Affordable - some of the cheapest broadband prices from the UK’s largest low-cost area network coverage ISP
Truly unlimited - no usage caps and no traffic management at peak times
Same benefits for existing customers - unlike many providers, TalkTalk offers the same packages to both existing and new customers
Fibre packages - 38Mb average download speed is available as standard, or you can upgrade to a package averaging 67Mb for an extra £5 if it's available in your area
Range of phone options - only pay for what you use, or use boosts to add inclusive calling
TV services available - affordable alternative to cable and satellite TV with more to offer than Freeview. TV Plus now also includes 30 premium channels as standard, including; Sky One & Two, FOX and Sky Sports News
All broadband products come with the award winning Wi-Fi Hub, and you also get one if you upgrade from a standard to fibre package
Home Move service - moving house made easy by using TalkTalk's handy service
Great Connection Guarantee - you can leave TalkTalk within your first 30 days if you aren't happy with the service
Possible downsides
Only available in TalkTalk network areas - use our postcode checker to see if you're covered
No standalone broadband available - you have to switch your phone package to TalkTalk. This may be a hassle for some, though others may find combining the bills for everything to be useful
No short fibre deals - you can only get TalkTalk fibre on an 18 month contract
Complaint levels - Ofcom figures show TalkTalk have customer complaint levels significantly above the industry average
Annual CPI increase - prices for broadband (and any other addons, such as line, call plans and call charges) increase by the Consumer Price Index in April of each year plus 3.7%, and then each April onwards
Features at a glance
Download speeds average 11Mb for standard broadband and 38Mb for fibre. An optional 'Boost' increases fibre speeds to average 67Mb downloads
18 month contracts
Usage allowances all truly unlimited
No upfront costs on some deals
Free technical and customer support
Parental controls with HomeSafe plus anti-virus protection
802.11ac Wifi Hub with faster wireless speeds at longer distances
Phone line included, with free calls between TalkTalk customers
Sometimes the best way to get a feel for a broadband provider is to read what those who are already customers think of the service they're receiving. Below are all the reviews we've received for TalkTalk.
Ratings are left by users of our speed test as well as by reviewers. Recent star ratings summarise the last 12 months of ratings or the last 100 placed, whichever is largest.
awful service when trying to upgrade. would never use them again. impossible to connect to someone who actually knows anything and impossible to raise a complaint. awful
Satisfaction
1 star
Customer Service
1 star
Speed
1 star
Reliability
1 star
ross
cornwall
TalkTalk
2024-03-02
I logged in to my Talk talk account. There is an option to postpone the payment.by 1 day. Accepted and received a confirmation email. The next day I got an email saying that I had been charged £12 for late payment. After 5 minutes I called customer service. The lady who answered had to talk to her supervisor and confirmed that they would not add any fees to the bill. My next bill was increased by £12!!! The customer does what he wants anyway. I will never use their services again and would not recommend them to anyone
Satisfaction
1 star
Speed
3 stars
Reliability
2 stars
Kamil
Crewe
TalkTalk
2024-02-28
‘Horizon Lite’ Talk Talk didn’t renew when my contract ended, but didn’t tell me; kept taking payments.. and repeatedly told me the lack of broadband was down to an unresolved technical fault. 5 months later they finally admit they had disabled the service. I am now fighting for a refund, but am getting nothing but delaying, stalling and avoidance. AVOID!
Satisfaction
1 star
Customer Service
1 star
Speed
1 star
Reliability
1 star
D Steele
Dorset
TalkTalk
2024-02-25
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About
TalkTalk
Reviews 78,975 • Average
TrustScore 3 out of 5
2.9
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In the Telecommunications service provider category
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Replied to 97%
OAP disabled. No service. £200 bill.....
So, weeks and weeks to get broadband and phone set up. At no point did my 80 mother of my 80 year old disabled father ever have a phone supply that worked with talk talk. They final agree to cancel the contract after days, yes days on the phone on hold and talking to stupid people.
Send all their rubbish back to them. Get a £0 bill, and rightly so.
Think it's fine and done. No. This is talk talk.
