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Be broadband and O2 Broadband share a broadband network

Does that mean they're essentially offering the same product? And if not, which is better?

Network-mates

In 2006, two years after Be Broadband was founded, the company was bought up by Telefonica, a European comms giant with more than 35 million customers.

The next year, Telefonica starting using the Be network to carry a home broadband product for one of their mobile phone brands: O2.

In short, when people say 'O2 own Be', or vice versa, that's a bit of a simplification.

The relationship the two have now is more network-mates: they both use the same pipes and share Be broadband-installed equipment at telephone exchanges.

As we'll see in the next section, that affects speeds and availability. But that's about it.

O2/Be speeds: the fastest ADSL

Ofcom release independent research on broadband speeds which is one of the best indicators we have of the differences between physical networks.

Here's how the O2/Be network did in the last one, compared to similar up to 20/24Mb ADSL services from BT and TalkTalk:

	Overall average	Peak (8-10pm weekdays)
Be/O2	10.1 to 11.7Mb	10.1 to 11.6Mb
BT	7.3 to 9.0Mb	7.4 to 9.0Mb
TalkTalk	7.1 to 8.7Mb	7.1 to 8.5Mb

As you can see, they're outperforming their ADSL competitors by some distance, although they're still no where near as fast as cable services from Virgin Media and BT Infinity.

In addition the top O2 and Be packages - The Works and Pro - offer increased upload speeds of up to 2.5Mb, faster than the 1.3Mb upload on their other deals and those of most other providers.

However, averages are tricky.

Although it's right to laud the O2/Be network's reliability, the providers are also available in slightly fewer places than other providers and tend to focus on the most urban areas where lines have shorter distances to travel from the exchange to households, that must give the average a boost.

In addition, by lumping the two providers together the Ofcom research misses out on some differences between them - namely, traffic management and contention ratios - that could have quite an effect on speeds.

Though they're hard to quantify exactly the providers recognise these differences to some extent in their advertising: O2 offer up to 20Mb, Be up to 24Mb. In short, the Be policies below put them ahead on broadband speeds.

Traffic management

O2 manage traffic, Be don't.

The O2 approach slows streaming video and music and P2P especially during busy periods (4pm to midnight weekdays and 12pm to midnight weekends). The more customers pay a month, they less they'll be slowed.

See the extensive O2 guide to traffic management for the full details.

Download limits

All the Be broadband deals and two of the O2 ones are advertised as unlimited. Like all broadband providers, though, unlimited comes with some limits: go beyond them and your broadband connection will be 'throttled', severely slowed.

Find out more on broadband fair use policies here.

However, Be has a fair use policy which promises only to slow down the most extreme heavy downloaders and, anecdotally, rarely slows connections; O2's fair use policy is a little more restrictive.

Not only does O2 reserve the right to stop the heaviest downloaders in their tracks there's a 'soft limit' on usage as follows:

• The All Rounder: 100GB a month
• The Works: 250GB a month

You'd have to be going some to break those barriers but, even so, they have the potential to negatively affect speeds for the heaviest users.

Contention ratios

Ultimately, Be are able to take a more relaxed attitude to speeds because there are simply fewer Be users sharing one line.

A 50:1 contention ratio is standard for home broadband packages, although it varies from exchange to exchange, and O2 seem, more or less, to conform to that.

In contrast, Be specifically advertise low contention ratios and promise not to overload exchanges and stop adding users to exchanges that are getting too busy.

Customer service

Both Be and O2 Broadband have great reputations for customer service and reliability but Be, in particular, seem to have a customer base that doubles as a fan club.

Fancy being able to Tweet the top bods at your provider, go out for drinks with them and get a free day's broadband on your birthday from them (really!)? That's Be broadband.

Having said that, O2 also have a thriving twitter feed and both broadband providers have excellent 24/7 UK-based billing help and technical support.

Prices: is it worth paying more for Be?

Let's not beat about the bush: O2 broadband is cheaper than Be's.

Here are a few examples just to illustrate the difference:

O2 deal	Be equivalent	Who's cheaper?
O2 Basics (O2 cust) + PAYG calls £16	Be Value + PAYG calls £27	O2 by £11
O2 All Rounder + E&W calls £27.50	Be Unlimited + E&W calls £33	O2 by £5.50
O2 The Works + anytime calls £39.50	Be Pro + anytime calls £41	O2 by £1.50

As you can see, O2 are cheaper even if only by a little bit and even when, as in the last two examples, you're not an existing O2 mobile customer.

Not only are O2 simply aiming for the budget end of the market, the provider is able to offer big discount in return for its mobile customer's loyalty.

Broadband is £5 a month cheaper for existing O2 mobile phone contract customers and some PAYG users.

In addition, while both providers also offer some of the cheapest line rental in the land but, again, O2 is cheaper. Their PAYG line rental (no inclusive landline calls) is just £7.50 a month, Be's is £10.

Both providers offer short contracts - O2 have a 30-day rolling contract option while Be offer a shorter 3-month contract - but even here there's O2 just about have the edge.

Both providers ask for a set-up fee for short contracts of about £25 but while Be also add about £3 to the monthly price of their broadband, O2 keep their usual prices with low commitment contracts.

All in all

When we first wrote this guide there was a hair's breadth between O2 and Be broadband.

As the services have matured, however, the differences between them have grown more acute: O2 are a budget provider offering decent, reliable broadband at some of the UK's best prices especially if you have an O2 mobile; Be are a premium provider with excellent customer service and broadband experience but slightly higher prices.

For more information you can read our dedicated reviews of O2 broadband and Be broadband.

To check availability in your area and see a full comparison of each provider's package options and prices see the O2 provider and Be provider pages.

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