Looking for a good broadband provider to join in Glasgow?
In this article, we’ve explained which are the five best broadband deals you can buy right now if you live in Glasgow or its surrounding areas.
Further on, we’ve also explained some good things to keep in mind when buying broadband in Scotland, to help you find the right tariff for your specific needs.
Best broadband deals in Glasgow
Let’s begin our reviews.
1. EE Full Fibre 500
EE full fibre broadband is available throughout Glasgow, and offers consistent speeds and performance from our testing.
They ship WiFi 7 routers as standard on all of their deals, which is very rare to see, especially given that EE Broadband’s deals almost never have upfront costs.
As a result, this provider’s broadband service offers stable speeds and good WiFi signal, even at long range from the router, thanks to the technology they give you.
EE’s monthly costs are very reasonable, and they also offer benefits for EE Mobile customers, such as free upgrades to unlimited data on existing pay monthly plans.
There are faster broadband providers available in Glasgow, especially when it comes to upload speeds, but EE’s Full Fibre 500 plan offers plenty of bandwidth for nearly any household, and you can get download speeds of up to 1.6 Gbps on their fastest plan.
Their 500 Mbps deal is the best value for money though, most of the time.
Pros
- Great WiFi tech.
- Good value for money.
- Consistent speeds and performance.
- Nice range of benefits for EE Mobile customers.
Cons
- Upload speeds aren’t the highest at the moment, but it’s still plenty for most households.
2. Virgin Media Gig1
Virgin Media is not as widely available as EE Broadband in Glasgow, but they still have great coverage, and have made some significant improvements to their service over the past year or so.
Virgin is now shipping their Hub 5 or Hub 5x router on all of their deals, which both offer WiFi 6, and are a decent upgrade over the old Hub 3.
Plus, Virgin Media’s customer service has also become a lot better recently. According to Ofcom data, they’re now receiving fewer customer complaints than many of the other major providers on the market.
Virgin’s Gig1 plan offers really fast download speeds of 1,130 Mbps, making it the fastest available plan at many addresses in the city.
And in some locations, you can upgrade it to get symmetrical download and upload speeds for a pretty reasonable price.
Virgin is also a really good choice if you want a broadband and TV deal, but although their broadband-only deals offer very low monthly costs, this provider can begin to get expensive if you include a lot of add-ons on your plan.
Pros
- Very fast download speeds.
- Offers symmetrical downloads and uploads in many parts of Glasgow.
- Great customer service.
- Good WiFi router.
Cons
- Can begin to get expensive if you add extras such as TV or symmetrical speeds.
3. BT Full Fibre 500
BT actually owns EE, and in general, of the two, we tend to recommend choosing the company we mentioned earlier in the article.
The two providers’ deals are almost identical, except EE Broadband offers faster maximum speeds, and better WiFi routers. BT is still shipping their relatively outdated Smart Hub 2 router to new customers.
However, if you have a smaller apartment or house where WiFi coverage isn’t an issue, meaning you don’t need WiFi 7, BT can offer really good value for money.
They have no upfront fees on their plans most of the time, as well as very low monthly costs. BT also has good UK-based customer service in our experience, and they’re easy to reach over the phone.
Plus, if you use this link to sign up, you’ll usually get a free BT reward card when you join BT Broadband.
On BT’s faster plans, like Full Fibre 500, this reward card can give you £50-£100 back, which you can spend at most online stores, effectively giving you two or three months of free broadband as a new customer.
Pros
- Great value for money.
- Often comes with a quite valuable included reward card.
- Good customer service.
Cons
- Not the best WiFi router.
4. Vodafone Pro 3 Broadband
Vodafone’s Pro 3 plans are essentially the exact opposite to how BT’s deals are structured at the moment.
Both providers offer 24 month contracts with no setup costs, but rather than focusing on offering basic, simple plans, Vodafone’s deals are more expensive, and come with a lot of different quite useful benefits included, such as:
- The Ultra Hub 7 WiFi 7 router, which offers really good speeds and signal.
