The Best Broadband for Unlimited Downloads

By Julia Kukiewicz Staff Writer Tuesday, 08 April 2008

What is the best broadband for unlimited downloads? The shortlist of contenders... Be Broadband O2 Broadband Eclipse Internet Plusnet And the best broadband for unlimited downloads is... Plusnet Related Broadbands News See our other recent related news stories: How to Compare Broadband Speeds BROADBAND speeds can be misleading. We reveal the best ways to compare broadband speeds to ensure you get the fastest broadband package available to you. Be Broadband Dramatically Cuts 24Mb Broadband Price SUPER fast broadband provider Be has dramatically cut the costs of its 24Mbps broadband packages to keep in line with sister provider O2 Broadband. When Cheap Broadband Attacks... Tempting as it may be, when it comes to broadband, you get what you pay for. Yet we're all still mesmerised by cheap broadband packages, so we've compiled a list of things to keep in mind when nothing but the cheapest broadband will do. Related Broadband Articles Other related broadband news and guides: Is Post Office Broadband any good? SIX first class stamps, a brown envelope and some broadband please! Lorrie Kelly asks: Is Post Office Broadband any good? Is TalkTalk any good? THEY may have introduced free broadband to the UK, but did they introduce absymal broadband too? Helen Storey finds out whether TalkTalk is any good. Is Tiscali Broadband any good? Their adverts for cheap broadband are all over the TV, but is Tiscali any good? Julia Kukiewicz unravels the Tiscali packages to find the answer. Is Sky Broadband any good? Is Sky Broadband any good? Julia Kukiewicz rustles through Rupert Murdoch's sock drawer (and his broadband packages) and uncovers some naked truths about Sky Broadband. Is O2 Broadband any good? THEY'RE fast being considered the best broadband provider in the UK. Here, Neil Hawkins looks a little closer at the high speed wonder that is O2 Broadband and answers the question: Is O2 Broadband any good?

SO, just who offers the best broadband for unlimited downloads?

If you use your broadband to download (and who doesn’t?) you may have noticed some problems of late.

Many policies make you pay dearly for downloading more than your monthly allowance and even if your package promises ‘unlimited’ downloads over-restrictive fair use policies can put your connection in the slow lane, especially at peak times.

There are loads of service providers out there who promise to give you the best broadband for unlimited downloads amongst them the big players in broadband: O2 Broadband, Tiscali, BT Broadband, Virgin Media, TalkTalk and Orange Broadband.

Of these Virgin Media and Orange’s fair use policies (see Neil Hawkin’s excellent article: Broadband Fair Use Policies Exposed) put them out of the running for best unlimited download broadband straight away.

Tiscali won’t suit heavy downloaders who will find their services severely restricted. It’s a similar story at BT and TalkTalk where the policies are so vague as to be non-existent.

Zen Internet is also out of the running for best unlimited download broadband because although their Zen Home 250 broadband package is truly unlimited, at 256kbps what’s the point? Sorry Zen.

So that leaves O2 Broadband and, unsurprisingly, their much praised sister company Be broadband to pick up the slack. We also tracked down some great policies from little providers Eclipse and the award-winning broadband flavour of the month, Plusnet.

So now we’ve got our ultimate top three unlimited download broadband contenders let’s see them fight it out:

Best Broadband for Unlimited Downloads Contender #1:

Be Broadband & O2 Broadband

Be Broadband and O2 Broadband run on the same network so they’ve got the same unlimited download policy.

In name at least this policy is not so different from those of other big providers and tends towards the vague end of the clarity spectrum.

Unlike other providers, however, this is benevolent hippy-parent vagueness. It’s all very relaxed and calm and has given O2 Broadband and Be Broadband a great reputation amongst their heavy downloading customers.

• Compare Be Broadband prices
• Compare O2 Broadband prices

Best Broadband for Unlimited Downloads Contender #2:

Eclipse

Broadband old-timers Eclipse also have a uniquely cool take on unlimited downloads.

They have a fair use policy which restricts Gb usage on a sliding scale – so option 1 only gets 20 GB while option 4 gets 50Gb.

However, this only applies at peak times – 6pm to midnight – so if you want to download more than your allowance you can do so in off peak times.

It’s a fair use policy that makes a lot of sense.

• Compare Eclipse Broadband prices

Best Broadband for Unlimited Downloads Contender #3:

Plusnet

The genius of Plusnet is that they don’t actually believe in telling you that your broadband is unlimited (even though it sometimes is).

Like Eclipse, all packages are 8Mbps but you pay more for the amount of Gigabytes of data download per month. However, these restrictions only count from 8am to midnight so that leaves eight hours completely and truly unlimited downloads a day!

Additionally you can buy more Gigabytes of data if you think you’re going to run out (and you can see if you’re going to run out on Plusnet's handy online meter).

Essentially, Plusnet offers great customer service and value for money on unlimited downloads and their innovative download-friendly broadband package deserves to succeed

Unsurprisingly, Plusnet is the online gamers favourite and - as much as we like to mock - online gamers are never wrong about this sort of thing, gawd love ‘em.

• Compare Plusnet Broadband prices

So, what is the best broadband for unlimited downloads?

This is an easy one. Plusnet wins by a country mile. Officially* the best broadband for unlimited downloads in the UK!

*Note: not really officially!

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