Monday 5 December 2011

Choosing The Best Broadband Service

For the vast majority of us a Home Broadband connection has become as common place in the house as a telephone line (or should that be mobile phone these days?). But with the growth in take up has come an astonishing growth in the number of Broadband Providers in the market place and Packages available to choose from.

Such a huge leap in competition and choice is of course a good thing as prices fall and quality increases but the wealth of choice can make picking a new package that much complicated as you try and weigh up a multitude of features and possibilities - do I want superfast speeds, unlimited downloads and wi-fi, or, do I want to keep my bill under £10 a month?

So to help you choose, I've pulled together a list of key features you want to keep in mind when looking for a new Home Broadband Package.

Download Speed
Probably the most often quoted feature of a Broadband Package and frequently one of the most mis-understood. The mis-understanding arises from the very simple difference between 'Up To' and 'Average or Actual'. 'Up To' is the one the Broadband Providers love to quote and is actually the maximum download speed that the Broadband Service can deliver. This may in fact bear no relation to the Actual Average speed you may experience - In fact, Ofcom's research found that for Broadband Providers using the telephone network to deliver the services the average actual speed was often around just 40% of the 'Up To' speed advertised.

Top Tip - before you choose a package contact the Provider and ask them for their estimated Actual Download Speed for your postcode.

Network
Whilst Download Speed is the headline grabbing feature, most people don't realise that the type of network their provider uses to deliver their services can have a huge impact on Download Speed. The traditional phone line network is used by many providers as it's relatively cheap and reaches a huge % of the population. But, it's not able to deliver the really fast download speeds and the further your house is from the nearest exchange then the slower your service is likely to be.

Cable networks are purpose built and use fibre-optic cabling which is able to deliver broadband services at much higher speeds. The Downside? They're not available everywhere so you may not be able to access them.

Top Tip - when beginning your search use an independent Postcode Checker to see what Providers and Networks are available in your area. I've found this one to be very comprehensive Best Broadband In My Area.

Bundle or Stand Alone?
For many UK consumers the norm is to bundle your Broadband, Home Phone and often your digital TV services all up together and get them form the same supplier. This has a couple of benefits i) let's face it it's a lot easier to deal with just one company than 3 separate ones and ii) as the providers are keen to get your business on all 3 services they often offer discounts making bundled services cheaper.

However, the price often leads people into the 'over bundling' trap - in other words taking services they didn't really want in the first place because it only costs an extra few pounds a month. Stand alone services aren't always more expensive and 'Broadband Only' deals are becoming more and more popular.

Top Tip - decide on the list of services you want before you start looking and stick to it.

Keep an eye out for future posts when I'll be looking at different types of Packages and some of the additional features of Landline and Broadband Packages.

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