Shell Energy was acquired by Octopus Energy Group in December 2023. As Octopus doesn't provide internet services, it kept the gas and electricity customers and sold the broadband arm of Shell Energy to TalkTalk.
Shell Energy broadband is still advertising deals and existing customers won't have noticed any real change yet. Anyone signing up or already signed up will still be getting the same service. They will eventually be automatically transferred – along with the exact same deal – to TalkTalk.
There shouldn't be any downtime during the move when it happens and there should be no difference in prices or plans. When it does happen, the biggest change customers will notice will probably be the marketing and branding.
Our overall rating: 8 out of 10
Shell Energy is a decent option for anyone looking for a fast, fairly-priced broadband service. There aren’t all the extra bundle phone or TV extras that some of the other providers offer, but not everyone is looking for these too.
The positives
Shell Energy offers several different packages with varying speeds, from a standard ADSL package at 11Mbps to lightning fast full fibre speeds that go up to 944Mbps. But remember, where you live will also play a factor. We’ll list everything below, but you’ll also need to check your postcode to see what is currently available to your home.
Find out what is available to you with our postcode checker.
Speed is often the biggest consideration when choosing a broadband package. If you have multiple people using the internet at one time, then a higher speed and bandwidth will be essential. Equally, if it’s a small household using the internet for everyday usage, paying for business-grade bandwidth will probably end up being a waste.
You should decide what speed is right for you, based on your broadband habits at home. Here’s a handy guide to help show what bandwidth usage your different applications need.
Shell Energy still offers a basic ADSL copper broadband package for those who have no access to any kind of fibre line. This comes with average download speeds of 11Mbps (1Mbps upload). This option is aimed at smaller households with light internet use.
Superfast Fibre
Fine for browsing and streaming in small households, this partial fibre service offers average speeds of 38Mbps (9Mbps upload).
Superfast Fibre Plus
This partial fibre deal offers attractive average speeds of 67Mbps (19Mbps upload). Great for streaming and downloading on multiple devices in a family home.
Full fibre is the next generation of broadband, providing the fastest internet speeds possible in the UK. Availability is currently around 34% of the UK, although constantly expanding as BT Openreach adds around an extra 62,000 premises to its network each week. Shell Energy broadband offers several full fibre packages.
Ultrafast Fibre
This package has an average download speed of 145Mbps (25Mbps upload) at peak times. Ideal for those uploading large content, streaming and online gaming.
Ultrafast Fibre Plus
This full-fibre service offers an impressive download speeds of 290Mbps (45Mbps upload). Perfect for larger households.
Full Fibre 300
With average download speeds of 311Mbps (48Mbps upload), all your working from home needs should be covered. This package includes the upgraded Wi-Fi 6 hub router.
Full Fibre 500
Incredibly fast connection with download speeds of 525Mbps (73Mbps upload), great for large households, multiple devices and downloading and streaming movies and videogames in UHD (ultra high definition). Includes upgraded Wi-Fi 6 router.
Full fibre 900
Shell Energy’s fastest service. This full fibre package offers users an impressive average download speed of 944Mbps (112Mbps upload) which will easily cover all high-use working and gaming internet usage in large, busy households. Includes upgraded Wi-Fi 6 router.
What exactly is full fibre?
It’s the fastest available internet in the UK.
Around two-thirds of homes in the UK can now access ultrafast broadband via fibre-optic technology called ‘G.fast’ or ‘Fibre To The Premises’ (FTTP).
FTTP, also known as full fibre, is the next generation of broadband. It removes the need to rely on copper phone lines and instead connects fibre cables straight to your home. This means there’s no slowdown on the data between the street cabinet and your property and the speed and strength are much more powerful than any previous fibre broadband technology as a result. Common internet issues like buffering and outages become almost nonexistent.
This technology will future-proof homes and businesses across the UK because, once it’s installed, properties won’t need to install new cables for their broadband for decades.
