This topic

BT 500 vs 900 vs EE

ItsJustMe — Tue, 18 Nov 2025 20:44:09 GMT

Hi currently on BT fibre 500, contract due to renew. Any benefit upgrading to BT fibre 900 when home is wireless connection. Also would EE be better as they offer WiFi 6 or 7 and prices slightly cheaper? I also need complete discs or extenders as house is 3 storey. Work from home and so worried about any loss of service if I can may a switch. Any advice appreciated.

Re: BT 500 vs 900 vs EE

Kodikid — Tue, 18 Nov 2025 21:57:08 GMT

Any point upgrading to 900mbps from 500mbps...none whatsoever

Is wifi 6/7 better then wifi 5..yes

Do EE offer extenders...yes

Do EE offer Norton anti virus ...yes for a fee wheres it's free on BT

If I was you I'd go with EE

Re: BT 500 vs 900 vs EE

Colin_London — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 08:32:25 GMT

I have the same decision to make. I think the answer is probably ‘not with BT’ and that’s because of the limitation of the Smart Hub 2 to WiFi 5 which means you will never get more than about 500Mbps out to your devices.

if you have a wired home network the decision may be different, but to make any use of 900mbps on BT you’d probably also need to invest in better WiFi networking equipment.

Re: BT 500 vs 900 vs EE

licquorice — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 10:23:45 GMT

Funny how I get 866Mbs from the BT hub then!!

Re: BT 500 vs 900 vs EE

Quesada — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 11:39:20 GMT

@ItsJustMe

If it aint broken.

I dropped from FF900 + Halo 3 to FF150, without the mini discs and found no difference in service.

You couldn't make it up

Re: BT 500 vs 900 vs EE

iniltous — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 11:48:15 GMT

Care to mention a real world situation on a WiFi connected device where the difference between WiFi standards is noticeable, what is it you can do on a tablet , or smart phone where 500Mb becomes a noticeable problem that 700Mb will solve ?

I suspect that there isn’t a single application apart from running a speed test , ( TBH , I think it’s a little sad if that’s the entire reason to purchase a higher speed package, just to watch the needle swing around on a speed tester GUI to 700-800Mb instead of ‘sticking’ at 500Mb )

I can’t think of anything else where this limit is a problem.

Re: BT 500 vs 900 vs EE

gg30340 — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 11:49:01 GMT

@Colin_London

It may be that your wireless device are not able to use such high speeds.

I can get high speeds on my mobile devices which are newish but my laptop is limited due to the wireless card that is installed.

If I use a modern wifi dongle on the laptop instead of the onboard card I get the full speeds I would expect.

In any event without using a speed test I doubt you will notice any difference between 500Mbps and 900Mbps except the price unless you are downloading excessive amounts of data on numerous devices at the same time.

Re: BT 500 vs 900 vs EE

Colin_London — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 21:59:16 GMT

My PC is hard wired to a disc which has a very good (blue) signal. So if there is a limitation of WiFi it is the BT disc!

It is a fact that the maximum connection speed on a Smart hub 2 at 5GHz is 866 Mbps. That equates to about 500Mbps throughput (unless you are bridging the two bands). The Smart hub 2 just isn’t good enough to serve up 900Mbps throughput.

Re: BT 500 vs 900 vs EE

ItsJustMe — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 22:37:21 GMT

Thanks all for the great responses. Think the answer is to stay with the Fibre 500 : ) Probably need to set up my complete discs a bit better to make the most of the signal. Have others invested in a better router whilst keeping to the fibre 500 package?

Re: BT 500 vs 900 vs EE

Kimberlin — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 06:27:51 GMT

@ItsJustMe

Not everyone will agree, but invest in a better router. You may as well have a WiFi 6/7 router, tri-band than something which is a 7 year old design which in tech terms, is well past its sell by date. I don’t disagree that for most customers, the now ageing SH2 is perfectly adequate, but the fact is, there is better equipment out there that you can make use of.

