Broadband guide

Broadband and TV packages

Updated: Tuesday 21 February, 2012

By Editorial - news@consumerchoices.co.uk

Bundling your broadband with a digital TV package can save you a packet on your bills as well as getting you the very best in home entertainment.

Digital TV and broadband providers

BT broadband (www.BT.com), Sky broadband (www.Sky.com) and Virgin Media (www.Virginmedia.com) all offer broadband and digital TV bundles.

A number of different things will affect your choice of provider, including budget, postcode and distance from the exchange as well as your broadband and TV channel requirements.

Virgin Media

You'll need to live in Virgin Media’s (www.Virginmedia.com) fibre optic cable network if you want to sign up to one of its broadband and digital TV bundles - and you can also add home phone calls and line rental to save even more.

The provider’s cable network covers just over half of the country, offering superfast broadband as well as up to 175 television channels.

One of its biggest strengths is the very fast, reliable broadband that it offers. Although its 10Mb and 30Mb broadband packages are subject to traffic management, its lines aren’t affected by distance from the exchange - which means that you'll generally get a faster connection than you would from a copper wire ADSL line.

Virgin Media's (www.Virginmedia.com) cable broadband regularly tops the broadband speed league tables and it offers one of the UK’s fastest, widely available broadband package in the form of its 100Mb broadband. Virgin Media even has plans to increase top speeds to 120Mb by 2013.

In terms of its digital TV packages, you can choose from 75 channels with M+, 115 channels with L or a massive 175 with its XL package. You also get the option of adding Sky Sports and movie channels to your packages as well as a huge range of on-demand programmes and movies.

Sky broadband and TV

Sky’s (www.Sky.com) network covers more of the UK than Virgin Media’s cable, so it could make a good alternative if you don’t live in a Virgin Media postcode.

It only offers two broadband packages; Everyday Lite and Unlimited, however Sky plans to offer an up to 40Mb fibre broadband connection from April 2012 utilising the BT fibre network.

Both Everyday Lite and Unlimited come with speeds of up to 20Mb, though the Everyday Lite package is essentially a free add-on when you take a TV and phone package. It comes with a low 2GB download allowance and is only really suitable for very light internet users.

On the other hand, its Unlimited package is one of the UK’s few truly unlimited broadband packages, offering unlimited downloads without a fair usage policy or any traffic management policies.

Like Virgin Media, Sky (www.Sky.com) offers so much more than just broadband. With over 10 million digital TV subscribers, its “TV packs” are some of the most popular in the country.

You start off with Sky Entertainment - offering 40 channels of entertainment, comedy and drama, or Entertainment Extra, which offers the same channels plus an additional 50 channels including kids shows, documentaries and music. Then you can choose to add additional packs, which are paid for on top of your basic package, for example the Movies Pack, Sports Pack or HD Pack.

BT Vision with BT broadband

If you're a BT broadband (www.BT.com) customer getting a speed of at least 2Mb, you can sign up to its BT Vision digital TV service. It works through your broadband connection, and although you need to have at least 2Mb to use the service, it won’t slow down your surfing.

If you sign up to one of BT Vision’s packages, then you’ll get a free Vision+ box and a choice of two packages, TV Essential and TV Unlimited, both of which offer all Freeview channels and catch-up services, and include a Vision+ box which allows viewers to pause, rewind and record live TV. TV Essential customers can pay-per-view on-demand content whereas TV Unlimited customers have access to all on-demand content at no extra cost. Both packages have the option of adding Sky Sports 1 and 2, but ESPN is free to TV Unlimited customers.

Subscription-free digital TV

If you want a fast, reliable broadband connection but don’t want to fork out extra cash for a digital TV service, then Freeview or Freesat are both great options.

The cheapest possible option is Freeview, which offers over 50 channels as well as a selection of new high-definition (HD) channels if you've got a HD-ready TV.

You can get a Freeview set-top box for as little as £20. And you can get your hands on a Freeview+ box, which you can use to pause “live” TV and record programmes, from around £75. Freeview+ HD boxes are the most expensive, starting at around £200.

You can even get TV’s with built-in Freeview, which is a good option if you're looking to buy a shiny, new flat screen TV.

But once you've bought your set-top box you'll be able to enjoy digital TV without paying out any more money.

Freesat is another subscription-free digital TV service and offers around 150 channels, including some HD options. Freesat uses satellites to deliver your TV signal, so you will need to have a dish installed on your home, which will cost £80.

You then need to buy your set-top box, which start from around £25, going up to at least £200 for a Freesat+ HD recording box. Again, you can now get TVs with built-in Freesat.

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