Plusnet broadband vs BT broadband

BT is the UK's best-known broadband provider, with plans from entry-level part fibre to gigabit full fibre and a full suite of extras including TV, home phone and WiFi boosters.

Plusnet is owned by BT Group and uses the same Openreach network, but takes a stripped-back approach - simpler plans, fewer extras, lower prices.

Plusnet is hard to beat on price for straightforward broadband. BT wins where extras matter.

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At a glance: Plusnet vs BT

Top picks: Plusnet and BT broadband deals

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Price

Winner: Plusnet. It's significantly cheaper than BT across all full fibre speed tiers, making it one of the best value options on the Openreach network.

Despite being owned by the same parent company and running on the same Openreach network, Plusnet's pricing is considerably lower than BT's. Plusnet Full Fibre 74 starts at just £19.99 per month - one of the cheapest full fibre deals available nationally, and £6 per month less than BT's equivalent Full Fibre 2 at £25.99:

At 74Mbps, both plans deliver the same underlying connection - the same street cabinet, the same fibre line, the same Openreach infrastructure. The difference is purely what each provider charges to sit on top of it. For a household that streams, video calls and browses without needing any extras, Plusnet delivers an identical broadband experience at a lower price.

The saving carries through to mid-range speeds too:

Plusnet Full Fibre 145 at £22.99 per month is one of the cheaper 150Mbps-class deals available from a national provider. At this speed tier, a household of three or four people can comfortably stream 4K content on multiple devices simultaneously, with headroom left over for video calls and gaming. BT's equivalent costs more for a broadly similar experience.

Setup is free with both providers. Both supply the same WiFi 5 router - BT customers receive the BT Smart Hub 2, while Plusnet customers get the Plusnet Hub Two, a rebranded version of the same hardware running different firmware.

The more significant difference is on extras. BT customers can add a home phone line for £5 per month, inclusive call plans, TV via EE, WiFi boosters through Complete WiFi, and premium Halo packages. Plusnet offers very little beyond the broadband connection itself.

For customers who need those extras, BT is the only realistic choice of the two. But for households that just want a reliable broadband connection without the additional services - and don't want to pay for things they won't use - Plusnet makes a compelling case. The broadband itself is the same; the price is not.

Annual price rises

Both BT and Plusnet implement annual price rises. BT will increase prices by £4 per month each March from 2027 for new customers signing up now. Plusnet's terms should be checked at the time of signing up as these may differ.

Overall, Plusnet is the clear price winner - and the gap is large enough that for straightforward broadband, it's hard to justify paying more for BT.

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Broadband packages

Winner: BT, on range. Plusnet wins on price, but BT offers a far broader set of options for customers who need more than just broadband.

Plusnet and BT use the same Openreach network, so the underlying connection is identical. The differences come down to what each provider wraps around it. Here's a summary of where they stand:

• Plusnet is cheaper across all equivalent full fibre speed tiers
• BT includes more options - home phone, TV, WiFi boosters, and premium Halo packages
• Both supply the same WiFi 5 router and offer free setup
• Both require a 24-month minimum term
• Neither offers multi-gigabit speeds - both top out at 900Mbps on Openreach

Full fibre packages

Full fibre is available to the majority of UK homes now, and both Plusnet and BT offer a range of Openreach FTTP plans. Plusnet is cheaper at every tier:

The speed options are broadly equivalent, but Plusnet's pricing undercuts BT consistently. For customers who just want a reliable full fibre connection without extras, the choice is fairly straightforward - Plusnet delivers the same broadband for less.

Neither provider offers multi-gigabit speeds - both top out at 900Mbps on Openreach. Customers wanting speeds beyond that would need to look elsewhere; Sky's CityFibre plans reach 2.5Gbps and 5Gbps where available, or even BT-owned EE broadband offers up to 1.6Gbps on the same Openreach network used by BT and Plusnet.