- WiFi extenders – as many as you need to ensure good signal throughout the house, up to a maximum of three.
- A 4G broadband backup device which plugs into your router, and connects to the Vodafone 4G network to keep you online if your fibre ever goes down.
Plus, since Vodafone uses both the Openreach and CityFibre networks, this provider is widely available throughout Glasgow, including outside the city centre, while offering extremely fast download and upload speeds of up to 2.2 Gbps if the CityFibre network is available in your area.
It’s also worth mentioning, Vodafone also has two cheaper tiers of deals which are really good value for money, and are a great choice if you want to access these types of download speeds without paying more for the Pro 3 benefits.
Both of these cheaper types of plans come with Vodafone’s Power Hub WiFi 6 router, but the more expensive of the two also comes with a WiFi extender, which can be useful in larger houses.
Pros
- Pro 3 plans come with a WiFi 7 router and extenders.
- Extremely fast download and upload speeds in many areas.
- Cheaper deals are really good value for money.
Cons
- Can be expensive if you choose Pro 3.
5. Hyperoptic Hyperfast
Hyperoptic is a broadband altnet that’s available in many parts of Glasgow, especially in the city centre.
They offer symmetrical download and upload speeds as standard, with 900/900 Mbps available on their most expensive Hyperfast plan.
There are upfront fees at times with Hyperoptic, which is a bit of a downside, but as a smaller provider, their customer service is very good, and they have very competitive monthly costs.
It’s also worth knowing that Hyperoptic is quite basic – they don’t offer cable TV add-ons for example, and the routers they ship you are simple models on most plans.
However, they do offer the option of a 12 month or rolling monthly contract, as well as the 24 month default, which is quite rare to see these days.
So if you just want fast broadband with really good download and upload speeds, Hyperoptic can be worth looking at – if you don’t mind that they’re a bit basic.
Pros
- Fast downloads and uploads.
- Good contract flexibility.
- Great customer service.
- Low monthly costs.
Cons
- Quite basic.
- Often charges an upfront fee for new customers.
What you need to know
In this part, we’ve explained what you need to know in order to find the right broadband provider for your needs when living in Glasgow.
Broadband networks and providers in Glasgow: explained
In recent years, there has been a huge amount of investment in broadband infrastructure in Glasgow and in Scotland more broadly.
What’s happening is, apart from the incumbent providers like BT (whose wholesale arm is called Openreach) and Virgin Media, new companies are coming to the city and installing their own separate broadband networks.
This has led to a number of new providers, known as altnets, entering the market.
It has also meant that existing larger providers, such as Vodafone and Sky, are beginning to use these new networks in areas to offer faster speeds to customers, rather than just relying on BT infrastructure.
This has made the broadband market more competitive than ever before. It can seem complex, but this competition is driving down prices and improving speeds available in the city.
When buying, just make sure to check a range of different providers to ensure you find the best options at your address – but don’t use comparison websites, because these don’t usually show all the deals you can get where you are.
Instead, check the best providers we’ve mentioned earlier in this article.
Which broadband networks and providers are available in Glasgow?
With recent broadband infrastructure upgrades occurring around the country, there are now quite a few different broadband networks and providers available in different parts of Glasgow.
- Openreach is widely available, giving you speeds of up to 900 Mbps with providers like BT and Plusnet, and up to 1.6 Gbps with EE.
- Virgin Media is available in most of Glasgow, giving you downloads of up to 1,130 Mbps or up to 2 Gbps in full fibre areas.
- CityFibre has really good coverage, offering symmetrical downloads of up to 2.2 Gbps with providers like Vodafone.
- Hyperoptic has good availability in the city centre, offering download and upload speeds of up to 900 Mbps.
- YouFibre is available in patches in the east and southern outskirts of Glasgow, offering download and upload speeds of up to 8,000 Mbps.
Which is the fastest broadband provider in Glasgow?
In most areas, EE is the fastest broadband provider in Glasgow. Their 1.6 Gbps plan is widely available throughout the city.
