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STUDENT households have more to think about than most when they it comes to sorting out their internet connections.

Students are more likely than most to be moving within a year, which providers are somewhat understandably down on.

They're also more likely to be heavy downloaders - all those essays alone could take up GBs and that's before you even factor in movies, games and music - which means more expensive high limit or unlimited deals are a must.

On the other hand, because they're sharing the cost of a connection, student households can get great broadband for fairly little per person. And, often, generous initial discounts mean savvy households can leave without ever having paid full price.

Here the three things we think student houses need to consider before signing on the dotted line.

1. Contract length vs. tenancy length

Most broadband contracts last 12 months but many student tenancies are shorter or, at least, you'll be there less.

But don't necessarily reach get hung up on short contracts. Remember, twelve month contracts are often cheaper and easier than short or no-contract broadband overall because you get free set-up and hardware.

With a short contract, you'll typically have to pay an upfront fee for joining and buy a router from the provider or elsewhere which adds at least £20 to the total cost.

Having said that, the best flexible contract deals can be great value for those staying nine months or less, although it's often still neck and neck with paying off a 12 month contract in full when you leave.

So, for example:

Provider/deal	Total: 12 months	Total: nine months
Plusnet Extra £23.48	£265.29 (£6 for 3 months)	£276.32 (£25 fee + £40 for wireless router)
O2 All Rounder £20	£202.50 (3 months free)	£210.63 (£30.63 fee)
Be Unlimited £32	£384	£360 (3 month contract is £3 extra/month + £25 fee + router ~£20)

A note on the prices above: They include the cheapest line rental (PAYG with O2 and BE, E&W calls with Plusnet). The O2 price also assumes that you're an O2 mobile customer.

Note also that we chose the providers above so that we could compare the price difference of the same broadband deal with a 12-month contract and a more flexible one.

There are loads more 12-month contract options out there, though, see our cheapest broadband table for more.

2. Factor in phones

The vast majority of broadband deals require you to pay for line rental as well as broadband because ADSL connections are delivered through (active) phone lines.

BT line rental is currently £13.90 a month and most other providers hover around that mark so it's a significant extra expense that's well worth bearing in mind.

Moreover, while a landline can be handy, many student households prefer not to use it at all since: a) everyone has a mobile anyway and b) a phone bill is a housemate argument waiting to happen.

With that in mind, students are often well-served by the cheapest landline deals that come with broadband packages: the fact that many offer few inclusive calls doesn't matter so much if you're not using the phone in any case and taking both services often gives a discount overall.

In particular, O2 and Be broadband are worth a look if you want to slash your line rental costs.

Both offer a PAYG land line service so you won't be paying for any calls you're not using: O2's is £7.50 a month and Be's is £10.

Home phone free

There's only one way to go completely home phone free: broadband-only deals from Virgin Media.

Since it's a purely cable connection there's no need for an active phone line.

The problem is that Virgin Media services are far from universally available, although student-heavy towns seem to have better coverage than most so it's worth doing a postcode search.

The only other way to go home phone free is with a mobile broadband connection,

Do a mobile check

Finally, while we're on the subject of phones, it's well worth asking your housemates who their mobile provider is in the course of your search for student broadband.

Many of the major mobile providers also have home broadband services and they offer significant discounts for their existing customers.

Orange contract customers can get their student broadband from just £5, for example.

O2 mobile customers can also save £5 a month and won't pay the £25 installation fee either.

Virgin Media have also been known to give their mobile customers discounts and, if you're on the look out for a new phone deal, TalkTalk mobile contracts are only available to their home broadband customers.

3. Downloads

The final thing to consider when you're looking for your student broadband is usage allowance.

Trying to work out how much a household of people you probably don't know that well will use the internet is a bit of a mugs game.

We'd say that erring on the side of caution with a usage allowance of at least 80GB is likely to be your best bet.

Even if you don't consider streaming/downloading videos and music or gaming, most courses will ask you to download large PDF files at home which could quickly eat through a small allowance.

Few providers charge for extra usage nowadays but exceeding the allowance will typically lead to the provider significantly slowing your connection. Consistently going over and most will ask you to move to a more expensive deal so it's worth getting this right first time.

Small student households shouldn't be discouraged, though: if you think you get away with a smaller allowance give it a go with a provider that offers bigger usage allowances and just trade up if you don't have enough space.

P2P and gaming

The exception to that are households, of any size, doing a lot of P2P downloading and/or a lot of online gaming.

At that point, you have to start thinking a little bit about your provider's traffic management policy and/or fair use policy since heavy use could result in your service being severely slowed or stopped.

Information on these can be found in our full product reviews and in this fair use policy guide.

O2 and Be broadband have the best reputation for offering the least limited unlimited broadband.

To sum up

To sum up: don't panic about long contracts, don't forget mobile and home phone and look out for usage allowances.

Happy student broadband hunting! Let us know how it goes in the comments below.

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