Uswitch Broadband & Mobile Awards 2021
See who’s won this year’s awards
The awards winners
Broadband winners
Broadband Provider of the Year
Plusnet has scooped this year's Broadband Provider of the Year award.
Public choice award
Best Provider Customer Service
Along with Best Provider, Plusnet has also won Best Customer Service.
Public choice award
Fastest Broadband Provider
Virgin Media's Ultrafast Fibre offering helped it win the 2021 Fastest Broadband Provider award.
Internal data award
Most Popular Broadband Provider
Another award for Plusnet - it's won Most Popular Broadband Provider 2021 too.
Public choice + internal data award
Best Value Broadband Provider
A great year for Plusnet - its fifth award is Best Value Broadband Provider 2021.
Public choice award
TV
TV winners
TV Provider of the Year
BT is the place for great TV, and it's won Uswitch TV Provider of the Year 2021.
Public choice award
Best Smart Media Device
Best Smart Media Device 2021 is Google Chromecast with Google TV.
Judges' choice award
Best TV Content
The latest streaming service and one of the biggest names in entertainment - Disney+ has won the 2021 Best TV Content award.
Judges' choice award
Best TV Streaming Service
Blockbuster original content and classic favourites helped Netflix win Best TV Streaming Service 2021.
Judges' choice award
Bundles
Telecoms - Bundles winners
Quad Play Provider of the Year
BT wins Quad Play Provider of the Year 2021.
Public choice award
Best Triple Play Provider
Another big win for BT, it wins Best Triple Play Provider 2021.
Public choice award
Mobiles
Telecoms - Network winners
Best Network Coverage
O2 takes home this year's Best Network Coverage award.
Public choice award
Fastest Mobile Network
For the second year running, EE wins Fastest Mobile Network 2021.
Data from OpenSignal
Best Network for Customer Service
A first Uswitch award for Asda Mobile - Best Network for Customer Service 2021.
Public choice award
Best Network for Data
The Best Network for Data award goes to... Three!
Uswitch judges award
Best Network for Roaming
Three wins the Best Network for Roaming award for the second year running.
Judges’ choice award
Most Popular Mobile Network
A hattrick for Three, its third award is Most Popular Mobile Network 2021.
Public choice + internal data award
Telecoms - Mobile plan winners
Best Value Pay Monthly Network
Sky Mobile has won the Uswitch Best Value Pay Monthly Network award for 2021.
Public choice award
Best Pay Monthly Network
It's a winning year for Sky Mobile - Uswitch's 2021 Best Pay Monthly Network.
Public choice award
Best PAYG Network
For pay-as-you-go deals, look to SMARTY - the Best PAYG Network 2021.
Uswitch judges award
Best SIM only Network
Three's fourth award is Best SIM only Network 2021!
Uswitch judges award
Best Value SIM-only Network
Lebara's cheap deals helped it win Best Value SIM only Network 2021.
Uswitch judges award
Telecoms - Manufacturers winners
Handset of the Year
In a great year for smartphones, the iPhone 12 Pro Max topped them all to win Handset of the Year 2021.
Judges' choice award
Manufacturer of the Year
Manufacturer of the Year 2021 goes to Apple and its new 5G iPhone 12 series.
Uswitch judges award
Telecoms Innovation Award
The impressive Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G wins the award for Telecoms Innovation Award 2021.
Judges' choice award
Telecoms - Retailers winners
High Street Retailer of the Year
A strong year for Apple is rounded off with the High Street Retailer of the Year award.
Public choice award
Best Retailer for Customer Service
Never knowingly undersold, John Lewis wins Best Retailer for Customer Service 2021.
Public choice award
Online Retailer of the Year
Amazon is the winner of the Online Retailer of the Year award 2021.
Judges' choice award
Mobile Reseller of the Year 2021
Mobile Reseller of the Year 2021 goes to A1 Comms.
Uswitch judges award
Meet our Judges
The awards judging panel is made up of leading news, technology and consumer finance journalists.
Judges' profiles
The Uswitch Broadband and Mobiles Award winners are decided by customer satisfaction research and our team of judges.
The Fastest Mobile Network award will be determined from data supplied by mobile analytics company OpenSignal. *
In conjunction with Opinium Research, Uswitch polled 17,256 broadband customers and 17,601 mobile phone users to decide the winners of the consumer-voted award categories.
The Uswitch Broadband Awards survey contained responses from 17,256 broadband customers, and was independently conducted by Opinium between September and December 2020.
The group of respondents provided by Opinium was a nationally representative sample of consumers across the UK.
The overarching metric was customer satisfaction, with award winners decided as the provider receiving the highest percentage score in relevant categories to topics in question.
For general award categories, average customer satisfaction scores from a number of relevant question sets were combined to derive best overall scores, and subsequently a winner. 12,883 of the Broadband customers surveyed also answered TV questions.
For 'most popular' award categories, winners were derived from an amalgam of relevant best scores from a selection of general categories, combined with Uswitch internal performance figures. Equal weighting was given to each.
All providers were required to meet a minimum threshold of 1% (one percent) of respondents' answers in the customer sample set for consideration in any award category.
* Analysis derived from Opensignal Awards - UK Mobile Network Experience reports April and October 2020, based on independent analysis of mobile measurements recorded during the period Dec 1, 2019 - Feb 28, 2020 and Jun 1 - Aug 29, 2020. ©2020 OpenSignal Inc
About the 2021 Uswitch Telecoms Awards
The 2021 Uswitch Broadband Awards recognise excellence in the consumer broadband industry.
The awards were voted for by more than 17,000 broadband customers, as well as by a panel of expert judges from the fields of consumer affairs, personal finance and technology.
Plusnet claimed the top spot in four categories and has been named Broadband Provider of the Year, the Most Popular Broadband Provider and the Best Value Broadband Provider.
Plusnet also won Best Provider Customer Service, with the company winning the award for the eighth consecutive year.
Meanwhile in the TV category, BT won the battle to be named TV Provider of the Year.
Disney+ made a stunning debut in the market last year, landing the award for Best TV Content. Its rival Netflix retained its crown as Best TV Streaming Service.
The award for the Fastest Broadband Provider was scooped once again by Virgin Media, while the Best Triple Play (broadband, TV and landline) Provider award was won by BT.
In the joint category of broadband, TV, landline and mobile, BT took the award for Quadplay Provider of the Year.
Ernest Doku, broadband expert here at Uswitch.com, comments: “The stakes in the Uswitch Broadband Awards have never been higher. Months of lockdown living - and working - have seen millions of people rely on their broadband connection at all times of the day. For the past year, the performance and reliability of our broadband has underpinned our work, social life and leisure time. "
“It was a particularly solid year for Plusnet, as the company scooped four awards despite the extra pressure to keep connections stable during the long months of lockdown."
“The launch of Disney+ in the UK was timed to perfection, with the streaming service making a stunning debut just as the first nationwide lockdown was declared. Many adults and children alike clearly found comfort in its back catalogue of feelgood Disney fare, as well as its new original content, which saw it claim the award for Best TV Content.”