BT broadband explained
BT is owned by the BT Group Plc which is a large multinational telecommunication company with roots back to 1846. By the 1990s UK households had access to dial-up internet, and in 2000 broadband was being rolled out.
The UK now has big 4 operators (BT, Sky, Virgin and Talk Talk) who share almost 80% of the broadband market. BT is the largest provider of broadband in the UK, as of Jan 2020, their market share is 26%, narrowly ahead of Sky’s.
BT’s fibre broadband speeds entry package starts at an average speed of 36Mbps, with the top package carrying an average speed of 300Mpbs
BT has invested heavily in sports broadcasting and now offers live Premiership Football and exclusive live European Football, Premiership Rugby and WWE via their BT Sports channel.
The Key Benefits of BT broadband
- Minimum speed guarantee with BT’s Stay Fast Guarantee or receive compensation of £20
- Free Smart Hub with strong signal strength for fast reliable internet speeds
- 18 month contract with free weekend calls as standard
- BT Virus Protect - BT’s free virus software
- Additional add-on to guarantee reliable strong connectivity in all rooms of the house or refund of up to £20
What are BT’s broadband packages?
BT has 5 broadband-only deals which include line rental. All BT broadband deals include as standard, unlimited usage, BT Virus Protect and Parental Controls and line rental worth £19.99 per month
BT uses the Openreach fibre optic network to get high-speed broadband to customers which covers 95% of the UK. For customers not yet covered by Openreach’s fibre network but have an ADSL line supplied by Openreach, BT is still able to provide broadband. The top speed is likely to be around 16Mbps, with the Your Stay Fast Guarantee add-on, you’ll get a minimum bespoke speed guarantee or your money back.
BT Fibre Essential
- Download speed ranges from 35 Mbps to 36 Mbps
- 32Mbps stay fast guarantee
- Upload speed ranges from 8 Mbps to 9 Mbps
- Unlimited data usage
- BT Smart Hub
- Parental control
- BT cloud storage
- BT speed promise or £20 paid back to you
- Ideal for a couple of devices to browse and stream
BT Fibre 1 (BT superfast Fibre 1)
- Download speed ranges from 46 Mbps to 50 Mbps
- 39 stay fast guarantee
- Upload speed ranges from 8 Mbps to 9 Mbps
- Unlimited data usage
- BT Smart Hub
- Parental control
- BT cloud storage of 200GB
- BT speed promise or £20 paid back to you
- Ideal for few devices being used for browsing, streaming and downloading
BT Fibre 2 (BT superfast Fibre 2)
- Download speed ranges from 46 Mbps to 72 Mbps
- 39 stay fast guarantee
- Upload speed ranges from 13 Mbps to 18 Mbps
- Unlimited data usage
- BT Smart Hub
- Parental control
- BT cloud storage of 1000GB
- BT speed promise or £20 paid back to you
- Ideal for HD downloads and gaming on multiple devices at once
BT Standard broadband
- Broadband average speed of 10 Mbps
- Router – BT Hub 4
- Virus protection included for 2 devices
- BT cloud storage of up to 200GB
BT Fibre 100
- Average download speed of up to 145 Mbps
- Average upload speed of up to 28 Mbps
- BT Smart Hub X
- 1 TB BT cloud storage
- Unlimited data included
BT Fibre 250
- Average download speed of up to 300 Mbps
- Average upload speed of up to 47 Mbps
- BT Smart Hub X
- 1 TB BT cloud storage
- Unlimited data included
What other services you can get from BT home broadband offering?
| Sky Sports packages / channels |
Yes (Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports 2) |
| BT Sports / BT Sports app |
Yes |
| TV channels |
Yes (Uses YouView TV box) |
| Fibre optic broadband service |
Yes |
| ADSL broadband service |
Yes |
| Mobile phone deals and packages |
Yes |
| Call package options |
Yes |
| International calls |
Yes - on selected countries and add -on |
What are BT’s Broadband and TV deals?
BT’s broadband with a TV package from Free Price Compare start with 105 channels including the premium channel BT Sports worth £18 per month plus a BT Gift Card on selected packages. BT’s top TV channel package through Free Price Compare includes 171 channels which include 4K channels, Sky Sports, BT Sports, Sky Cinema and a BT Gift Card*
(*This is a promotional product and is subject to change at any time)
What are BT’s Broadband and phone deals?
BT’s standard lines are Pay As You Go, though it is possible to have 500 minutes Anytime option added on for an additional monthly fee which will give you 500 minutes of calls to mobiles and landlines in the UK. For customers wanting more minutes, BT offers Unlimited Minutes add-on feature, which as the name suggests will give you unlimited calls to mobiles and landlines in the UK.
What hardware does BT offer to new customers?
BT has two routers which they offer, BT Smart Hub and Smart Hub 2. The Smart Hub is the standard router that will give you reliable fast internet. The Smart Hub 2 router which has extra features that includes automatic optimal connections for devices connected to the hub. Smart Scan will monitor for network performance issues and will automatically reboot if necessary. The Smart Hub 2 if not part of a broadband bundle but is available at an extra cost.
What software do I get with BT Broadband?
BT will offer free antivirus software on all of its internet packages, saving customers around £80 when you compared against leading premium anti-virus software. The software will perform scans for viruses, malware, trojans, tracking cookies, spyware, adware, and suspicious programs. It has a built-in firewall, which will prevent hackers from snooping and stealing important information. On top of that, it also has a feature called, Site Advisor, which informs you if a website has malicious content.