They then send a bill for over £200 to this OAP couple for a service that was never provided!!
Outrageous behaviour.
After hours on the phone again trying to get a manager again, we get cut off.
Take is to court talk talk. You are not getting any money from us and we have the right to now claim from you.
You are a disgrace.
Satisfaction
1 star
Customer Service
1 star
Speed
1 star
Reliability
1 star
Paul
Herne Bay
TalkTalk
2024-02-22
No way you can talk to someone if you are already customer. But if you choose want to join option you will be straight connected !!!!
You need to be on the phone for minimum of three , only listening to on hold music hours to get to the right person .
I am not going to recommend to anyone
Simply I will never ever go back to join talk talk .
Satisfaction
1 star
Customer Service
1 star
Speed
2 stars
Reliability
2 stars
Elamin
Milton Keynes
TalkTalk
2024-02-19
I was emailed with a quote for a new contract today 12/2/24.
I was not happy with the price so rang Talktalk and was quoted a new price which was almost £10 cheaper. I was very happy with the young man who I spoke with
Satisfaction
5 stars
Customer Service
5 stars
Speed
5 stars
Reliability
5 stars
Carole
Rochdale
TalkTalk
2024-02-12
Garbage ISP. Was told we needed a mandatory "upgrade". Engineer arrived and setup our line and router on the ground floor when it used to be on the 1st floor. Now, internet connection is unstable, at times router is unreachable.
Contacted customer services and they tried to sell me their booster. Purchased my own and setup, connection to router is now ok however internet is still unavailable alot of the time...
Internet connection is very unreliable, device to router connection is all ok but still unable to buffer videos, webpages takes more than 5 seconds to load. Upload speeds are faster than download speeds...
Cant play multiplayer games as connection drops out mid way and constant spikes in ping.
Will 100% not be going with talktalk again.
Satisfaction
1 star
Customer Service
2 stars
Speed
2 stars
Reliability
1 star
Liam
Northwich
TalkTalk
2024-02-11
When we renewed, they renaged on our contract and started charging more, stating they'de 'agreed to a contract that didn't exist' and then signed us up for another way more expensive, which we renogotiated (took about 3 hours). After a few months of blips it settled down until our phone line went dead and for a few weeks we had no landline. I then had to spend over 2 hours trawling through all their questions to book an engineer and then the fault mysteriously dissapeared 2 days before the engineer came so I had to spend another HOUR, just to cancel the engineer. Now our phone line is down again! I tried to cancel the contract and after being on for over an HOUR, finally gave up on the chat, telling them I was fed up waiting for them to set the cancellation in process and closed the chat. They've sent me a shirty message saying that if I cancel my mandate it does not constitute a cancellation and they will continue to bill me and arrears will show on my credit record. My Dad is in hospital, possibly dying and they're keeping me on a frikkin chat for a hour and STILL NOT CANCELLING my contract with them. My Mother can't get me on my landline and she hasn't a mobile so if she needs to call me its costing her a fortune. This company are despicable. I'm going to BURY them in complaint letters, the most inept and unethical company I've ever had the displeasure of dealing with
Satisfaction
1 star
Customer Service
1 star
Speed
5 stars
Reliability
5 stars
Koala
Central Belt, Scotland
TalkTalk
2024-02-08
Unfortunately there's no option for zero Star, the Internet speed is terrible and has been so for several months, tons of calls to customer service, mostly overseas agents with a very weird attitude!! And no real solution, a temporary fix for a couple of days then it's allover again. Will definitely move to another provider once my contract is over and have been in full consciousness advising everyone I know to stear away from this provider.
UPDATE1:
In reply to their response below, I spoke to customer service, we have tried all the stupid tips they suggested as I did before, nothing worked, then they sent a technician, as they did before, and lucky me, I had a stable net for a couple of hours, now I am back on my mobile hotspot again, thank God I have a decent internet provider on my mobile phone. They just buy time so they keep collecting bills to the end of my contract, which is luckily coming soon!
UPDATE2:
Fourth time an engineer coming to my house to fix the Internet in few weeks, this is a joke not an internet provider, the worst experience I have ever had!!
