Broadband beginners guide

Choosing a broadband provider

Updated: Tuesday 04 January, 2011

By Editorial - news@consumerchoices.co.uk

Whether you're logging on at home for the first time, or want to switch provider to save on your bills and get a better service, there’s a huge number of broadband providers to choose from, offering everything from cheap bundles to superfast fibre optic broadband.

Comparing broadband providers

The only way to get the best broadband provider, and the right service for you, is to shop around and compare what’s on offer. Simply going for the cheapest option might leave you with an insufficient service, so you need to think about your needs as a user and then find the package that’s right for you. You can compare broadband with our Ofcom-accredited calculator for the latest broadband deals in your area.

What to look out for

Broadband providers typically cater for one of three types of customer: occasional, average and heavy internet users. Considering the different speeds, download allowances and extra services, such as home phone, digital TV and even mobile broadband, that can be bundled with your home internet package, there’s a lot to think about when choosing your new provider.

Broadband packages for the occasional user

Light broadband users don’t spend much more than an hour a day on the internet checking emails and visiting the odd website, rarely downloading or watching TV online.

If this sounds like you, go for a basic "no frills" broadband package. You can sign up to award-winning provider Plusnet Broadband's (www.Plus.net) Value package from just £6.49 a month. It comes with up to 20Mb broadband speeds and a 10GB download allowance with free overnight downloads - perfectly suited for occasional broadband users.

Broadband packages for the average user

Most people are medium broadband users, spending between two and four hours online most days and catching up on missed TV shows using online services like the BBC iPlayer, the ITV Player and Channel 4’s 4oD.

Using online TV services and downloading a lot of files means that you need a relatively fast broadband package - you don’t want to be waiting around for programmes to buffer before you can watch them.

You'll also need a reasonable download allowance - you don’t want to exceed your limit and be charged extra, or go over your fair usage policy and have your speed throttled.

However, this doesn’t mean that you need to fork out on an expensive broadband package; both TalkTalk Broadband (www.Talktalk.co.uk) and O2 Broadband (www.O2.co.uk) offer budget-friendly packages, for example.

Broadband packages for the heavy user

If you spend a lot of time online, gaming, downloading music and movies, watching TV online or even working from home, then you'll need a package that can handle your heavy broadband demands.

While a number of broadband packages, including O2’s The All Rounder and The Works packages, BE Broadband's (www.Bethere.co.uk) 24Mb broadband options, and Plusnet’s Extra package are all suitable for high end users, offering either very generous fair usage allowances or high download limits, there are some packages that even offer truly unlimited downloads.

Two high-end packages offer truly unlimited downloads, with no fair usage policy or traffic management; Sky Broadband's (www.Sky.com) Unlimited 20Mb broadband package and Virgin Media's (www.Virginmedia.com) superfast XXL 50Mb broadband.

The best way to find a broadband package to suit your needs is to compare broadband packagesusing our free calculator. We’ll tell you everything you need to know about each package, including broadband speeds and download allowances, as well as flagging any special offers that could save you even more.

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