The process of changing broadband provider should only take seven to 10 days to complete and could potentially save you more than £200 a year. For example, a BT customer on a standard Option 3 12 month contract is paying £24.46 a month for broadband access - that's £293.52 a year. Yet if the same customer moved over to a comparable deal from O2, available to O2 mobile subscribers, they would pay just £7.34 a month - an annual cost of £88.08. That's a saving of £205.44. Even non O2 customers could earn a saving of £146.76 a year by switching to the O2 deal at £12.23 a month.
What should you think about before you switch?
Before looking for a new broadband deal examine the terms and conditions of your existing contract. Check to see how long it has left to run as many companies insist you pay the remainder of the contract before you move to a new deal. If you find a particularly cheap deal it might be worth paying a small penalty fee to move as you'll make savings in the long run.
Remember not all deals are available everywhere in the UK - so enter your postcode into our comparison tool to find what's on offer in your area. Price is generally the most important consideration for consumers when shopping around. However, it is important to look beyond the cost alone to ensure you're not frustrated by the quality of service you receive after making the switch.
Think about what type of user you are - specifically whether you're a 'light', 'medium' or 'heavy user':
- Light user - Someone who uses the internet on the odd occasion perhaps to check emails or surf the web.
- Medium user - Uses the internet regularly and makes occasional downloads of songs and movies.
- Heavy user - An online gamer or someone who works online and uses the internet for a large portion of the day.
Determining what type of user you are will help you decide how important factors such as speed and download capacity are. For example if you're a light user, then it probably doesn't matter about having a super-fast connection and you're unlikely to get close to hitting even a low download cap in the region of two gigabytes (GB), so why pay extra? By contrast, heavy users want fast speeds to download movies, songs and games in seconds and they will prefer unlimited downloads so they don't pay extra for exceeding a cap each month.
Another consideration is the extras you get with a contract. Many providers offer incentives such as a free wireless router, or even a free laptop. These can be enticing but ask if you really need what's on offer and whether you would have bought it anyway - if not then steer clear, but if so it could be a welcome bonus.
Finally consider whether or not you want to bundle your broadband with another service such as a phone, TV or mobile deal. Bundling products together often produces savings and simplifies your billing. So if you are currently paying different providers for your landline, broadband and television package bundling could be an appropriate solution for you.
There are a host of bundles to choose from. For example, if you wanted to combine your broadband with a phone service, you could pick up the My Talk Talk package for £6.49 a month with 8Mb speeds, a large 40GB cap and a free wireless router along with free off peak calls to UK and international landlines.
Sky has some of the most competitive deals that combine broadband, phone and TV together. Starting at £16.50 a month you can get 2Mb speeds with a 2GB cap, a free wireless router; free evening and weekend calls to UK landlines; and four television entertainment mixes. There are also packages available that include Sky's popular sports and movie channels. To examine the bundled deals available in your area, use our comparison tool.
Is switching complicated?
According to a recent survey by moneysupermarket.com one in four switchers have experienced delays of two weeks or more when changing providers while two in five have experienced a problem with Migration Authorisation Codes (MAC) - the code you need when you move from one provider to another.
However, industry regulator Ofcom has set out clear mandatory regulation on MACs that state that providers must supply a code to the customer within five days of the request and the number of complaints about this did fall from 2007 to 2008. So don't let these problems stand in the way of potentially large savings. And to help you, we've put together a video blog on 'how to switch broadband provider' which explains exactly how the switching process works.
So which deal is right for you?
According to figures from Ofcom the average broadband speed in Britain is 3.6Megabits (Mb) per second even though 60% of UK consumers subscribe to deals offering 8Mb speeds or more. This has been backed up by our own broadband speed test results which show average speeds were just 3.04Mb from October-December 2008.
Although Ofcom has introduced a voluntary code of practice which requires all providers to give consumers an estimate of the maximum speed their line can support, until the industry invests heavily in improving its infrastructure customers are likely to be short-changed on speed. Consequently, it is more important than ever to pick up a contract that accurately reflects your needs rather than paying over the odds for a speed you're unlikely to get.
Here are some of the leading broadband only deals for different types of users:
- For lights users: If you're an existing Sky customer, Sky Base has 2Mb speeds and a 2GB cap for free - although this will increase to £5 a month from March 1. PlusNet also has a low cost deal for light users at £9.75 a month with 8Mb speeds and a 2GB cap.
- For medium users: O2 topped our latest speed test results producing speeds of 4.6Mb on its 8Mb packages. The O2 Standard deal includes unlimited* usage, 8Mb speeds and a free wireless router all for £7.34 a month for O2 mobile customers and £12.23 a month for standard customers.
- For heavy users: Virgin Media has made a huge investment in its network and now offers speeds up to 50Mb for £51 a month. If you take out a Virgin phone deal too you can slash this price to £35 a month.
*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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