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Head-to-head

Plusnet vs EE: Same Parent Company, Opposite Ends of Ofcom's Complaints Table

Plusnet and EE are both owned by BT Group and run over the same Openreach network, so their underlying technology is essentially identical.

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The quick answer

Plusnet and EE are both owned by BT Group and run over the same Openreach network, so their underlying technology is essentially identical. What separates them is customer service: Ofcom ranked Plusnet the best major UK provider for complaints, and EE among the worst three, in the same recent reporting period.

Updated 24 August 2026·Reviewed by BroadbandPicker editorial team

Quick Verdict

Plusnet is the stronger all-round choice for most households: a genuinely lower price at comparable speeds, no activation fee, and the best Ofcom complaints record of any major UK provider. EE's case rests on its independently recognised speed and reliability, plus its distinctive mobile backup feature, which matter more to a household that rarely needs to contact support.

Plusnet vs EE: customer-review evidence

These signals are shown separately because they measure different things. Ofcom complaints record serious escalations, surveys measure experiences across a sample, and public reviews reflect self-selecting recent sentiment. We never combine them into an invented trust score.

Plusnet

EE

Missing a metric does not mean a provider performed badly. Some providers are below Ofcom’s reporting threshold or were not named in a comparable survey. Read our evidence dashboard and review methodology.

Plusnet

Best value
Best for: A household that prioritises support quality and a low, transparent price
From
£21.99/mo
Max speed
900 Mbps
Coverage
96%
Trustpilot
2.0/5
  • Ofcom's Q1 2026 report ranked Plusnet the best of any major UK broadband provider for complaints
  • A low Trustpilot score sits alongside genuinely strong regulatory complaints evidence, a gap worth understanding
  • Reward cards worth up to £140 available on faster tiers, alongside no activation fee across the range
Get Deal →Read Plusnet review

EE

Best for: A household focused purely on top-end speed and reliability, with EE mobile bundle potential
From
£22.99/mo
Max speed
900 Mbps
Coverage
97%
Trustpilot
1.3/5
  • Automatic 4G or 5G mobile backup keeps the connection running if the fixed line drops
  • Named National Broadband Provider of the Year at the 2026 Uswitch Telecoms Awards for speed and reliability
  • Broadband-specific Trustpilot score sits at 1.3 out of 5, well below EE's better-known 4.2 mobile-dominated headline score
Get Deal →Read EE review

At-a-Glance Comparison

MetricPlusnetEE
From price£21.99/mo£22.99/mo
Max speed900 Mbps900 Mbps
Setup feeFreeFree
Typical contract24 months24 months
Coverage96% of UK homes97% of UK homes
Trustpilot2.0/51.3/5

Pros and Cons

Plusnet

  • Best Ofcom complaints record of any major UK ISP, at 4 per 100,000 customers in Q1 2026
  • No activation fee on any current package
  • UK-based customer service team, a specific point of positive review feedback
  • Runs on the Openreach network, so line quality and availability match most other national providers
  • Trustpilot score is low despite the strong Ofcom complaints record, largely reflecting self-selected complaint-driven reviews
  • Only 24-month contracts are offered, with no shorter or rolling option
  • A scheduled flat price rise applies every March
  • Top speed tier tops out at 900 Mbps, without the higher multi-gigabit options some rivals now offer

EE

  • Genuinely fast, consistently reliable speeds, independently recognised by Uswitch
  • Automatic mobile network failover is a real feature, not offered by most rivals
  • Runs on the Openreach network, so availability and line quality match most other national providers
  • No setup fee on most current packages
  • Broadband-specific Trustpilot score is exceptionally low, in the worst bracket alongside BT and Sky
  • Only 24-month contracts are offered, with no shorter or rolling option
  • A scheduled flat price rise applies every March
  • A genuinely low Trustpilot score despite an improved, now-average Ofcom complaints position

Key Differences

Ofcom complaints record

Ofcom's Q1 2026 report recorded Plusnet at 4 complaints per 100,000 customers, the best of any major UK provider. EE's Q4 2025 figure placed it in the worst-three bracket at 10 per 100,000, though it did not appear among the specific top three worst providers in the more recent Q1 2026 report.

Price

Plusnet's entry Full Fibre tier starts from £21.99 a month; EE's comparable entry tier starts from around £22.99. The gap is modest at entry level but Plusnet's pricing remains consistently competitive across its range.

Distinctive features

EE offers automatic 4G or 5G mobile backup if the fixed line drops, a genuinely useful feature Plusnet does not offer. EE was also named National Broadband Provider of the Year at the 2026 Uswitch Telecoms Awards for speed and reliability.

Trustpilot vs Ofcom

Both providers have low broadband-specific Trustpilot scores, which for both reflects the self-selected, complaint-driven nature of review platforms rather than the full customer base. Ofcom's complaints data is the more reliable differentiator between them, and it favours Plusnet clearly.

How We Think About This Matchup

Plusnet and EE are both part of BT Group and both sell broadband over the same Openreach network as BT itself, so the technology underneath each service is effectively identical: the same lines, the same top available speeds at a given address.

What separates them sharply is customer service evidence. Ofcom's most recent complaints reporting placed Plusnet at the very best end of the table for major UK providers, and EE at the worst end, a genuinely stark contrast for two brands under the same parent company.

Final Verdict

Choose Plusnet if a low, transparent price and a strong, independently evidenced complaints record matter most.

Choose EE if independently recognised speed and reliability, or the automatic mobile backup feature, matter more to you than customer service responsiveness.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Editorial and Source Notes

We review provider comparisons against the same published methodology used across our provider reviews, then add source links where they help verify pricing context, methodology, and trade-offs.