By BT Halo gives you unbreakable wi-fi, home tech experts, a Smart Hub 2 router, the full fibre promise and double data on BT Mobile.
In the UK, BT’s flagship price plan is now known as BT Halo. Giving you a number of benefits across both BT Broadband and BT Mobile, you can currently choose between BT’s Halo 3 and Halo 3+ plans.
On Halo 3, you’ll get access to home tech experts along with BT’s Keep Connected Promise and their end of contract price promise. You’ll also benefit from double data on all BT Mobile plans and exclusive access to BT’s unlimited data plan.
On Halo 3+, you’ll get everything on the Halo 3 plan with the addition of “unbreakable wi-fi” through Hybrid Connect, Complete Wi-Fi and the Smart Hub 2 router. You’ll also get a free upgrade to BT’s full fibre broadband as soon as it’s available at your address.
In this article, we’ll review the BT Halo service. We’ll start by looking at the BT Halo plans and how the Halo 3 package compares to Halo 3+. We’ll then look at each of the BT Halo features in more detail, before looking at the plans available and at alternatives from other internet providers.
Contents
What is BT Halo?
In the UK, Halo is BT’s flagship price plan. It promises to give you “the UK’s only unbreakable wi-fi connection” along with a number of added benefits across your BT Broadband and BT Mobile plans.
If you’re an existing BT Broadband customer, you might be able to upgrade to Halo 3 from as little as £1 extra per month (this will be more expensive if you want the full Halo 3+ package). Meanwhile, if you’re a new BT Broadband customer, you can get full fibre broadband together with Halo 3+.
At present, BT offers a choice of two different Halo packages: BT Halo 3 and BT Halo 3+. The following table shows a side-by-side comparison of the features available on each one:
| Feature | BT Halo 3 | BT Halo 3+ |
|---|---|---|
| Hybrid Connect | ✘ | ✔ |
| Complete Wi-Fi | ✘ | ✔ |
| Smart Hub 2 | ✘ | ✔ |
| Full Fibre Promise | ✘ | ✔ |
| Home Tech Experts | ✔ | ✔ |
| Keep Connected Promise | ✔ | ✔ |
| Price Promise | ✔ | ✔ |
| Double Data on BT Mobile | ✔ | ✔ |
For more information about each of the features, read on or tap the feature you’d like to learn more about.
Other BT Halo Plans
If you signed up to BT Halo before the 5th February 2021, you may have one of their older packages instead:
- The BT Halo 2 package includes the Smart Hub 2 router, access to Home Tech Experts, the Keep Connected Promise, the Price Promise and Double Data on BT Mobile.
- The BT Halo 1 package (previously known as BT Plus) gives you access to the Keep Connected Promise, the Price Promise and Double Data on BT Mobile.
Both BT Halo 2 and BT Halo 1 also included the promise of customer support based in the UK or Ireland. However, this is now available as a standard feature to all BT customers, as all of their customer support teams have been brought back as of January 2020.
If you’re signing up to a BT business broadband plan instead, things will work a little differently with BT’s Halo for Business. Instead of getting the regular BT Halo benefits for consumers, you’ll get added business-orientated features such as 4G Assure, business IT support and a static IP address.
BT Halo Features
In the following section, we’ll look at each of the BT Halo features in more detail.
Hybrid Connect
If you choose a Halo 3+ package, you’ll get Hybrid Connect included in your plan. This gives you ‘unbreakable home wi-fi’ with a backup for your fibre broadband connection, powered by EE’s 4G network.
The Hybrid Connect device works with your BT Smart Hub 2 router. Should a fault be detected with your fibre broadband connection, the Hybrid Connect backup will kick in automatically in less than 90 seconds. This keeps all of your devices connected to the internet without the need to change Wi-Fi networks or the need to sign in again from your other devices. You can also use Hybrid Connect when you’re moving home to get online before your fibre broadband service is installed.
Hybrid Connect is only included on Halo 3+ plans. However, you can choose to add it to any BT Broadband plan for an extra £7/month on a standalone basis.
Complete Wi-Fi
On BT Halo 3+ plans, you’ll also get BT’s Complete Wi-Fi service included. This gives you a guaranteed Wi-Fi signal in every room of your home with a minimum download speed of 10Mbps.
