BT broadband vs TalkTalk broadband

BT offers broadband with options for a home phone and TV service, as well as premium extras like a WiFi guarantee and 4G mobile broadband back-up service.

TalkTalk meanwhile, offers broadband over both BT's Openreach network as well as the CityFibre network, with upgraded routers and an optional smart TV box.

Overall, TalkTalk is cheaper than BT and provides full fibre broadband customers with more up to date router technology.

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At a glance: BT vs TalkTalk

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Price

Winner: TalkTalk is cheaper than BT broadband across most equivalent packages, and customers get a better router.

While TalkTalk used to be known as a budget provider, they've moved their offering to a more premium service, with fast full fibre broadband speeds, the latest router, and option to bundle a smart TV box in some areas.

Despite this, TalkTalk broadband prices are still lower than BT across the board, with entry-level full fibre costing from just £28 per month, compared to £29.99 per month with BT for similar download speeds.

BT broadband has always been a more premium service, with bundled and optional extras including a home phone line, inclusive call plans, BT Halo, and a pay TV service. Their pricing is usually at the higher end, but more recently they've started cutting prices from time-to-time bringing them more in-line with mid-market and lower cost deals.

For entry-level full fibre deals, here's how they're pricing looks side-by-side:

TalkTalk Full Fibre 150 currently costs £28 per month with free setup, while BT's equivalent Full Fibre 100 costs slightly more at £29.99.

BT do offer 24-month contracts compared to 18-months with TalkTalk, which means BT's lower introductory prices will last for an additional 6 months, while TalkTalk customers will have to recontract or switch away sooner.

Both providers increase prices annually by £3 per month in April, so there is no difference between them in terms of mid-contract price rises.

Overall, we'd say TalkTalk is cheaper than BT for broadband, and this extends to their home phone service and WiFi guarantee too. A digital voice line costs just £2 per month with TalkTalk, while BT charge an extra £5 per month. TalkTalk's call plans are also cheaper than BT's.

TalkTalk full fibre customers also get a more up to date router included that supports WiFi 6, while all BT customers are still being supplied with the WiFi 5 enabled BT Smart Hub 2.

Compare more of TalkTalk and BT's pricing side-by-side in our free broadband tool.

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Broadband packages

Winner: BT offer more optional extras than TalkTalk, including a 4G mobile broadband back-up service and more comprehensive TV plan, but it's a closely-fought match with premium features also available with TalkTalk.

BT and TalkTalk both offer a similar range of broadband speed choices, with customers in full fibre enabled areas able to pick between entry-level 75Mb deals all the way up to gigabit plans as well.

In part fibre areas, TalkTalk use the same Openreach network as BT, so again, speeds are similar, and even in full fibre enabled areas TalkTalk also use BT's Openreach alongside some CityFibre coverage too.

Here are the main full fibre deals side-by-side:

And for those who've yet to be reached by either Openreach or CityFibre full fibre networks, these superfast part fibre plans are also available from TalkTalk and BT:

TalkTalk's part fibre broadband plans come with a home phone line at no extra cost, while BT customers have to pay £5 per month for this.

TalkTalk full fibre broadband customers can also now access a digital home phone line for £2 per month, while again with BT, this also costs £5 per month. Access to call plans is also available with both providers offering off-peak and anytime plans, although TalkTalk is cheaper.

BT offer some more premium features however, like BT Halo, which basically combines a number of premium broadband services including the Complete WiFi guarantee and Hybrid Connect - a 4G back-up service. BT Halo includes access to home tech experts, doubles mobile data on household plans, a price promise, and a free upgrade to full fibre when it becomes available in the area.

Customers of BT broadband can also add EE TV, which is a pay TV service with access to premium Sky content through NOW subscriptions, TNT Sports, Netflix, and comes with the recordable BT TV Box Pro.

In contrast, TalkTalk offer some of these services but not all. Customers in Openreach areas can sign up to TalkTalk TV, which also offers access to NOW, but comes with a simpler streaming box.

Customers who take TalkTalk's full fibre broadband in an Openreach network area can also sign up to Total Home WiFi and gain access to an extra Amazon eero to help boost wireless speeds. TalkTalk promise minimum download speeds over wireless of 10Mbps in every room, while BT customers should get a 'strong' signal on the MyBT app.

