Broadband Guide

Top 5 ISPs for Downloading

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If you want to download lots of movies, music and all your missed favourites from the BBC iPlayer, you need a provider that’s fast, reliable and won’t penalise you for all your downloading.

Which Internet provider is right for me?

Virgin Media (www.VirginMedia.com) - The UK’s cable provider launched the country’s fastest broadband package in December 2008, with download speeds of up to 50Mb. Adding to this, the company began upgrading all of its 4Mb customers to 10Mb for free in May 2009. With its three superfast broadband packages - 50Mb, 20Mb and 10Mb - Virgin Media is consistently at the top of the BroadbandChoices.co.uk monthly speed test results.

All of Virgin Media’s packages offer “unlimited broadband” downloads, subject to a fair usage policy, and although it does apply traffic management at peak times its superfast download speeds make it a great choice for downloaders.

Be Broadband (www.BeThere.co.uk) - Be’s first customer averaged a massive 18.5Mb, and using ADSL2+ technology, Be now offers speeds of up to 24Mb. All of Be’s packages come with “unlimited” downloads, and although a fair usage policy does apply, Be was designed for the next generation of broadband use, and has rarely applied restrictions. Some of the BroadbandChoices.co.uk team have road tested Be’s broadband at home, and have all given it the thumbs up.

Be customers can now also personalise their broadband by optimising their connection for web surfing, speed, reliability or online gaming.

O2 Broadband (www.O2.co.uk) - When the mobile phone provider launched it’s home broadband service in October 2007 - over the Be Broadband network that it owns - it promised to be transparent and honest, even offering a money back guarantee if any customers were unhappy. It offers three packages, at speeds of up to 8Mb or up to 20Mb - all with generous fair usage download allowances. And like Be, it provides a fast, reliable service that copes well with high levels of downloading.

O2 mobile phone customers can also get a discount on all packages, reducing costs to less than £10 a month for its Premium 20Mb broadband service.

Sky Broadband (www.Sky.com) - Sky’s broadband service has been a rather surprising success, offering speeds of up to 2Mb, 8Mb and 16Mb with 2GB, 40GB and unlimited allowances respectively.

In 2008 Sky removed the fair usage policy from its Max Broadband package making it one of the only truly unlimited consumer packages around. Sky Max Broadband costs £10 a month if taken with Sky Talk, £15 otherwise, and has a download speed of up to 16Mb - a great package for downloaders.

Plusnet Broadband (www.Plus.net) - Plusnet, which won the Best Consumer ISP award at the 2008 ISPA awards, offers two standard broadband packages, one with a set download allowance of 10GB, the other with “unlimited” downloads, subject to a fair usage policy. It also offers a dedicated gamer’s tariff with a 15GB allowance and free overnight downloads.

What to think about when choosing your provider:

If you know that you’ll want to download lots of music and movie files, and use peer-to-peer networks and download sites like the BBC iPlayer and Channel 4’s 4oD then make sure that you do your research before signing a new contract with a broadband provider by comparing broadband providers online.

Although the vast majority of providers now offer “unlimited” downloads, with the exception of Sky’s Max Broadband, these will all have a fair usage policy attached. The effects of these vary from one provider to the next. Some apply heavy-handed traffic management, slowing your connection down to non-existent speeds if you try to download during peak hours, while others - like the ones listed above - are far better equipped to deal with heavy downloaders.

To read what other BroadbandChoices.co.uk customers think about your chosen provider, visit our Customer Reviews section from the Home Page.

Install our free Broadband Download Monitor to keep track of your downloads and set limits so that you never exceed your limit.

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