Complete Wi-Fi is provided using mesh networking technology and consists of a Smart Hub 2 router and up to 3 Wi-Fi Discs from BT. If you’re unable to get the minimum speed of at least 10Mbps in every room of your home, you can get £100 back from the Complete Wi-Fi Guarantee.
The Complete Wi-Fi service isn’t included on BT Halo 3, BT Halo 2 or BT Halo 1 plans. However, you can add it on a standalone basis to any BT Broadband plan for an extra £10/month. See our BT Complete Wi-Fi review for more information.
Smart Hub 2 Router
If you have BT’s Halo 3, Halo 3+ or Halo 2 plan, you’ll receive a Smart Hub 2 router instead of BT’s regular BT Smart Hub.
The Smart Hub 2 router has improved Wi-Fi performance compared to the original Smart Hub. It also supports BT’s Wi-Fi Controls feature which allows you to pause the internet for certain devices at specific times of the day (e.g. pausing the internet for your children during mealtimes or after bedtime).
As an alternative to upgrading to Halo, you can also buy the Smart Hub 2 on a standalone basis for £100. Alternatively, customers signing up for BT’s Hybrid Connect or Complete Wi-Fi service will also receive a Smart Hub 2 instead of the regular Smart Hub router.
The Smart Hub 2 is not available on BT Halo 1 (previously known as BT Plus).
Full Fibre Promise
At present, BT’s full fibre broadband service is available in around 4 million UK homes. This is where BT’s fibre optic cable goes all the way into your home using fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) technology. This differs from regular fibre broadband, where the fibre optic connection stops at a cabinet near your home (this is known as fibre-to-the-cabinet or FTTC broadband).
Compared to regular fibre broadband, the benefit of FTTP is it gives you faster download speeds of up to 900Mbps. You’ll also benefit from more capacity and a service that’s more reliable than traditional fibre broadband.
BT is currently rolling out full fibre broadband across the UK, with a further 3.2 million homes due to get it by the mid-2020s. If you’re a BT Halo 3+ customer, you’ll get an upgrade to Full Fibre 100 as soon as it’s available where you live. This will be available at no extra cost and with no need to sign up for a new contract.
Home Tech Experts
On the Halo 3, Halo 3+ and Halo 2 plans, you’ll have access to home tech experts provided by Qube and Enjoy. The experts will come to visit you in your home in three situations, helping with the set-up of your BT products:
- When you join BT Broadband with Halo, or when you upgrade to a Halo plan.
- When you add certain products from BT, such as BT TV and BT Complete Wi-Fi.
- Every 12 months when you have your annual BT Home Health Check. The tech expert will visit your home to make sure the BT products are set up correctly and to see whether improvements can be made (e.g. repositioning your router or improving your internal wiring).
In some cases, a home tech expert may also be sent out to you if there’s an issue with your home broadband service.
Appointment slots with home tech experts are available 7 days per week and you’ll be given a two-hour window to minimise any waiting.
Access to Home Tech Experts is not available on BT Halo 1 (previously known as BT Plus).
Keep Connected Promise
On all BT Halo plans, you’ll benefit from the keep connected promise. This will keep you connected when your broadband service goes down or when you’re moving home and waiting for your broadband service to be transferred.
Depending on which plan you have, the Keep Connected Promise can either work through your Hybrid Connect or a 4G Mini Hub:
- On BT Halo 3+, the Keep Connected Promise is provided by your Hybrid Connect device. This will kick in automatically if there’s a fault with your fibre broadband service so it isn’t necessary to request a 4G Mini Hub.
- On BT’s Halo 3, Halo 2 and Halo 1 plans, the Keep Connected Promise is provided by a 4G Mini Hub. This is a pocket-sized mobile broadband dongle, allowing you to connect up to 20 devices to the internet through a 4G mobile broadband connection. When required, the 4G Mini Hub will be sent out to you free of charge through the post, normally arriving on the next day. You’ll get unlimited data for use on the 4G Mini Hub until your regular fibre broadband service is fixed.
If you’re a BT Mobile customer, you’ll also receive unlimited data on all of your BT Mobile SIM cards until the problem is resolved. This will be applied to your account within one hour of the fault being reported.
