Providers of broadband internet access in the UK
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.
| links to AOL, BT, Orange, Sky,
TalkTalk, Tiscali, Virgin Media and USwitch include advert links |
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Top ISPs by subscriber numbers:
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Comparisons
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Broadband reviews and provider directories:
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8Mb broadband (as exchanges are enabled) with a 20GB transfer limit costs
£24.99 monthly with £47 activation.
Recommended: Well received 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 8Mb broadband (Option 1) is £17.99 per month (£8.95 first 6 months with an 18
month contract) with a 5GB transfer limit per
month. Includes a free modem and connection (a wireless router upgrade is
£30).
The BT Vision service includes a V-Box digital TV recorder with 160GB of
space (which costs £60 installation and £30 connection) to record Freeview
programs, requires a BT Home hub (£30 when purchased online).
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Cable modem access from Virgin
Media broadband (was Telewest and NTL)
2Mb
broadband with telephone is currently £15.50 per month
for the first 12 months (£29 thereafter). There is also a £30 installation
charge. Existing customers should be able to ask for comparable rates.
Virgin Media offer a good value "triple-play" bundle of Digital TV, broadband and landline telephone for
£30 per month.
Installation for new customers costs £25. A
"quadruple-play" package including a Virgin Mobile SIM with 300
mins per month is available for £40.
10Mb broadband and phone costs £22.50 per month for 12 months.
20Mb broadband and phone costs £34.50 per month for 12 months.
Virgin Media's speed in general is good,
mail downloads quickly and file downloads are speedy. It can be connected to Linux very easily.
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.
ADSL from Orange Broadband
(was Wanadoo/Freeserve)
2Mb broadband with a 6GB download cap costs £12 per month (£6 for first 6
months). Up to 8Mb with no cap is available for £24 per month
(currently £12 for first 6 months) with wireless modem.
The 2Mb plan is available for an additional £5 if you extend your
existing contract to 18 months (or take out a new one), the 8Mb plan costs
an additional £10.
See Orange's site for details of mobile phones, or see the
mobile
phone page for cheap Orange retailers.
8Mb ADSL from TalkTalk (part of CarphoneWarehouse)
TalkTalk offers inclusive (free) 8Mb broadband with their Talk2
International Call Plan.
A total of £16.39 per month (inclusive of line rental), 40GB
monthly download cap and 18 month contract. Their optional modem
costs £29.99.
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Offers 2Mb broadband including phone connection for £12.99 per month (free installation,
modem and only £6.49 for the first 3 months). 8Mb costs £14.99 per month.
Inclusive 2Mb ADSL from Sky
Sky provide inclusive 2Mb ADSL with their satellite TV. It
includes a free wireless modem. You will need
a BT phoneline (£11 per month) as well as subscribe to a TV package costing £15 per month,
with an upfront £30 connection fee (until Sept). 8Mb costs an
additional £5, and 16Mb an additional £10. These services are
available to up to 70% of the UK population.
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22Mb ADSL2+ service from UK
Online (part of Easynet)
Their 2Mb service costs £14.99 per month if you live in their
limited catchment area (£25 setup). £29.99 USB modem.
Their 16Mb broadband
using costs £24.99 per month (with limited
geographical availability) with a 12 month contract. £25
connection. It's available to
those living within 2km of an enabled exchange, and with good line
quality.
Their 8Mb service costs £19.99 per month (or £14.99 for 2Mb) in their catchment
area.
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BeThere's 24Mb broadband
BeThere's 24Mb broadband costs £22 per
month and includes unlimited usage. Their 8Mb service costs £14 per month, with a £24 connection
charge.
Limited geographical availability.
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ADSL 4 Less pay as you go and
unmetered ADSL prices Unlimited 512Kb access costs
£14.99 per month with £58.75
connection for a 12 month contract (or a
£14.99 migration fee). Offer a modem and microfilters for £42.99
including P&P.
8Mb pay as you go access costs £11.99 per month if a year's access is bought in
advance with a 2Gb download cap (1GB
costs £1.75).
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Tesco ADSL broadbandUnlimited 512Kb costs
£17.97 per month (£14.97 for the first year) with no connection charges and free modem.
A 512Kb service with a 3GB per month cap costs £13.97. Their 2Mb service with
a 10GB limit costs £19.97 per
month.
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Up to 8Mb ADSL access from
£14.99 per month for a 12 month contract with 8 GB per month
"usage guideline". Modem and setup is currently free.
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ADSL from AOL UK
(now part of Carphone Warehouse)
Offer 2Mb broadband at £14.99 per month. Connection, modem and filters are currently free.
8Mb connection costs £29.99 per month.
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Offer a 8Mb service with a 2GB cap for £14.99 per month
(£8.95 for first three months). 8MB service is availa,le for
£24.99.
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Demon Home is £17.99 per month for a 8Mb service with unlimited
downloads, free setup and
modem.
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8Mb broadband from £15.99 per month, a 2.5GB limit (£0.99 per extra GB) and a
£47 setup fee.
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A 8Mb service with 2GB download cap is available for £14.99 with free
setup and modem.
Business ADSL from Easynet
from £59 per month excluding VAT
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UK
satellite providers is still an unstable market. Google
has this same list ordered by popularity.
Other broadband listings:
- Dmoz's list of UK DSL,
Cable
and Satellite ISPs
(the Google versions are DSL,
Cable
and Satellite
and order the sites by popularity).
- Dmoz's mainly US DSL
and Cable
ISP listings which cover many smaller providers (the Google versions are DSL
and Cable
and order the sites by popularity).
- Whichisp.com features broadband
provider listings, as well as unmetered and subscription-free ISPs.
- Cable-modems.co.uk
features information for cable modem users and forums for discussions.
- Robin
Walker's Cable Modem Pages - Troubleshooting tips covering both NTL
and Blueyonder services.
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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.
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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.
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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-tos.
If
you can't get, or don't want broadband, why not try unmetered
internet access?
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