BT vs NOW Broadband

BT is the UK's biggest broadband provider and focuses on offering premium packages with a range of extra features and services for customers to choose from.

NOW Broadband is the budget brand from Sky, with a focus on simple, low-cost entry-level deals for customers who want to save the most money.

Ultimately, for households only wanting broadband speeds up to 100Mbps, NOW Broadband remains the cheaper option without taking too many sacrifices.

---

At a glance

Best deals

---

Price

Winner: NOW Broadband offer cheaper entry-level deals than BT does. They also include a home phone line as standard, while BT broadband customers have to pay £5 extra.

NOW Broadband starts at just £23 per month for a superfast part-fibre or full fibre broadband connection, which makes it one of the cheapest providers in the UK.

BT also offer a number of entry-level deals, but their pricing starts much higher at £29.99 for 67Mbps part-fibre speeds, or £30.00 for full fibre.

Some of BT's broadband deals also come with a setup fee, currently £31.99, while NOW Broadband only charge £5 and this is refundable against the customer's first bill.

In terms of annual price rises, both BT and NOW Broadband implement increases, with BT broadband now going up by £3 per month each year, and NOW Broadband adopting similar increases for 2024 although actual terms are less specific and just say 'prices may rise'.

Households who want to access a home phone line will also find NOW Broadband cheaper than BT, as NOW Broadband includes line rental in their monthly prices as standard, while BT customers have to pay an extra £5 per month to get a digital phone line.

Overall, NOW Broadband is noticeably cheaper than BT broadband, and while they only offer connections up to 100Mbps this should be adequate for most households.

---

Broadband packages

Winner: BT offer a wider range of broadband package than NOW Broadband does, there are also more optional extras if customers want them.

NOW Broadband focuses on offering low cost broadband packages, with one part-fibre and two full fibre options available.

While BT also offers packages equivalent to NOW Broadband's range, they also have a much wider range of speed options, including ultrafast and gigabit-capable deals.

Here are the providers equivalent plans side-by-side:

As you can see, NOW Broadband are noticeably cheaper than BT across similar speed packages, and customers also get an equivalently-spec'd router and cheaper setup.

BT also offer a Fibre Essential package with 36Mbps average speeds; however, this is currently more expensive than their Fibre 2 plan above at £33.99 per month so we've left it out.

The exact deals available will vary depending on location, but both BT and NOW Broadband resell connections using the same Openreach network, so availability will match up.

For faster broadband deals, customers can either look at NOW Broadband's parent company Sky for ultrafast or gigabit deals, or these options from BT:

BT broadband is more competitively priced these days, but people who do want faster speeds should compare providers as better deals are often available, including from Sky.

For more information on either provider see our BT broadband review and our NOW Broadband review.

---

Broadband speed

Winner: BT offer average download speeds up to 900Mbps, while NOW Broadband's top speed is only 100Mbps.

While both BT and NOW Broadband resell broadband using the Openreach part-fibre and full fibre networks, only BT offer ultrafast and gigabit download speeds.

NOW Broadband offer two full fibre options; 75Mbps and 100Mbps, BT offer customers a much wider choice with options for 150Mbps, 500Mbps and 900Mbps as well.

In terms of how fast the providers are in real life, we can look at their advertised averages which must be received by at least 50% of their customers during the busy peak hours of 8pm to 10pm in the evening.

Here are NOW Broadband's average speeds:

And those of BT broadband's packages:

It's difficult to compare NOW Broadband and BT broadband on a like-for-like basis as they resell different Openreach wholesale plans, for example where NOW Broadband offer 100Mbps, BT offer 150Mbps instead.

One of the major factors to affect broadband speed experience however is the router. While both NOW Broadband and BT broadband offer a similar router, NOW Broadband customers can upgrade to a WiFi 6 model for an extra £3 per month, which isn't yet an option with BT. This could make a difference to households with WiFi 6 devices, such as a Sky Stream box.