Overall, while TalkTalk offer a range of additional extras, BT beat TalkTalk for broadband packages as they offer more choices and arguably more comprehensive service extras.

Read more in our reviews of BT broadband and TalkTalk broadband.

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Broadband speed

Winner: TalkTalk broadband has faster download speeds on average at peak times than BT broadband does.

BT and TalkTalk both offer broadband connections on the Openreach network, although as a Local Loop Unbundled provider, TalkTalk has their own equipment in exchanges and so manages their network separately to BT.

TalkTalk also offers full fibre broadband connections in areas where CityFibre has coverage, which is over 3.8 million premises so far. Although Openreach has now passed 16 million premises with full fibre.

Broadband speed choices are fairly similar however, with each provider offering at least two part fibre plans, as well as entry-level 75Mb - 150Mb, mid 500Mb, and gigabit 900Mb plans in full fibre areas.

BT offer the following broadband speed choices:

These advertised average download speeds must be received by at least 50% of BT's customers during the peak hours of 8pm to 10pm when the network is busiest. As such, they're a reliable measurement of how fast a connection is likely to be.

TalkTalk's average broadband speeds are slightly faster:

The difference in average download speed is likely down to the different ways TalkTalk and BT manage the networks, as well as the inclusion of speed data from CityFibre network areas too.

Minimum speed guarantees

Alongside advertised averages, we can also look at a provider's minimum speed guarantees to get a better idea of how fast their service is likely to be.

However, while at least 50% of customers receive the average download speed, minimum speed guarantees are really worse case scenarios and ideally shouldn't be what customers experience. Although, if they do, it's reassuring that they'll be able to cancel their contract and switch to a better provider.

Here are the minimum speed guarantees of a selection of BT and TalkTalk broadband deals for two locations, one with full fibre and one without:

As with advertised average speeds, TalkTalk offer faster speed estimates and a faster minimum guaranteed download speed in our test locations.

Overall, while specific areas will vary, this does suggest TalkTalk offers a slightly faster broadband service than BT across equivalent packages.

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Router

Winner: TalkTalk offer a WiFi 6 enabled router across all their full fibre deals, while BT only provides a WiFi 5 router on all plans.

Since launching full fibre broadband deals, TalkTalk now provides customers with either an Amazon eero 6 or an eero Pro 6 on the fastest plans.

The Amazon eero 6 and Pro 6 support the latest WiFi 6 protocol, upgraded WPA3 security, and Intelligent mesh, so additional eero devices can seamless extend coverage around a home.

The faster eero Pro 6 also offers tri-band wireless, which means there are more channels to send signal and data over, improving coverage and speed where multiple devices are going online at the same time.

In contrast, BT's Smart Hub 2 only supports dual-band WiFi 5 and WPA2, and while it does supports speeds up to 1Gbps, it's starting to look outdated next to newer devices, and is closer in specifications to TalkTalk's WiFi Hub Black which is now only provided to part-fibre customers.

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

Customers who take TalkTalk's Full Fibre 900 plan will receive two Amazon eero Pro 6 routers, while those on other plans can get an additional device for an extra £8 per month with TalkTalk's Total Home WiFi which we look at just below.

Overall, TalkTalk beat BT in the router category, particularly for customers who take a full fibre broadband deal.

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WiFi guarantee

Winner: BT's Complete WiFi add-on is a more comprehensive whole home WiFi guarantee, but TalkTalk Full Fibre 900 comes with an extra WiFi booster for free.

BT and TalkTalk have each taken different approaches to helping customers struggling with their WiFi coverage.

BT's Complete WiFi add-on is a more comprehensive service, customers get sent up to three WiFi discs to place around their home to help boost coverage. However, BT use the My BT app to test the wireless signal in each room, ensuring customers have a 'strong' signal.

If the signal in each room in the home is less than strong, and three devices have already been supplied, the customer can claim £100 back, although the minimum term of 24-months on the add-on can't be cancelled.

BT Complete WiFi costs £10 per month, although sometimes new customers can access special offers when they sign up.

TalkTalk's add-on, Total Home WiFi, is cheaper at £8 per month, and customers will start with one additional Amazon eero router. There's little in terms of a guarantee but customers will be able to cancel the add-on within the first 45 days of service if they don't get at least 10Mbps speeds in each room and an engineer can't resolve the issue.