Price Promise
At the end of your BT Broadband contract, there’s normally an £8/month price increase unless you re-contract onto a new plan (i.e. signing up for another 24 months).
For customers with BT Halo, this £8/month increase doesn’t apply. Instead, you’ll benefit from the price promise which keeps your bill at the same level without the £8/month increase. When you re-contract onto a new plan, BT says you’ll never pay more than a new customer would.
It’s important to note that this BT Halo price promise only applies to the £8/month increase at the end of your contract. It doesn’t affect the annual price increase of CPI+3.9% that BT normally applies to their broadband and mobile bills each year.
Double Data on BT Mobile
As a BT Halo customer, you’ll get double data on all SIM cards and handsets on contract from BT Mobile. In addition, you’ll be able to access an exclusive BT Mobile unlimited data SIM card which gives you unlimited data with 5G from . This will also give you unlimited UK calls from your BT landline.
For more information, see the BT Mobile website or read our full BT Mobile review.
BT Halo Plans
Broadband Plans
If you’re an existing BT Broadband customer, you can upgrade to a BT Halo price plan from £1/month (the price will vary depending on your plan, and whether you want Halo 3 or Halo 3+). When you upgrade to Halo, you’ll normally need to re-contract for another 24 months.
If you’re not already a BT Broadband customer, you can see a list of price plans here with BT Halo included. At the time of writing, you can get BT’s full fibre broadband with Halo 3+ from £69.99/month.
See BT Broadband Plans with BT Halo →
Mobile Plans
As a BT Halo customer, you’ll have access to exclusive BT Mobile deals including unlimited data from :
| Network | Data | Monthly Cost | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No price plans could be found matching this criteria. | |||
If you choose a BT Mobile price plan costing £15/month or more, you’ll get inclusive access to the BT Sport app on your mobile phone.
The £20/month unlimited data plan on BT Mobile also give you unlimited UK calls on your BT landline (worth £12/month). This is an exclusive deal for customers with BT Halo broadband.
Alternatives
As a cheaper alternative to BT Halo, you can also consider the following fibre broadband plans from £22/month:
| Service | Download Speed | Monthly Cost | |
|---|---|---|---|
 Superfast | 61Mbps average download | £22.00 per month No upfront fee 24 month contract Monthly cost may rise during contract | See deal |
 Fibre 2 | 67Mbps average download | £25.00 per month No upfront fee 24 month contract Monthly cost will rise each April by £3 | See deal |
 Fibre | 66Mbps average download | £25.99 per month No upfront fee 24 month contract Monthly cost will rise each April by £3 | See deal |
 Sky Superfast | 61Mbps average download | £26.00 per month plus £5.00 upfront 24 month contract Monthly cost may rise during contract | See deal |
 Fibre 65 | 67Mbps average download | £28.00 per month plus £4.95 upfront 18 month contract Monthly cost will rise each April by £3 | See deal |
Fibre 2 | 67Mbps average download | £29.99 per month No upfront fee £50 reward card 24 month contract Monthly cost will rise each April by £3 | See deal |
 EE Fibre 67 | 67Mbps average download | £29.99 per month No upfront fee 24 month contract Monthly cost will rise each April by £3 | See deal |
Alternatively, if you’d like added benefits on your package, there are numerous other providers also offering similar benefits to BT Halo:
Sky Broadband Boost (£5/month): For an extra £5/month on top of the cost of any Sky Broadband plan, you can get a Wi-Fi Guarantee of 3Mbps in every room of your home (similar to BT’s Complete Wi-Fi service). You’ll also get the Sky Broadband Buddy parental controls app, free engineer visits from the Sky Broadband Tech Team and 2GB of mobile data for broadband outages (available only to Sky Mobile customers).- Virgin Media Oomph: On Virgin Media’s Oomph bundles, you’ll get unlimited data on all of your Virgin Mobile SIM cards should there be a fault with your home broadband service.
- EE Smart Wi-Fi (£10/month): On EE broadband, you can add the Smart Wi-Fi service for an extra £10/month. This gives you an EE Smart Router (based on the BT Smart Hub 2) and a Wi-Fi Disc to boost Wi-Fi in your home (similar to BT Complete Wi-Fi). You’ll also get a 4GEE WiFi Mini hotspot with the promise of 250GB of mobile data when your broadband service goes down.
