When cheap broadband attacks: How cheap broadband could cost an arm and leg

By Julia Kukiewicz Staff Writer Thursday, 14 February 2008

Can You Afford Cheap Broadband? Ask yourself these 5 questions before taking a cheap broadband package: How long will this cheap broadband price last? What sort of download limits are there? Do I want fast broadband speeds or cheap broadband prices? Do I want good service or cheap broadband prices? How much will I pay to break my contract? Cheapest Broadband Prices Current cheapest broadband only packages: O2 Broadband Standard (£7.50 per month - for O2 mobile pay monthly customers only) Virgin Media £4.50 Broadband (£4.50 per month + £11 per month phone package) Tiscali Superfast Broadband (£6.49 per month for first 3 months, then £12.99 per month) Compare broadband prices here Current cheapest broadband & phone bundles Tiscali Broadband & Phone Option 1 (£14.99 per month incl line rental) TalkTalk Broadband with Talk2 International (£16.39 per month incl line rental) Compare broadband & phone prices here Current cheapest broadband, phone and TV bundles Tiscali TV (+ phone + broadband) (£15.99 per month) Sky See, Speak & Surf (£17 per month) Compare broadband, phone and TV bundle prices here Related Cheap Broadbands News See our other recent related cheap broadband news stories: How to compare broadband prices If you are looking for cheap broadband, you'd do well to compare broadband prices first. Here Julia Kukiewicz guides you through the process of broadband price comparison to help you find the cheapest broadband package in the UK. Be* dramatically cuts broadband prices for fast broadband Creating one of the cheapest high-speed broadband packages available, Be has dramatically cut its prices for all its 24Mb fast broadband packages. Virgin Media cuts the cost of broadband to just £4.50 Virgin Media is pulling in the masses with its ridiculously cheap £4.50 broadband package, but there is a slight catch...

So save yourself from hidden costs before it’s too late by following our top 5 tips:

You can now get great cheap broadband for the price of a couple of pints but like the abnormally placid lakes in our little cheap broadband shockumentary, something deadly could be lurking beneath the surface.

And for deadly, read costly.

Ask yourself our five quick questions before you dive into the cheap broadband feeding pool and save your limbs and your money:

I want cheap broadband, so… How long will my cheap broadband price last?

Those little prices are growing up so fast these days! It must be something in the water.

I’m thinking particularly here of those little tykes at Tiscali: their new cheap broadband packages stay cheaper for just three months.

Not that £20ish off over the course of year is to be sniffed at and not that Tiscali’s ‘normal’ prices aren’t still very reasonable but most other broadband providers’ cheap rate lasts for six months (AOL) or a year (Virgin Media).

You can compare your first year broadband cost with the years to come on our broadband comparison tables.

Remember not to be too surprised if the cheap broadband monthly payments only offset what you pay for installation and hardware making your ‘cheap’ year’s overall cost eerily similar to a ‘normal’ year.

I want cheap broadband, but… How limited are my downloads?

The cheapest broadband packages often put restrictions on how much you can download from the internet in a month.

In not-un-related other news: exceeding your download limits can be an expensive business.

Most broadband providers - especially the cheapest broadband providers - charge you by the extra gigabyte and can reserve the right to ‘throttle’ (slow down) your connection.

If you download or upload a lot - especially if it’s at peak times - you might want to check out the fair use policy for your ‘unlimited’ downloads. Sometimes it’s not as fair as its name suggests.

Remember: watching videos, streaming music and opening email attachments all count towards your download limit.

1GB is the equivalent of about 240 2-and-a-half minute songs.

I want cheap broadband, but… Am I Speedy or Needy?

Obviously you can’t expect breakneck speeds from cheap broadband but that doesn’t mean you have to pay ridiculous amounts to avoid broadband boredom.

A slow broadband connection could cost you more than its worth in outbid eBay items, missed BBC iPlayer shows and high blood pressure.

O2 Broadband's 16 Mb connection is now just £10 a month for O2 pay-monthly mobile customers and £15 for the rest of us.

Many people just don’t want to take the risk that they’re going to pay for a broadband speed that they’re never going to get.

That’s a fair consideration but make sure you’re not missing out for no reason: check how far you are from the exchange and ask your neighbours what kind of broadband speeds they’re getting.

I want cheap broadband, but… How Much will I Pay for Tech Support?

Most people hate that the cheapest broadband provider’s customer services/technical support phone numbers put you through to someplace in Asia where people read the manual at you.

Not us. We use the opportunity to spread a little global harmony, peace and love across the oceans.

Ok that’s a lie. But we would do all those things if our cheap broadband provider’s technical support numbers weren’t so damned expensive.

It’s true that some broadband providers have free support from UK landlines. If you don’t have a landline or your broadband provider is especially cheap however you could find the price of your broadband connection skyrocketing.

However, here’s another simple and oft-forgotten method to save cash: when your question isn’t really really important (i.e. your internet hasn’t stopped working altogether) you can email most broadband providers and you can write to all of them.

It’s usually cheaper and always more straightforward because you can say exactly what you want to without getting confused.

I want cheap broadband, but.. Am I sure I’m sure?

Once again, obvious once you’ve thought of it, if you’re planning to move house before your contract runs out make sure that you check how much you’re broadband provider will charge to reconnect you in a different place – it could be as much as £50.

If you’re switching from another broadband supplier or you think you might have to break off your contract and switch early check the price for that as well – that could be up to £70!

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