Rob Barnes, Head of Broadband and Mobile Phones
The popularity of broadband has grown massively in recent years - introduced only seven years ago, more than 50% of households in Britain now have a broadband connection. As providers fight for market share, prices have been driven down, but while upfront costs may be low, many consumers find they are paying far more than they expected because of the charges levied when something goes wrong.
A number of providers including AOL, Orange, Tiscali and Virgin charge for calls to their customer service or technical helpline teams and as many of those who have encountered connection problems will know, it can take a long time to get these issues sorted. Consequently, a growing number of consumers are taking these charges into consideration when looking for a new broadband provider.
BT, the country's largest provider, has recognised this and has recently stopped charging for calls to its customer helpline. It is also offering cut-price line rental for new customers who sign up to an 18-month contract one of its Total Broadband deals.
The introductory package, BT Total Broadband Option 1, costs £7.95 a month for the first three months and £15.99 a month thereafter with speeds up to 8 Megabits (Mb) and a monthly download cap of 5 Gigabytes (GB).
If you want a wireless router and a larger download allowance (8GB a month), Option 2 costs £13.99 a month for the first three months and £20.99 a month thereafter. Alternatively, heavy users may prefer Option 3 which allows unlimited downloads. The standard price of this package is £24.99 a month, although this is reduced to £18.99 for the first three months.
Does any other company offer free support?
BT isn't alone in offering free helplines. O2 and its subsidiary company Be Broadband both offer free 24-hour customer service and technical support lines. Talktalk also offers a free helpline as long as customers call from a Talktalk landline.
Costs vary elsewhere, with Orange hitting its customers the hardest. Its technical support line on its Broadband Starter and Home Starter deals costs 50p per minute. Customers using Mac OSX will also suffer from the same rates, whereas Livebox and all other package customers will only pay 5p per minute. That means a ten-minute call on the 50p a minute support line will actually cost you more than it would to pay for the cheapest broadband deal on the market for a whole month.
Virgin Media charges up to 25p per minute, though this is reduced to 10p per minute if you call from a Virgin landline. Tiscali also charges 10p per minute though this is knocked down to 5p from Tiscali landlines.
Remember that charges may vary dependent on the type of support you need and where you call from - so to ensure you don't get stung before you call it's well worth familiarising yourself with your provider's call charges.
The leading broadband deals
It is well worth looking beyond the headline price when comparing broadband deals. Our comparison tool includes customer reviews, or you can visit our forums and seek advice from other members if you want to ask about a particular product or provider.
There are a number of factors to take into consideration when choosing a broadband deal.
If you are wanting a cheap option, then Talktalk's Talk 2 International is a home phone package that includes free broadband. The monthly cost is £5.89, although you must pay an extra £10.50 a month in line rental and you must sign up to an 18-month contract. However, although Talktalk offers free customer support, it has encountered some customer service problems so you need to bear this in mind when making your decision.
If you do not want to be tied in to a contract and don't use the internet very much at home, Namesco could be a good option. It has built up an outstanding customer service reputation and won the best small internet service provider award last year. The Namesco Bronze product costs £10.95 a month with speeds of 512kilobits per second and a download cap of 1GB making this an excellent starter package. Crucially the contract length is only 30 days so you can easily move on if you're not happy - and the helpline is charged at local rates.
If you are technically savvy and not too worried about having to call for technical assistance, Orange's Home Starter package is a good option for 'medium' users. It costs £6.00 a month for the first three months and £12.00 thereafter and offers speeds of up to 2Mb as well as a 6GB download cap.
If you are a heavy internet user and regularly download music, games or videos, Tiscali's Broadband Option Two could be a good option. It costs £8.49 a month for the first three months and £14.99 thereafter - although you must sign up to an 18-month contract. Customers receive speeds up to 8Mb and an unlimited* download cap.
For further advice call our broadband experts - free of charge - on 0800 298 5770.
*Fair use policy applies.
Disclaimer: Please note that any rates or deals mentioned in this article were available at the time of writing.
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