Following 4th complain due to absent internet (not a slow net, absolutely no net)!! I have been on the phone for 57 min before I gave up and hang up...from one agent to the next, all essentially useless, esp the one who suggested that it's a good opportunity to extend my contract cause they have a good offer! Can you imagine how stupid is that suggestion when you call to make another complain, FOR THE FORTH TIME IN FEW WKS!!!
Last update:
After being so fed up of their endless bull####, I wanted to cancel my contract!! They said I must pay a contract breakage fees!! They admittedly say we are sorry for offering you sh## service, sent 4 engineers with no benefit whatsoever, but if I want to break a useless contract I must pay breakage fees, if this is not simply stealing money out of your pocket then what is this called?
Satisfaction
1 star
Customer Service
1 star
Speed
1 star
Reliability
1 star
Islam
ROTHERHAM
TalkTalk
2024-02-07
I would not give any stara to talk talk as they are they worst broadband. I've had no Internet for past few days and have no connection. **** Internet. Would never recommend to anyone. They had turned my Internet off saying the are fixing the issue. So I am paying £28 monthly and most of the days get no Internet. Do not trust talk talk will be changing soon
The reviews published on this page are those of the individual authors who have warrantied that they abide by our review guidelines. Reviews are not the opinion of Broadband.co.uk.
Ofcom's latest figures on broadband complaints are out - and it's bad news for Virgin Media. The company has rocketed to the top of the list as the major broadband supplier that gets the highest rate of complaints.
The report covers January to March this year, and counted the number of complaints made to Ofcom about providers with a market share of 1.5% or more.
It shows that Virgin Media generated 33 complaints per 100,000 customers, an increase of 20 in just a year. That puts them a long way ahead - or should that be behind - the next two worst performers, with Vodafone and TalkTalk both getting 24 complaints. Vodafone had been the worst ranking provider in six of the last seven quarters. Plusnet also generated complaint levels above the industry average.
And that's not the end of the bad news for Virgin Media. They also racked up the highest complaint levels for their landline service (19 per 100,000) and their pay TV service (17 per 100,000), and were second worst for mobile (5 per 100,000) behind Three.
The biggest reason why customers complained to Ofcom about Virgin Media was failings in the broadband provider's own complaints handling system - amounting to 39% in total. A third complained about faults and issues with the service, and a further 13% about billing problems.
Industry-wide, faults, service and provisioning issues accounted for 42% of reports, followed by complaints handling and billing.
Sky and EE were the least complained-about providers, generating just seven apiece. They've been in the top two positions for the last two years. The only other provider to beat the industry average was BT, with 15.
In good news for the industry overall, the average number of complaints has more than halved over the last decade, from 40 per 100,000 in the first quarter of 2011, to 19 now. The numbers are up from a record low of 10 in Q2 of last year, perhaps in part a consequence of pandemic disruption and the increasing importance of internet access for work, school and entertainment.
Broadband complaints per 100,000 customers
EE: 7
Sky: 7
BT: 15
Industry average: 19
Plusnet: 21
Vodafone: 24
TalkTalk: 24
Virgin Media: 33
In pay TV, Virgin Media generated 17 complaints against an industry average of 6. Sky performed best with just two. For landlines, Virgin had 19 complaints, eight more than the average, and EE and Sky tied as best performers with five each.
Mobile complaints were largely flat, and at much lower levels. Three performed worst with six complaints, while Tesco Mobile, Sky Mobile and EE had just one each.
Service reliability, billing, and complaint handling are important factors you should consider when choosing a new broadband provider. Our site contains thousands of customer ratings and reviews that can give you a true feel for how each provider performs. Currently, Zen top our list for customer satisfaction.
If you aren't happy with the service you're getting from your supplier, and you're coming to the end of your contract, it's easy to switch. Use our postcode checker to find the best broadband deal available in your area today.
There are so many well established ideas about broadband and switching broadband providers that get repeated again and again.
The trouble is, many of them are wrong - and they're costing you money.
