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Whether you're trying to get online for the first time or you just want to get the facts straight before you sign up to a new broadband deal read on for the broadband basics.

What is broadband?

Most analysts define broadband as any Internet connection that goes faster than the dial up Internet speed of 56Kb.

This includes fixed-line home broadband which comes to the home through copper phone cables or a fibre optic line and mobile broadband which provides a high-speed wireless internet connection. This guide will focus on fixed-line broadband, for more on mobile broadband see our mobile broadband best buy guide.

Back in the days of dial up Internet connections were delivered through copper cables on the same frequency that carries voices (which is why you used to get those irritating beeping noises on your phone line).

ADSL

Broadband as we know it was born with DSL technology, which moved the broadband connection to a different frequency. DSL stands for Digital Subscriber Line; it uses the high frequency bands on your telephone line allowing it to run simultaneously with the low frequency voice data as opposed to dial-up, which runs on the same frequency as voice.

ADSL is the most common form of DSL and stands for Asymmetrical DSL. It's asymmetrical because the upload and download speeds are not the same. To reach the same speeds uploading as downloading the DSL has to use up all of the available frequency bandwidth on the line, stopping it from being able to support both data and voice.

ADSL Broadband is now available in almost all properties in the UK. It's far faster than dial-up, most ISPs now have deals that allow you to download information at rates of up to 20 megabits per second (written as Mb, Mbp/s or Meg), that's 280 times faster than dial up.

The extra speed means that broadband users can stream music and video, download high-quality pictures and generally find any information they need faster.

BT owns the telephone network so many ISPs are selling a re-branded version of the BT service, also known as BT Wholesale.

However, this isn't true of providers that sell services from unbundled or LLU exchanges. Where you see references to ADSL 2+ technology this refers to technology used by some broadband ISPs at LLU telephone exchanges to boost speeds.

At first, LLU providers such as Be Broadband were installing their own ADSL2+ equipment at exchanges but BT have recently got in on the act too.

With ADSL2+ broadband providers can provide much higher speeds. Be broadband advertise their ADSL 2+ service as up to 24Mb while BT and those using their technology - such as Zen, Orange and Plusnet - advertise it as up to 20Mb.

See the 'want a name you can trust?' section below for more on how ISPs are related to one another and which services they're selling.

Cable

Broadband can also be delivered through fibre optic cables. In theory, this service is the fastest broadband available in the UK.

Virgin Media own a large fibre optic network and BT are also starting to upgrade parts of their existing network. As of last month (February 2010) BT's fibre service BT Infinity became available in a limited number exchanges across the country, 4 million households should be able to access the service by the end of the year.

The UK's fastest widely available broadband connections both use the fibre optic cable network: Virgin Media's up to 50Mb XXL broadband and BT's up to 40Mb Infinity broadband..

Fibre optic services aren't as prone to disruption as ADSL and speeds aren't affected by factors such as your distance from the exchange or the quality of copper cables.

However, to manage congestion over the network (that's the number of customers using it at the same time) Virgin Media and BT, like other non-cable providers, uses 'traffic management' also known as speed throttling, which will affect the speed you receive - especially if you're a heavy user during peak hours (that's in the evening for broadband).

Who can get broadband?

Anyone who has a currently active copper phone line or a fibre optic cable connection will be able to get broadband.

You can find out which providers will be able to supply you by putting your postcode into any of our broadband comparison tables. If your search turns up relatively few broadband options than the chances are that you're being served by a bundled or non-LLU telephone exchange, in that case it will be worth you checking our rural broadband guide to see what your options are.

Broadband + Phone:

If you want to get an ADSL connection (i.e. broadband with a supplier other than Virgin Media) you'll need to pay line rental.

When you sign up for broadband you will have one of the following options regarding home phone:

1. Keep your current line rental and call plan.
2. Keep your current line rental but move your call plan to the broadband provider.
3. Move both your line rental and call plan to the broadband provider.

Broadband providers are generally keen for you to move your phone services over to them so you can usually get cheaper broadband with options 2 or 3. In both cases, you're moving your phone service over whilst using exactly the same physical phone line. There aren't any reconnection fees if you want to go back to BT, either, so there's no real disadvantage to switching your service other than convenience.

Option 3 also has the advantage of putting your services together so that you receive just one monthly bill. In addition, most providers charge less for line rental than BT. BT currently charge £14.60 for line rental when you pay by direct debit and opt for paperless billing, in comparison with Sky (£11.25), Plusnet (£11.99) and Madasafish (£11.99). No broadband providers currently charge more for line rental than BT.

The only exception is if you don't have a phone line at your property or your current phone line is badly damaged. In this instance, you'll need to have a new phone line installed in order to get broadband but many providers do this for free. See our new phone line installation guide for prices.

Broadband Without a Phone line

If you take a Virgin Media broadband package without a phone service then you won't need to pay line rental.

In the vast majority of cases, taking Virgin Media broadband without a phone line won't affect your ability to get home phone services in the future. However, depending on how they install their line Virgin Media may sometimes need to physically disconnect the BT line from the master socket which would incur a reconnection fee if you were ever to go back to home phone services.

Want a name you can trust?

Nervous about buying broadband from a smaller service provider? Luckily for you the broadband world is an incestuous one with most small outfits now owned by larger companies.

• BT owns Plusnet and Madasafish while the Post Office, Zen Internet and Orange both rely on BT Wholesale services.
• THUS, a Cable and Wireless company, operates Demon Internet and Tesco's broadband services.
• Sky Digital owns Easynet which operates Sky broadband and UK Online.
• Telefonica (previously BT Cellnet) own O2 who use the Be Broadband network.
• The Carphone Warehouse own TalkTalk and AOL.
• Kingston Communications (the only provider operating in Hull) owns Eclipse Internet.

Broadband Costs

The cost of receiving broadband has plummeted in the past few years and you can now get good quality, basic broadband for less than £10 a month from many providers.

As we saw above, the broadband that you can receive is dependent first and foremost on your location and whether your nearest exchange has an LLU or non-LLU service.

Since providers at non-LLU exchanges tend to be re-selling BT Wholesale services they will typically be more expensive than those at LLU exchanges: O2's non-LLU Home Access broadband is £10 a month more than their cheapest Standard broadband, for example.

Another way that location can change broadband price is when providers charged based on your BT market area. Basically, BT now charge less for wholesale access bought from market area 3 (which are exchanges where four or more ISPs are operating - so the busiest ones) and Plusnet (currently the only provider to do so) now passes on those savings and offers cheaper prices if you live in these areas.

Beyond that, Internet Service Providers have a number of different ways of charging you for your broadband.

Some services charge based on your estimated monthly usage. For example, Post Office broadband has a Standard package with a 5GB usage allowance or an Extra package with an unlimited amount of usage.

Other services keep all the usage allowances across their different packages the same and charge based on the speed of your broadband. Virgin Media's broadband is a good example of this type of pricing.

Finally, some broadband providers charge based on a combination of speed and estimated usage. This makes sense because light users are likely to be using services which don't need such high speeds and heavy users are also likely to need high speeds. Sky broadband uses this kind of pricing.

For tips on estimating your usage allowance have a look at our usage allowance guide.

What Now?

For more on the best broadband deals available check out some of our broadband best buy guides.

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