However, if you are in an area with Virgin Media’s full fibre technology, you should be able to get download and upload speeds of 2 Gbps if you buy their Gig2 plan and upload speed add-on.
YouFibre does offer 8 Gbps broadband in Glasgow, but it is not widely available in the city proper at the moment.
What broadband speed can I get at my address?
You can use our postcode checker to find out what broadband speed you can get at your address.
In general, most Glaswegians can get a minimum download speed of 900 to 1,600 Mbps on the Openreach network, using EE Broadband.
Which is the cheapest broadband provider in Glasgow?
The cheapest broadband provider in Glasgow is usually Vodafone Broadband.
This provider often has some of the lowest monthly costs on the market, especially if you’re in a CityFibre area – Vodafone’s Openreach deals are very cheap, but their CityFibre ones are even cheaper.
If you put in your postcode on the Vodafone Broadband website and it mentions that your download and upload speeds will match each other, this means you’re in a CityFibre area.
Just make sure to choose a basic tariff with Vodafone, rather than one of their more expensive Pro 3 options.
How to save money on broadband
If you’re on a budget, here are some ways to save money when shopping for a new broadband deal.
- Avoid paying for more speed than you really need. You can use our calculator to find out what minimum download and upload speeds you should be looking at when buying.
- Avoid paying for add-ons or extras that you don’t need, such as cable TV or WiFi extenders.
- Choose a provider that offers cheap, simple plans, like Vodafone (not their Pro 3 deals) or BT.
- Avoid short-term contracts if given the option, as these come with higher monthly costs.
- Avoid providers that charge installation fees, such as Hyperoptic, unless the monthly cost is too good to pass up.
What will I need to do to switch broadband providers?
Fortunately, thanks to Ofcom’s one-touch switching scheme, changing broadband providers is easier than it ever has been.
Here’s what you need to do:
- Place an order for broadband on the new provider’s website. They will ask who your current supplier is, and arrange to cancel the old connection on your behalf.
- Your current provider will contact you and may offer a last-ditch deal to help convince you to stay. Assuming you refuse this, they will likely ask you to return your router in the mail – they’ll provide a postage-paid envelope you can use once the switch is complete.
- Your new provider may need to arrange an engineer visit to finalise setting up your connection. If this is necessary, you can normally specify when works for you during the checkout process. This is more likely to be needed if you’re using this company at your address for the first time, and you will need to be home for the appointment.
- If no engineer visit is needed, you’ll receive your new router in the mail and set it up yourself. Normally it’s quite a simple process – you just need to plug it into power, connect it to your broadband socket, power it on, and connect to WiFi using the login details printed on the device.
- Your old broadband connection will be cancelled as arranged by your new supplier. They will inform you of the cut-off date. This may be simultaneous to the new connection going live, especially if the two broadband connections are using the same infrastructure.
Remember, if you are still in contract, you will have to pay an early termination fee to your current broadband provider before you can leave them.
Conclusion
This is the end of our guide to the best broadband deals in Glasgow at the moment.
In general, we think EE Broadband is a really good choice because of the WiFi tech that they offer, but BT and Virgin Media are also both worth checking out if you want a cheap broadband-only deal.
If you’re still not sure which provider to choose, leave us a comment below, and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.
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About the author
Tom is the founder of Broadband Savvy. He has more than five years’ experience writing broadband tutorials, reviewing routers and internet service providers, and explaining broadband-related concepts. Tom is experienced as a writer, and also produces videos for the Broadband Savvy YouTube channel.
He currently specialises in writing content for Broadband Savvy designed to help people understand broadband jargon and terminology, increase their download and upload speeds, and improve their Wi-Fi connectivity. Tom also occasionally contributes to buyer’s guides and review articles on Broadband Savvy, utilising his knowledge of the broadband market in the UK.
When he’s not writing about broadband, you’ll find him walking his dog (Rex) or playing agar.io.
I found it very helpfully as I will be getting broadband installed very soon.