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Family-friendly broadband
The internet is a great learning tool for kids, as well as an excellent way of keeping them occupied on rainy days. But as a parent you’ll have a few more concerns than the average broadband user.
As well as security and parental controls, you need to ensure that your connection and download limits can cope with the whole family’s internet use.
Switching your broadband provider can get you a great security package as well as a faster internet connection, a better service and save you money - which is why hundreds of thousands of people switch every year.
- 1. Internet security
- 2. Fast connection and high download limits
- 3. Go wireless
- 4. Bundling
- 5. Switch
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Internet security
All the good security packages offer parental controls, and some ISPs offer their own ones too. Parental controls allow you to monitor and block the sites your children can access as well as filter out key words that can be used in searches.
Some providers offer free internet security and parental controls as part of their monthly subscription rates. Having a comprehensive security package is important if you want the ultimate in spam filtering that will allow you to protect your children from offensive emails containing adult content, or phishing emails attempting to get hold of your personal details.
AOL (www.AOL.co.uk) offers excellent parental controls, with different levels of security for different age groups and its broadband packages start from only £4.99 (for the first three months, £14.99 thereafter). It also offers advice on how to make the most of its services, with tips on educating your children about internet safety.
As well as getting security and parental controls from your provider, you can buy packages online. Two of the best are McAfee and Norton but you can also get free internet security online from Avast.
Although most providers now offer some sort of security, many of these do not include parental controls. You can check what’s included by clicking on a package name after Comparing broadband. If you go for broadband with a brand name security package like Norton or McAfee you’ll be more likely to get a good parental control.
Read more about Internet safety for children.
Fast connection and high download limits
Once you’ve sifted out the best of the security packages, you need to think about your family’s typical usage. If you have young children then it’s not likely that they’ll use up much bandwidth. However, if you’re blessed with teens, they will no doubt be downloading movies and music and uploading pictures to social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook so you’ll need a reliable connection with a high download limit.
Be Broadband (www.BeThere.co.uk) offers some of the fastest residential internet speeds in the UK, and with speeds of up to 24Mb you can rest assured that you won’t end up fighting the kids for bandwidth. It has won awards from the Internet Service Providers’ Association and PC Advisor magazine and its Be Unlimited package offers speeds of up to 24Mb, with uploads of up to 1.3Mb and “unlimited” downloads (subject to a fair usage policy) for £18 a month.
O2 (www.O2.co.uk) is also a very reliable provider. It offers speeds of up to 8Mb, 16Mb and 20Mb, with free UK-based technical support and “unlimited” downloads (subject to fair usage), while both Virgin Media (www.VirginMedia.com) and Sky Broadband (www.Sky.com) also offer super fast connections at 20Mb and 16Mb respectively.
Go wireless
If you don’t want the entire family queuing for the same computer, or to have to run cables around the house to connect each PC to the internet, the answer is a wireless router. Many people think that wireless internet is part of a special “wireless broadband package” but this isn’t the case at all. Some ISPs offer a free wireless router to new customers but even if yours doesn’t, or you’ve already got a standard ethernet connection, going wireless has never been easier.
You can buy a router from any computer store and connect it to your router to go wireless. Make sure you get the right one though; if you have an ADSL connection you need an ADSL router and if you have a cable connection with Virgin Media, then you will need a cable one. You will also need to set up encryption codes on your router so that unauthorised users can’t log on and use your broadband connection.
Use our free Wireless Key Generator to create a unique, hard to crack code.
Even though the Government says that wireless is perfectly safe, if you are concerned about the potential health risks you should get your children to use a desktop PC rather than sit with a laptop on their knees for hours at a time.
Among others, Madasafish (www.Madasafish.com), AOL, Be, O2 and PlusNet (www.Plus.net) all offer a free wireless router with selected packages, otherwise buying one yourself will set you back from around £40.
Read more about Going wireless.
Bundling
Finally, you might want to think about bundling your broadband with a home phone or digital TV package - or both. There are great deals available to keep the costs down and bundling also means that all your home communication services are paid for on one bill.
Click here to read more about Bundling with a Phone Line or Bundling with Digital TV and compare providers that offer home phone and digital TV too.
Switch
Switching broadband is a simple, seamless process that can save you around £180 or more - which could go towards a holiday or a family day out.
If you want to switch to a family-friendly broadband provider click here to Compare Broadband Packages by monthly and yearly cost, get more information on ISPs and packages, and switch.
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