Broadband Guide

Broadband, phone and digital TV

Updated: Tuesday 15 May, 2012

By Helen Thomas

If you’re not already bundling your home telecoms services, perhaps it's time you joined the millions of people who have already signed up for digital TV and home phone with their broadband. Bundling with one company could save you over £300 a year.

Internet, phone and TV packages - choosing the best bundle for you

The three major providers when it comes to broadband, home phone and digital television are BT Broadband, Sky and Virgin Media.

All three providers have different advantages over their competitors. BT offers a great value TV service - to which you can add pay-as-you-go on-demand shows - and has the largest network area, covering areas of the UK that many other providers do not. Sky offers excellent digital TV, and Virgin Media has consistently fast broadband speeds and a great catch-up TV service.

• Broadband speeds - Virgin Media (www.VirginMedia.com) and BT (www.BT.com) both offer broadband packages with speeds of up to 100Mb. Virgin Media consistently ranks highly in Ofcom broadband speed tests and performed well across the board in the Broadbandchoices.co.uk customer satisfaction awards 2011, being Highly Commended for both its Quality and Reliability, and Speed of Activation. BT's fibre broadband is rapidly being rolled-out across the BT Infinity network and will be available to two-thirds of the UK by 2014, giving it unrivalled coverage across the UK.
• TV channels - Sky (www.Sky.com) and Virgin Media offer the biggest selections of channels in their packages. Virgin Media has an extensive on-demand offering, including BBC iPlayer direct to your TV, while Sky has over 60 High-Definition channels - including its 3D TV channel. Call Sky on 0844 241 1407 to find out more (existing customers should call 08442 414 141 for account enquiries). BT Vision is a good budget option if you take the basic TV package but you are required to have a BT phone line and need a minimum connection speed of 2Mb for the service to work.
• Phone rates - Most packages come with inclusive calls on weekends, weekends and evening or anytime. Choose a plan which reflects how you use your phone. If you make most of your calls on your mobile, a cheaper Weekend-only plan could work for you. However, if you love to talk and spend lots of time using your home phone, an Anytime plan may work best.
• Line rental - You will also have to pay line rental with these providers. BT line rental starts from £10.75 a month when you pay a year in advance, though the usual direct debit cost is now £14.60. Sky's line rental is £12.25, and for Virgin Media's line rental you’ll pay £13.90.

Remember, cheaper doesn’t always mean better - you simply need to think about what your main priorities are.

Availability

Before you choose a new provider, you'll need to find out exactly what is available in your area. Virgin Media's TV service and superfast broadband are only available in its cable network area which covers around 51% of the UK.

BT and Sky have greater coverage. BT covers 99% of the UK, however, with BT your connection speed needs to be at least 2Mb to support the service - use our broadband speed tester to see what speed your connection is.

Sky can provide a connection to 98% of the UK, however, if you are outside of Sky's own network area - which covers around 70% of the country - your package will cost you more.

Is it better not to bundle?

If you want all three services, but are worried about the costs of call charges, as BT, Sky and Virgin Media don’t offer the most competitive rates, then you might be better off taking your home phone line from someone else.

Price wise, it’s very hard to beat TalkTalk's (www.Talktalk.co.uk) call costs when it comes to big bundle providers. However, as its TV service is no longer available to new customers, you will be unable to bundle all of your services with the same provider.

If you want digital TV on a tight budget, you might consider a free-to-view provider like Freeview (www.freeview.co.uk). The range of channels is not as extensive as with the paid TV services but it is the cheapest way to continue watching TV as you only need to make a one-off payment for your hardware, and there is no monthly subscription.

As with all such deals, you really need to take your needs into consideration. If you don't plan to use one of the services and are just getting it because it’s a good deal, then don’t - unless it is cheaper to have it than not. Be realistic with yourself and don’t be tempted into signing up for something that will just be a waste of money.

What’s the future for bundling?

If you love the idea of bundling and want to take it to the next level, then Virgin Media can offer the ultimate in bundling. As well as offering home broadband, home phone and digital TV, Virgin Media also supplies mobile broadband and mobile phone packages.

BT’s Openzone wireless network, and its Fon service, means that BT customers can connect mobile phones, PDAs and laptops no matter where they are, using a combination of BT’s mobile broadband and inclusive wireless broadband minutes.

No matter what the next stage in bundling is, consumers are unlikely to turn their backs on bundles any time soon - the ease of dealing with a single provider and the savings that can be made are just too tempting.

Use our broadband comparison calculator to compare services and bundles and find the right deal for you.

Or click here to read our other articles on bundling home phone and broadband.

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