John Lewis Broadband

John Lewis Broadband packages come with three speed levels for customers: 10Mb (Unlimited), 36Mb (Fibre) and 66Mb (36Mb). Unlimited is a completely copper-based service while Fibre and Fibre Extra use the superfast fibre broadband network to deliver services.

All John Lewis Broadband deals are backed by Plusnet technology and Plusnet customer service - John Lewis is a reseller of Plusnet services rather than running their own networks and call centres. This means many features of John Lewis Broadband plans are the same as Plusnet's including their average speeds and customer satisfaction.

John Lewis do differ in some ways from Plusnet thanks to their evening and weekend inclusive calls to landlines and shorter 12-month contracts. However, John Lewis Broadband plans are more expensive than the comparable deals from Plusnet.

12-month contracts are standard for John Lewis Broadband deals, so customers who don't want to sign up for longer deals will be satisfied. Plus, unless a property needs a new phone line, there are no setup costs associated with John Lewis Broadband packages.

As a reseller of Plusnet services, John Lewis Broadband packages must be seen as an extension of Plusnet's own broadband deals. This means we can see positives such as high levels of customer service satisfaction as well as potentially low points such as high levels of complaints.

It's also worth noting John Lewis Broadband plans come with evening and weekend calls to UK landlines as standard. If this is a service customers would usually pay extra for, it can make the extra costs of signing up to John Lewis worth it.

Read more about John Lewis Broadband in our full review.

John Lewis Broadband packages are delivered through the Openreach broadband network, so most homes across the UK will be able to access their deals.

The Unlimited broadband package from John Lewis is delivered completely over copper broadband lines so that will be available to the vast majority of houses across the UK. The superfast broadband offered in their Fibre and Fibre Extra plans is delivered via the Openreach superfast network, and this is available to at least 97% of premises across the UK. This means most potential customers will be able to access John Lewis Broadband deals, although not all.

To date, John Lewis Broadband hasn't moved into ultrafast deals, so there are no packages above 100Mb available.

John Lewis uses Plusnet's infrastructure and customer service, so many of the benefits and drawbacks of Plusnet broadband can be applied to John Lewis too.

John Lewis is generally more expensive than Plusnet when there are few real differences between them. Some customers may feel more comfortable signing up with a brand like John Lewis in comparison to a budget provider like Plusnet, but they will be paying slightly more for the privilege.

A few benefits that John Lewis offer over Plusnet are free evening & weekend calls to UK landlines, and a shorter 12-month contract for new customers.

John Lewis often run special offers for customers to encourage them to sign up to their broadband services.

These special offers can take the form of monthly discounts for broadband services, bringing John Lewis Broadband plans down in price to be more competitive with budget rivals like Plusnet and TalkTalk.

There are also occassionally promotions offering customers a reward card for signing up to John Lewis Broadband plans. These reward cards can be redeemed online or at bricks and mortar stores, with the amount of the reward card potentially matching a couple of months of a customer's broadband costs, so they can be good value.

Watch out for special offers on John Lewis Broadband plans by keeping an eye on the table above.

All John Lewis Broadband deals come with line rental included and there are no options to take John Lewis broadband without also taking a line for a home phone.

This is because John Lewis Broadband packages are delivered using the fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) broadband network provided by Openreach. This network uses fibre broadband to the street cabinet and then copper cable takes the internet the rest of the way into a customer's home, meaning there is no way to separate out broadband from line rental.

The good news is that simply having a home phone line doesn't mean a customer has to use it, and they can just leave the home phone unplugged after their broadband is set up if they truly don't want to use it.

John Lewis Broadband packages are available to most households across the UK.

As they offer both basic copper broadband and superfast fibre broadband, John Lewis services reach all but a tiny minority of premises across the UK. However, customers in some areas will only be able to access the basic 10Mb broadband offered by John Lewis if they are in a non-superfast broadband area.

The best way to check which broadband deals are available in your area is by searching using our free broadband comparison tool.

John Lewis Broadband deals are advertised with average speeds of 10Mb, 36Mb and 66Mb.

To make claims about speeds in broadband adverts, ISPs have to be confident those speeds are available for more than 50% of customers at peak times. So, the majority of John Lewis broadband customers will receive average speeds of at least 10Mb, 36Mb or 66Mb depending on which package they take.

As John Lewis are a reseller of Plusnet services, we can look at Plusnet's annual speed testing data published in Ofcom reports for more guidance on the speed of John Lewis Broadband packages.