Minimum broadband speeds

Both NOW Broadband and BT are signatories of Ofcom's voluntary code of conduct on broadband speeds. This sets out that providers should give customers estimated speeds based on their individual property, and a minimum guaranteed download speed - that should the provider fail to deliver the customer is free to exit their contract without penalty.

Most broadband customers will never need to rely on these minimums, but they are reassuring that if a broadband connection performs badly they're not tied into a long contract.

Using two test locations, we were given the following minimum download speeds by BT and NOW Broadband on both their part-fibre and full fibre connections:

Despite using the same underlying network, BT offers slightly faster speed estimates and minimum speed guarantees on their packages compared to NOW Broadband.

Overall, BT beat NOW Broadband for speed for offering both ultrafast and gigabit-capable packages, as well as faster speed estimates and minimum speed guarantees across similar plans.

---

Router

Winner: NOW Broadband customers can upgrade to the WiFi 6 enabled Sky Max Hub, while BT only offer a WiFi 5 BT Smart Hub 2.

NOW Broadband, now powered by Sky, comes with the Sky Broadband Hub as standard, it's similar in specifications to BT's Smart Hub 2, with both devices offering dual-band wireless over the WiFi 5 (or 802.11ac) protocol.

However, those who sign up to NOW, can also choose to upgrade to the WiFi Max add-on for an extra £6.50 per month. This comes with both a router upgrade to the Sky Max Hub, as well as includes up to three Plume WiFi Pods to boost speeds around the home.

Here are the specifications of BT and NOW Broadband's routers side-by-side:

BT also offer a Complete WiFi add-on for £10 per month, however this only includes up to three WiFi discs and works with the standard BT Smart Hub 2.

Overall, NOW Broadband beat BT for offer customers the ability to upgrade to a more up-to-date WiFi 6 enabled router.

---

WiFi guarantee

Winner: NOW Broadband guarantee speeds up to 25Mbps, while BT only guarantee a 'strong' signal.

Both NOW Broadband and BT broadband offer a decent WiFi guarantee that stands up well in a general market comparison.

NOW's WiFi Max costs £6.50 per month, so it's cheaper than BT's Complete WiFi which costs an extra £10 per month, and as we've covered above NOW also include an upgraded router too.

Both WiFi guarantees work in a similar fashion, a customer is sent out one WiFi booster and if they don't get the minimum speed or a 'strong' signal on the MyBT app in every room in their home they can request a second booster, and then a third.

After being sent three boosters if a customer still doesn't achieve the minimum as per the guarantee they'll get either one month's broadband and WiFi Max subscription refunded in the case of NOW Broadband, or a £100 bill credit for those with BT.

Overall, the wireless guarantees are comparable with the main difference being the pay out if the boosters don't reach the minimum guaranteed speeds or coverage levels.

---

Call plans

Winner: NOW Broadband include a home phone line as standard with all their packages, while BT customers have to pay an extra £5 per month. Anytime calls are also cheaper with NOW Broadband than with BT.

Both BT and NOW Broadband offer customers the ability to take a digital home phone line and add inclusive call plans.

NOW Broadband packages all come with a home phone line with pay as you go calls as standard, while BT broadband customers have to pay an extra £5 per month for this.

Anytime call plans are also cheaper with NOW Broadband, costing £16 per month for calls to UK landlines and UK mobiles at any time, while BT charges £18 per month.

NOW Broadband offer the following call plans:

While these are the options available with BT broadband for calls:

Overall, NOW Broadband customers get a home phone line included in the cost, and also offer cheaper any time calls than BT does.

---

TV

Winner: NOW Broadband customers can bundle Sky TV, which is a more comprehensive TV service than BT TV.

Customers signing up to both NOW Broadband and BT broadband can bundle a TV service if they want to. NOW Broadband offer access to Sky's new Stream TV platform, while BT offer the newly-named EE TV (was BT TV).

