Searching for a broadband provider to switch to?
In this article, we’ve explained the 5 best broadband deals for new customers you can buy in 2024.
We’ve also explained how to choose a broadband provider, and what types of offers you can get as a new broadband customer.
Let’s get started.
Contents
Best broadband deals for new customers
In this part of the article, we’ve reviewed 5 of the best broadband deals for new customers in the UK right now.
1. BT Fibre 1
As a new BT Broadband customer, you can get a reward card, on most of their fibre plans.
This BT Reward Card functions like a debit card, and can be used almost anywhere, helping to offset at least a month’s worth of broadband, which is quite a good offer.
The best thing about BT though is their customer service. We’ve tested their Fibre 1 and FIbre 2 plans, and found them to offer consistent speeds. And when we’ve gotten in touch with BT, they’ve been helpful, and quick to answer the phone.
BT Broadband isn’t as cheap as some other providers, when you compare their monthly costs. However, they offer ultrafast download speeds, and their router offers good Wi-Fi signal, in our experience.
You also get a minimum speed guarantee, allowing you to leave the contract or get compensation if your speeds aren’t good enough, which not all providers offer.
Overall, if you don’t mind paying a bit extra for better customer service, BT Broadband is a great choice for new customers.
Pros
- Offers consistent Wi-Fi signal and speeds.
- Helpful customer service.
- Includes a reward card for new customers.
- Comes with a minimum speed guarantee.
Cons
- Monthly costs aren’t the cheapest.
2. Vodafone Pro II Broadband
Vodafone offers a huge amount of benefits for new customers with their Pro II Broadband deals.
When you sign up, you get:
- A WiFi 6E router, which offers better Wi-Fi signal and speeds than most other routers on the market.
- A Wi-Fi signal booster, giving you even better Wi-Fi coverage in the far corners of your house.
- A 4G internet backup device, keeping you online if your fibre ever goes down.
- Access to a dedicated Wi-Fi support team, which Vodafone calls “WiFi Xperts”.
You can also choose to pay extra and get an Apple TV 4K device bundled as well, plus 24 months of Apple TV+.
The other great thing Vodafone does is offer a discount on their broadband plans for mobile customers. If you’re on a pay monthly Vodafone mobile plan, you can get a cheaper price on any of their broadband deals.
Also, no matter what Vodafone Broadband package you choose, there are no upfront costs, which is nice.
However, there is a downside to Vodafone: their monthly costs are quite high on their Pro II plans, because of all the extras included for new customers.
Pros
- No upfront fees.
- Discounts available for Vodafone mobile customers.
- Comes with a range of useful add-ons, including a WiFi 6E router.
Cons
- Quite high monthly costs on Pro II Broadband.
3. NOW Broadband Full Fibre 75
If you’re looking for the cheapest possible broadband deal you can buy as a new customer, NOW Broadband has you covered.
This provider has some of the lowest monthly costs on the market, and their upfront fees are very reasonable as well.
NOW is able to achieve this by keeping their plans very simple and straightforward. There aren’t any free gifts or other benefits included, although you can choose to include Sky Broadband extras, for an additional fee.
You do have to commit to NOW Broadband for 24 months, when signing up as a new customer. This is quite a long initial contract length – there are more flexible broadband providers on the market.
Also, you can only get a download speed of up to 100 Mbps with NOW Broadband. This is plenty for most families, but you might want faster speeds if you work from home, or often download large files.
Pros
- Often offers the lowest monthly costs on the market.
- Reasonable setup fee.
- Simple plans – great choice if you want to keep things minimal.
Cons
- 24 month minimum commitment.
4. EE Broadband Busiest Bundle
Similar to Vodafone, EE offers a range of extras for new broadband customers, including benefits for EE Mobile subscribers.
If you have a pay monthly EE Mobile plan, and you buy EE Broadband, you can get a free upgrade to unlimited mobile data, if your plan costs at least a certain amount each month.
You can also choose to add new unlimited data EE SIM plans for much cheaper than it would normally cost, once you become a broadband customer.
As a new EE Broadband customer, you can get free Xbox Game Pass access included with some plans, and they’ll send you a WiFi 6 compatible router, giving you better signal and speeds over long distances.
Although EE Broadband often has quite high monthly costs, their upfront fees aren’t normally too high, and sometimes there are no setup fees at all.
Another good thing about EE Broadband is they offer some of the fastest download speeds of any broadband provider in the UK at the moment.
With their Busiest Home Bundle, you can get a download speed of 1,600 Mbps, or 1.6 Gbps, in certain full fibre areas – much faster than the 900 Mbps top speeds available with most other providers at the moment.
Pros
- Unlocks unlimited data for EE Mobile customers.
- Includes free Xbox Game Pass.
- Offers the fastest widely available broadband in the UK right now.
- Comes with a WiFi 6 compatible router.
Cons
- High monthly costs.
5. Plusnet Full Fibre 74
Plusnet is another cheap broadband provider, similar to NOW Broadband.
They don’t offer many benefits or free gifts for new customers, but they do offer some of the most competitive prices on the market, and they don’t normally charge an upfront cost.
Plusnet is owned by BT, and they essentially offer the same service, and the same range of plans, just without many of the benefits or extras that BT includes.
We’ve tested their Full Fibre 900 plan, and found it to offer consistent download speeds, and good Wi-Fi signal. We also found Plusnet customer support to be quite helpful when we contacted them – you speak to the same UK support team that BT customers can access.
Overall, if you don’t need extras or other bonuses, and just want a cheap broadband plan, Plusnet is definitely worth considering.
Pros
- No upfront fees, normally.
- Low monthly costs.
- Good customer service.
- Great consistency and speeds.
Cons
- No extras or other benefits included for new customers.