Plusnet are generally in the middle of the pack, delivering speeds in line with their advertisements at entry-fibre level (36Mb) but are similar to other providers in that their 66Mb package doesn't quite live up to expectations in the real-world.

The John Lewis Broadband website lists several routers that may be supplied to customers depending on the package they take.

Customers taking the basic copper Unlimited package will usually receive the Netgear WNR1000 which works well on ADSL connections but is a very basic router.

Fibre broadband packages from John Lewis generally come with the ZyXEL VMG8924. This router is equipped to deal with the demands of fibre broadband, so it is a dual band router with WPA2 security and four gigabit ethernet ports.

Customers taking John Lewis Broadband deals can use their own router if they'd prefer, although John Lewis say they strongly advise against this because they cannot provide technical support with other routers.

All John Lewis Broadband plans come with free evening and weekend calls to UK landlines, 0845 numbers and 0870 numbers as standard.

Inclusive calls are a rarity in modern broadband, so these inclusive calls are one element of John Lewis's broadband service that makes them significantly different to most other broadband providers including Plusnet and TalkTalk.

Inclusive evening and weekend calls cover the period from 7pm to 7am on weekdays and from 7pm on Friday evening through to 7am on Monday morning.

Additional call plans are available from John Lewis Broadband offering anytime landline calls or anytime landline and international calls. There is also a mobile bolt-on that can be added to either of these two plans to extend anytime minutes to UK mobile numbers.

John Lewis Broadband deals come with inclusive evening and weekend calls to UK landlines which can be considered an extra as so few broadband providers offer anything similar.

As a budget broadband provider, John Lewis Broadband plans don't come with many frills, but this will suit many customers who are looking for a more streamlined broadband experience.

They do say they include a John Lewis email address, although we would always advise customers to use a free email address from a provider like Google or Yahoo as the John Lewis address may be withdrawn if a customer switches away.

John Lewis Broadband customer service is handled by Plusnet call centres, so we can look at Plusnet's customer service record to understand how John Lewis customers may be treated.

Recent Ofcom surveys shows Plusnet customer satisfaction is slightly above the industry average and their customers have slightly less reason to complain than those with other ISPs. However, fewer customers are satisfied with the reliability of service and complaints handling offered by Plusnet advisers in comparison to the industry average.

Plusnet have a comparatively poor complaints record, however, so this is something John Lewis customers should bear in mind when thinking about signing up.

As the entire John Lewis Broadband experience is the Plusnet experience under a different brand name, everything from customer service to speed can be understood by looking at Plusnet data. Read more about broadband customer service.

John Lewis Broadband packages generally come with free setup costs, so customers looking for budget broadband with no upfront fees will find John Lewis a good option. They don't even charge for postage and packing for their router as some cheap broadband providers do.

Something to remember is that free setup only applies if customers already have a working phone line. If this isn't the case, customers will need to pay for an engineer visit to come and install a new line. With John Lewis, this will cost an additional £49.99, but that is cheaper than some of the other options for a new line installation.

Customers will be able to find out at the time of ordering if they will need a new line installed, although most customers will likely be switching from another Openreach provider like BT or TalkTalk so they will be able to use the phone line they currently have.

John Lewis Broadband plans are on 12-month minimum terms, so customers are contracted to stay with John Lewis for at least 12 months after they sign up.

!2-month contracts are becoming a rarity in UK broadband, so the fact that John Lewis Broadband deals are 12-month in length as standard is a plus. Many customers prefer not to sign up to longer deals as they prefer the flexibility of shorter minimum terms.

However, it's worth remembering that John Lewis Broadband packages may increase in price at the end of the minimum term, so customers should be prepared to switch away to a cheaper broadband deal if they want a bargain.

If a customer is already with an Openreach provider like BT, Plusnet or TalkTalk, switching to John Lewis Broadband packages should be straightforward.

Broadband switching between providers on the Openreach network operates on a gaining provider led system, so all a customer needs to do is click through to the John Lewis website on the table above and go through the sign up process with their new provider. John Lewis Broadband will take care of all the details behind the scenes, meaning there will be a seamless switch from one provider to another.

If a customer is on a different underlying network such as Virgin Media's cable network, the process is slightly more complicated. Customers will need to contact their existing provider directly to make arrangements to cancel their broadband and settle on an end date for their current broadband plan. This means customers may have an overlap of service or have some days without broadband.