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BT vs O2 Broadband

Our Broadband Expert says...

Both BT Broadband (www.BT.com) and O2 Broadband (www.O2.co.uk) are trusted broadband providers, offering ADSL2+ - faster copper telephone wire - broadband packages with speeds of 'up to' 20Mb, so its easy to see why you’re struggling to choose between the two.

Broadband speeds

Although both ISPs offer the same “up to” broadband speeds of 20Mb broadband on their ADSL2+ connections, O2 regularly features at the top of broadband speed test, often coming second only to Virgin Media's (www.VirginMedia.com) cable broadband network.

Research by Ofcom in May 2011 found that Virgin Media offered the UK’s highest actual download speeds averaging between 17.6Mb to 18.7Mb on its 20Mb package, followed by O2 - the fastest copper wire ADSL provider.

Looking at the provider’s "up to" 20Mb packages, O2 averaged between 10.1Mb to 11.7Mb, while BT averaged 7.3 to 9.0Mb.

However, in 2010, BT began rolling out its superfast fibre optic packages, offering speeds of up to 100Mb to BT Infinity customers. It's up to 40Mb connection will be available to 10 million households by 2012, and to two-thirds of the population by 2014, and BT plan to double this speed to 80Mb in 2012.

Download allowances

Both BT and O2 offer a choice of either a set download allowance or unlimited broadband downloads, however BT's is subject to a fair usage policy.

BT’s Option 1 and 2 plans come with 10GB and 40GB of data respectively, with extra data costing £5 per extra 5GB, while its Option 3 plan comes with “unlimited” downloads. The same goes for its BT Infinity packages; Option 1 comes with a 40GB allowance while Option 2 offers “unlimited” downloads.

The Basics, O2’s cheapest package, comes with a set 20GB download allowance, while its other two packages offer truly unlimited downloads.

Bundling options

BT and O2 both offer a choice of other products that can be bundled with your home broadband package. BT offers the biggest choice of broadband bundles, with mobile broadband, BT Vision digital TV, home phone calls and even wireless broadband hotspot access.

It also offers a range of added extras such as its Digital Vault service to back up your photos, videos and documents, and BT Fon, which allows you to share a secure section of your BT Total Broadband connection with other users in exchange for access to its BT Openzone and Fon wireless network yourself.

O2 on the other hand focuses more on mobile phone and broadband products - as well as its mobile phone plans, it also offers mobile broadband and wireless broadband minutes - which all mobile broadband customers get as part of their packages. All of O2's packages come with a £5 discount for existing customers. It also offers super-cheap line rental at just £7.50 a month for bundle customers.

O2’s choice of added extras include free McAfee internet security, O2 emails pushed onto O2 mobile phones for free and inclusive free web texts.

Customer service

Many customers choose BT because of its trusted name; they want a reliable broadband provider that can offer them a high standard of customer service and technical support if they ever have any problems with their connection.

However, O2 often ranks higher than BT when it comes to customer service and satisfaction. When the provider launched its home broadband products in 2007, it said that it would bring a “breath of fresh air” to a market that was bogged down with complaints and unsatisfied customers.

Since then it has won a host of awards for its service, including coming top in all seven categories in the Broadbandchoices.co.uk customer satisfaction awards 2011.

NB Best buy tables are always current.

Examples in the text of the article are correct at time of publication.

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