H1 2026 Study Names Top UK Fastest Mobile and Home Broadband ISPs | ISPreview UK

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We’ve today published ISPreview’s first biannual study of the United Kingdom’s broadband download and upload speeds for 2026, which covers the first half of the year. The report reveals how the performance of the fastest fixed line internet providers, mobile network operators and Starlink (satellite) services has changed since the end of 2025

The results in this report stem from web-based speed testing by consumers and are thus inevitably impacted by a number of factors, such as the rising coverage of faster network technologies (e.g. full fibre and 5G mobile) and the level of take-up by consumers. Naturally, it helps to understand any key changes in network deployments around the study period, which is shown below using the latest data from Ofcom (here).

The biggest coverage improvements for fixed line services continue to come from full fibre broadband networks (Summary of UK FTTP Builds), although ongoing market pressures (high build costs, high interest rates, fierce competition etc.) have, on the flip side, resulted in many alternative operators (altnets) suffering job losses and a build slowdown or stall. But the Openreach, Quickline, Netomnia and a few others have kept a good pace of build.

Full fibre networks also remain the driving force behind the rise in gigabit-capable coverage, which continues to be predominantly fuelled by commercial roll-outs in urban areas. By comparison the Government’s £5bn Project Gigabit programme – specifically their Gigabit Infrastructure Subsidy (GIS) contracts – have so far helped to upgrade 256,680 premises in hard to reach areas. The national goal is to expand gigabit coverage to c.99% of the UK by 2032 (delayed from the original 2030 target – here).

Finally, in terms of mobile networks, there have been further improvements in 4G and 5G (mobile broadband) coverage, especially the fastest 5G+ (Standalone) technology. Most of this stems from commercial investment, although the industry-led £1bn Shared Rural Network (SRN) project has continued to make gradual progress on boosting geographic 4G coverage (here); this is less impactful in population terms, as fewer people live in rural areas.

Fastest Major Fixed Broadband ISPs (H1 2026 vs H2 2025)

The data for this report has been gathered from Thinkbroadband’s independent database of speedtests (inc. ISPreview’s Broadband Speedtest). The first set of tables below only includes the largest and most established independent ISPs with strong national availability. But we have a separate table for smaller providers (inc. some altnets) on page 2 – these are difficult to include because such ISPs don’t produce much test data (fewer users).

Naturally, there are caveats to consider with speedtest based studies like this, not least because the results tend to be more impacted by take-up than network availability. For example, some ISPs may have a much larger proportion of customers on slower copper-based lines (ADSL or FTTC), which can weigh against those on faster FTTP services (i.e. pulling average speeds down). The opposite can also be true.

Average Download Speeds – Top 8

Average Upload Speeds – Top 8

Overall, the average download speed of the largest national providers was 100.8Mbps (up from 91.28Mbps) and the average upload speed hit 25.5Mbps (up from 21.21Mbps).

Now flick over to page 2 to continue this summary and see how the fastest satellite (starlink), mobile operators and smaller ISPs all performed.