The small print when you sign up to broadband
Few of us bother to read the small print in any contract, but before
you sign up to any broadband deal, it is vital that you do so.
After all, you are likely to be spending hundreds of hours online. And
failing to understand exactly what is involved in your contract may
means poor quality service – or paying excessively for a deal.
So what are the things you should be looking out for? Here are a few
tips:
Set-up fees/upfront charges:
Some providers will ask you to pay a set-up fee to cover the cost of
installing the equipment in your home. Virgin Media, Talk Talk, Sky
and Be ask for between £20-50 in one off set up fees.
Direct Save Telecom goes even further, as well as asking for a £40
set-up fee, it also asks for the first two months’ subscription upfront
– at a cost of £33.90 – taking the total upfront charge to £73.90
before you even go live with broadband.
Charges for exceeding the download capacity:
Some providers impose a charge if you exceed the agreed download
capacity of your deal. BT, PIPEX and Madasafish charge 30p per GB,
£2.70 for 3GB and £2 per GB respectively for exceeding your download
capacity.
Sky and Orange will upgrade you to a new deal with a bigger download
capacity and start charging you at the higher rate, but they will
notify you of this.
Non-direct debit charges:
These tend to hit people from lower income backgrounds the hardest as
they may have reduced access to personal banking. The major brands
levying this extra fee include Virgin Media, TalkTalk and BT, charging
between £3.50 and £5 a month for non-direct debit payments. Vodafone at
Home gives you no option but to pay by direct debit only.
Helpline call charges:
Several providers provide 0845 or 0870 numbers that charge 3.65p
(evening) to 7p (daytime) a minute, (AOL, Direct Save Telecom, Talk
Talk, Tiscali).
However BT and Orange charge the highest amounts for making a technical
support call, up to £1.05 and 50p a minute respectively. Vodafone at
Home is the only provider that allows you to call customer service or
technical support for free - but it has to be on a Vodafone mobile phone.
Free calls to UK landline charges:
Free calls to UK landlines is a very attractive reason why people would
want to switch to a broadband/phone deal. But be aware that these "free
calls" offers only apply to numbers starting with 01 and 02. Meanwhile,
making calls to 0845 numbers – used by many banks and businesses –
continue to be charged at national rates.
