Best For Broadband

Top ISP PlusNet have announced the launch of a new broadband product designed specifically for gaming called Broadband Your way PRO! The idea behind the product is to offer online gamers a broadband product that’s designed to meet their specific needs. With this product gaming traffic on the PlusNet network is given the highest priority, meaning gamers will get the fast and responsive service they need.

Broadband Your Way PRO offers:

Pipex have launched what they claim is a market leading offer where customers can get great broadband for just £8.95 a month for the first three months, then, £14.99 a month thereafter (you’re tied into a 12 month contract). You’ll also get a free wireless router and there’s an option to get free hometime. Hometime is Pipex’s call plan that saves you money by offering you unlimited free local and national calls at evenings and weekends. By taking it free with this broadband offer you can save £3.90 a month.

The PipexMini product is aimed at low level internet users. It offers just 2GB of bandwidth a month (so no downloading lots of MP3s) plus you only get 1 free email account. Also worth noting is that the wireless router is free, but you will need to pay £7.50 P&P. Also, if you pay by Credit or Debit Card then Pipex lamp on another £1 as a surcharge.

All in all not a bad deal from Pipex, but do make sure you familiarise yourself with the small print. The free router and three month discount however do represent quite a nice incentive to have a look at Pipex Broadband.

You may have seen that a number of shops are promoting free laptops when you sign up for a broadband service. PC World are offering £300 off a range of laptops when you join Orange Broadband and Carphone Warehouse are taking pre-registrations for a free laptop offer involving AOL. Before you run off and grab your free laptop, do spend a moment reading the small print.

Both offers require you to join the broadband services for 24 months! This is quite a hefty contract and you may not want to be tied to an ISP for that length of time. The questions you need to ask yourself are: Is the free laptop (or heavily discounted laptop) worth being tied to a company for such a long period of time? Are you getting a decent amount of download (only 2GB with the basic Orange package)? Can you get a better deal from your present provider? Are you with Sky and not taking advantage of their free broadband?

Note that you can also only apply for this offer if you’re out of contract with your current provider!

BT Broadband have launched a limited edition black model for their BT Home Hub. BT’s Home Hub is a wireless router! Essentially a rectangular box that connects your computer to your BT phone line, providing broadband wirelessly all over your house. It’s been designed to update itself automatically so you can get the best out of your broadband now and in the future.

There’s no indication as to how long the limited edition model will be around for either! The black version looks quite funky, but you may have to pay to get it if you sign up for BT Broadband. It’s cheaper to buy BT Broadband online and the home hub will cost you £30 with Option 1, the cheapest BT Broadband offer! The good news though is that it’s free with Options 2 and 3 provided you buy online.

Broadband usage is sometimes overlooked when signing up for a new broadband package. Usage is defined as the amount of download you do a month (this can be email downloads, web browsing, file sharing, music downloads etc). You can also be capped by time as well, but few providers we’ve seen implement this restriction.

Unless you’re a serious games player or really into file sharing and music downloads, then it’s unlikely you’re going to need that much download usage. However it’s always nice to have as much as you can afford. We advise that you do try and get Unlimited usage if you can afford and then work your way down. If you’re a casual internet user you may find that 1GB to 5GB restriction is more than enough for you, but if you want to download itunes or other music files on a regular basis you may find that this is quite limited.