Somewhat ironically, while BT TV is based on NOW TV Memberships, NOW Broadband can no longer be bundled with NOW TV but customers can add Sky TV in the checkout instead.

Both TV services are loosely based around premium Sky content however, with additional options available to add subscriptions to TNT Sports and Netflix.

One major difference is perhaps that while BT TV is exclusive to BT broadband customers, Sky TV can be accessed by any broadband customer, including those of BT, and NOW Broadband aren't currently offering any discounts on the TV plan compared to taking the service separately.

If we had to compare Sky TV with BT TV, we'd say Sky TV was the more comprehensive TV platform, it's also cheaper on a like-for-like basis than BT TV, offers more on-demand app support and includes more content in 1080p HD as standard.

One area where BT TV does beat Sky TV however is with TNT Sports plans, with the channel pack generally cheaper with BT than with Sky.

For Sky Sports and Sky Cinema content however, Sky TV is the cheaper option. Sky also includes Netflix in the standard monthly price, as well as access to Discovery+ Basic, and customers get Paramount+ with Sky Cinema subscriptions.

Here are a couple of BT and Sky TV deals side-by-side for comparison on prices:

While the BT packages above include both broadband and TV, Sky's TV plans would need the price of NOW Broadband (£23 or £25) added as well.

Overall, we'd pick NOW Broadband for TV, although BT broadband customers could also access the same Sky platform instead of BT TV if they wanted to.

---

Customer service

Winner: BT currently have a better record for customer service than NOW Broadband according to independent research by industry regulator Ofcom.

Despite being owned by customer service kings Sky, NOW Broadband has gathered more complaints in Ofcom's quarterly research in recent months.

In the most recent quarter reported in April 2024 - Q4 2023 - NOW Broadband received 18 complaints per 100,000 customers, while BT only had 11 - less than the industry average of 12.

BT also had less landline complaints than NOW Broadband in the last quarter too, with 7 complaints per 100,000 customers, compared to 10 with NOW.

So, BT has been performing better than NOW Broadband with lower complaints records, and has also shown strong performance in Ofcom's customer satisfaction surveys, which don't yet cover NOW Broadband on all data metrics.

We can see how they compared side-by-side here:

Both providers currently use UK call centres, although there has been reports NOW Broadband's owner Sky could be moving some call jobs overseas, so that's one to watch out for in terms of customer satisfaction with call handling.

Overall, we'd pick BT over NOW Broadband for customer service, they have lower complaints and higher levels of customer satisfaction.

---

Verdict: BT vs NOW Broadband - which is best?

Overall winner: BT and NOW Broadband target different customers, on price we'd pick NOW Broadband, but many households may prefer BT's more comprehensive packages and faster speed options.

NOW Broadband is more akin to Plusnet, in that they're the budget brand for Sky, where Plusnet is the budget brand for BT.

So, comparing NOW Broadband with BT broadband is harder as their packages and services are geared towards customers with different priorities.

NOW Broadband is clearly the winner over BT when it comes to cost, their packages start from as little as £23 per month for part or full fibre, and customers don't really miss out on much for that either - with options to upgrade the router, access a WiFi guarantee, and even get a home phone line included as standard.

On the other hand, BT offer faster broadband packages with speeds in excess of NOW Broadband's fastest 100Mbps plan, customers can choose 500Mbps or even 900Mbps.

BT customers can also access premium services like BT Halo, which bundle a WiFi guarantee with their Hybrid Connect service to offer automatic 4G back-up and reliable resilience for home workers.

Customer service may also be better with BT, with lower complaints than NOW and dedicated UK-based call centres, which may not always be the case with NOW.

Ultimately, for those on a budget NOW Broadband is easily the better choice over BT, and customers will receive the same quality router and network connection. Yet, BT may be the better option for those ultra-reliant on their broadband connection who want access to additional services to keep them online at all times.

Read more in our guides to NOW Broadband vs Plusnet and BT broadband vs Sky.