Find out whether your postcode has Shell Broadband full fibre availability
Shell Energy uses the well-established Openreach network for all its packages. Openreach is the physical network (the wires under the street and the boxes on the street) and the biggest telecommunications network in the UK.
Ofcom’s 2024 report shows that Shell Energy customers had a higher level than average of complaints. Out of every 100,000 customers there were 18 official complaints lodged. The industry average is 12 per 100,000.
Shell Energy is not signed up to Ofcom’s Voluntary code of practice for automatic compensation for delayed repairs or slower broadband speeds. However, TalkTalk, who customers will eventually be transferred to this year, is a member and will gain this extra protection.
Shell Energy broadband has a good reputation for offering competitive prices There are no TV, entertainment or mobile extras to choose from. It keeps things simple and just focuses on getting the basics right – good, reliable broadband.
At the time of writing this article, it’s full fibre broadband package at speeds of 100Mbps is priced at a competitive £26.99 a month.
Average price guide
All of Shell Energy’s broadband contracts require a 18-month contract, there are currently no pay-as-you-go options.
Shell Energy broadband are very generous when it comes to offering extra incentives for new customers to join. These are normally in the form of Amazon gift cards and other third party gift vouchers of up to £100.
Yes, unfortunately like most other big providers, Shell Energy increases its monthly prices every spring. In March 2024 prices rose by 6%. This combined the latest CPI inflation rate of 4% with Shell Energy's own annual price increase of 2%.
You should factor the above in when signing up as you’ll need to agree to an annual price rise as part of terms and conditions. As the company will be transferred to TalkTalk later this year, it’s worth noting that their price increase for March 2024 was 7.7%.
If you’re already on another Openreach provider, switching to Shell Energy broadband is easy. You probably will be as most providers operate through this network, the main exception is Virgin Media. If this is the case, you might have an extra task of getting an Openreach line installed, or if there is one, making this active.
Shell Energy provides three different routers, depending on what plan you sign up for.
Wi-Fi 6 Hub
The best of the bunch, this brilliant router goes to any ‘Superfast Fibre’, ‘Superfast Fibre Plus’ or ‘Full Fibre’ customers. It boasts Wi-Fi 6 technology, operates on both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands and has automatic channel selection and WPS for secure connections.
Technicolour DGA0122
Customers choosing ‘Superfast Fibre Essentials’, ‘Ultrafast Fibre’ and ‘Ultrafast Fibre Plus’ get the Technicolour DGA0122 wireless router. It’s a decent bit of kit and supports dual-band technology, comes with two USB ports and has a smart channel selection that ensures your Wi-Fi is always running on the least congested channel.
Zyxel AMG1302
Customers on ADSL Fast Broadband and Fast Broadband Essentials pack will get the Zyxel AMG1302 router. Although it’s not as sophisticated as the two above, it’s perfectly capable for the average download speeds of 11Mbps that accompany these packages.
If you already have an Openreach connection, these routers will be sent out to you and you can simply connect it yourself by plugging in, attaching the ethernet cable, turning it on and allowing your new router to sync.
Unfortunately, it’s not the best news when we get to this section of our review. We’ve looked at data published in Ofcom’s 2023 customer service report and it performs poorly. 108 customers per 100,000 subscribers complained to Ofcom. And, the average call waiting time was a very disappointing 8 minutes 14 seconds (the average was 2 minutes 27 seconds).
It’s worth noting again, that TalkTalk will soon be the customer service representatives, although they too performed fairly poorly on this report with an overall satisfaction score of 78% (average broadband score is 82%).
Shell Energy customer service is open 8am to 8pm Monday to Saturday, and 9am to 6pm on Sundays. It has the same single telephone number for all queries whether you are an existing customer or not.
Call customer service: 0330 0945801
Email queries (answered within 48 hours):
Live chat service (click on ‘chat’ button)
We’ve added up everything from each category making our overall average Shell Energy broadband rating score: 8
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