In a bid to simplify its products, Talktalk has launched three broadband packages - two of which include free broadband and the third which costs £4.99 a month.
Talktalk with chargeable broadband is available to customers who sign up for an 18-month contract on the UK Callers phone package. You pay £10.50 a month for line rental and free weekend calls to UK landlines, as well as free calls to other Talktalk landlines at any time. The broadband deal costs £4.99 a month and offers download speeds of up to 8 megabits (Mb) and a monthly 40 gigabyte (GB) usage allowance.
Alternatively, anyone signing up for a Talk Global package - Talk Global Anytime or Talk Global Evening and Weekend - receives the broadband deal mentioned above for free. Again you must sign up for an 18-month contract.
Talk Global Anytime costs £10.49 a month and includes unlimited calls to UK landlines and 36 countries worldwide such as Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, France, Spain and Germany. Calls to US and Canadian mobiles are also included.
The Talk Global Evening and Weekend deal costs £6.49 a month and includes free calls to UK landlines and the same international destinations, but only in the evening and at weekends.
With both of the Global packages you have to pay line rental on top. This costs £10.50 a month.
However, anyone who signs up for the Talk Global Evening and Weekend deal through moneysupermarket.com before June 17 will receive the call package half price for four months - £3.25 a month as opposed to £6.49. Our exclusive deal also includes one month's free line rental and a free wireless modem - this would normally cost you £30. The total saving from this offer is £53.49 making it better value for money than any other similar product.
The table below shows how Moneysupermarket's exclusive offers compares with other deals on the market and it's clearly the winner when it comes to price. The nearest competitor is AOL broadband wireless with an average monthly cost of £13.05. AOL will give you the first month free if you order online and free evening and weekend calls to UK landlines and selected international destinations, but only for the first three months, you'll pay £5.89 per month thereafter. AOL also imposes a 10GB download cap.
|
Package |
Average
monthly
cost |
Max.
speed |
Download
cap |
Minimum
contract |
|
Carphone
Warehouse
Talk Global
Evening
& Weekend
Moneysupermarket
Exclusive
|
£5.77 |
8Mb |
40GB |
18
months |
|
AOL
Broadband
wireless
|
£13.05
First month free when ordered online |
8Mb |
10GB |
18
months |
|
Tiscali
Option 1 |
£14.99 |
8Mb |
Unlimited
(Fair
usage
policy
applies) |
12
months |
All tariffs include free evening and weekend calls to UK landlines and selected international destinations.
Sourced by www.moneyupermarket.com June 3 2008.
It is worth noting, that you will have to pay line rental on top of the monthly tariff fee. Most broadband deals still require you to have a BT line - its line rental costs £10.50 although customers who still receive a paper bill or who do not pay by direct debit pay £11.75. Talktalk is one of the few other providers to offer its own line rental - it charges £10.50 a month.
The company has experienced well-documented customer service issues, some of which have been highlighted on our forum. If you're concerned about signing up to Talktalk because of this, watch our video with Dominic Stinton, Talktalk's marketing director. Our site editor, Clare Francis, recently interviewed him and asked him what the company had done to resolve these problems.
What type of user are you?
Many broadband contracts are now 18-months long so it's important before you sign up, you check it's the right deal for you and think about what type of user you are.
If you only use the internet to browse the web and send and receive e-mails, you can look out for the cheapest product regardless of restrictions, as download caps and speed aren't really an issue for you.
Medium users who use the internet regularly and download files only really need a download cap of around 2GB per month. An 8Mb download speed as offered by all the providers listed here is more than sufficient.
Heavy users should look at deals offering unlimited downloads and super fast speeds. Typically, heavy users will be online gaming fans and internet enthusiasts. These users should look at O2's Premium package, only £10 per month for O2 customers, rising to £15 per month for non-O2 customers. It boasts up to 16Mb download speed and unlimited downloads* but doesn't offer any free calls.
Existing Sky customers can get Sky Broadband Max for just £10 per month and enjoy speeds of up to 16Mb and unlimited downloads*, again a good deal for heavy users.
Have your say: Have you recently switched broadband provider? If so visit our forum and let us know how it went. Or if you're looking for a new broadband deal and want to ask others for their experience with a certain provider other forum members may be able to help.
*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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