Help! Which D/L limit?

vernall

Hi

I'm after a bit of help please........I'm currently on dial up and waan make the leap to broadband,but talk about confusing lol
I surf the net for about 2-3 hours a day(max)
I send approx 2-3 emails and receive 2-3 email a day(roughly)
I do download music approx 10 songs a week
However i do spend a lotta time chatting on MSN to friends most nights(have got carried away and been 6-7 hours at a time,awful i know)
Now a lot of BB provider limit ur downloads to either 2GB 5GB 10Gb 15GB 30GB or unlimited,depending on the provider.
Which limit would be my best bet with plenty to spare or would i better going for unlimited?
Am also looking for minimum 1MB speed,so any good deals on those would be much appreciated
thanks

JimArnold

the really large users of Gb are gaming and video streaming, MSN uses very little
My guess would be 2Gb would be enough. But choose an ISP with a number of limits that you can change cheaply to

Several ISPs have usuage estimation meters eg http://www.freedom2support.net/adsl/bandwidthcalc.php

or download a copy of DU meter and see how much you are using

Lots of deals out there - if you are already on ADSL then the Freedom2surf prices are good and you get the full 2Mb speed (assuming your line will cope)

vernall

thanks for that

no im not already on ADSL,currently on dial-up so i will be starting from scratch

i was looking at Tiscalli 2MB 15GB Limit for £19.99 per month free modem,free setup.......but they seem to have terrible reviews

ukbill69

Go pipex. http://www.pipex.net/ very fast and never goes down. I woudlnt trust Tiscalli about many news feeds that have come up about there adverts and there limits. Go with a firm thats always in the top ten fastest adsl providers rated over at http://www.adslguide.org.uk/

vernall

by the way,i am really thick(lol) should of said i am only on a laptop,but only use it in one room,so dont really know how that works with the "always connected" thing cos obviously the laptop wouldnt be left on the whole time.....does the modem stay connected even though iv turned the laptop off or what?

sorry for being thick,but ANY help would be cool

thanks

jimclark1967

Always connected just means that you can use the net any time your computer is switched on without having to dial-up first. (In fact, I don't know why broadband providers advertise this fact as some kind of amazing selling point - it just confuses people)

From the useage levels you give I'd say 2Gb a month would be fine - it's broadly similar to my useage and I've only been over 1Gb in a month once or twice. My suggestion would be to go for a 2Gb product which just charges you an extra amount (normally £2 or less per Gb) should you happen to go over. In the long run this is far cheaper than paying an extra £5 or £10 a month for an unlimited service.

As you are new to broadband, however, the initial setup costs are more important than pure monthly rate. There are a number of providers who will give you free setup and ADSL modem in return for a 12 month contract. Wanadoo are a good example, 1Mb line speed for £17.99 a month but free setup (saving more than £50.) Once the mimimum term is up you could "migrate" to any cheaper/faster/more bells & whistles service and keep the same equipment etc...

Martin's article on broadband providers is a good place to start

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1092034925,22928,

:beer:

neohurricane

when i first went onto BB i went a bit crazy the first few months (has 3 months unlimited download) so had to throttle back a bit after this ran out.

1Gb has been ok most of the time but am now finding i have to keep an eye out (this month did 70% of limit in first 10 days and this was not even by downloading loads of music) to keep within limit or pay BT another few quid of my hard earned.

agree with jimclark that 2Gb will be plenty enough unless you are a total download freak in which case look at ukonline's 512 unlimited download (£9.99 per month but only in a small number of areas not incl mine!).

don't be swayed by the "must have 1Mb speed" - after dial-up you'll be so blown away by 512 this will be plenty. in other words maybe go for download limit not speed.