Cheapest way to get just broadband

corbyboy

I am currently a Virgin Media customer. Getting tired of paying £35 per month for phone, TV and broadband when all I want is broadband. The only fussy requirement I have is that I need unlimited downloads as I download quite a lot of data.

I asked VM much it would be for just broadband and they have quoted £22. It still seems a lot for just a single service.

The major stumbling block I have is that this house does not have a BT line. This means the prices from all the other companies rocket when I tell them I need a new phone line.

For example TalkTalk's headline rate of £19.50 (line rental + "unlimited" broadband package) goes up to £28.30 + £50 connection fee when a new line needs installing.

So it looks like I might end up staying with VM unless somebody has any good ideas.

Mark_In_Hampshire

ADSL requires a phone line, you can't have just the ADSL bit in the UK (though you can abroad). So add another £15-ish a month for that whether you want a phone line or not. Add on between circa £39 to £129 to set up a line.

Cable doesn't require the phone line, as you've found, you can ditch that and save money.

3G doesn't require a phone line either, we use it (we have no phone line) and pay about £20 a month for that on a PAYG service averaging 5 to 7GB per month. It's quick too (compared with ADSL) here.

However availability is patchy and there's no speed guarantee. We see 5Mbps average, but the UK average is nearer 2Mbps. You can check coverage maps (ours is on the 3 network) on the operators' sites to see if it might work for you. However if you're used to watching stuff online and downloading a fair bit, this isn't going to save you money.

In my opinion, £22/mo is woefully underpriced for a sem-fibre broadband service which you currently have. I'd pay three to four times that quite happily for a 10Mbps+ connection though I rely on it for work, many don't. Although broadband has fallen in price consistently over the years, that's not likely to continue.