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Let’s face it: work-from-home culture is here to stay. As a result, having the best possible broadband connection for homeworking has never been more important. Even if you’re a hybrid worker spending two or three days at home, you want a rock-solid connection 100% of the time.
Every year at Expert Reviews, we run a survey to help us understand how you feel about your broadband provider. We then rate the providers and rank them in our best broadband roundup, using the results of our survey in tandem with our own research and testing. As a result, we’re perfectly placed to help you pick out the best broadband providers for working remotely; we have a strong sense of which providers offer the best customer care, and crucially, which are the most reliable.
Below, you’ll find our pick (or rather – your pick) of the best broadband providers for working from home. If you want to know more about what you need to consider before you buy, you can find our handy buying guide at the bottom of the page.
| Best broadband for working from home: At a glance | ||
|---|---|---|
| Best for speedy connections | Zen Internet | |
| Best overall broadband provider | Vodafone | |
| Best for reliable service | Virgin Media | |
How we test broadband providers
Unless otherwise stated, all of the figures are drawn from a survey commissioned by Expert Reviews, with respondents and data supplied by YouGov PLC. The total sample size was 6,316 adults and the survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all Great British adults (aged over 18).
We asked people how likely they would be to recommend their broadband provider to others and to rate its customer service, reliability, value and speed. Only the 11 ISPs with over 50 respondents are included in our results.
The best broadband providers for working from home
1. Zen Internet: Best for speedy connections
Price when reviewed: From £35/mth | View deals at Zen Internet
| Important Information | |
|---|---|
| Last reviewed by Expert Reviews | February 2025 |
| Mid-contract price increase | No |
There’s nothing worse for home-workers than a frustrating, lagging internet connection, which is why Zen Internet is firmly at the top of this list. In the survey for our Expert Reviews Broadband Awards, an outstanding 95% of Zen Internet customers were satisfied with the speed of their connection.
Even when things went wrong, Zen got a big thumbs up, with its customer service team (based in Rochdale) being praised for engaging in natural conversation and directly answering questions, rather than just reading from a script. This earned Zen a highly commended award for customer service, with Vodafone just inching ahead.
CityFibre is only supported in certain parts of the country but, if that includes your area, you can also get a symmetrical connection (equal download and upload speeds) from Zen, which is very useful for home working.
The one thing to bear in mind here is that the reliability rating came back at just 42% this year. That’s not what we’re used to seeing from Zen, so odds are it’s a temporary issue, but still worth considering before signing up.
Read our full Zen Internet review
2. Vodafone: Best overall broadband provider
Price when reviewed: From £24/mth | View deals at Vodafone
| Important Information | |
|---|---|
| Last reviewed by Expert Reviews | February 2025 |
| Mid-contract price increases | Prices will increase by £3 from April 2026 |
Vodafone earned the top spot in our broadband awards as our overall winner, thanks to excellent scores across the board. Of users surveyed, 62% praised the customer service, which also netted Vodafone the award for best customer service, and a terrific 86% of customers were satisfied with the speeds they were provided.
Prices are fiercely competitive, with 88% of customers reporting that they were getting good value for their money. Zen Internet was a little better, at 93%, but Vodafone came in as a respectable highly commended.
With 66% positive responses, Vodafone also came in a very close third place for reliability, landing right behind BT and 4% behind Virgin Media. Like Zen Internet, Vodafone also offers symmetrical connections via CityFibre but once again, this is location dependent, so check your postcode on the site to be sure.
Read our full Vodafone Broadband review
3. Plusnet: A solid all-rounder
Price when reviewed: From £26/mth | View deals at Plusnet
| Important Information | |
|---|---|
| Last reviewed by Expert Reviews | February 2025 |
| Mid-contract price increases | Prices will increase by £3 from April 2026 |
Vodafone and Zen Internet swept the awards this year, so Plusnet doesn’t have any medals to show off. What it does have, however, is solid scores in all categories, making it a decent option if neither of the above two services appeal to you.