Buying broadband explained
Below, we’ve explained some key things to consider when shopping for a new broadband deal.
What types of offers are available for new customers?
Broadband providers in the UK, especially the more premium options, often include bonuses, discounts and extras to attract new customers.
1. Bonuses and free gifts
If you’re switching broadband providers, you might see free gifts included, such as:
- Wi-Fi signal boosters.
- Mobile broadband backup devices, in case your internet ever goes offline.
- Free access to Xbox Game Pass.
- Free Netflix, Disney+, or Apple TV+ for a certain period.
- Free hardware devices, such as an Amazon Kindle, Alexa/Google Nest, or Apple TV device.
- Free subscriptions to antivirus services.
- Free upgrades to a faster broadband plan, if you’re an existing customer of the broadband company using another service, like your mobile phone.
- Extra mobile data, if you’re an existing pay monthly mobile customer of the same company you’re buying broadband from.
- Free mobile data SIM cards.
It also used to be common for broadband providers to offer free anytime landline calls for new customers. However, these offers have become quite rare in recent years, as landline calling has become less popular.
2. Discounts
For some people, the above offers might not be of much interest. Instead, you might prefer to pay a lower monthly cost, rather than getting freebies, when switching broadband providers.
Fortunately, many broadband providers offer discounts and other financial incentives for new customers, such as:
- Reward cards (normally, these work like a debit card, and can be used at most stores, helping to offset some of your first few broadband bills).
- Discounts for existing mobile customers (Vodafone for example does this).
- Free broadband access for the first few months of the contract (relatively rare, BT has done it in the recent past).
- Free installation and router shipping.
How to save as much money as possible on broadband
If you’re on a budget, look for broadband deals that come with discounts, rather than free gifts or bonuses, for new customers.
Most of the time, the plans that include extras such as Wi-Fi signal boosters will have a higher monthly cost for the life of the contract. These types of plans are offered by more premium, expensive providers.
Instead of choosing a more expensive broadband provider like BT, if you want to access new customer discounts, look for a company that focuses on offering cheap broadband deals, like NOW Broadband, or Plusnet.
How much can I save by switching broadband providers?
If you’re out of contract with your current broadband provider, you’re likely paying about £35-£70 per month for your connection, depending on the download speed, and any landline or TV add-ons included.
If you switch broadband providers and commit for 12, 18, or 24 months, you can expect to pay about £25-£35 per month for a superfast broadband deal, with a download speed of 30-100 Mbps.
On the other hand, if you want ultrafast fibre broadband, with a download speed of 300 Mbps or more, you can expect to pay about £40-£60 per month, excluding any add-ons.
Most of the time, if you switch broadband providers and keep your speeds the same, you can save at least £15-£25 per month on your broadband bill.
What broadband speed can I get?
In the last few years, fibre broadband rollouts have accelerated in many parts of the UK.
It could be that you can now upgrade to fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) broadband, if you want faster download speeds.
If you can get full fibre broadband, this should allow you to access download speeds of up to 900 Mbps in most parts of the UK. On the other hand, if you’re limited to fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) broadband, you’ll likely only be able to get superfast broadband speeds of 30 to 300 megabits per second.
To find out what download and upload speeds you can get, use our postcode coverage checker.
How to choose a broadband provider with good customer service
If you’ve been with your current broadband provider for an extended period, or if you’re buying broadband for the first time, you might be a bit worried about whether or not the provider you choose will be any good.
In this case, it might be worth paying a bit more to join an internet service provider that is known to have good UK-based customer support.
We have tested BT at a few different addresses now and found their call centre to offer good support – and we’ve never had significant issues with our connection. However, they are more expensive than most other providers.
To learn more about the customer satisfaction of each major British broadband provider, read Ofcom’s report on broadband companies’ customer service performance.
How to switch broadband providers
Once you’ve chosen a new broadband deal, here’s what you need to do to make the switch.
- If changing between Openreach providers (BT, EE, TalkTalk, Plusnet, Vodafone, Shell Energy Broadband, Sky, and NOW Broadband, among others), simply place your order on the new provider’s website. They will handle the cancellation of the old connection for you. They’ll then ship your new Wi-Fi router, and organise the changeover to your new connection. An engineer visit may be needed if you’re upgrading to FTTP broadband for the first time – this is likely the case if you’re going to get a big increase in download speeds.
- If changing between an Openreach provider and a non-Openreach provider, such as Virgin Media, the process is a bit different. You’ll need to place the new broadband order, and call up your existing provider to cancel the current connection. Make sure to schedule the cancellation date at least a few days after your old connection comes online, to avoid any downtime. Your new provider will ship your router, and an engineer visit will likely be necessary before you can get online, unless you’ve used the network you’re switching to at your address before.
To learn more, read our guide to switching broadband providers.
Conclusion
This is the end of our guide to the best broadband plans for new customers.
Still not sure which provider to choose? Leave a comment below, and we’ll get back to you.
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About the author
Tyler is the co-founder of Broadband Savvy. He has been helping people improve their broadband connectivity since 2018 by writing about fibre broadband and mobile broadband providers, as well as creating tutorials to help people improve their broadband speeds and Wi-Fi signal.
Tyler is responsible for the majority of buyer’s guides and broadband reviews published on Broadband Savvy. He has a wealth of experience testing and reviewing different broadband tariffs, including fibre internet plans, as well as 4G and 5G broadband deals. He is responsible for testing and evaluating Wi-Fi routers, performing speed and latency tests, and comparing the value for money of different broadband providers on the market in the UK.
Before co-founding Broadband Savvy, Tyler had a long history of tinkering with computers. He built his first PC at the age of 12, and since then, he’s become obsessed with all things networking and internet-related. He’s a massive gamer, loves Rocket League, and also plays Sunday League football.