EE vs BT Broadband

EE Broadband might be best known for offering wireless broadband, but just like the other members of the BT family – BT Broadband and Plusnet – the company offers fixed-line broadband packages too. Given that these companies are so closely related and all run on the same Openreach network, you’d think they would all be the best broadband, but it turns out they differ in significant ways.

For the finer details of what we think about these two contenders, read our EE Broadband review and BT Broadband review first, but if you just want to know how they compare to each other, read on for the full shootout.

EE vs BT Broadband: Pricing

Draw

Price is one of the most important considerations when comparing broadband plans, though it’s not as important as value for money. Sometimes simply going for the cheapest provider means you’ll be unhappy with the rest of the experience (we’re looking at you TalkTalk).

While their different plans vary in cost, both EE and BT have very similar pricing. The real issue with both services, as we noted in their individual reviews, is that they’re relatively expensive compared to the competition. Not only this, but both ISPs offer 24-month contracts, which means you’ll be “locked in” for longer than other providers – like Zen Internet, currently our pick of the crop – which offer shorter 18-month contracts.

EE vs BT Broadband: Customer Service

EE wins

It’s rare for us to think about how well a company will do when their product fails, and it’s even harder to measure. If you’re really lucky you’ll never have to contact customer services at all. However, the reality is that even the best services can go wrong – so it really matters that a company does a good job when you need help.

In this regard, we’ve rated EE “quite well” based on the results of our survey. In total 56% of EE customers were satisfied with the service, and a relatively small number of truly discontented users made up some of the rest. Only Zen Internet had a lower dissatisfaction rate.

While EE has relatively middling satisfaction with no serious issues, when you look at the responses we got for BT Broadband, the picture is far less rosy. Only around half the overall surveyed customers were satisfied with their service, and 21% of those who had to contact customer care came away without a satisfactory resolution.

So given the choice, you’d probably prefer to be on EE Broadband (rather than BT) if things went wrong.

EE vs BT Broadband: Performance

BT wins

Speed is what makes broadband truly great, and no-one likes slow or laggy internet. No matter which provider you choose these days, you’ll have plenty of options with fast advertised speeds, but that promise and the reality are rarely a match. Often, you’ll find a “minimum guaranteed speed” in your contract documentation, which is the level of service things have to drop below before you can make a complaint.

Unfortunately, it seems that EE Broadband subscribers have quite a lot to complain about. When asked about performance, EE scored third-worst for satisfaction. Taken against the premium pricing the company charges, this makes for seriously poor value.

BT Broadband has one of the highest performance satisfaction rates we’ve seen among providers whose customers we asked and very few dissatisfied respondents. Given that both of these ISPs are related and run on the same network, this disparity is curious, but the choice for speed enthusiasts is clear – choose BT.

EE vs BT Broadband: Reliability

BT wins

The only thing worse than a slow internet connection is an intermittent one. With so much of our daily life now online, having your broadband go down out of the blue can feel like a real emergency – and nearly as traumatic as your power or water supply being interrupted.

It’s also a hard thing to gauge upfront, but it was one of the questions we asked participants in our annual broadband survey regarding their experiences with ISPs in the UK.

When asked about reliability, EE scored a little below average compared to the other ISPs included in our survey. This is a middling result, and though it’s not a terrible one, it’s not the sort of score which gives us much confidence in the service.

BT, on the other hand, came in just shy of an 80% satisfaction rate for reliability, and while we would all love a perfect score, this is almost as good as it gets.

EE vs BT Broadband: Our verdict

While we gave both services three out of five stars in their individual reviews, on balance BT Broadband is the more sensible choice thanks to its reliability, customer service and speed compared to EE. Especially since both are “at the expensive end” of the market and similarly priced.

That being said, you may actually want to choose the third sibling in the BT family – Plusnet. This four-star provider offers similar overall benefits to BT, with better customer service and lower prices, with a small hit to performance and reliability.