Switching suppliers can easily save you a hundred pounds or more every year, and if you're stuck on a slow internet package when you need something much faster, it doesn't have to cost you a fortune to upgrade.
So here are some of the biggest myths about broadband, and the truth that you need to know.
"Fibre is fibre - all fibre broadband is the same"
While fibre broadband is used as a catch-all term, it encompasses very different things.
Most of us are using something called fibre-to-the-cabinet broadband. This is where the ultrafast fibre cables carry your broadband signal as far as your nearest street cabinet - that green box down the end of your road. The connection from the cabinet to you house is over the old copper telephone cables. These are a lot slower, and the signal degrades the further it has to travel, which is why a house on one of the street can get very different performance levels to one at the other end.
There's now a big push to roll out "full fibre" broadband, which is also known as fibre-to-the-home. Here, the fibre cables run right up to your house. The result is that the speeds are much, much faster and the service is more reliable.
"There's no benefit to upgrading to ultrafast broadband"
A recent survey found that one of the main things that stopped people from upgrading to ultrafast or full fibre broadband was the belief that it didn't really offer any benefits. But there are many.
The main one, obviously, is that you get much faster download speeds. Our internet use is skyrocketing - Ofcom's recent Communications Market Report shows that the average household now burns through 429GB of data each month, an increase of 36% on the previous year. Even if you think you don't need faster speeds right now, you will do soon.
On top of that, you get vastly quicker upload speeds, which will be essential if the working from home revolution continues. The service should be more reliable, too, as you won't have to deal with line faults on the old telephone cables.
And it's also better value for money: currently, you pay the same price for your broadband as your neighbour down the street, yet you could be receiving a much slower service. That's far less of an issue with full fibre.
"It's too much hassle to switch providers"
By now it's well established that those of us who are willing to switch providers will get a better and cheaper deal than those who stick with the same provider for a long time.
Why don't more people switch? Because it's seen as too much hassle. But it really isn't.
If you move between two providers on the Openreach network - which includes almost all the main providers, including BT, TalkTalk, Sky, Vodafone, Plusnet and so on - then the one you are moving to will handle the entire switchover process for you. You won't have to do anything, and the whole process should be done within a couple of weeks.
Granted, it is a little more complicated to switch to or from a provider that uses a different infrastructure, like Virgin Media, as you may need an engineer to come and install it. But these companies are now set up to make even this part as easy as possible.
"You'll lose internet access when you switch"
Another reason people are reluctant to switch is that they assume they'll be left without internet access while it happens. This is another myth.
Generally speaking, your old service gets turned off as your new service gets switched on and you might be disconnected for a few minutes in between, but nothing more dramatic than that. If you're switching to or from Virgin Media, you can even arrange an overlap where your new service is connected before your old one is turned off.
"You always have to sign a long contract"
Something that puts off a lot of people when they're looking at broadband deals is the prospect of having to commit to a long contract.
In fact, you don't have to. NOW Broadband, Virgin Media, and newcomer Cuckoo are among the providers that offer no-contract deals. You have to pay a little more on the activation fee up front, but this might be worth it for the flexibility of being able to cancel at any time. These deals can be especially worth it for students or anyone who's planning to move house in the near future.
Most suppliers offer 12 month contract options as well. And keep in mind that if your reluctance to sign a long deal is through the worry that you'll be stuck with something you aren't happy with, then there are ways you can quit a contract without charge. If your broadband speed constantly underperforms, for example, and your supplier cannot fix it, or if they put your prices up by more than the amount in agreed in your contract.
"It's too complicated to find a better deal"
There are a lot broadband suppliers in the UK, and they offer a lot of deals between them. Trying to figure out the differences can be tricky, especially if you aren't that tech savvy.
But it needn't be that complicated. We make it easy for you to compare all the latest broadband deals, and you can filter them based on whatever you want most. So, you can see the cheapest deals, or the fastest deals, or just the fibre packages, or those that offer broadband without a contract.
And if you then sort them further by speed or first year cost, you'll very quickly narrow your list of options down to just a few packages.
