Best Home Broadband offer at the moment?

Lisa9982

Hey everyone

I am new here and would appreciate any help/advice you could all give me

Currently I pay my BT line rental (£11.54 a month) plus I have Sky TV but have decided that I don't watch enough of my Sky TV to warrant keeping it anymore so have decided to come away from the TV package and am looking for a decent home phone/broadband package

I have a BT line and cannot get Virgin Media where I live - new build estate with no cables - grrrrr !!!

I was thinking firstly of getting mobile broadband and getting rid of my home phone altogether (I have never used it - purely have it to run Sky/Broadband - I have a mobile with loads of minutes!) - but after checking my usage, I sometimes use up to 10GB a month and a lot of the mobile broadband packages don't offer that much of a monthly usage.....

Any help/advice you could give, or pointing me in the right direction of any deals would be fab

Also was toying with the idea of a broadband/free laptop offer.... my laptop really is getting on a bit now, so if there are any half decent new offers out there, please point any out you have come across

Thankyou soooo much in advance

dylanuk

I think the only mobile broadband + "free" laptop deals that include as much as 10GB of data usage are only available on O2 now.

They do an Asus netbook and a Samsung laptop. They're reviewed here http://www.chooseisp.co.uk/broadband-p.../o2-free-laptop-asus-1005h.asp and here http://www.chooseisp.co.uk/broadband.../o2-free-laptop-samsung-r519.asp

Both of the reviews actually say the deal is only better value if you take the 10GB usage (otherwise the 3GB deals work out cheaper to buy separately).

t0rt0ise

You need to look on SamKnows to see what is available to you at your exchange. If there are any LLU operators, they are usually better than the others that use BT's infrastructure. If you have a choice of LLU providers then BE is the best, it's cheapest and the least congested.

macman

Start with samknows.com
If 10GB is enough, and you are on a Market 3 exchange, then Plusnet Value is £5.99pm. Plusnet also offer a home phone package
But also check what your LLU options are, O2 or Be are probably the best if available, however O2 home phone will not be available for another few weeks yet.

mk-donald

t0rt0ise wrote: »

If you have a choice of LLU providers then BE is the best, it's cheapest and the least congested.

As to most intents and purposes Be and o2 home broadband are the same service/firm/network, but with a variety of technical options/bolt-ons/prices/incentives differentiating the various net subscriptions: that would depend on (a) your usage (b) who your mobile is with.

Certainly Be Value upto 8Mbps down speed (after £40 £back at the moment) but with a 40GB/month cap (from 1st July) w/be just £50 over your first year with them ie £4.17/m then £7.50/m ongoing = cheapest. Has a 1yr commitment.

BUT if you have/wanted an o2 mobile you could get o2 Premium upto 24Mbps down speed (delivered over the same shared Be/o2 network but with totally uncapped usage) for £20+ over your first year - though more expensive after that at £10+/m (though you could move down to £7.50/m+ or try for another 'deal' to keep you). Same 1yr commitment but a 30-day moneyback Happiness Guarantee in case you were the distrustful type ?

Though of course the £backs/deals are always varying so check if/when you are ready to do anything
http://cid-99aa6cf1226facfe.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/o2%20Broadband%20-v-%20Be%20There%20Broadband

Both Be/o2 are delivered over a BT landline. As has been said o2 have advertised a forthcoming "o2 Home Phone" service where they would charge you the rental/calls on that BT line and currently reporting "from £9.50/m with evening/weekend landline calls" (ie a few quid less than say BT) though it seems its launch is delayed to May, though there may well be some incentives then to sign up to it too (it's advertised as only available as an optional add-on for o2 Home Broadband subscribers currently).

MKD

Lisa9982

Im kind of half tempted to wait for o2's home phone service to start (anyone know when thats likely to be?) - according to press, they will offer line rental and broadband for £17 a month - which would suit me..... and I may get a discount as I am an o2 mobile pay monthly customer too!

macman

No, that price of £17 includes the £5 mobile discount.

Lisa9982

Yep - just seen that on site !! Still, beats paying my Sky TV (that I don't watch that much) for £33 plus the BT line rental

3 mobile (who I've currently got a £5 a month 1gb dongle with which is out of contract now!) are trying to keep me by saying they will give me a new laptop (a few choices offered - currently looking at specs), new faster dongle and 15GB limit for £30 a month - which is cheaper than what I am paying Sky and BT - so thats a possible

Hmmmmmmm

t0rt0ise

You are sure that you can get O2/BE LLU at your exchange aren't you? O2 do another service that isn't LLU and it's awful, so be careful that you sign up with the right thing.

GSXRCarlos

Lisa9982 wrote: »

Im kind of half tempted to wait for o2's home phone service to start (anyone know when thats likely to be?) - according to press, they will offer line rental and broadband for £17 a month - which would suit me..... and I may get a discount as I am an o2 mobile pay monthly customer too!

end of feb 2010 (so now, i don't qualify as i needed a new BT line, so did the free installation thingy)

@OP, if you're an existing O2 customer, try their £7.50/month broadband, that's what i'll be doing as i can't beat it on price

Rufus_348

The offer from 3 sounds pretty good - since 15gb 3 mobile broadband on a contract is £25/£30 anyway (http://www.chooseisp.co.uk/broadband-packages/mobile/3-pay-monthly-15gb.asp) your free laptop might be actually free!

I would say make sure it works in your area too - I've read some real horror stories from people that get mobile broadband contracts and it doesn't work - but if you've used it before I guess you know it works well. Good luck