Articles archive

Virgin Media O2 offers the fastest widely available broadband in the UK with gigabit across almost all of its network. This review weighs those speeds against post-contract price jumps, upload limits and cancellation friction.

BT broadband is reliable, available almost everywhere and backed by useful extras like Complete Wi-Fi. It also charges a premium for Openreach lines other providers sell cheaper. Our review covers speeds, prices, complaints and who BT actually suits.

Two names half the country defaults to when the contract runs out. One owns its cable network, the other reaches almost every front door. Here is how BT and Virgin Media actually stack up, and which one fits where you live.

Compare every UK broadband social tariff. From £12/month for people on Universal Credit, Pension Credit, JSA, ESA, Income Support. Six providers, no mid-contract rises.

A plain-English walk through every broadband contract clause that matters: minimum term, intro price, the new pounds-and-pence rise rule, setup fees, exit charges, cooling-off rights and the speed guarantee that can get you out free.

Vodafone is usually the cheapest big-brand full fibre with excellent kit and an Expert Reviews award. The catch is its Ofcom complaints record. Here is the honest verdict on whether it suits you.

Ofcom's spring changes explained: complaints can go to the ombudsman after six weeks, automatic compensation now pays £10.34 a day and the five-year Openreach rulebook is set. What each change means for your broadband bill.

Altnets now cover 19.7 million UK premises and 2026 is the year of infill, mergers and subsidised rural builds. Here is where CityFibre, Netomnia and Hyperoptic are building next and why a postcode check beats any map.

UK broadband consolidation accelerated in 2026 with a £2bn Netomnia deal, reported sales of Hyperoptic and Community Fibre and a wave of altnet CEO departures. Here is what each move means for your contract.

Vodafone's 5G home broadband launch opens fixed wireless internet to 3.7 million more UK homes. Every notable new tariff from the last 30 days, what's genuinely new and what's a repackage with a fresh price tag.

Most UK broadband customers will pay £2 to £4 a month more from April 2026, with older contracts facing inflation-linked rises of up to 7.7%. Here's every provider's increase, who escapes it and what to do about it.

No major UK broadband outage is running right now. Here's how to tell whether the fault is yours or your provider's, what's actually broken in 2026 so far and the automatic compensation you're owed.

If your broadband is slower than advertised, a wired speed test against your minimum guaranteed speed tells you whether it is a wifi problem you can fix or a fault your provider has 30 days to put right.

Hyperoptic offers symmetric full-fibre speeds from 150Mb to 1Gb with cheap gigabit, strong customer scores and the UK's most generous social tariff. Coverage is the catch: the network mostly serves flats and new builds.

Sky is solid broadband on its own and excellent broadband with TV. We weigh the bundle maths, the announced price rises with their 30-day exit, the CityFibre multi-gig tiers and Sky's strong complaints record.

Moving home means a new broadband order rather than a switch. Here is how to check what the new address can get, when to order and how to be online from day one.

Plusnet is BT's budget brand: the same Openreach full fibre at a lower price with the joint-fewest broadband complaints in Ofcom's latest figures. Here is what you get, what you give up and who it suits.

When a broadband complaint stalls, a free independent adjudicator can settle it. How to escalate to the Communications Ombudsman or CISAS, the six-week rule, and what the decision is worth.

The pounds-and-pence rule for contracts from 17 January 2025, what it changed, what it left alone, and when a mid-contract price rise lets you walk away without a fee.

Broadband, TV and phone in one bundle can each carry their own minimum term. How cancelling one affects the others, and how to unwind a bundle without an exit-fee surprise.

Switching providers is simple on the same network and a different shape across networks. Openreach takeovers vs Virgin, CityFibre and Hyperoptic installs, and what One Touch Switch covers.

Ofcom's automatic compensation pays you when broadband fails: £10.34 a day for lost service, £32.31 for a missed engineer, £6.46 a day for a late start. When it applies and how it lands.

A switch that failed or started late earns you money: £6.46 a day for a delayed start, £10.34 a day for lost service. The complaint wording and how to escalate to the ombudsman.

What advertised average speeds actually promise, the minimum guaranteed speed your provider must hit, and the 30-day window that lets you leave penalty-free if it does not.

Every legal way out of a broadband contract without a fee: the 14-day cooling-off period, a price rise or material change, speed below the guarantee, and being out of contract.

What your final broadband bill should show after switching: refunds for unused days, the router-return rules, and the charges worth challenging.

What actually happens on broadband switch day under One Touch Switch: the handover window, what can go wrong, who pays if it does, and what to keep to hand.

