Broadband Service Quality Awards 2016

Best Broadband Provider

Winner: Plusnet

Last year’s overall winner, Plusnet, has once again scored highest across the board – customer service, equipment, reliability and value for money – meaning it holds on to the coveted title, Best Broadband Provider.

Sheffield-based Plusnet began life as Force9 Internet, a small provider launched by a company called Choice Peripherals, specialising in PC accessories.

It became a big player in the UK broadband market after being acquired by BT Group in 2006, yet according to feedback we received, it has managed to retain a small-company approach to customer service.

Best Equipment

Winner: Virgin Media

From router to set-top box to home phone, Virgin Media has beaten the other providers to the Best Equipment gong for a second year running. Customers really rate Virgin Media's kit, and we completely agree with them: it's the best by miles.

At Cable.co.uk, we have received positive feedback for Virgin Media’s Superhub, Superhub 2 and TiVo set-top box throughout the year, so we’re happy the users we interviewed recognised their provider's outstanding performance in this area.

Best Customer Service

Winner: Plusnet

Plusnet's loved-up customers have bestowed their provider with another award, this time for Best Customer Service.

Plusnet continues to provide a personal touch when dealing with consumers. As a result, it outperformed Virgin Media, Sky, BT, TalkTalk and EE, winning another huge pat on the back from those who have first-hand experience of its services.

Best Reliability

Winner: Plusnet

Once again, the people who rely on Plusnet to provide dependable broadband have endorsed the company.

When deciding the winner of this award, reliability is judged on the basis of personal opinions rather than true statement of fact. However, at Cable.co.uk we believe that customer perception in this area is far more commendable than the results of statistical analysis of outages, for example, could possibly be.

Best Value

Winner: Plusnet

And the award goes to... Plusnet, again! Not only do the provider's customers feel they receive a reliable service from a company that values them, they also believe they're getting what they pay for.

Plusnet stole the show in this year's customer-chosen awards, just as it did in our inaugural awards in 2015.

The provider's slogan is, "Broadband that loves you back". The customers we spoke to certainly seem to be feeling it.

Fastest Widely Available Broadband

Winner: Virgin Media

Last year’s winner has clinched it again. Virgin Media’s speeds simply can’t be matched. This is because it maintains one huge advantage over BT, TalkTalk, Sky and all of the smaller providers: it has its own widely available, exclusively-fibre network. The others operate on BT Group’s Openreach network and are bound by its upper speed limits.

Its freedom from Openreach means Virgin Media can make its own decisions about available speeds, and the other providers still haven’t got close to matching its top speed of 200Mbps.

Best Broadband & Phone

Winner: BT

A combination of factors makes the UK’s oldest and most popular broadband provider worthy of this award. All of its packages come with free weekend calls, and its standard broadband is available to over 99% of UK homes and businesses.

The BT Unlimited Infinity 1 plus weekend calls deal is particularly commendable. It offers download speeds of up to 52Mbps and unlimited broadband usage for less than £30 per month. Also, BT does not conduct traffic management, which means its customers' broadband speeds do not slow down during busy hours.

Best Broadband-only Package

Winner: Virgin Media 100Mb

As the only provider currently offering true broadband-only deals, Virgin Media is once again the inevitable recipient of this award. As a result of having its own network, it provides broadband without requiring customers to have a landline installed.

Virgin Media is likely to continue receiving this award year in, year out until other providers recognise that many UK households do not want or need a home phone, and find a way to provide broadband on its own.

Best Inclusive Calls

Winner: EE

With its competitive pricing and fast speeds, EE has been gradually working its way into the premier league of broadband suppliers in the UK. It has been awarded this, its first Cable.co.uk award, for the options it provides customers looking for a good deal on phone calls with their broadband package.

EE is not alone in offering free weekend calls as standard in its broadband packages. However, unlike other providers, for just £6.50 per month, its customers can also get anytime UK landline calls, inclusive calls to landlines in 40 countries and 1,500 minutes to UK mobiles.

Best Bundle (broadband, TV & phone)

Winner: The Sky Box Sets Bundle

Previously known as the Sky Family Bundle, the Box Sets bundle was the obvious recipient of this award. Combining leading entertainment channels and more HD coverage than any other package and an extensive choice of premium on demand television, it offers wider and more flexible viewing options than anything else on the market.

Customers get access to the well-stocked Sky Box Sets library featuring more than 300 premium TV series to watch on demand. To top things off, this is all available across mobile devices at no extra cost with Sky Go.

Best Business Broadband

Winner: BT

Whether they’re in the office or out and about at meetings, BT business broadband customers have excellent internet access due to the five million BT wi-fi hotspots located across the UK and Ireland.

The most popular choice among businesses big and small, the telecoms industry stalwart’s customers have access to support services 24 hours a day, seven days a week. On top of this, Microsoft Office 365, 1TB of cloud storage, 10 email addresses and 50MB of web space are provided standard.

Best Website

Winner: Sky

Sky’s website was the hands-down winner of this award. By far the most user-friendly for both new and existing customers, the site is easy to navigate and the information it provides is to the point and, most importantly, accurate.

Attractive and accessible, the site always employs a great use of graphics, but this year it has looked particularly good as a result of Sky teaming up with Illumination Entertainment’s The Secret Life of Pets in order to promote Sky Broadband and the Sky Switch Squad.

Extra Mile

Winner: VoIP Unlimited

When a lack of broadband threatened to leave a state-of-the-art fossil museum on Dorset’s Jurassic Coast stuck in the Stone Age, VoIP Unlimited came to the rescue.

The Kimmeridge Trust, the charity that built the multi-million pound Etches Collection in the isolated village of Kimmeridge, had feared it wouldn’t be able to reach out to fossil-enthusiasts around the world due to poor quality broadband connection and mobile coverage. Local telecoms firm VoIP Unlimited went above and beyond, creating a bespoke wireless network to ensure the museum could connect with potential visitors.

Rising Star

Winner: TenTel

Offering contract-free broadband and home phone without credit checks, TenTel provides much-needed services to customers including students, tenants and those with unreliable incomes or poor credit histories.

Launched just two years ago, the Scottish company is helping to fill a gap in the market, providing people who, for a wide variety of reasons, would otherwise struggle to secure internet access and landlines for their homes.

Best Deal

Winner: BT

In October this year, BT offered new customers a discounted year-long deal that meant they got fibre broadband of up to 52 Mbps for the same price as a typical standard speed package.

For £394 per year, customers received broadband speeds that were up to three times faster than standard, plus they could claim a further £175 back. Weekend calls to UK landlines and 100GB of free online storage were included, and those who signed up to the deal could opt for free BT Sport for six months.