Internet for 90 year old. Help required.

bloodnok

Hi,
My Mum is 90 and on the low user scheme, paying very little per month and she's decided she'd like to join the 21st century.
Can anyone tell me the cheapest monthly reliable internet that I could get for her. preferably with wireless router as we've bought her a laptop.
Thanks

penrhyn

You can't have broadband on a low user scheme, it would have to be something like the evening and week end plan.
Do an exchange search on Samknows to see which LLU operators are at your Mum's exchanges.
Most broadband contracts are for 12 months.

dylanuk

If she's on a 'market 3' exchange - Samknows.com will tell you... you can get Plusnet Value for £5.99 a month plus free evening & weekend calls.

It's very reliable, good customer service and one of the cheapest in the UK.

If you've got O2/Be LLU at your mum's exchange - Be Value or O2 Standard might be worth a look.

Be Value is limited to 40GB a month, but this should be plenty (unless she gets addicted to BBC iPlayer!) and only costs £7.50 a month.

O2 Standard is unlimited, but only costs £7.50 if you have an O2 pay monthly or pay as you go (and top up at least £10 every 3 months) mobile phone number.

O2/Be have one of the best broadband networks in the UK and customer service and reliability are very good - customer service is especially good with O2.

All these three come with a free wireless router.

macman

The BT Light User user scheme is/was being phased out. If she is on the replacement means tested scheme (BT Basic) then you can have broadband on that service.

ohyeahitssorcy

penrhyn wrote: »

Most broadband contracts are for 12 months.

Not true, there are plenty of pay as you go broadband providers out there that give you a monthly contract ive been on pay as you go bb for years because i like to stick two fingers up at the monstrously lengthy contracts offered however ..... pay as you go broadband can be expensive alot more so than a 12 month contract.

penrhyn

I stand corrected could you provide some details please?

macman

Could you explain 'PAYG' broadband? Who offers that on an ADSL line?
There are some (very few) providers who will do 3 month or monthly contracts, but that's not exactly PAYG.
Penryhn is quite correct in saying that most broadband contracts are for 12 months.

kwikbreaks

I suspect he meant 3G BB

That said there are plenty of ISPs who offer monthly contracts but usually only if you migrate in or pay the ~ £50 they get charged by BT OpeReach for a brand new connection.

http://www.dslzoneuk.net/isp_comparisonresults.php?download=-1&upload=-1&static=-1&email=-1&webspace=-1&newsgroups=-1&dialup=-1&contract=1&cap=-1&activation=-1&price=-1&sort1=monthly_fee&sort2=activation_fee&sort3=downstream&action=Compare

macman

kwikbreaks wrote: »

I suspect he meant 3G BB

That said there are plenty of ISPs who offer monthly contracts but usually only if you migrate in or pay the ~ £50 they get charged by BT OpeReach for a brand new connection.

http://www.dslzoneuk.net/isp_comparisonresults.php?download=-1&upload=-1&static=-1&email=-1&webspace=-1&newsgroups=-1&dialup=-1&contract=1&cap=-1&activation=-1&price=-1&sort1=monthly_fee&sort2=activation_fee&sort3=downstream&action=Compare

Though he did say he had been on it 'for years'.
Mobile broadband has been around for about 2-3 years now?

kwikbreaks

The term PAYG is usually applied to mobile phones where you pay for usage up front which is why I thought he was referring to 3G BB and the pedant in me forces me to point out that "years" just means 2 or more so he could indeed have been on that for years.

That said some of the ADSL deals in that list I provided the link to are described as PAYG which I take to just mean a one month rolling contract and if not I've no idea.

It is mainly the "big name" ISPs that insist on 12 month or longer contracts - mainly because they are so poor it is the only way they can retain customers with most poor suckers switching between them until they either find a decent smaller ISP or come to the conclusion that they are all crap.

macman

I agree that he/she is probably talking about PAYG mobile bb.
But we shall await a response....