Broadband providers

How to choose a broadband provider

Choosing a broadband, TV and phone provider can be a tricky undertaking, especially if you don’t know where to start. So, let us break the process down into some logical steps for you, to make the whole thing a little easier.

First off we recommend using our broadband postcode checker to find out which providers operate in your area. Some providers are available almost everywhere while others are only available in some areas. By using our postcode checker you can check quickly and easily what your provider options are.

How to compare providers

There are three different ways you can use our postcode checker:

If you’re only interested in one particular provider then click on their logo above. You’ll be sent to a page that lists all of their packages and lets you check availability in your area by postcode. This may not be the best method as ignoring all of the other providers may mean you’ll miss out on some of the best moneysaving deals.

If you want to compare all packages from all providers you might want to start with the postcode checker on our homepage. You can click on the blue Cable.co.uk logo in the top left of any screen to go there.

If you’re interested in a specific service such as broadband or digital TV then you may find it easiest to start by going to the comparison page for that particular type of package.

Do I need to compare providers?

We strongly recommend that you do. The broadband, TV and phone market is a very competitive place and there are some amazing deals to be had if you don’t limit your comparison to a single provider.

If you’ve got an idea of what you're looking for when you start your search but keep an open mind and compare a wide selection of providers and packages you may well find something better than you hoped at a lower price than you were expecting.

Compare cheap broadband providers

Who is the best provider?

Each provider has their own strengths and their own range of bundles, deals and offers. You may have come to this site assuming that one provider is better than the others but when you compare them all you’ll see that they each have a lot to offer.

However, if it weren't for the unique situation we have in the UK with one provider on one network and everyone else on another, this would be a tough question to answer. Thankfully, that is the situation and it's not. There is a clear winner when considering speed, reliability and value: Virgin Media.

What makes Virgin Media the best provider?

Virgin Media is the best broadband provider in the UK. It offers the fastest speeds at up to 350Mbps (four times faster than its nearest rival, in fact), the best technology, the best reliability and future-proofing.

• The fastest broadband – Virgin Media is the only provider offering what are quite frankly insane speeds across much of the country. The fact that it can comes down to the technology on which it was built. BT, Sky, TalkTalk, EE, Plusnet and all the others operate on the Openreach network, a major part of which (that running between the cabinet and your home) uses copper phone lines that could be eighty years old
• The best technology – Virgin Media offers the best technology out there, both in terms of the cabling that makes up its network, and – arguably – the router that distributes the data around your home. The Virgin Hub (now on version 3.0 at the time of writing) is a superb bit of kit that, if not exceeds, certainly matches the best the competition has to offer, blow for blow
• Value for money – How do you quantify value for money? Well, we look at all sorts of things, from the quality of the service and equipment to the speeds you get. And Virgin Media wins, hands-down, especially if you look at it on a cost-per-megabit basis. Here's an example (these were prices extracted at the time of writing and may have changed some by the time you're reading this). Virgin Media's top-end 350Mbps service can be snagged for about the same money as BT's fastest deal, which reaches speeds of only 67Mbps

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