Part fibre packages

For addresses not yet reached by full fibre, both providers still offer part fibre plans. Where full fibre is available, both providers will offer that at the checkout - part fibre won't be presented as an option:

Plusnet keeps things simple with a single part fibre plan. BT lists several part fibre tiers, but the pricing between them is inconsistent - in some cases a faster plan costs the same as or less than a slower one. If you're on BT and considering a part fibre plan, BT Fibre 2 is generally the best value of the options available, but check what's available at your address first.

Extras and add-ons

This is where the two providers diverge most clearly. Plusnet offers very little beyond the broadband connection itself. BT, by contrast, has a full suite of optional extras:

• Home phone line: £5 per month, with inclusive call plans available on top
• Complete WiFi: £10 per month, includes up to three mesh boosters and a whole home signal guarantee
• EE TV: recordable set-top box with NOW-based memberships and optional sports and cinema add-ons
• BT Halo: premium tier adding tech support and automatic 4G mobile broadband backup for households that need an ultra-reliable connection
• BT Virus Protect: free on all plans, covering two devices

Plusnet has none of these. No home phone option, no TV, no WiFi booster service, no mobile backup. For some customers that's liberating - you pay for broadband and nothing else. For others, particularly households that work from home or want a more complete telecoms package, it's a genuine limitation.

Overall, Plusnet wins on price and simplicity. BT wins on range. The right choice depends almost entirely on what you actually need from your broadband provider.

Read more in our full reviews of Plusnet broadband and BT broadband.

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Broadband speed

Winner: BT edges it on minimum speed guarantees, though advertised speeds are near-identical across equivalent plans.

Because Plusnet and BT both use Openreach, the physical connection is the same - the same fibre cable, the same street cabinet, the same national infrastructure. For most customers, this means the speed comparison between the two providers is largely academic. Where it does matter is in the minimum guarantees each provider commits to if things go wrong.

Advertised speeds

Here are BT's current average download and upload speeds across its full range:

Plusnet's speeds are closely matched across equivalent tiers:

The two tables are almost identical on downloads - which is exactly what you'd expect from two providers using the same physical network. If you're choosing between Plusnet and BT purely on the basis of advertised download speeds, you're not really choosing at all.

On uploads, Plusnet is marginally faster on some plans - 75Mbps versus BT's 73Mbps at 500Mb, and 115Mbps versus 110Mbps at 900Mb. Neither is likely to be a deciding factor for most households. Upload speed matters most for people who regularly work with video remotely, back up large amounts of data to the cloud, or stream their own content - for everyone else, the difference is negligible.

Neither provider offers symmetrical uploads. For customers who need equal upload and download speeds - typically creative professionals or businesses - you'd need to look at providers like Sky's or Vodafone's CityFibre plans instead.

Minimum speed guarantees

Both providers are signed up to Ofcom's broadband speeds code of practice, meaning each customer receives a personalised speed estimate and a minimum speed guarantee at sign-up. If speeds fall below that minimum, customers can exit their contract without penalty - which makes the guarantee a meaningful consumer protection, not just a marketing figure.

This is where BT pulls ahead of Plusnet - and the gap is worth paying attention to:

BT's minimum guarantees are stronger at most tiers - and at the faster end, the gap is substantial. A BT gigabit customer is guaranteed at least 700Mb; a Plusnet gigabit customer is guaranteed 500Mb. That's a 200Mb difference in the floor speed at which either provider would let you walk away from your contract penalty-free.

In practice, the vast majority of customers will receive speeds close to what's advertised regardless of which provider they're with - the Openreach network is reliable, and both providers deliver it competently. The minimum guarantee is more relevant when things go wrong: a noisy line, a fault on the local network, or a property that's harder to serve. In those circumstances, BT's higher floor gives customers more leverage to act.

The exception is the 300Mb tier, where Plusnet's guarantee of 165Mb edges ahead of BT's 150Mb - a minor reversal that's unlikely to influence many purchasing decisions, but worth knowing about.

On balance, speed shouldn't be the primary reason to choose between Plusnet and BT - the day-to-day experience on equivalent plans is almost identical. But if you're signing a 24-month contract and want the stronger safety net, BT's guarantees offer more protection.

Read more about broadband speeds and how they work.

