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How to find the right broadband deal

Anthony Hill
by Lovemoney Staff Anthony Hill on 19 October 2012  |  Comments 6 comments

Whether it's a faster connection, unlimited downloads or just cheaper broadband you're looking for - there's a deal out there just waiting to be found...

How to find the right broadband deal

Given that I spend my days writing about broadband, it's hardly a surprise when friends ask for tips on how to get a better deal. When I'm feeling lazy or less than helpful, I just tell them I'm with O2 and - touch wood - haven't had any problems so far.

It's all true, but the provider and package that's right for me wouldn't necessarily be the best choice for you. More useful advice would be to say that you should always shop around and take the time to really consider what you need from your broadband. Luckily, with the internet at your fingertips, it's never been easier to do so.

The most sensible way to compare broadband deals is to enter your postcode into an Ofcom-accredited calculator - like the one at Broadbandchoices.co.uk - to see what's actually available in your area and find the service that's right for you.

What makes a great broadband deal?

Comparing broadband from different providers is as much about price as anything else, but you also need to make sure you're getting a service that's fast enough and caters for your household's demands.

And remember, with most packages you'll need to pay for a landline on top of the broadband. It can cost over £14 a month in some cases, so make sure you're comparing line rental too. Let's take a look at how you might approach choosing a deal.

Cheap and cheerful

If you just want a cheap connection, Plusnet can hook you up for £6.49 a month. Choose the Yorkshire provider's Value package and get speeds of up to 16Mb, but do note the 10GB monthly usage limit. For an extra £5 a month you can up it to 60GB.

No limits

Mobile network Orange offers unlimited home broadband with no monthly data caps from as little as £5 a month, although it's more expensive if your mobile phone is not with Orange. O2 mobile customers also get a discount on unlimited home broadband from their provider. However, Sky is the only provider that offers truly unlimited broadband free from restrictions or fair usage policies

Superfast

With speeds of up to 100Mb, Virgin Media offers the UK's most widely available fibre optic broadband. If you don't live in an area covered by Virgin Media’s cable network, you can get superfast broadband through BT Infinity, Sky or TalkTalk instead.

Value for money

The easiest way to make your money go further is to bundle your broadband with phone and TV from a single provider that offers all three. Depending on what's available in your area, you can get an all-in-one deal from Sky, Virgin Media, TalkTalk or BT.

Current best broadband deals

Below is a list of the best deals from Broadbandchoices.co.uk as of 12th October. You'll find a mixture of speeds, usage limits and extras, so perhaps use this table as way of quickly comparing how the various packages stack up against each other.

Provider

Package

Speed

Usage

Monthly price
+ (Line rental)

BT

BT Broadband + Evening/Weekend Calls, 18 months

Up to 16Mb

10GB limit

Free for first six months, then £13 thereafter

+ (£14.60)

= £14.60 for first six months, then £27.60

 

O2

All Rounder + Evening/Weekend Calls, 12 months

Up to 16Mb

Unlimited

From £8.75
+ (£13.00)

= £21.75 or £19.25 for O2 mobile customers

 

Orange

Broadband + Evening/Weekend Calls, 12 months

Up to 14Mb

Unlimited

From £10.00
+ (£13.50)
= £23.50 or £18.50 for Orange mobile customers

Plusnet

Plusnet Extra + Evening/Weekend Calls, 12 months

Up to 16Mb

60GB limit
(Unlimited 12am-8am)

From £5.74 for first twelve months, then £11.49 thereafter
+ (£12.99)
= £18.73 for first twelve months then £24.48

Sky
(Including TV)

 

Broadband + Weekend/Evening Calls + Sky TV, 12 months

Up to 14Mb

Unlimited

From £21.50

+ (£14.50)

= £36.00

 

TalkTalk

(Including TV)

 

Broadband + Weekend/Evening Calls + YouView TV, 18 months

Up to
14Mb

Unlimited

From £14.50
+ (£14.50)
= £29.00

 

Tesco

Tesco broadband + Evening and Weekend calls, 12 months

Up to 14Mb

Unlimited

£2.50 for first twelve months, then £6.50 thereafter

+ (13.75)

= £16.25 for first twelve months, then £20.25

Virgin Media

(Including TV)

 

Broadband + Weekend/Evening Calls + TiVo Essential, 18 months

Up to 60Mb

Unlimited

From £22.10 first six months, then £34.60 thereafter
+ (£13.90)
= £36.00 first six months, then £48.50

 

Anthony Hill is broadband expert at BroadbandChoices.

More on broadband:

4G broadband launch brought forward

UK’s worst broadband provider

The fastest broadband providers

The best broadband dongle

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Comments (6)

  • Mike10613
    Love rating 599
    Mike10613 said

    Nice advert for broadband choices. Please note that the fibre optic doesn't actually come into your home; that could be why they call it cable. Superfast often means it uses wireless N, not that fast if the signal is bad, but better than it's predecessors. If you really want to save money, some providers allow you to pay your line rental 12 months in advance and save £60 a year...

    Report on 22 October 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • electricblue
    Love rating 643
    electricblue said

    A less than comprehensive list, presumably because some providers don't give Broadbandchoices a commission for linking. PRIMUS have deals which knock most of the above for six and their service is excellent.

    Report on 22 October 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • PeterM42
    Love rating 3
    PeterM42 said

    VirginMedia is good unless you want to go over 10Mb/sec in which case you need a faster modem and the only thing VM will give you is their SuperHub, which is so unreliable, it is now known as the "SuperDUD". VM have been having problems with it since at least Feb 2012 and judging by nearly 40 pages of complaints on their forum, it is unlikely to be fixed any time soon! If you complain loudly enough and with enough technical knowledge, you can force them to give you a separate wireless router (and switch the SuperDUD into "modem-only" mode) which at least seems to work. The way they are treating their long-suffering customers does not bode well, but then most other suppliers don't seem to understand that customer service is important.

    Report on 22 October 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • PeterM42
    Love rating 3
    PeterM42 said

    Worth mentioning that if you get Sky broadband (which means Sky line rental as well) if you DON'T take Sky TV, they will subsequently charge you for it anyway once you have taken on the phone/broadband service.

    Report on 22 October 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • Anthony Hill
    Love rating 1
    Anthony Hill said

    “Hey folks, thanks for commenting, glad to see people engaging! @Mike10613: you are quite right about the option to pay line rental upfront and save – BT, Virgin Media and Sky all offer this option which is growing in popularity. @electricblue, there are loads of deals in the market and unfortunately we could only offer a snapshot in a limited space but we do work with Primus (we actually have a line rental deal exclusive with them at the moment) and a number of other providers. You can get full details of all packages on our site and our calculator is Ofcom accredited, which means we’re fully comprehensive covering both niche and mainstream providers. Do feel free to drop us a line if you have any questions! AH”

    Report on 22 October 2012  |  Love thisLove  1 love
  • athomik
    Love rating 11
    athomik said

    Where I live (in one of the,supposedly, most modern towns/cities in the UK), I can not get anywhere near 1Mb download speeds on my land line. I've resorted to a 3G dongle, which gives me near 4Mb. It's enough for emails and a bit of surfing, but live streaming is out of the question. I had to wait for the BT long distance experiment, a few years ago, before I could ditch dial-up.

    Why can't you just get a decent deal on a high speed, land line - based Broadband and telephone without all the gizmos, which I don't need?

    Report on 22 October 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves

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