The cost of internet access varies considerable so you may be paying more than you need to. Broadband prices currently range from £12.99 to £30.00 and higher per month. There are numerous broadband ISPs (Internet Service Providers) competing with each other to vie for your business so it’s probably a good idea to see what’s on offer and whether it’s worth your while to switch.

What can you get?
BT, NTL, Orange, AOL, Bulldog, Tiscali, Virgin, Supanet, UK Online, and many more offer broadband of varying speeds from 512Kbits/s at the lower end, all the way up to 16Mbits/s. The actual speed you can have will depend on a number of factors, the most important of which is the internet service providers operating in your area. Other factors include your location in the UK, and whether you are on a cable network or use a BT phone line.

Still using dialup?
If you still use a dialup service, it’s worth considering switching to broadband because most starter broadband packages are now cheaper than dialup plans use to be. If you haven’t experienced broadband yet, believe me, once you switch you will never go back.

‘Free’ internet
A few ISPs are now offering ‘free’ internet. They’re not technically free because a condition is that you buy into a bundled package. Talk Talk are offering ‘free’ internet if you buy their telephone service; Orange do so as well if you buy a mobile plan. There have been reports of long delays for the Talk Talk service. I suspect there are also many happy customers also.

A good way to find a cheaper deal is to use various price comparison search engines such as uswitch.com and moneysupermarket.com.

http://www.uswitch.com/Broadband

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/broadband

If you are considering switching, it’s important to make sure you’ve fulfilled your contract (usually 1 year). If you do switch and need help setting up your new service, call PC Supporter. Let me know if you have any questions.

Jon