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Router

Winner: BT. Both providers supply the same base hardware, but BT's firmware supports mesh - giving it a practical advantage Plusnet can't match.

BT supplies the Smart Hub 2; Plusnet supplies the Hub Two. They share the same chipset, the same antennas and the same WiFi standard - but different firmware means they don't behave identically, and the practical difference matters more than the spec sheet suggests.

BT's router is designed to work with mesh WiFi boosters through the Complete WiFi add-on, extending wireless coverage seamlessly around the home. Plusnet's version doesn't support mesh at all. Customers who want whole home coverage with Plusnet would need to connect a third-party mesh hub to the router via a wired LAN connection first, then add mesh boosters on top - an arrangement that Plusnet's technical support won't assist with, and that most customers would reasonably find more trouble than it's worth.

Here's how the two routers compare:

For a smaller home or flat where a single router provides adequate coverage, the mesh distinction is irrelevant - the two routers will perform similarly day to day. For a larger property with thick walls, multiple floors, or dead spots in certain rooms, BT's supported mesh option is a meaningful advantage that Plusnet simply can't replicate cleanly.

The broader context is also worth keeping in mind. Both routers were launched in November 2018 and neither has been updated since. WiFi 5 handles everyday broadband use competently, and the majority of devices in most homes still connect on WiFi 5 or older - so it's not a crisis. But the market has moved on. WiFi 6 is now standard from providers like Sky, and WiFi 7 is now available from Vodafone and EE. Customers signing a 24-month contract with either BT or Plusnet are committing to hardware that was already a generation old when it launched.

If the router matters to you - either because you have a large home or a lot of connected devices - BT is the better choice of the two, and its Complete WiFi add-on at least offers a supported path to better coverage. If you're happy running a single router and the hardware isn't a priority, the practical difference between the two is minimal.

Read more about the best routers offered by broadband providers.

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Broadband extras

Winner: BT. Plusnet has stripped back its offering considerably - no home phone, no TV, no WiFi guarantee. BT offers all of these and more.

This is the section that most clearly explains why BT costs more than Plusnet. The broadband itself is the same - but BT wraps a full suite of optional extras around it that Plusnet simply doesn't offer. For customers who need any of these, the choice is made for them.

Home phone

Plusnet no longer offers a home phone line on any of its broadband plans. BT customers can add a digital home phone line for £5 per month, which includes pay as you go calls, BT Call Protect and Caller Display - features that help screen and block nuisance callers automatically.

Unlimited calls to UK landlines and mobiles can be added for £18 per month. For households that still use a landline regularly, this is a straightforward add-on that Plusnet can't match at any price.

WiFi guarantee

Plusnet offers no whole home WiFi guarantee. BT's Complete WiFi add-on costs £10 per month and includes up to three WiFi Disc boosters, which extend wireless coverage around the home and connect seamlessly to the Smart Hub 2.

BT promises a "strong connection" in every room as shown on the MyBT app, with a £100 bill credit if that standard isn't met. It's not the most specific guarantee on the market - Sky's WiFi Max promises actual minimum speeds rather than a signal strength reading, and costs less - but it's a supported, well-established option that works for most households.

For customers who need an even more reliable connection, BT's Hybrid Connect add-on at £7.55 per month automatically switches to EE's 4G mobile network if the fixed line goes down. Useful for home workers or households that can't tolerate any downtime.

BT Halo

BT Halo is BT's premium tier, bundling Complete WiFi, Hybrid Connect and a range of additional benefits including access to Home Tech Experts, a free upgrade to full fibre when it reaches your area, and double data on BT Mobile and EE Mobile plans. It's aimed squarely at households that want a more managed, hands-off experience - and it's priced accordingly.

TV

Plusnet no longer offers a TV service. BT's TV service - now delivered through EE TV - can be bundled with any BT broadband plan, with discounts available when taking both together.

EE TV is built around NOW memberships, giving access to Sky Entertainment, Sky Sports, Sky Cinema and TNT Sports through a recordable EE TV Box Pro. Netflix and Discovery+ can be added on top. It's a flexible platform - plans can be changed month to month - though accessing premium content generally works out more expensive via NOW than through Sky directly.

