UK Broadband Providers

Broadband prices have fallen dramatically in the last couple of years, with several companies now offering packages for less than £10 a month. The price drops are largely due to the recent increase in the number of LLU operators. Companies that previously had to purchase their service from BT on a wholesale basis, now have lower overheads and can pass on these savings to their customers. However, there is very much a 'postcode lottery' with people in urban areas often paying lower prices and having more choice than people in more rural areas. For a very accurate web site with a postcode availability checker try ComparisonTable.com.

There has been a lot of noise recently about 'unlimited' broadband. An unlimited broadband connection is one that can be used as often and as much as you like without the risk of incurring any extra charges. As music and video, and TV downloads gradually become a standard part of many peoples' lives, the need to be able to download more and more data increases. However, downloading data costs the broadband providers money (the more you use the more it costs them), so many are keen to cap the amount that their customers can download in an attempt to keep their costs under control. The problem is that most companies that offer an 'unlimited' service have a 'get out of jail free card' in the form of a 'fair usage policy'. In other words they can advertise their packages as unlimited, but if you take the mickey they may throttle the speed of your connection, particularly at peak rates. In reality very few users fall foul of the fair usage policies, but it does happen.

While broadband price have been dropping recently, speeds are getting faster and faster. Just a few years ago, 512Kb was the norm. Then it doubled to 1Mb, then 2Mb, with speeds of up to 8Mb being the norm now. Whether you will actually get 8Mb depends on how close you live to your local BT exchange, hence the very heavy use of the words 'up to' in broadband advertising.

On this website we will only cover broadband, however you may be interested in Uitility Warehouse news as well.

David Macfarlane, Internet Consultant, Future in Sites Ltd.