.

BT broadband rating

By Laurie Walker – 4.5 out of 5.