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Back-up broadband connection
Dear Michael, I currently have a BT phone line with a Be Broadband connection.
My broadband has generally been pretty rock solid, but today it went down for almost six hours. Fast internet access is critical to my business. I trade the financial markets from home.
Hence I've decided I need a backup connection.
My first thought was O2 since they provide my mobile phone service, and their broadband offering looked good. However, it seems O2 may actually be using hardware provided by Be Broadband. Obviously this compromises a backup solution if when Be goes down, O2 also goes down because they are using the same hardware backbone.
Next, being a Sky TV subscriber I was thinking that Sky may be a useful backup provider for my broadband connection.
However, after a brief conversation with Sky today, they told me I can only ever have one broadband provider on one BT phone line.
Is that information correct? If so, how do other users deal with the backup broadband service issue? Would I have to have another BT phone line installed?
Many thanks for your time and advice,
Robert, via email on 6 February 2009
Our Broadband Expert says...
Dear Robert, Sky Broadband (www.Sky.com) were correct in telling you that you can only have one broadband connection per BT Broadband (www.BT.com) landline, so if you did want to use fixed-line broadband as you backup broadband connection, you would have to get a second line installed.
A second BT line
This is obviously an expensive option for a service you might rarely, if ever, use. You would be paying £11.50 a month for your line rental plus the cost of your second broadband package on top. You might also have to pay up to £124.99 to have the second line installed in the first place.
Mobile broadband
A far cheaper alternative would be to get a pay as you go mobile broadband connection.
With a mobile broadband connection you could buy a mobile USB modem stick for as little as £29.35 from O2 Broadband (www.O2.co.uk) - the cheapest on the market - and simply pay for the service as and when you need it.
Both O2 and T-Mobile Broadband (www.T-Mobile.co.uk) offer pay as you go mobile broadband at a daily rate of just £2.
Other providers such as 3 Broadband (www.Three.co.uk) and Vodafone Broadband (www.Vodafone.co.uk) also offers pay as you go options, and weekly and monthly pay as you go offers are also available.
| Supplier | Usage limit | Contract length | Monthly charge | Dongle/Laptop costs | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Business 1GB (24 months) | 1GB | 24 months | £7.50 (ex.VAT) | Free | |
| SIM-only mobile broadband - 1GB (1 month) | 1GB | 1 month | £7.50 | £1.95 | |
| 500MB (30 days) | 500MB | 1 month | £7.50 | £19.00 |
However, current speeds in most areas are up to 3.6Mb and just like fixed-line connections, speeds vary depending on where you live and how congested the network is, so bear in mind that you won’t get the kind of speeds you would from your 24Mb Be Broadband (www.BeThere.co.uk) connection.
Make sure you check the mobile broadband coverage in your area before signing up to anything or buying a mobile dongle. And remember to shop around since you might get a better signal with a different provider.
NB Best buy tables (orange background) are always current.
Examples in the text of the article (white background) are correct at time of publication.
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