UK Broadband Providers
Listings of unlimited, capped and pay as you go broadband ISPs, guides, directories and reviews
of providers. Note that ADSL ISPs will generally be companies reselling
the BT service, sometimes with enhancements. Also, note that prices
fluctuate over time, and this page may not be up to date.
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some ISPs include advert links |
Comparisons
Providers
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Up to 20Mb broadband on selected exchanges with a 10GB transfer limit costs
£18.37 monthly with £48 (inc. VAT) activation.
Recommended by reviewers (see links at top of page),
reliable enough for companies to use and friends who chose have it at
home. Better customer service, but somewhat more expensive than
cut-price rivals.
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BT's up to 20Mb broadband (Option 1) is £13 per month (£6.50 first 3 months with an 18
month contract) with a 10GB transfer limit per
month. Includes a free wireless modem and connection. Line rental
costs from £10.75 per month (£129 for a 12 months advance payment)
Up to 38Mb broadband is available for £18 per month with a 40GB limit (£30
activation).
With BT Vision (a digital TV recorder with access to iPlayer) costs from an
extra £5 per month.
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10Mb
broadband with telephone is currently £28.40 per month (£17.90 for the first
3 months) on an 18 month contract (£13.90 phone line). Installation is
£49.95.
Up to 50Mb broadband costs £39.40 per month.
A problem with cable is that there isn't any competition - you can't
switch cable providers. With BT you have other companies offering
broadband at other prices. To move back to BT you need to switch to ADSL
and potentially sign up with BT for 18 months to have a telephone line
reinstalled.
Virgin Media's speed in general is good,
mail downloads quickly and file downloads are speedy. It can be connected to Linux very easily.
History: NTL merged with Telewest and rebranded as Virgin Media after buying Virgin Mobile.
Discussions of the service are available on Nthell:world
and Cableforum.co.uk.
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TalkTalk offer inclusive (free) 20Mb broadband for a total of
£19.79 per month (inclusive of line rental) for the first 12 months, wireless router and
12 month contract. Connection is free
ADSL from EE Broadband
(owner of Orange and T-Mobile)
Up to 14Mb broadband with no data cap and phone line rental costs £24 per month
(£19 for EE/Orange/T-Mobile customers) with a wireless router on a 12 month contract.
up to 38Mb Fibre broadband costs from £39 (£34 for existing mobile
customers) See the
EE/Orange/ T-Mobile site for details of mobile phones, or see the
mobile
phone page for cheap EE/Orange/T-Mobile retailers. The ISP
was formerly known as Orange, Wanadoo and Freeserve.
14Mb ADSL from Sky
Sky offer broadband
and phone (no requirement for TV) for £24.50 per month (£14.50 for
the first 6 months).
A triple-play package of Sky+ TV, phone and broadband costs from £36
per month.
This consists of their satellite TV service, up to 14Mb ADSL with a 2GB monthly download cap and free wireless
modem. Their TV packages cost from £21.50 per month and the phone service
costs £14.50 per month.
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Up to 20Mb ADSL access costs from £6.49 per month for a 12 month contract with
10 GB per month usage allowance and free wireless router. Setup
costs £25 (free if you take their £9.49 telephone line rental). After
3 months if you are in their low-cost areas you continue to pay £6.49 per
month, otherwise you pay either £10.79 and £12.99 depending on where you
live.
-
ADSL 4 Less pay as you go and
unmetered ADSL prices Unlimited 20Mb access costs £19.99 per month with
£45
connection for a 12 month contract (or a £13 migration fee).
-
Demon Home is £15.60 per month for a 20Mb service with a 24 month contract, free setup and
modem.
-
A 20Mb service with 2GB download cap is available for £12.50 with £33.67
setup.
Other broadband listings:
- Dmoz's list of UK DSL,
Cable
and Satellite ISPs
- Dmoz's mainly US DSL
and Cable
ISP listings which cover many smaller providers
- Whichisp.com features broadband
provider listings, as well as unmetered and subscription-free ISPs.
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Advantages of broadband
- Faster access
- Pages download much faster - extra bandwidth and lower latency
means web pages arrive noticeably faster.
- Downloads of Windows updates (as well as Anti-virus and Firewall
software) are much faster.
- Uploads are much faster if you upload data to web sites.
- Instant on - no 20 second dial-up time when you first decide to
access the internet.
- Easily shared between multiple computers and consoles using home
and wireless networking.
No noticeable slowdown for small numbers of computers.
- Can be used for internet telephony
or VoIP, which could cut the cost of telephone calls.
- No worries about rogue dialers - connecting via an ADSL modem the
computer can't be persuaded by rogue programs to dial up expensive
phone numbers (as long as the regular modem is disconnected).
- Unlimited, fixed cost packages are available - meaning no concerns
about leaving the service on all the time.
-
Disadvantages of broadband
- Not available everywhere equally - some users won't be able to
access broadband over their telephone line (see satellite
access), or
won't be able to access the very highest speeds.
- Usually access is by monthly subscription, so you will still pay for
the service even if you aren't using it.
- Initial cost of hardware and connection can be substantial for some
packages.
-
Speed tests
Numerous sites offer speed tests to check your download speed, the best
include:
-
Calculating current internet usage
Programs such as Netmeter
calculate the amount of data transferred across a connection. If you
are considering moving from an uncapped contract (or dial-up) to a capped
contract you should calculate how much bandwidth you use (to calculate
whether it is worthwhile).
Buying wireless networking hardware and home networking
Wireless
Networking has price comparisons of ADSL modems, routers and wireless networking
products, including micro filters, wireless adapters and combination modems and
routers.
See the home networking page for home
networking how-to's.
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