Broadband Deal Finder

Daniel Roberts asked:


First of all you have to ask yourself what you are looking from broadband, what are the main factors in getting broadband or changing broadband? Is it speed your looking for, is it a reliable connection, or as cheap as you can? There are several factors you should look into before choosing the correct broadband provider to suit your needs.

A way to see what kind of speeds your going to access is to find out how far away from the broadband exchange you are. There are several factors which can decrease your speed such as:

 The Contention Ratio - i.e. number of people sharing your connection at the same time

 Line Quality - quality of copper or cabling from exchange into the home

 Internal Wiring - quality of internal wiring in the home itself and where it’s placed - this includes microfilters

 Line Interference - electrical interference from street lighting being or in the home

 Traffic Shaping - providers often have a peak speed and off peak speed for customers

 Fair Use Policy - Speed being throttled past fair use cap.

 Type and Use of modem - old modems or incompatible modems often affect speed massively

 Firewall - security measures - this is very common where security measures slow a connection

 General technical faults on the phone / cable system itself

If you’re main factor is the cost, then there are actually free broadband deals within the current market, which could be suitable for you, it may be best to read reviews about different broadband providers, you can do this at broadband forums. There are a variety off different deals in a very competitive market, and can tie you into a bundle deal as a package or just broadband, so choose carefully which will save you money.

Depending on the connections you can receive in your area, you can check what packages are available by entering your postcode on a broadband comparison website and which will narrow your search to what broadband providers are available to you before you consider the factors of choosing broadband.