"Faster broadband always costs more"
While it's natural to assume that upgrading to faster broadband will cost you more, it isn't necessarily so.
If you're in a coverage area, you can get full fibre from Hyperoptic (at the slower 30Mb speed) at a rate normally reserved for the old, standard broadband deals; you can upgrade to a faster 67Mb plan from OneStream for just £22.50 a month; or you can burst through the 100Mb barrier with Vodafone for just £26 a month. These are some pretty keen prices, that make faster broadband more accessible than you might have expected.
So, now you know the truth about broadband and how to upgrade, are you ready to start shopping? Use our postcode checker to discover the best broadband deals available where you live.
TalkTalk Broadband Buyers Guide - Is TalkTalk right for you?
Can I get TalkTalk?
TalkTalk's broadband services are available to more than 25 million homes across the UK.
TalkTalk's low cost network area is the largest in Britain. This means that most households in urban and central areas are able to sign up for their standard phoneline broadband, and more rural and remote homes are covered than by any other local loop unbundling (LLU) provider.
For fibre, TalkTalk use the fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) technology provided by Openreach. This has wide coverage, of more than 95% of UK homes. TalkTalk will only sell their fibre services to customers whithin their low cost network area, but since there's a significant overlap between fibre and LLU areas, only a small percentage of homes will not be able to sign up.
You can find out if you live in TalkTalk network or fibre areas by using our postcode checker.
What types of broadband are available?
TalkTalk offer two main broadband packages, with a third, faster deal available in limited areas.
The core offers are:
Fast Broadband - standard broadband with average download speeds of 11Mb
Faster Fibre Broadband - a basic fibre deal with average download speeds of 38Mb
If it's available in your area you'll also be given the option to choose the Faster Fibre Speed Boost deal. This has average speeds of 67Mb. You'll be told if this is an option for you when you sign up.
In all cases the deals include line rental in the price - there's no option to buy TalkTalk without it. The packages are fully unlimited, so you can download as much as you like each month without risk of being slowed down or restricted.
While it's always good practice to shop around when your broadband contract comes to an end, TalkTalk is one of the rare suppliers to offer the same deals to existing customers as new ones. In addition, if you're an existing customer and you choose to upgrade from the Fast Broadband package to fibre, you'll be upgraded to the smart new Wi-Fi Hub, too.
If you want triple-play services, you can pick up TalkTalk TV as well. Read on for details of the packages you can get there.
What TalkTalk TV deals are available?
TalkTalk has two basic TV packages that come with your choice of broadband service. They offer over 80 channels, and you can add or remove more on a monthly basis.
The two deals are essentially the same, but come with a different set top box:
Broadband (either Fast Broadband or Faster Fibre Broadband) + TalkTalk TV + Free TV Box + Entertainment Boost - this comes with a free box that gives you access to on-demand services like iPlayer, plus the ability to pause and rewind live TV
Broadband (either Fast Broadband or Faster Fibre Broadband) + TalkTalk TV + TV Plus Box + Entertainment Boost - this comes with an enhanced box for £50 that gives you the same as above, plus the ability to record up to 180 hours of TV
Both TV packages include 80+ Freeview channels, with 15 in HD, and over 30 premium TV channels including Sky One and FOX. You also get full access to on-demand and catch up services like iPlayer, and can add Netflix as well. They're available on 12, 18 and 24 month contracts.
In addition to the basic package you can add more premium channels through a range of flexible TV boosts. These include:
Kids: 10 children's channels, including the Disney Channel
Sky Sports: the full range of eight Sky Sports channels, giving you 126 live Premier League football matches and much more
Sky Cinema: 11 film channels and over 1000 movies to watch on demand
Sky Sports and Cinema: Sports and Cinema at a lower price than if you bought them separately
BT Sport: more sports action, including exclusive UEFA Champions League coverage
Asian: four channels offering the best of Asian entertainment
All of these boosts are on 30-day rolling deals. You can add them whenever you want and cancel at any time.
Which package should I choose?
TalkTalk's packages have the same terms, so your choice comes down to what speed you need.