TalkTalk Total Home WiFi is also only available to full fibre customers in Openreach FTTP areas, while BT's Complete WiFi is available to all customers.

Overall, we think BT beat TalkTalk in terms of a WiFi guarantee, but we like the fact TalkTalk Full Fibre 900 customers get two WiFi devices included as standard.

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TV

Winner: BT TV has more features than TalkTalk TV, including a recordable box. However, TalkTalk TV is a very similar service that also offers better on-demand app support for additional content subscriptions.

Whether BT TV or TalkTalk TV is better will depend on exactly what a customer is hoping to gain from a premium or pay TV service.

TalkTalk TV is a much more pared down service, it offers access to Freeview and NOW TV memberships, and the streaming box has good support for on-demand apps, but there is little else.

BT TV is more specifically based on NOW TV memberships with an arrangement for direct billing, but customers can also add TNT Sports, get bundled access to Discovery+ and some plans include Netflix too.

The main winning factor for BT however is the BT TV Box Pro, which offers access to Freeview as well as the ability to pause and rewind live TV, and record live channels to the box to watch later.

Here are a few broadband and TV bundles from TalkTalk and BT:

TalkTalk's plan here only includes Freeview, so customers will have to factor in additional costs for any subscriptions to streaming apps like NOW or Netflix.

So, while BT looks much more expensive here, their Entertainment plan includes NOW Entertainment and Netflix Standard with Ads.

Overall, BT TV is more comprehensive with greater choice on TV content to add, as well as access to Freeview and a recordable set-top box. However, TalkTalk TV will appeal to those on a budget or who don't want to overspend on TV.

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Customer service

Winner: BT have a better overall customer satisfaction rating than TalkTalk does, they also resolve customer service complaints more satisfactorily and have less complaints overall.

BT has better customer service ratings than TalkTalk according to research from the industry regulator Ofcom into customer satisfaction and complaints.

Although, in the latest quarterly complaints figures from Ofcom, both TalkTalk and BT both received 10 complaints per 100,000 customers in line with the industry average of 10 for the period.

We can see from the chart above that TalkTalk's complaint levels have been steadily improving since the start of 2023, while BT's have remained steady around the industry average for longer.

That said, TalkTalk's complaint levels have previously been higher, receiving the most or second most complaints between 2021 and 2023.

Comparable figures from Ofcom's most recent Comparing Service Quality report, published in May 2023, show BT outperforming TalkTalk for customer satisfaction however:

BT moved their call centre operations back to the UK in 2020. They also upgraded their call centres and consolidated 300 locations to just 30, to help streamline operations. Since then, they've seen an improvement in their customer satisfaction scores and complaint figures.

In contrast, TalkTalk are one of very few providers who still use overseas call centres, despite experiencing call centre fraud between 2014 and 2017, that resulted in a £100,000 fine from the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). While they've since moved call centres from India to South Africa and the Philippines, they don't seem to have any UK locations at all.

Read more about customer service in our main guide, however, on this occasion we'd pick BT over TalkTalk for customer service as they outperform them across most metrics.

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Verdict: BT or TalkTalk broadband - which is best?

Overall winner: It's a tie. BT and TalkTalk broadband are surprisingly similar in their offerings these days, with extra features that will appeal on a more individual basis.

Both TalkTalk and BT offer a similar array of broadband deals and speeds, that are very close on price across equivalent plans.

There are a few areas that separate the providers though, TalkTalk offer more up to date routers for full fibre customers, while BT arguably offers a more comprehensive TV bundle.

TalkTalk also has wider full fibre availability than BT, as they also resell access on the CityFibre network, which so far passes over 3.8 million premises, although there could be some overlap with Openreach's FTTP network.

On the other hand, BT has better customer service if problems arise, and customers may appreciate the UK-based call centres when they do need to phone up.

Overall, TalkTalk offer up to date broadband deals with the latest routers and a smart TV box with wide support for those who like to stream on-demand. However, BT have a more reassuring customer service record, as well as extras that many households may find necessary, such as better supported WiFi guarantee and a recordable set-top box, so we call a tie on this one.

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