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Belfast offers a range of broadband deals, with fibre and full-fibre packages available throughout the city. To find the best broadband deal in your area, you should consider your budget, your internet usage and what speeds you require. We’ve rounded up the best broadband deals available in Belfast, including TV and phone add-ons, so you can find the perfect package for you.
Belfast has plenty of broadband providers offering packages with varying benefits.
Belfast has numerous broadband providers. We’ve used the Independent Advisor rating to help you narrow down which provider is right for you.
We calculated this rating from our survey of over 2,000 broadband customers. We asked them how they felt about their broadband connection and supplemented their responses with research data and our expert team’s extensive knowledge of broadband.
See our methodology below for more information on how we conducted our survey and ranked each provider.
| Broadband provider | Independent Advisor rating | Fastest speeds available | Cheapest package available** | Do they offer widespread coverage? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sky | ★★★½ | 900Mbps | £28/m | Yes |
| BT | ★★★½ | 900Mbps | £29.99/m | Yes |
| Vodafone | ★★★½ | 910Mbps | £24/m | Yes |
| Plusnet | ★★★½ | 900Mbps | £25.99/m | Yes |
| NOW Broadband | ★★★½ | 100Mbps | £22/m | Yes |
| EE | ★★★½ | 1,600Mbps | £29.99/m | Yes |
| Virgin Media | ★★★ | 1,130Mbps | £24/m | Yes |
| TalkTalk | ★★★ | 944Mbps | £28/m | Yes |
To find the best broadband deals in your area, use our postcode checker. When comparing broadband deals, you should consider the following factors:
Speed
Speeds can vary between Belfast postcodes, so the average speed quoted on a provider’s website might not be what your home receives. It’s best to consider your internet usage – if you stream, game or download content often, you’ll want to choose a broadband deal with average speeds over 50Mbps.
According to our survey, EE is best for speed, with 66 per cent of customers rating it “Excellent” or “Good”. EE’s fastest package has an average download speed of 1.6Gbps.
Price of the deal
With most broadband deals, there are two parts of the cost you should consider – your monthly subscription and a one-off setup fee. Shop around and compare broadband deals to ensure you’ve found a good balance between speed and price.
Vodafone hits the sweet spot between price and speed, and 76 per cent of customers in our survey rated it “Excellent” or “Good” value for money.
Provider reputation
Our Independent Advisor rating is one of the most reliable ways to find out the reputability and quality of each provider. We calculated these scores based on customer responses concerning value for money, speed, customer service, reliability and customer satisfaction.
Use this rating and do your own research to ensure you’re working with a credible provider that will offer you a quality experience during your contract.
Provider customer service
Like with any service, when there’s a problem, you’ll turn to the company’s customer service team. Since most of us require the internet to perform daily tasks at home, in the dreadful event of an internet outage, you’ll want speedy, helpful and knowledgeable customer personnel to be on hand.
The best providers have a customer service helpline and sometimes a live chat service. Plusnet is rated best for customer service. It has a 24/7 UK-based call centre, and 68 per cent of surveyed customers rated it “Excellent” or “Good” for customer service.
Will you require a wifi booster with your chosen provider?
A wifi booster can help improve the signal in areas of your home where the strength from your router is low. If you’ve chosen a broadband deal with the best speeds for your internet usage, you shouldn’t need a wifi booster unless you have many devices connected to your home network, which can slow down your broadband speed.
According to our survey, 72 per cent of Belfast residents claimed the actual speed of their broadband service “Always” or “Mostly” matched their deal’s advertised speed. The average broadband speed in Belfast is 117.93Mbps, with the average advertised speed sitting at 126.42Mbps.
This means Belfast residents will likely receive their advertised speeds when using the internet. If you’re receiving much lower speeds, you may want to consider switching broadband providers. You can enter your postcode into our broadband journey and filter by speed to see the best deals available in your area.
The broadband speeds across Belfast vary from as little as 9Mbps for standard broadband to 1,000Mbps for full fibre, according to the Ofcom broadband checker.
Your broadband speed will be affected by your postcode, provider and, of course, your chosen deal. Full-fibre broadband deals offer the fastest speeds, with averages surpassing 1,000Mbps, but this type of connection isn’t available in all Belfast postcodes.
| Area of Belfast | Average speed |
|---|---|
| North Belfast | 80Mbps |
| East Belfast | 79Mbps |
| South Belfast | 80Mbps |
| West Belfast | 69Mbps |
There are four main types of broadband, all of which offer different speeds.
We surveyed 2,000 broadband customers in the UK* to better understand how people feel about their internet services. We asked them more than 20 questions regarding their current broadband provider, including their opinions about the speeds they receive, the pricing of their plan, the value for money they enjoy and their overall satisfaction.
Survey of broadband customers aged 24-64 conducted on Censuswide, 11-14 March 2024. Survey sample: 2,003 respondents from Sky (489), BT Broadband (412), Virgin Media (396), EE (134), Vodafone (124), Other (102), Plusnet (66), NOW Broadband (45), Three (31), Hyperoptic (14), Community Fibre (8) and Unsure (7). Respondents who selected Hyperoptic, Community Fibre, Other or Unsure were discarded from our review; however, the information gathered for Hyperoptic and Community Fibre was used in our broadband providers evaluation. Respondents were asked to rate each category on a five-point scale, from “Very Poor” to “Excellent” or from “Never” to “Always”, with the option of selecting “Don’t Know” for each question. For the third question (“What issues, if any, have you experienced with your current broadband provider?”), respondents could select from the following: “Price Hikes”, “Slow Speeds”, “High Prices”, “Frequent Disconnections”, “Poor Customer Service”, “Billing Issues”, “Other” and “N/A”. The questions used to calculate our score were: “How often, if at all, do you feel the actual speed of your broadband service matches the advertised speed?”, “How would you rate your experience with customer service and support from your broadband provider?”, “What issues, if any, have you experienced with your current broadband provider? (Select all that apply)”, “How easy or difficult is it/would it be to reach your provider using your preferred method?”, “How do you rate the value for money of your broadband service?” and “How would you rate the transparency of pricing and additional fees in your broadband service?”.
Your broadband speed could be slower in some areas of your home if your router is not optimally placed to provide the best signal coverage. Make sure your router is positioned as close as possible to the devices you want to connect to the internet. If your signal strength is still low, you might want to consider using a wifi booster to improve your broadband speed.
Broadband speed is crucial if you plan to stream content. Since streaming requires a lot of bandwidth, you’ll want to choose a broadband deal with enough speed. Broadband deals in Belfast with an average speed of 100Mbps are best for streaming content, and this speed is also ideal for streaming HD and 4K videos.
