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John Lewis broadband review 2022

By Dan Howdle | Wednesday, June 8th 2022

3.5/5

As of 4 October 2022, John Lewis Broadband has ceased offering broadband deals to new customers. For the time being it continues to serve its existing customers without interruption.

High-street retailer John Lewis may not be the first name you think of when it comes to broadband, but it’s certainly worth considering. It’s not the cheapest around but it’s not the most expensive either. What’s it worth to you to choose a brand that you trust?

Overview

Average download speeds 10Mbps, 36Mbps, 66Mbps
Average upload speeds 1Mbps, 9Mbps, 18Mbps
Broadband ADSL & fibre
Home Phone Yes
Prices from £18.75 per month

Broadband speeds

John Lewis broadband offers simple no-nonsense packages. There are three packages: Unlimited broadband, Fibre broadband and Fibre Extra broadband. They offer average download speeds of 10Mbps, 36Mbps and 66Mbps.

All three home broadband deals include calls to UK landlines on weekday evenings, and all day at the weekend. There’s also the option to include anytime or international calls, or calls to UK mobiles for an additional fee. There’s no option to do away with the phone line.

A router is included with each broadband deal and there are no activation charges or usage caps. Delivery is included free of charge as well. All three deals come on 12-month contracts, and you can expect price increases after 12 months – as is standard with most other providers.

Download speeds

For some households, standard ADSL broadband will be sufficient. But most will benefit from a faster speed, especially if you stream content regularly and/or download video games from time to time. Also, if there are several people in your household getting online at the same time, you’re probably going to want to opt for a faster internet connection.

John Lewis’ broadband service is provided by Plusnet broadband, which offers slightly cheaper deals for the same speeds. Unlike John Lewis, Plusnet also offers one-month and 18-month contracts on all plans and up to 72Mbps download speed on their top package.

Compare John Lewis broadband

Upload speeds

Upload speeds will matter to people who frequently send emails with large files, upload photos or videos to the web, or those who play games online. For people who spend most of their time reading emails or surfing the web, download speeds will be more important.

You will get upload speeds of up to 9Mbps on John Lewis’ 36Mbps Fibre deal and up to 18Mb on its Fibre Extra package. These upload speeds are very similar to those offered by Sky broadband or BT broadband, and generally faster than the upload speeds on standard fibre packages offered by Virgin Media broadband.

Download limits and traffic management

With John Lewis, you get unlimited data and won’t have to worry about data limits. Unfortunately, there is a traffic management policy in place. This means your service could slow down during peak times. Learn more about traffic management and fair usage policies with our guide.

Deals and offers

John Lewis offers three simple broadband and phone packages with no set-up or activation fees. These include free Bullguard security and a John Lewis email address with Webmail access. Sometimes John Lewis throws in a gift card or free bit of tech to tempt new customers in. You can find a few of its current deals below.

Our most popular deals

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Router and installation

Router

All John Lewis broadband packages come with a free router. The standard broadband package comes with a fairly basic single-band ADSL router. You can install it yourself and there are set-up instructions on the John Lewis website.

If you sign up to one of John Lewis’ fibre deals you get a better router – the dual-band Hub 5. This router has three internal antennae and four gigabit Ethernet ports to enable high-speed connections to any wired devices. A firewall, enhanced wireless security, and parental controls are also included. Again, there’s a set-up guide on John Lewis’ website for these.

John Lewis’s website also has tips about how to get the best Wi-Fi speeds from your device. The Hub 5 is not a bad router, but the tech-savvy will recognise it as not being up there with the Sky Hub or the BT Smart Hub either for range or features.

Installation

John Lewis’s broadband packages come free from installation or activation charges. But you will need a normal phone line for the setup to be fee-free. If you don’t have a phone line, John Lewis can install one for you for a price. This is charged at £49.99 and covers the cost of an Openreach engineer putting in the new line.

If you’re switching broadband providers, John Lewis will contact your current supplier and arrange everything for you. (Unless you are with Virgin Media, in which case you will have to make direct contact). You shouldn’t need to tell your existing provider to cancel your service. Most providers will automatically cancel your service once the move to your new provider is complete.

The switch should take between 10 and 12 working days.

Customer service

John Lewis prides itself on its reputation for first-class customer service. There’s plenty of online support for its broadband customers, including Service Status, which provides details of any maintenance work or issues that might affect your services. There’s also a broadband trouble-shooter that can diagnose and fix problems. Ofcom’s latest customer service report released in May 2021 revealed 81% of customers were satisfied with the service, just over the industry average of 80%.

John Lewis broadband is provided by Plusnet, and offers UK-based 24/7 freephone customer support. The customer services number is 0800 022 3300 and is free to call from any mobile or landline. It’s worth noting that most providers do not offer 24-hour support, so John Lewis Broadband gets top marks in this respect.

Our final verdict

The good

  • Trusted household name
  • UK-based customer support
  • No hidden costs

The bad

  • Not often the cheapest deals
  • Only has 12-month contracts
  • No TV bundles

John Lewis enjoys strong brand loyalty and has a dedicated customer base. But will that persuade customers to choose it over more established broadband providers?

Its three broadband deals are simple and functional but not the cheapest around. Plus you’re restricted to a 12-month contract and a package including a phone line. John Lewis broadband is provided by Plusnet, which offers slightly cheaper deals and a choice of contract lengths, if you sign up directly. It all comes down to how important you consider a name to be.

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