Switching to BT Broadband
If you’re currently using another broadband provider, it’s a straightforward process to switch to BT Broadband with BT Halo.
Start by ordering your new BT Broadband plan with Halo. When you do this, you’ll be given the option to keep your current home phone or landline number during the online order process.
Once you’ve ordered your BT Broadband service, you’ll be given a switchover date which will normally be in around 2 to 3 weeks time.
In advance of the service switching over, BT will send you a Smart Hub 2 router. You’ll need this to set up your service once you’ve switched over. In the meantime, if you have the Hybrid Connect device from BT Halo 3+, you can use this to get online even before your BT fibre broadband service goes live.
For a step-by-step guide on switching to BT Broadband, please select your current broadband provider from the drop-down menu below:
Switch to BT Broadband
Your step-by-step guide to switching
For more information, see our full guide to switching broadband provider in the UK.
If you’re also switching your mobile phone service over to BT Mobile, a different process applies for switching your service and keeping your current phone number.
Frequently Asked Questions
| What is BT Halo 3? | BT Halo is BT’s flagship fibre broadband service. If you have the latest BT Halo 3+ package, you’ll get “unbreakable wi-fi” through Hybrid Connect, Complete Wi-Fi and the Smart Hub 2 router. You’ll also get a free upgrade to BT’s full fibre broadband when it becomes available at your address.
Customers with BT Halo 3 will also get the following benefits as standard:
|
|---|---|
| Is BT Halo worth it? | According to BT, their Halo 3+ package includes services that are worth £468 over a 24 month contract. Whether this is a worthwhile really depends on how much you’d use the inclusive services like Hybrid Connect and Complete Wi-Fi.
If you like, there are cheaper alternatives available. For example, Vodafone’s Pro Broadband service starts from £37 per month and comes with a very similar range of features. Alternatively, you can get other home broadband services without the added benefits for as little as £22/month. |
| What are the BT Mobile benefits with BT Halo? | If you’re a BT Halo customer, you’ll get double data on all BT Mobile plans. In addition, you’ll have access to an exclusive unlimited data SIM card for . This also includes unlimited UK calls on your BT landline and access to the BT Sport app. |
| What broadband speeds will I get with BT Halo? | You’ll get the following download speeds and upload speeds on BT Halo:
For more information, see our guide to BT’s fibre broadband plans. |
| How much does BT Halo cost? | If you’re an existing BT Broadband customer, you can upgrade to a BT Halo price plan from £1/month.
If you’re not an existing BT Broadband customer, you can see a list of price plans with BT Halo included. At the time of writing, BT’s full fibre broadband is available with Halo 3+ from £69.99/month. |
More Information
For more information about BT Halo, please see the official BT website. You can also read our full BT Broadband review and our BT Mobile review.
george arthur hamilton said:
BT total broadband is not what it says. i have installed their 900 total broadband and have never been able to get more than 400/450 Mbps download speed NEVER 900.
Complained to them and was told that the speed into the router may be 900 but that my soeed was acceptable to them ….. But it is not acceptable to me so if you want the 900 speed good luck…
They should be more open with their advertising and explain the problems that should be expected.
.
D Clark said:
The one thing which is not mentioned anywhere, is your old phones will not work with this.
That is all very well, except I have four phones in various parts of the house, as my wife is disabled and would never get to just one phone. On top of all that, there is no answer phone, which again because of above is essential.
So if you are like me, you will have to renew all your phones and purchase and answer phone.
So I am not impressed and am asking for extra phones, otherwise they can uninstall it all.
Paul Davies replied:
I changed to smart hub 2 both plug in phones don’t work, so I complained to bt and got 2 free WiFi phones
Dave Clark replied:
Paul, I did the same, and received three phones to cover my supposedly reductant ones.
However, in the meantime, I researched further. On the back of the router, there is a phone connection, in green. I connected my old phones to this and all seems to be working OK.
I then also connected the phone provided and this works as well. So now I have all my own old phones plus the new one from BT. So either the information given is incorrect or there is a catch, which I am still waiting to find out.
Tony Game said:
I’m paying £61.50 a month for Halo 3, looking around on the web that seems to be a little expensive.