O2 Broadband or Be Broadband - Which is better?

By Julia Kukiewicz Editor Tuesday, 13 July 2010

O2 or Be Broadband Read our reviews of the O2 Broadband packages (including their home phone service): O2 Broadband Standard O2 Broadband Premium O2 Broadband Pro Compare all three O2 Broadband packages: Compare Broadband: O2 Broadband Read our reviews of the Be Broadband packages: Be Value Be Unlimited Be Pro Compare all three Be Broadband packages: Compare Broadband: Be Other O2 Broadband and Be Broadband news See our other recent news about O2 Broadband and Be: O2 Price drop for non-O2 customers AS part of its continued drive for new customers, O2 Broadband has slashed the price of all its broadband packages by £5 per month for non-O2 mobile customers signing up before 30th April 2008. O2 mobile customers rewarded with incredible O2 broadband deal WHILE not strictly for O2 customers only, O2's broadband packages are clearly designed with one thing in mind: to give O2 mobile customers such a good broadband deal that they wouldn't dream of shifting their allegiance to another mobile provider. Is O2 Broadband any good? O2 Broadband: Is it any good? We dig the dirt on the new O2 broadband service and discover what O2 customers are saying about their super-fast new service. Be dramatically cuts 24Mbps broadband prices Be Broadband has dramatically slashed the prices of their two uber-fast 24Mbps broadband packages, making high-speed broadband more affordable than ever.

Be broadband and O2 Broadband are offering some of the best new broadband packages around. But with just a gnat's hairs width between them how do you know who will give you the best deal?

We like Be broadband and we like O2 broadband so there's only one way to find out... Read on for the full fight or skip ahead for the result.

Round One: Cost

Be broadband is more expensive than O2 broadband but only just. Both broadband providers are offering great value for money and both come with excellent reputations for reliability and customer service.

After all, Be Broadband is owned by O2.

If you're already an O2 mobile pay-monthly customer and/or you're willing to switch line rental, however, you'll be quids in with an O2 broadband package.

O2 broadband is five pounds cheaper a month for existing customers, making their cheapest package a complete steal at just £7.50 a month, and O2 line rental with Evening & Weekend calls is just £9.50 a month.

Both providers offer free installation, except with in the case of Be Broadband's three-month contract which will set you back £24.

Winner: O2 Broadband

Round Two: Speed

Be Broadband currently has the UK's fastest ADSL broadband: a stomach-churning 24Mb/s with a gob-smacking 2.5Mb/s upload speed on its Be Pro package making them a favourite with online gamers. They also offer the same speed without the super-fast uploads for less.

In reality, of course, the majority would be lucky to be able to reach much above 20Mb/s.

That's why, although Be Broadband and O2 Broadband actually operate off the same network, O2 Broadband's advertised top speed of 20 Mb/s is just a more realistic estimate of the speed you'll actually be able to achieve.

Additionally, if you don't actually reach that speed O2 will recommend that you downgrade to their Standard 8Mb/s packages. Can't say fairer.

Winner: Be broadband, but only just.

Round Three: Customer Service

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

If you 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!) then Be broadband's for you.

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

Though O2 offers excellent customer service they'd still have to get up very early to catch up with Be and they're certainly not there yet.

Winner: Be Broadband

Round Four: Extras

O2 Broadband has a great 30-day moneyback guarantee offer at the moment. O2 Broadband also give away free McAfee internet security for a year, offer 100-500 free web texts a month (depending on which package you've got) and offer to back up your phone contacts online.

You can get email addresses, security and webspace with Be, but it'll be another £2 a month.

Both providers offer their 'Pro' package, which is fantabulous for online gaming or Internet-heavy home-working. Pro bundles in 'broadband' extras such as a static IP address and increased upload speeds of up to 2.5Mb/s (compared to the 1.3Mb/s upload speed of the Unlimited packages).

Winner: O2 Broadband

Round Five: Contracts & Cancellation Fees

One of the major sticking points between O2 and Be broadband is the length of their contracts and cancellation policies. O2 Broadband demands that you stay with them for a full year before you can leave (after the moneyback guarantee bit's over, of course) and if you have to cancel before that you'll have to pay off the rest of your contract.

If you don't want to wait for 30 days to leave O2 you'll also have tofork out £14.68 for an express cancellation.

Be Broadband, on the other hand, require a month's cancellation notice but you won't pay any fees if you've been with them for over 12 months or you're on a three-month contract. If you want to cancel in the first 12 months you'll need to pay off the remainder of your 12 month contract.

If you need an immediate cancellation of any contract outside of the first year of service with Be Broadband, you can pay a £30 fee instead of waiting out the 30 days notice period.

You have to return your modem too, or you'll be charged £50.

So, in summary:

Winner: Tie

Final bell

It's a closely fought match and with each provider countering the other's knockout blows with their own powerful uppercuts. So it's down to points and the judges are unanimous�

The Final Winner Is... O2 Broadband

With their incredibly competitive prices for O2 customers, the discounts allow for savings even if you don't already have an O2 mobile.

Simply get an O2 PAYG SIM, top it up by £10 every 3 months - and you've still saved over £20 in the course of a year.

For the same great broadband and great customer service at a well-reduced price - it's an easy decision to crown O2 broadband the winner.

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