Smaller households, or those with less demanding requirements, may find that the Fast Broadband packages offer sufficient speeds. If you use the internet mostly for browsing, email and social networking, and maybe one user watching Netflix or iPlayer, then the 11Mb average speed offering could be fast enough. However, speeds are affected by several factors including how far your home is from your nearest telephone exchange. Make sure you base your decision on the real world speed estimate TalkTalk provides you.
For larger households, or those that want to use the internet for constant streaming, gaming or downloading, a fibre plan is likely to be more suitable. If the 38Mb average speed still doesn't seem like enough, TalkTalk offers the option to upgrade to a service with 67Mb average speed if it's available in your area.
Other factors to consider are whether you want to add TV services to your plan. Your options here are for the basic Freeview channels with a box that enables you to pause and rewind shows, or for a premium package with the ability to record shows as well as access on-demand services. In both cases there's also the option to add premium channels without long-term commitment. Your subscriptions renew every month and you can cancel whenever you want.
Points to consider before you choose
How far do you live from your local BT telephone exchange, and will this greatly impact your ADSL speeds?
How many people will be using your broadband connection at any one time, especially for heavy downloading or online gaming?
Would an 18 month contract be too long for you?
Do you watch a lot of TV, or make a lot of phone calls?
Do you want to be able to record programmes with your telly box?
Is your connection fast enough (2Mb or more) to support streamed TV?
It's always good to know upfront what you'll get when signing up with an ISP so you know what you can enjoy for free, or to budget for any extras you may want.
Wi-Fi Hub - All customers signing up to TalkTalk's broadband packages receieve an award winning Wi-Fi Hub supporting faster connections at longer distances. It's also free for existing customers who upgrade from standard to fibre.
TV box - Opt for one of the TV or TV Plus packages and you get a TV box that enables you to pause and rewind live TV, access Freeview channels, and add your own choice of Premium services. On the TV Plus box you can also record 180 hours of shows, and access a full range of on-demand content. The standard TV box is usually free, while the TV Plus box costs £50.
HomeSafe online security - TalkTalk broadband comes with HomeSafe, their award-winning online protection service. Developed with parents and online security experts, it allows you to protect your computer from harmful websites by providing virus alerts, as well offering the option of restricting access to sites unsuitable for children, or even blocking access to gaming sites and social media for homework time.
Home Move service - TalkTalk provide a Home Move service for their customers to help make moving broadband when moving house more straightforward and less of a hassle. It is all done online, allowing you to pick the dates that work for you, and to keep track of the move. You can find out more about this service with our Home Move service guide.
Free landline calls - All landline calls between TalkTalk users are free.
24/7 tech support - Technical support is avaialble by phone 24/7, and customer service lines can be accessed between 8am and 8pm.
What are the benefits of TalkTalk?
The benefits offered by an ISP may be what seals the deal in your decision to buy a package from them.
No upfront costs - Sign up for Fast Broadband and you won't have to pay anything up front.
Wi-Fi Hub - Get the award winning, 802.11ac compatible Wi-Fi router with both standard and fibre broadband deals.
TV Boosts - You can add more premium TV channels to your TalkTalk TV plan on a month by month basis, including Sky Sports and Sky Cinema. This can be a good way to save money on pay-TV. For instance, if you only want to watch the football, you can sign up between August and May, then cancel when the season ends.
Low costs - TalkTalk has some very competitive prices that help it to rank among the cheapest big name providers.
What are the drawbacks of TalkTalk?
Let's face it, not everything can be perfect, and even the best deals may have a downside.
High complaint levels - Ofcom figures for 2019 show that TalkTalk had the second highest number of complaints among the major broadband providers. Complaints for their landline and TV services were also above average.
Long contract lengths - 18 months is the standard contract length for TalkTalk, with 12 months occasionally offered by promotion for the slower, standard broadband service. Even when offers are on, if you want to go for the fibre option you'll have to sign up for 18 months.
Annual CPI increase - prices for broadband (and any other addons, such as line, call plans and call charges) increase by the Consumer Price Index in April of each year plus 3.7%, and then each April onwards