Overall satisfaction came back at 69% in the survey, with particular emphasis placed on the value for money (86% of those surveyed were satisfied) and the speed of the connection, with 78% rating it well in the survey.
Of survey respondents, 60% were complimentary about the reliability, which is better than some but still firmly a middle-of-the-pack score, and customer service only got positive remarks from 53% of customers. That’s still joint third place, however, so still a decent result for Plusnet.
Read our full Plusnet review
4. Virgin Media: Best for reliable service
Price when reviewed: From £26/mth | View deals at Virgin Media
| Important Information | |
|---|---|
| Last reviewed by Expert Reviews | February 2025 |
| Mid-contract price increases | Prices will increase by £3 from April 2026 |
Virgin Media claimed the gong for reliability in our survey, with seven out of ten respondents being happy with the consistency of their connection. This is due to Virgin using its own fibre network, whereas the rest rent lines from other providers. This clearly pays off for Virgin and if reliability is the most important thing to you, look no further.
There’s a dark side to this recommendation, however, and it concerns customer service. In our survey, only 40% of people reported being satisfied with Virgin’s customer service team, which is the second-worst overall (just ahead of TalkTalk with its 33%). Ideally you wouldn’t need to use it at all but just bear in mind that you won’t be getting the best service here.
Symmetrical connection is technically also available with Virgin but it’s only as an optional add-on for those who are on the Nexfibre network, which isn’t available in all areas of the country.
Read our full Virgin Media review
How to choose the best broadband provider for WFH
What are the most important things to consider?
Reliability
No matter how often you work remotely, you want to be able to rely on your internet connection. That’s why we’re paying close attention to the reliability score each of our recommended providers picked up in our annual broadband survey – this number is a representation of how reliable real customers found their broadband. You can find that score below each entry.
Customer service
Similarly, we’ve picked out the customer service score from our annual broadband survey for each of our top-rated providers. After all, even the best broadband providers can’t promise 100% uptime – and when your Wi-Fi is on the blink, the last thing you need is to be left on hold.
Backup connections
Several of the top ISPs offer backup connections – that is, an alternative means of keeping you connected if your main broadband connection fails. This usually takes the form of 4G/5G data connection that automatically switches on when it detects an outage.
Unfortunately, this feature is often reserved for business customers. Of the providers we’ve tested, only BT, EE and Vodafone offer 4G Backup Dongles (or equivalent add-ons) to consumers – and of course, you may pay more for the privilege.
Business broadband
Think hard about whether you need a full-blown business broadband package – these packages are the best way to circumvent issues such as throttling or shaping (two ways by which a broadband provider might limit your service during peak times). As I’ve mentioned, they also often offer contingencies in the event of outages, and certain other unique features such as static IP addresses.
Business broadband is usually a little more expensive than its consumer counterpart, but it won’t necessarily be quicker – you’re paying for reliability and the customer care.
Symmetrical connections
Ever noticed that your upload speed is never as good as your download speed? That’s called an asymmetrical connection, and it’s quite a common offering among ISPs. After all, most of us spend a lot more time downloading things than we do uploading them – surfing the web, streaming Netflix and so forth.
In a work setting, however, the upload speed becomes more important, especially if you’re working with cloud-based applications (even Google Drive). An asymmetrical connection might do the trick: usually, the upload speed is around half the download speed, so a 500Mbits/sec download speed gives a 250Mbits/sec upload speed. That’s not bad at all. But if you need the extra oomph, consider a symmetrical connection – your download and upload speeds will be identical.
We’ve marked the providers that offer symmetrical connections above.
A good home network
While you need a good broadband provider to make the most of your WFH experience, you also have to take care of things on your end. In other words, your home network has to be up to the job.
For serious home networking performance, we can recommend nothing better than a good mesh Wi-Fi system. This ensures your network is spread across your entire home, and gives you the choice to work anywhere inside or outside your home. Mesh systems used to be the sole domain of big businesses, but these days a three-unit system is more than affordable.
