Broadband is cheaper than ever before, but with the proliferation of deals on the market it’s difficult for customers to know which one best suits their needs.
Whether it’s working out what an upload rate is or why you need to be close to an exchange, it can all be a bit confusing.
To help simplify matters somewhat, we have analysed a handful of the newest and most popular broadband deals, giving you only the information you need and leaving the jargon for the techies to figure out.
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Things to know about broadband
First, let’s take a look at the state of the broadband market so you know what to expect. According to uSwitch, broadband costs 36% less today than it did four years ago, with the average standalone broadband package now costing £17. And it’s not only cheaper, but 16 times faster too.
As a practical illustration, and AOL customer had to pay £28 a month for a 512kb – or 0.5Mb – broadband service in 2004, but fast forward to 2008 and the same provider is offering an 8Mb service for £13.32 a month. This relentless improvement in service means customers should never allow their broadband contract to simply roll over once it expires. Regardless of how cheap it was when they first signed up; there will no doubt be significantly cheaper options available.
One thing that isn’t constantly improving, however, is customer service. A survey last year found that a quarter of customers were unhappy with how their provider treated them. Significantly, it tends to be the cheapest providers, such as TalkTalk, who have developed a reputation for especially poor service, so keep this in mind when comparing deals. If you find a provider whose price you like, take a bit of time to research their customer service history – broadband forums are a good place to look for unbiased opinions.
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What to look for in a contract
Gone are the days of painstakingly slow dial up connections – 8Mb is fast becoming the new standard. This will be more than sufficient for viewing videos online (at sites like YouTube), or downloading songs on iTunes. If you only ever use the Internet for viewing web pages or occasionally checking your email, however, then a 2Mb or even 1Mb line will suffice.
Another important aspect is the upload speed offered with a package. This is particularly important for online gaming or internet telephony (such as Skype). For an 8Mb line, an upload rate of around 1.3Mb should be more than enough.
Before you sign up to any provider, check they are able to provide the advertised bandwidth speeds in your area, otherwise you will be paying for a more expensive package than they are offering. You also need to consider how much you download every month. This is often difficult to work out, but the table below should give you a rough idea of what category you fall under.
Be sure to factor in the usage of any other people living with you to avoid going over your monthly limit, or cap. Do this and you will either be billed for every additional GB of information you download, or your provider will slow your service down to a trickle for the remainder of the month.
| Usage Allowance per month | 2GB | 10GB | 20GB | 40GB |
| Surfing (hours per day) | 8 | 40 | 80 | 160 |
| Music downloads (tracks per week) | 60 | 300 | 600 | 1200 |
| Short video clips (clips per week) | 40 | 200 | 400 | 800 |
| Emails (no attachments) (per week) | 800 | 4000 | 8000 | 16000 |
| Emails (with attachments) (per week) | 100 | 500 | 1000 | 2000 |
| Online gaming (hours per week) | 4 | 20 | 40 | 80 |
| Listen to streaming radio (hours per week) | 4 | 20 | 40 | 80 |
Some final contract checkpoints
- Is there an introductory price? When does it expire and by how much will it increase thereafter?
- What is the length of the contract, and what are the penalties for terminating early or moving home?
- Does the deal include free anti-virus software?
- Will you have to pay a set up/connection fee?
- Is the router free?
- Is there 24-hour support available, and is it telephonic or just online?
Now that we have a bit of background, let’s take a look at the various standard deals out there. Note that all of these require that you have a BT land line installed in your home.
O2 broadband
O2 is one of the newest entrants into the broadband arena, and it is offering a number of competitive deals. An 8Mb line with “unlimited” downloads costs £12.50 a month, while a faster 20Mb line is available for £20. O2 mobile phone customers (both pay as you go and contract ) who sign up before 30 April will be given a £5 monthly discount, meaning the cheapest package is available for just £7.50 a month. As an added bonus, O2 promises that any customers signed up to a broadband speed that cannot be delivered will be notified and be able to downgrade their package.
This is definitely one of the most attractive propositions on the market, but it’s annoying that some people will have to pay more simply because they don’t use the O2 mobile network (for those of you thinking of purchasing an O2 PAYG SIM card in order to get the cheaper rate, note that you have to top up at least £10 every three months to qualify for the discount). The other major downside is that O2 only covers 50% of the country at present, so a lot of people won’t be able to take up this offer.
AOL broadband
The basic 8Mb package has a 10GB download limit and is advertised at £9.99 a month, but this increases to £14.99 after six months, so the true monthly cost works out to £13.32. The contract is a fairly lengthy 18 months, which isn’t ideal. That said, AOL has a reputation for good customer service, which counts strongly in its favour.
Broadband customers can also get three months free when they sign up for the Talk Evenings & Weekends International package, which works out to a saving of around £17. This package offers unlimited number of calls to landlines in 30 countries worldwide between 6pm and 6am every weekday and all weekend, as well as reduced mobile rates.
Be Broadband
A recent survey found that Be Broadband customers enjoy some of the highest average download speeds, so it will certainly prove attractive to heavy users. Its basic 8Mb deal offers “unlimited” downloads, but does cost a fairly hefty £14 a month. The faster 24Mb line is available £18, which could prove better value for money provided you make good use of it. This package also comes with a more flexible contract, whereby you can leave anytime you want provided you give three months notice, or alternately pay them £40. There is a £24 set up fee regardless of which package you choose.
Tiscali broadband
Tiscali’s basic 8Mb package has an average monthly price of just £11.36, which is one of the cheapest deals around. It does have a fairly low 5GB cap, but if you fork out an extra £2 a month you can upgrade to the “unlimited” downloads package.
If you are also in the market for TV and home phone deals, you can bundle the three together for an average monthly cost of £19, plus a one-off £30 set up fee. This gets you unlimited broadband, 60 radio and TV channels and free weekend UK and international calls. It’s worth noting that Tiscali has twice been voted best customer service provider of the year for its phone line business, so you should be in safe hands there. Click here to view all other package deals available at Tiscali broadband.
Madasafish broadband
Madasafish is one of the smaller players in the broadband space. It offers an 8Mb line with a 5GB cap for £9.99, rising to £14.99 thereafter. This works out to an average cost of £12.94 over the 12 month contract, while heavier users can sign up to the 50GB download package for £28 a month.
As an added incentive, the firm offers all customers a free static IP address, which other providers charge up to £5 a month for. This is only really useful for online gamers or those who work remotely from a central office though, so if you don’t fall into one of these categories it’s pretty meaningless. Madasafish is also offering a reward to any customer who refers a friend. You’ll get £20 out of the deal, while your friend pockets £10.
Eclipse Internet
Eclipse offers an 8Mb line for £14.99, but it comes with a low 2GB limit, so it’s not really ideal for families. You can upgrade to a 10GB download cap for an extra £4 a month. This is more expensive than most of the other providers, but once you are a customer you can sign up for its TalkMore phone service for £5.99 a month, which offers unlimited local calls and unlimited calls to national UK 01 and 02 numbers.
For customers who simply don’t want to be tied down to a contract, there is a monthly roll over deal available, but this requires a set up fee of £47. Like Madasafish, Eclipse is offering to pay customers who refer a friend. You’ll pocket £30 in this instance.
*Total cost divided by duration of contract
**Free connection until the end of March 2008
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