Confused.com’s Whistle-Stop Guide to Broadband
- Guides
- Published: 18 May 2009 in Household and General
The pipes are getting thicker, the transfer of data is getting speedier... When it comes to broadband, what consumers want is bigger, better, faster, more.
But what exactly do you need to know before signing up to a specific ISP (Internet Service Provider) for your broadband? Well here are a few lightning-quick pointers to bear in mind before committing to a contract:
Compare broadband with Confused.com to get an awesome deal
Our broadband comparison tool is really easy and useful. Just tap in your postcode and we’ll show you the deals available in your area. It can be easily sorted by monthly cost, annual cost, download speeds and limits... It’s really simple and completely transparent – all costs are listed upfront.
And if you’re switching broadband, you could save up to £84* by doing so through Confused.com.
Follow this link to compare broadband deals for your area.
Be mindful of charges for exceeding your internet usage allowance
The ISP may well put a usage cap on your broadband package. For example, you may not be able to exceed 10 Gigabytes a month. A lot of cheaper deals may well have an upper limit like this. If you’re only going to use the net for emailing and the odd bit of browsing, then you’re likely to get better value from these deals.
However, if you want to get involved in multi-player online gaming or watch a lot of online TV, then you probably want to look into an ‘unlimited’ package – otherwise you may get stung with some nasty fees. And with that in mind...
When is ‘unlimited’ not unlimited?
‘Unlimited’ packages don’t always offer unlimited usage. Most of these packages will impose a ‘fair use’ policy – which basically means you can download a lot of stuff, but don’t take the mick. Such a policy may well operate a cap of around 40Gig/month – although this is still a decent chunk of data. In extreme cases however, providers have been known to cancel the accounts of repeat offenders.
It’s worth noting that the Sky Broadband Max product is one exception to this rule... It does offer absolutely unlimited usage with no ‘fair use’ policy.
Might you be better off with mobile broadband over home broadband?
If you don’t have a landline, or if you frequently use your laptop away from home – or indeed both – then you might want to consider mobile broadband. No landline required... You just connect to the net through a mobile network. You can get a USB ‘dongle’ to slot into your machine and, provided there’s a network available – you’re good to go.
Plus mobile internet can be really good value. Bearing in mind that landline rental alone is usually about £10.50 a month, mobile broadband can cost as little as £10.27 a month. Who needs a landline anyway?
See what speeds to can get before signing up with a provider
At present, the average speed that a UK house is 3.6Mbits/s. Something to watch out for, however, is that broadband speeds are often advertised as being ‘up to’ (e.g. ‘up to 8Mb’). This speed may not be achievable by many households. As such, it isn’t worth paying for an ultra-super-mega-high-speed connection if your household isn’t ever likely to get anywhere near that speed.
To get a better idea before committing to a package, you could phone or email the ISP you are thinking of using, in order to ask what the average speed is for your area.
*Broadbandchoices.co.uk found that 27% of respondents to a February 2009 customer survey could save £84 on average.