Need broadband? Ready to switch? Get fair, unbiased advice in a language you understand so you make the right choice.
Distance from the Exchange - Ask Our Expert
If you’re having technical, service or supply problems, or just have a question you want answering, why not write to OurExpert@BroadbandChoices.co.uk
Michael Phillips is product director at BroadbandChoices.co.uk and can help with anything from contractual problems, to giving technical advice or telling you how to speed up those slow movie downloads.
Our expert says...
It could well be the case that your broadband will be slow because you’re far from the exchange. If you go to the SamKnows website (see useful links) you can type in your postcode and find out exactly how far you are from the exchange and how much degradation your connection would face.
The SamKnows website will also tell you if you’re in a Virgin Media area and if their cable connection could offer a faster connection.
With regards to the free broadband, you’re right in wanting to get something more for your money, like digital TV or a home phone, and in not wanting to pay £15 a month for a slow 0.5Mb.
What you need to consider is whether or not you want to go with Sky or TalkTalk for your free broadband, as they’re both available to you via their local loop unbundled (LLU) services. If you want to get digital TV then obviously Sky is the one to go for (and you would have to switch to digital at some point any way), but if you’re a heavy home phone user you should be aware that TalkTalk’s call charges are much cheaper than Sky’s. Sky also hasn’t had a many well publicised problems - such as with customer service - as TalkTalk.
The last thing to consider is the fact that you’ll be on an LLU provider, which could be difficult or expensive to switch away from but unfortunately you don’t have a huge amount of choice here.
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