EE Broadband (2023) review: A great all-rounder
A solid provider with a strong customer service record but middling performance
Pros
- Highly commended for customer service
- Offers speeds all the way up to gigabit
- Discounts for mobile customers
Cons
- Expensive if you’re not a mobile customer
- Worst reliability of the eight providers on test
EE is best known for being a mobile network and there are indeed pricing perks to be had for EE mobile customers who take fixed-line broadband from the company, too.
EE was subsumed into the BT family in 2016 and so you won’t be massively shocked to learn that EE’s package of tariffs is very similar to that of the mothership. It provides a good spread of tariffs, ranging all the way from ageing ADSL to “gigabit” full fibre, although availability hangs on the broadband postcode lottery.
If EE’s packages are similar to BT’s, it at least distinguishes itself when it comes to customer service, with EE picking up our highly commended award in this category. In our customer survey – conducted in partnership with YouGov – 70% of EE customers declared themselves satisfied with the company’s customer service, a score bettered only by Plusnet (another member of the BT family).
In fact, it’s a decent, if unspectacular, all-round showing for EE. If there’s a weak spot for the company, it’s price, where few customers are bowled over the deals on offer. Only 15% said they were very satisfied with the value for money they were receiving from EE.
EE’s prices are, on the face of it, relatively steep but the company does offer a £3/mth discount on broadband to customers who have a monthly mobile contract, and there are regional discounts to be snaffled on some full-fibre tariffs, so it’s definitely worth using the postcode checker on EE’s website to check prices tailored to your individual circumstances.
EE Broadband review: Unlimited Broadband
The Unlimited Broadband package is for those customers who aren’t within reach of a fibre network and still rely on ADSL. It is, therefore, very limited on speed.
If you find yourself in this situation, EE’s package is relatively steep. Now Broadband’s ADSL tariff is only £18/mth, by comparison, making EE 50% more expensive.
READ NEXT: Plusnet review
EE Broadband review: Fibre Broadband and Fibre Plus
Fibre Broadband and Fibre Plus are the tariffs that will be within reach of most people, as they’re fibre-to-the-cabinet tariffs. As is common, there are two tariffs, one offering close to double the speed of the other for only £3 extra per month.
Prices are a little on the high side, unless you can take advantage of the discount offered to EE mobile contract customers.
All of the fibre connections are provided with an EE Smart Hub, which is based on the same hardware as parent company BT’s hubs. It uses Wi-Fi 5 – which is now becoming an outdated standard – but at least there’s a good complement of four gigabit Ethernet ports on the back if you want to wire up bandwidth-chugging devices such as games consoles.
EE Broadband review: Full Fibre Max 100, 500, and Gigabit
EE does offer full-fibre connections via the Openreach network. Again, the prices are at the top end of the market but the speeds do go all the way up to “gigabit”, even if the average speed is pegged at 900Mbits/sec.
That older Wi-Fi 5-based Hub isn’t ideal for relaying those ultrafast speeds all around the home, so don’t be surprised if speeds drop off sharply in the more remote rooms in the home.
| Unlimited | Fibre | Fibre Plus | Full Fibre Max 100 | Full Fibre Max 500 | Full Fibre Max Gigabit | |
| Price per month (inc line rental) | £27 | £27 | £30 | £32 | £43 | £54 |
| Upfront cost | Free | Free | Free | Free | Free | Free |
| Stated speed (Mbits per sec) | 10 | 36 | 67 | 100 | 500 | 900 |
| Contract length | 24 months | 24 months | 24 months | 24 months | 24 months | 24 months |
EE broadband review: Coverage
As part of the BT bubble, EE relies on the Openreach network. That means 96% of customers will be covered by fibre-to-the-cabinet, with a further 8 million homes lucky enough to be within reach of the full-fibre network that sends download speeds into the hundreds of megabits per second.
The postcode checker on EE’s website will reveal which of the tariffs you qualify for.
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EE review: Performance and customer satisfaction
Customer service is the strongest card in EE’s hand. It claims our highly commended award for customer service, with plenty of positive feedback from customers. Exactly 33% of EE customers declared themselves very satisfied with the customer service, a score only bettered by Plusnet in our survey.
EE’s contact centre leaves the majority of customers in a good frame of mind. 70% of EE customers were satisfied after contacting the company, which is one of the better scores from the eight major providers on test here.
Few customers have cause to take up complaints with the regulator Ofcom, either. With only six complaints per 100,000 customers recorded in the latest published figures, EE comes second only to Sky in the league table and falls well below the average level of complaints of 11 per 100,000 customers.
Reliability is the company’s weak spot. Although 69% of customers said they were satisfied with reliability, that’s the lowest score of any of our eight providers. That said, reliability is a very tight category, with no provider scoring better than 83% satisfaction.
Still, when 70% of the EE customers we surveyed said they would recommend the company to friends and family, it can’t be doing too much wrong.
READ NEXT: TalkTalk review
EE Broadband review: Verdict
EE doesn’t do anything that makes it hugely attractive to broadband switchers, but it doesn’t do anything to make customers desert in their droves either. Customer service is strong, there’s a wide range of tariffs, and if you’re on an EE mobile contract, prices are reasonable, too.
Methodology
All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 4,664 adults, of which 180 adults are EE users. Fieldwork was undertaken between 17 and 19 January 2023 and the survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all UK adults (aged 18+).