Best deals for landline and broadband pls

olympicsmummy

Hello

I've been looking online at deals for the above but I'm really confused...I've never had to set this up before but now living alone I have no landline or internet and am very confused re. deals.

What I'm looking for is a landline.. free calls at the weekend would be great but I only really need about 2 hours a week of free calls.

As for internet I would like a good speed internet and I think I need unlimited usage as I'm on the internet alot. I want to be able to watch films etc and download things.. watch ITV player etc and I can't bear it when you get the "buffering" thing and it being slow!! I would say I would like to be able to watch around 3 films/ programmes a week

Could anyone please help me with a link to a good deal as I'm not sure what is a good price?

Thanks so much in advance.

macman

Since broadband is exchange specific, start with an exchange search on samknows.com for your available LLU providers, these will be the best deals.

olympicsmummy

Thanks Macman. What does "exchange specific" mean. I don't even know what broadband means.. I just mean I want the internet and a phone line! . sorry for my lack of knowledge!!

kwikbreaks

What you can get depends on which exchange you are connected to. Just about all exchanges have BT based equipment of some sort installed which means you can pick from a wide variety of ISPs who simply resell the wholesale product. Each ISP will tailor their offering in some way or other - eg cheap, good customer support, etc. etc.

The cheaper deals come when your exchange has had non-BT equipment installed (LLU) as those suppliers have lower costs so can be cheaper or offer better service for the same price etc. When there are several options available the BT wholesale price falls too (I think).

Your area may also have the option of Virgin Media cable or what gets called Fibre Optic broadband (FTTC) in addition to standard (slower) ADSL upto 8Mbps or ADSL2+ upto 24Mbps but usually sold as upto16 or upto20 services.

olympicsmummy

oh gosh! thanks Kwikbreaks although it seems more complicated than I first thought!!

kwikbreaks

The complicated bit is deciding how fast it needs to be and whether you are likely to need much handholding to get it going and if you get problems. Of course you can always ask here but some things will need the ISP to sort out if they go wrong.

Plusnet are owned by BT and offer a full range of products at slightly less than BT prices. They have UK support but apparently you may have to put up with some longish waits. It's worth looking at the type of products and prices they offer.

LLU providers in the main these days are Sky and TalkTalk (I may have missed some though). These will be the cheapest but neither are well known for excellent support.

There are a number of smaller niche sellers who offer good support but at a somehwhat higher price - eg Zen and AAISP. There are thousands of others too who resell some product or another.

Big brand names are in the game - eg Post Office and Tesco.

Anyhow what does SamKnows say is available?

olympicsmummy

Samknows said that this is available:

• BT Wholesale ADSL
• BT Wholesale ADSL Max
• BT Wholesale WBC (21CN)
• BT Wholesale SDSL
• BT FTTC
• AOL LLU
• O2 / Be LLU
• Bulldog LLU
• TalkTalk (CPW) LLU
• Sky Broadband / Easynet LLU
• Pipex LLU
• Tiscali LLU
• Kijoma Wireless Broadband

olympicsmummy

What sort of price is reasonable to pay for a couple of hours a week free calls at weekend and internet which will enable me to download/stream say around 5 hours of tv/film etc a week + general browsing on top of 1 hour a day - £25?

macman

So your LLU options are either Sky or TalkTalk. Look at their websites for some idea of pricing.
There are no 'free' calls. Most phone tariffs have some degree of inclusive calls within the price-weekend only is the cheapest option. As above, pricing is totally dependent on what is available on your exchange in terms of LLU-there's no 'national' rate. The biggest component is line rental, which varies little-usually around £15.50 pm.
You'll also need to factor in the cost of a new BT-based line provison or reconnection, which can be up to £130, but usuallly discounted heavily by most providers.
I suggest you read the phones and broadband section on the main MSE site to aid your research.