Yes, you can switch broadband mid-contract. How the exit fee is worked out, the four ways it disappears, and how to actually make the move before your term ends.

Switching broadband under One Touch Switch: you contact only the new provider, give no notice to the old one, and lose no service. The full step-by-step, costs and protections.

Wifi not working splits into two completely different problems. Work out which one you have first, then follow the path that actually fixes it.

No internet at all? Run these five checks in order, from the router to the line to a real ISP outage, and you find the one thing that has actually broken.

If the whole line drops and not just one phone, the fault is your connection, not your wifi. Here is how to tell a re-sync from a router crash from a line fault, and what to say to your ISP.

Slow broadband has a handful of usual causes, and they leave different fingerprints. How to tell whether it is your wifi, peak-time throttling, something that changed today or the line itself, and the complaint wording that gets money back.

Most slow broadband is a Wi-Fi problem, not a line problem. Work through the fixes in order, from the 60-second wired test to the point where the only real fix is a faster line.

Wifi that drops every few minutes, on one device, or in one room is three different problems. The pattern of the drops tells you which, and where to start.

Refused a broadband social tariff? The common reasons, the fix for each, a copy-paste complaint template, and the free appeal route if it comes to that.

How to apply for a broadband social tariff in three steps. What to have ready, the no-fee mid-contract switch, and the two providers that ask for more.

Only Vodafone and Hyperoptic accept PIP for a broadband social tariff. Why the others refuse it, and every route a PIP claimant still has.

Income-based JSA, income-related ESA and Income Support qualify for a broadband social tariff. Why the contribution-based versions get refused, and what to do.

On Pension Credit, Guarantee Credit qualifies you for every social tariff. Savings Credit alone is the catch, and which provider is most lenient on it.

Every social-tariff provider accepts Universal Credit, the cheapest fixed line is £12.50, and most applications are paperwork-free. How to switch in minutes.

Full fibre availability changes street by street. How to check your exact address, who is building it, and what to do if you cannot get it yet.

Moving house resets your broadband. Whether to take your deal with you or switch, what can go wrong, and how to make the move pay.

The number a wi-fi speed test gives you is not your line speed. How to test properly, why wifi runs slower than your plan, and how to tell the wifi from the line.

Every broadband comparison site is paid by the companies you switch through. An honest verdict on the UK sites, who is Ofcom-accredited, why most rank by commission not value, and how to use any of them without getting fleeced.

Ultrafast means 300 Mbps and up, and most homes never use it. Who genuinely needs it, who is paying for speed they cannot feel.

Working from home is won on upload speed, reliability and a backup, not on the headline download number. Here is what home-working broadband actually needs.

Nothing dramatic happens when your contract ends, except the price. What changes, what staying costs, and how to switch.

Gaming broadband is won on ping, not speed. What gamers actually need, why full fibre wins, why you do not need gigabit, and the setup that matters more than the package.

The average UK broadband bill is about £35 a month, but plenty pay far less for the same speed. What broadband should cost, tier by tier.

Most UK ISP routers are good enough now. When the free hub is fine, when it is genuinely the problem, what to actually buy if it is not, and why the router is rarely the real reason your broadband feels slow.

Ping is the number that decides whether your connection feels sharp, and it is mostly not the download speed you pay for. What a good ping is, why yours is high, and how to lower it.

A bigger broadband bill is almost always one of two things: an annual rise, or your contract ending. Here is which, and what to do about it.

The word fibre on a broadband advert means almost nothing. What FTTP, FTTC, cable and 5G actually are, the speeds and upload each really gives you, and which to pick at your address.

Most UK homes need far less speed than they are sold. The honest per-activity numbers for streaming, gaming and working from home, why 100 Mbps is plenty for most, and how to work out your own number.

Community Fibre Essential is a London-only full-fibre tariff at £12.50 a month for 35 Mbps, with unlimited data.

Hyperoptic Fair Fibre is full-fibre social-tariff broadband from £13 a month, with no credit check and one of the widest benefit lists in the market. The catch is the only honest catch worth caring about: you can only get it if Hyperoptic's network already reaches your building.

Sky Broadband Basics is the social tariff with a velvet rope on the door. It costs £20 a month for an average 36 Mbps, with no exit fee, but you can only have it if you are already a Sky Broadband customer. You cannot join Sky to get it.

Vodafone Essentials Broadband is a single plan now, £20 a month for speeds up to 73 Mbps. That makes it the fastest mainstream social tariff in the UK, and the one with the widest list of benefits that qualify you, PIP included.

Virgin Media runs two social tariffs. Essential is £12.50 a month for 15 Mbps, and Essential Plus is £20 a month for 54 Mbps.