What Parental Controls are there?
BT’s antivirus comes with Parental Control allows the assigned administrator to monitor usage, block specific websites or particular genres of websites. It also allows you to manage the screen time of children.
Does BT offer a minimum speed guarantee?
BT’s Stay Fast Guarantee which can come free with certain packages or is available at an additional monthly cost. BT’s Stay Fast will guarantee a minimum speed or £20 back if the speed issue is not resolved within 30 days.
BT’s Stay Fast Guarantee customers will have their connection continually monitored for performance issues, with priority telephone support from call centres based in the UK and Ireland. Engineer visits are prioritised which ensures Stay Fast Guarantee customers will be seen much faster than other customers.
How do you connect the BT Smart Hub to the internet?
BT’s Smart Hub router is easy to install without the need for an engineer. Plug one end of the ADSL cable to the router and the other end to the telephone socket, and finally plug the power cable to the device and power socket and turn on then you’re ready to go.
How do you set up a BT TV set-top box?
Setting up you BT TV set-top box is fairly straight forward. At the back of your set-top box, there will be a socket for a TV aerial. Connect the TV aerial cable into the socket labelled “Antenna” or “Aerial”, then plug the other end to the wall socket for the external aerial. This will ensure you receive all the free to air channels. To get the premium channels like BT Sport, connect the ethernet cable from the router to the set-top box. Finally, plug in the power cable to the set-top box, and then to a power socket, and you’re ready to go.
Does BT provide emails?
BT gives all its customers free email accounts with the suffix @btinternet.com. The email is available through a browser or the My BT app. Email service comes with 10 additional email accounts that family and friends can use. BT’s email service includes antivirus and antispam features.
What is BT Cloud storage?
Cloud storage is the ability to store files, photos or videos on BT’s servers rather than on an SD Card or USB memory sticks which can be become corrupt, damaged or get lost.
Depending on the package deal you choose, you will get 10Gb - 1Tb of free storage. Extra storage is charged at £3 per 50Gb, or £9 per 500Gb.
To access your cloud storage file, all you need is the internet.
What is BT’s customer service and support like?
BT is the UKs biggest broadband provider, and it wants to keep it that way, so it is keen to keep its customers happy, by providing great customer service.
With BT, customer support is 24/7 and available on 0800 800 150. The website is innovative in that BT has posted videos of the most common issues experienced by customers and the solutions.
The Virtual assistant is available instantly to answer routine questions. However, if you’d rather chat to an adviser, the online chat function can be activated at any time.
BT broadband download and upload speed analysis including peak time hours
|
Download Speed |
Upload Speed |
| Plan Speed |
Maximum |
24 hours |
8pm-10pm |
Minimum |
Maximum |
24 hours |
8pm-10pm |
Minimum |
| ADSL2+ |
10.0-12.5 Mbps |
9.7-12.1 Mbps |
9.7-12.1 Mbps |
8.6-10.8 Mbps |
0.8-0.9 Mbps |
0.8-0.9 Mbps |
0.8-0.9 Mbps |
0.7-0.8 Mbps |
| 36 Mbps FTTC |
27.6-30.2 Mbps |
26.6-29.2 Mbps |
26.5-29.0 Mbps |
23.7-26.6 Mbps |
5.6-6.5 Mbps |
5.5-6.4 Mbps |
5.5-6.4 Mbps |
5.3-6.2 Mbps |
| 50 Mbps FTTC |
46.6-48.2 Mbps |
45.6-47.2 Mbps |
45.2-46.9 Mbps |
41.8-44.0 Mbps |
8.5-9 Mbps |
8.4-8.9 Mbps |
8.4-8.9 Mbps |
8.1-8.6 Mbps |
| 67 Mbps FTTC |
63.3-65.5 Mbps |
62.4-64.6 Mbps |
62.1-64.3 Mbps |
58.3-60.7 Mbps |
17.1-17.6 Mbps |
17-17.5 Mbps |
17-17.5 Mbps |
16.6-17.1 Mbps |
| 67 Mbps FTTP |
73.4-74.8 Mbps |
73.1-74.4 Mbps |
72.9-74.2 Mbps |
71.6-73.2 Mbps |
20.6-21.1 Mbps |
20.6-21 Mbps |
20.6-21 Mbps |
20.5-20.9 Mbps |
| 145 Mbps FTTP |
148.6-150.3 Mbps |
145.5-148.1 Mbps |
145-148.0 Mbps |
137.9-142.5 Mbps |
31-31.3 Mbps |
30.9-31.2 Mbps |
30.9-31.2 Mbps |
30.8-31.1 Mbps |
| 300 Mbps FTTP |
306.7-309.9 Mbps |
300.5-304.1 Mbps |
298.0-303.2 Mbps |
278.7-286.3 Mbps |
48.2-49.6 Mbps |
48.1-49.6 Mbps |
48.1-49.5 Mbps |
47.8-49.3 Mbps |
- Name: BT
- Legal Name: BT PLC (Public Limited Company)
- Operated in Regions: UK & Ireland, Asia, Middle East & Africa, Europe, Americas
- Plans offer: Broadband, TV, Landline, Mobile, and Sport
- IPv6 Support: Yes
- Ofcom Code of Practice: Yes
- Relocation Support: Yes
- BT Customer Service Number: 0800 917 0510
- BT Complaint Number: 0800 800 150
- Overall Satisfaction according to Ofcom: 80%
- Customer reviews: 6506 Trustpilot