As for Norton anti-virus, well if you get it for ‘free’ with BT, so be it, but the price of it is undoubtedly built into BT’s pricing structure. Personally, if you use a Windows PC, I’d just use Microsoft Defender, there’s nothing wrong with it.

I highly suspect that 900mbps is just an over hyped marketing gimmick because the vast majority of customers would probably never actually get much benefit from it. I’ve got over 30 devices connected to my 500mbps full fibre, Wife WFH and we’ve got no problems whatsoever and I use a third party router.

Re: BT 500 vs 900 vs EE

Kodikid — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 06:55:46 GMT

Norton anti virus is effectively free with BT.

Add anti virus to any other isp's Broadband deal and you'll pay more for your Broadband then the equivalent BT package

If you're happy with BT you can always swap the SH2 for an EE router.

All EE router's are compatible with BT broadband

Re: BT 500 vs 900 vs EE

Kimberlin — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 07:31:17 GMT

@Kodikid

As I say, Norton Anti-virus may be marketed as ‘free’ but BT I assume don’t get Norton’s product for ‘free’ because that would appear to be non sensical from a business perspective for Norton, that’s why I make the assumption that it’s built into BT’s overall pricing structure. But that’s just my theory.

Re: BT 500 vs 900 vs EE

pddco — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 08:12:22 GMT

What is this fascination with zillions of Mbps broadband speeds in a domestic environment? It’s not as if others can be wowed or impressed by your choice. Nothing to see here. No fancy Ferrari badge or sleek stylish lines of other high performance cars that you can show off to others. Only, as others have said, the self satisfaction of seeing that speed dial cranking round to those dizzy heights. 30Mbps is comfortably a UHD stream with room to spare. 900Mbps? Sounds a bit excessive to me..

Re: BT 500 vs 900 vs EE

Kodikid — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 08:28:51 GMT

It's called personal choice

Whats the point in buying a car with an engine that can exceed 70 mph.

Also often the difference between 300mbps and 900mbps is literally a pound or two .

So hey if you can afford it and it's hurting no one then go for it

Re: BT 500 vs 900 vs EE

Colin_London — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 08:35:01 GMT

Don’t forget you get higher upload speed as well, which for many people is the reason to go with a very high speed package. If I had a choice I would rather have a symmetric 300Mbps package than the 500/70 I currently have, and that is due to both my wife and I WFH.

I agree that download speed higher than 500Mbps is hard to make a use case for in a domestic setting at present unless you have a family of gamers all playing simultaneously. It is no surprise that EE markets its 1.6Gbps product to gamers.

But there will always be people who are prepared to pay more money for the best possible (look at the cost of top TV sports packages which people do buy). The broadband providers are of course more than happy to take the money off them!

Re: BT 500 vs 900 vs EE

pddco — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 08:38:48 GMT

@Kodikid Of course it’s personal choice. But at least the OP can make a more informed choice. If they want to pay a pound or two more and see no tangible benefit then fair enough. Beats me.

Re: BT 500 vs 900 vs EE

pddco — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 09:12:00 GMT

@Colin_London appreciate that upload can be a factor. But If WFH, wouldn’t business broadband be a better option. Don’t they give symmetrical offerings?

And with gaming.. I’m not sure that broadband speed is such a factor. I understood that it’s positioning info that’s exchanged rather than loads of graphics. But happy to be proved wrong. It’s more about latency (lag) than anything else. Fibre, at whatever speed nails that one.

Re: BT 500 vs 900 vs EE

Colin_London — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 08:46:22 GMT

We don’t run a business. Who can justify paying so much more for a business connection when they cannot treat it as a business expense?!

Re: BT 500 vs 900 vs EE

pddco — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 09:20:46 GMT

@Colin_London Sorry, when I see WFH I’m thinking a Home office where the company permits or encourages home working and contributes to that way of working. Rather than an occasional thing. See your point if there’s no incentive from the company!

Re: BT 500 vs 900 vs EE

Colin_London — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 20:21:18 GMT

More common nowadays is flexible working where you go into the office certain days and WFH on the others. But the company certainly doesn’t ‘encourage’ you to WFH by paying for your broadband!