BT Option 1 with 12-month contract

• Super-fast 20Mb BT broadband
• Free Wireless BT Home Hub
• Free evening and weekend broadband calls
• Decent but basic security suite
• Unlimited wireless at BT Openzone wireless hotspots
• 10GB usage allowance

BT broadband review: Option 1

SOMETIMES we just like to go with a name we trust and - though BT's broadband offerings have traditionally been more confusing than bucket of rubik's cubes - they've simplified it all down now.

BT Total Option 1 is the company's bottom-rung broadband-only deal.

10GB of usage

Offering speeds of up to 20Mb with a recently doubled usage limit of 10GB, most web users will find this BT Total Option 1 more than enough.

If you are serious about using your BT broadband connection to the max though, you should consider BT Total Option 3 which allows unlimited downloads (within the realms of their fair use policy, of course).

BT Broadband Talk

You also get BT Broadband Talk. This lets you plug in any phone to the BT Home Hub and get free UK evening & weekend calls on a second line with a different phone number .

Keep in mind that these are free broadband calls and not calls made over your normal telephone line.

You will need to have a working phone line to get Option One broadband (i.e. be paying someone line rental) but it doesn't have to be BT and you can have any call plan you like without it interfering with your broadband calls.

If you want to get your call plan from BT too take a look at their BT Talk and Surf deals.

Features and Extras

BT Total Option 1 comes with a free wireless BT Home Hub. The new BT Home Hub uses "N" technology, which means it's easy to connect multiple devices like gaming consoles, other computers and laptops.

The BT Home Hub has a built-in firewall and even automatically downloads security updates as well as new features.

BT Total Option 1 also comes with a few other 'extra features'. You get some basic security from Yahoo!, including anti-virus and anti-spam e-mail accounts. Plus, you get 250 free wi-fi minutes to use on the new BT Fon network as well as any BT Openzone hotspots (such as airports or hotel lobbies).

Even more, you'll also get free 5GB secure online storage with the BT Digital Vault. It's the perfect place for securely backing up important files, like valuable photos and important documents. If you need more than 5GB or want auto backups (and you're not on a mac - the auto backup feature doesn't support macintosh computers unfortunately) you can upgrade to a whooping 50GB of secure storage for just £4.88 a month.

Free Mobile Broadband

New to BT is their bundling of mobile broadband with all 18-month BT home broadband packages.

You have to sign up with the 18 month contract and pay a one-off £49.99 hardware cost (for the USB dongle), but you'll get 1GB of mobile broadband usage free every month for the length of the contract.

If you want to use more than 1GB, you can add it at pre-pay costs of £10 for 1GB or £20 for 3GB.

BT mobile broadband makes use of the Vodafone mobile broadband network, quoted speeds are 7.2Mbps, however this is the technical top speed and realistic speeds are more around the 1Mbps to 3Mbps mark - of course it will depend upon the network coverage in your area.

This is a great deal for light users though, mobile broadband usually costs from around £15 a month for 3GB of data, here you're getting the first 1GB for free and you can choose to add on extra usage at a reasonable cost if you want to.

Payment by direct debit

The only downside to BT's broadband packages as a whole is that they are slightly expensive compared to similar offerings from rival broadband providers.

Having said that, BT is probably one of the best equipped broadband providers to deal with any technical issues that may arise with your broadband connection.

A little more detail...

Broadband		Special Note...
Package:	Option 1	-
Connection:	ADSL2+	Telephone line
Max Speed:	Up to 20Mb
Usage Limit:	10GB
Totally Unlimited:	No
Hardware:	Wireless BT Home Hub	Built-in firewall
Internet Security:	Basic only	BT Net Protect available for £3.43 per month.
Online Gaming:	All major consoles supported

Home Phone
Package:	Evening & Weekend Broadband calling plan
UK Weekend Tariff:	Free to UK landlines beginning 01, 02 & 03 and 0845 and 0870 numbers(Redial before 60 minutes to avoid charges)
UK Evening Tariff:	Free to UK landlines beginning 01, 02 & 03 (Redial before 60 minutes to avoid charges)
UK Peak Tariff:	3.91p per minute (+8p connection fee)
International Tariff:	From 1.22p per minute to USA and Australia. Discounted rates to all other countries.