Here's a selection of BT's current broadband and TV bundles:

From 26 March 2026, EE TV customers on the Entertainment tier will be automatically upgraded to include HBO Max through NOW. Disney+ and Hayu remain exclusive to Sky.

Read more about BT TV packages.

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Customer service

Winner: Plusnet. It has become the least complained-about broadband provider in the UK, outperforming BT on almost every customer service measure.

Plusnet's customer service record has improved steadily over the past few years - and the latest data puts it at the top of the market. In Q1 2025, Plusnet recorded the fewest complaints of any major broadband provider for the first time, with just 5 complaints per 100,000 customers. It retained that position in Q2 2025, dropping further to 4 complaints per 100,000. The most recent Q3 2025 figures show Plusnet at 5 complaints - still well below the industry average of 8.

BT recorded 9 complaints per 100,000 customers in Q3 2025, just above the industry average. That's a reasonable performance - BT is far from the worst in the market - but it's a significant gap behind its own subsidiary.

It's a notable turnaround for Plusnet. The provider had a difficult period following a billing system upgrade in 2018 that drove complaint figures up into 2019 and beyond. The recovery since has been gradual but consistent, and BT Group's investment in a new Sheffield office in mid-2024 appears to have helped consolidate the progress.

The customer satisfaction data below is drawn from Ofcom's Comparing Customer Service report, published May 2025, covering 2024 data:

Plusnet leads BT on almost every measure. Its overall satisfaction score of 91% is among the highest of any major provider - and for a budget broadband service, that's a combination that's genuinely hard to find elsewhere. Fewer customers have a reason to complain, more complaints are resolved on first contact, and satisfaction with complaints handling is 10 percentage points higher than BT's.

The call waiting time stands out. Plusnet answers the phone in 50 seconds on average; BT takes three and a half minutes. For a customer dealing with a fault or an outage, that's not a trivial difference.

The one area where the two providers are effectively level is speed satisfaction - 85% for BT versus 84% for Plusnet. Given that both use the same Openreach network, that's unsurprising.

Both providers operate entirely UK-based call centres - Plusnet from Sheffield, BT having brought its operations back to the UK in 2020.

Overall, Plusnet is the clear winner here. Cheap broadband and strong customer service is an unusual combination - most budget providers trade one off against the other. Plusnet currently offers both.

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Verdict: Which is better, Plusnet or BT?

Overall winner: It depends what you need - but for straightforward broadband, Plusnet is hard to beat on price and customer service.

Plusnet and BT aren't really competing for the same customer. Both are owned by BT Group, both use Openreach, and both deliver the same physical connection - but they're deliberately positioned at opposite ends of the market. Choosing between them is less about which is better and more about which is right for you.

If you want broadband and nothing else, Plusnet's case is compelling. It's significantly cheaper than BT at every speed tier, has become the least complained-about broadband provider in the UK, and answers the phone in under a minute. For a no-frills connection that just works, it's difficult to find better value from a national provider.

If you need more than broadband, BT is the only realistic choice of the two. Home phone, TV via EE, Complete WiFi boosters, Hybrid Connect 4G backup and BT Halo are all available - none of them are options with Plusnet. The more services you need to bundle, the more BT's higher prices become justifiable.

We like Plusnet because:

• Significantly cheaper than BT across all full fibre speed tiers
• Currently the least complained-about broadband provider in the UK
• 91% overall customer satisfaction - among the highest of any major provider
• Average call waiting time of 50 seconds
• Free setup and same Openreach connection as BT

However, BT is the better choice if you need:

• A home phone line
• TV bundled with broadband
• Whole home WiFi coverage through Complete WiFi
• 4G mobile backup via Hybrid Connect
• Free virus protection on two devices
• A stronger minimum speed guarantee at gigabit speeds

For most households who just want reliable broadband at a fair price, Plusnet is our pick. But the closer your needs are to a full telecoms package, the more BT starts to make sense - and it's worth being honest with yourself about what you'll actually use before committing to 24 months.