 |  | By Neil Hawkins Senior Staff Writer Monday, 23 June 2008 |
BROADBAND speeds are the most complained about issue concerning broadband connections. So here at ChooseISP.co.uk we are determined to make sure you get the most for your money with a broadband package to suit your need for speed.
You could pay BT £90 for its new Accelerator service and they’ll send an engineer round who’ll try to increase your broadband speed by at least 0.5Mbps or give you your money back.
Sounds good doesn’t it?
In fact, in most cases you would be better off considering a switch to a broadband provider who could give you a much higher speed without having to fork out £90 in the process.
They can do this by using ADSL2+, essentially an upgrade of broadband technology that delivers speeds up to 24Mbps rather than the standard 8Mbps.
Below we’ve compared the best broadband providers for speed so you can decide whether their offerings are more appetising than rolling ninety pound coins down a drain.
O2 Broadband
O2 Broadband’s short broadband career is a mini success story.
The fledgling provider has proved itself to be a competent broadband supplier with its fast ‘up to’ 20Mbps connections and cheap deals, particularly for O2 mobile users.
If you are after one of the fastest connections available and are an O2 mobile user then we highly recommend O2 Broadband’s Ultimate package which for £15 a month gives you an ‘up to’ 20Mbps connection.
Even for those of you who are not O2 mobile customers we recommend O2 Premium for £15 a month which gives you a 16Mbps connection.
There have been many positive reviews of the service, its reliability and free 24/7 customer service coming in for particular praise.
O2’s download policy is very liberal allowing you to download to your heart’s content, which goes hand in hand with its fast broadband speeds.
Overall O2 Broadband is one of our top choices for the fastest broadband access.
Be Broadband
Sitting pretty next to O2 Broadband is sister company Be Broadband.
Be are the old boys of ADSL2+ having been offering broadband up to 24Mbps for a good few years.
They’ve built up a cult following and have a hardcore of users who swear by the reliability and general loveliness of the customer service on offer.
A recent BBC poll placed Be Unlimited as the second fastest broadband provider in the UK with an average line speed of 5.5Mbps. BT’s average speed was 2.8Mbps.
Like O2 Broadband, Be’s download policy is one of, if not the best available and more truly unlimited than any other provider.
Virgin Media
Virgin Media's broadband packages are the only ones listed here which are not delivered via ADSL2+ technology.
Virgin Media has its own network of speedy fibre optic cables which buzz away under your feet.
Areas with cable can receive Virgin Media broadband packages without having to pay BT any line rental, an immediate saving of £120 a year!
Another advantage of cable broadband is that speeds are more consistent meaning that you should get the advertised speeds nearly all the time, unlike ADSL broadband which depends on how far your home is from the local BT telephone exchange.
Virgin’s fastest connection is Broadband Size XL which for less than £30 a month gives you a 20Mbps connection.
If you live in a cable area and are looking for a faster broadband connection then we’d recommend Virgin Media’s Size L broadband package as it is currently being upgraded from 4Mbps to 10Mbps for free!
Virgin Media could do better with its fair use policy as it currently imposes what some see as overly harsh peak time download limits. See here for more info on the specifics.
Sky Broadband
You can only get Sky Broadband if you subscribe to one of Sky’s TV packages but with speeds of up to 16Mbps on offer Sky Broadband is definitely worth considering if you are a current or potential Sky TV customer.
Bear in mind that with Sky you still have to pay line rental to BT but the bundles on offer do prove to be good value for money.
Our pick of the fastest bundle is See + Speak + Surf Max which gives you ‘up to’ 16Mbps broadband, with unlimited evening and weekend UK calls and over 59 TV channels to flick through.
Our Hot Pick
If you want the best broadband for speed and are not fussed about TV or phone then go for Be Unlimited or O2 Broadband Ultimate both smashing all round packages with superb customer service and technical support and less than a gnat’s noggin between them.
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