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BT vs TalkTalk broadband

Our Broadband Expert says...

Hi Daryl, BT broadband (www.BT.com) and TalkTalk broadband (www.Talktalk.co.uk) are two of the UK’s biggest broadband providers and both make a great choice if you're looking to switch broadband provider.

Broadband speeds

Both broadband providers use upgraded ADSL2+ networks - providing faster broadband via copper telephone wire.

This means that BT customers can get speeds of up to 20Mb broadband on BT's ADSL2+ network, and TalkTalk customers can get connection speeds of up to 24Mb broadband. By 2013, BT's 20Mb connection will be available to 90% of the UK population with its 8Mb product covering virtually all of the remaining households. A few - due to their remote location - are still unable to receive fixed line broadband.

But as with all copper wire broadband lines, a number of factors, including distance from the exchange, will affect your speed.

While this means that you'll rarely, if ever, get your top advertised speed, upgrading to a faster package should still improve your downloads.

You should always ask your new provider for a line speed estimate before signing up.

BT Infinity is also rolling out its 40Mb and 100Mb connections. Its 40Mb fibre-to-the-cabinet connection is already available to 30% of the UK and will increase to two-thirds of the population by 2013. In addition to this, BT is upgrading its 40Mb speed packages to 80Mb during 2012.

TalkTalk also offers an up to 40Mb fibre option, the Fibre Optic Boost, which costs £10 per month on top of customer's regular package costs.

TalkTalk's own broadband network covers over 86% of the UK's households with plans to increase its coverage to 93% by 2013.

Download limits

BT offers three different home broadband packages, with its basic Broadband package offering a 10GB monthly download allowance, More Broadband allowing a generous 40GB, and finally, its Unlimited Broadband package. All of BT's broadband packages are subject to a traffic management policy.

TalkTalk on the other hand has only two broadband packages; its Essentials tariff comes with a 40GB download allowance, while its top Plus package will get you “unlimited” downloads subject to a fair usage policy

Every web page that you visit, email you send or picture that you receive counts towards your download allowance - as well any activities like music and movie downloads, online gaming or watching TV online.

The amount that you download as a household will be higher if you have a family at home, and even if you only use a small amount of data at the moment, you should bear in mind that using online catch-up services like the BBC iPlayer, Channel 4’s 4oD and the ITV Player could soon change this - something you should take into account when you choose your new package.

Download our free Broadband Download Monitor to find out how much data you currently use.

Home phone calls and bundles

Both BT and TalkTalk offer their own home phone call packages that can be bundled with your broadband, saving you even more money on your bills.

Both TalkTalk broadband packages come with some inclusive calls; Essentials customers get free evening and weekend landline calls - and anytime calls to other TalkTalk customers, while Plus customers get free anytime calls to UK landlines, 0845 and 0870 numbers, as well as cheaper calls to mobile phones. If you want to take the cheaper package but do want anytime calls, or international calls, for example, you can simply add the appropriate Boost.

BT broadband packages also come with some calls included. Your options are: inclusive Weekend calls, Evening and Weekend, or Anytime Calls.

You can also add Unlimited Anytime Calls to any package for £4.90 a month. BT also offers digital TV via its BT Vision service, though you will have to either pay for your Vision+ box or sign up to one of the provider’s monthly subscriptions.

Added extras

Both BT and TalkTalk offer a range of added extras to make your broadband even better.

TalkTalk’s selection of Boosts, which cost from £2 to £5 a month, offer a choice of services to tailor your broadband to your needs. Boosts include:

• Mega Download Boost - double your Essentials download allowance to 80GB
• Super Safe Boost - get internet security for three computers (free for Plus customers)
• Anytime UK Calls Boost - landline calls any time of the day or night (free on Plus packages)
• 500 Global Minutes Boost - get 500 minutes of free calls to landlines and mobiles in 100 international destinations
• 100 Mobile Minutes Boost - 100 minutes of anytime calls to mobiles
• 500 Mobile Minutes Boost - 500 minutes of anytime calls to mobiles
• Calling Features Boost - add calling features including call waiting, ring back, caller display and three way calling (free option on Plus packages).

BT’s added extras come for free and vary from one package to the next. All packages come with unlimited free wi-fi minutes, allowing you to connect your netbook or smartphone to any of BT’s thousands of Openzone of Fon wireless hotspots.

It also offers basic internet security for Broadband customers or advanced McAfee security for More Broadband and Unlimited Broadband customers. Finally, all Total Broadband customers also get 5GB of free online storage with BT’s Digital Vault.

Costs

There’s no denying that TalkTalk offers cheaper broadband bundles. In fact, it’s one of the cheapest providers on the market. But it’s only able to offer such competitive prices to customers living in its local loop unbundled (LLU) areas.

TalkTalk’s LLU network currently covers around 86% of the UK, and has plans to unbundle more exchanges over the next two years increasing its own network coverage to around 93% of the country.

But this does mean that if you don’t live in an LLU area, you won’t be able to get TalkTalk’s cheap broadband.

BT doesn’t operate in this way and delivers broadband wherever possible - even to properties far from the local exchange or to rural areas with few people - covering 99% of the UK population.

Line rental

If you want to switch to TalkTalk you will have to also switch your line rental, which costs £14.50 a month - which is cheaper than BT’s £14.60.

If you do want to save on line rental, there are a number of other providers offering cheaper deals, including O2 broadband (www.O2.co.uk), which charges just £7.50 a month for line rental with evening and weekend calls - though you would have to take its broadband too.

Compare broadband providers

The best way to make sure that you get a good deal on your internet is to compare broadband providers. Our postcode checker will tell you exactly what’s available in your area, ordered either by first year costs or a feature of your choice. You can also click on the package name to find out more details, such as fair usage policies, call charges and line rental.

Ask us a question

If you have a general switching or provider query please email us at OurExpert@broadbandchoices.co.uk

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