You signed up for a one or two year broadband deal and the time has come to renew your contract. Do you just auto-renew or do you compare broadband deals that are available today?
Broadband has become an essential in our lives, more so than a landline phone even. The quality of service is improving all the time and new ISPs (Internet Service Providers) seem to appear every year. Broadband is highly profitable to the ISPs, so there is a lot of competition and a lot of deals out there.
- New Options Available
Urban Options
If you live in a town or city you will find that every Internet provider targets you. Urban populations are profitable because there are many customers in a small area. You will usually have cable and ADSL fibre to the cabinet phone lines, meaning that you can get very fast fixed line Internet speeds.
You have all seen the ads for mobile, always on, broadband from Vodafone, O2, Three, and Orange. They would have you believe that 3G broadband is your best option for your home broadband connection. It isn’t; ever.
Mobile or 3G broadband is only really suitable for when you are out and about. It is too slow, expensive and unreliable to use if there is any other alternative. It is disingenuous for these companies to even suggest it as an option for a home broadband connection.
Rural Options
If you live in the country no ISP wants you, or so it seems. There was a plan to “cable ever home in the country” back in 1998. The cable companies ran services to the easily accessed and profitable urban areas and then just stopped.
You are never going to get cable and will be lucky if your phone line is ever upgraded to carry be able fast Internet connection.
Your choices will be limited to a slow ADSL, slow satellite or unreliable and slow mobile broadband.
- Broadband Speed
Broadband speeds have improved by a factor of ten or more over the past few years. Where advertised speeds were once 1Mb, now the slowest advertised speed is 8Mb. You don’t actually get those speeds, but they still allow you to make comparisons.
When you contact an ISP with a view to take out a contract you should be given an estimate of the speed that your Internet will run at. This varies on the quality of your connection, how far you are from the exchange and the equipment in your local telephone exchange.
Your fastest option will always be cable or any other optical fibre to the local cabinet service.
If you live out in the country then consider getting speed quotes for a satellite Internet connection, but remember that it is very expensive and stops working in foul weather.
- Included Calls
When you compare broadband deals you will find that they include different amounts of free calls. Free calls can be very attractive if you make a large number of landline calls. Each family is different and you need to decide how advantageous this would be.
Chris Davison’s ISP contract recently came to an end and he decided to compare broadband deals. He was pleasantly surprised by the deals that are currently available.