Internet deals in the UK

This page takes a look at the best deals for Internet access, including Broadband and dial-up, and looks at some options for website hosting in the UK.

Broadband Internet Service Providers

A broadband connection (ADSL) provides high-speed Internet access up to 120 times faster than a normal 56k modem. The connection is 'always-on', so once your logged on, your PC is online until the PC is turned off again. Broadband enables both telephone calls and your permanent Internet connection to operate on the same phone line simultaneously. To get broadband, you need:

ADSL coverage in your area. Each broadband provider allows you to enter your phone number or postcode to check availability.
A Broadband (ADSL) modem. These cost around £50-£80. (PC World), but are supplied free by many providers.

	BT Total Broadband - BT offers speeds of up to 8 Meg on all of their Broadband packages, and bundle a bunch of extras into their Broadband Internet packages, such as a free digital TV set-top box. BT's currently offering: Free wi-fi modem - With Option 2 and Option 3, you get a BT Home Hub for in-home wireless Internet access. (Special: also free on Option 1 till 16th May 08) Free BT Vision - Digital TV hard-disc recorder and access to on-demand content on your telly (more) Free wi-fi - Inclusive Wi-fi minutes from BT Openzone wifi access points Free calls - Free evening and weekend calls over Broadband Free technical support - Broadband help on an 0800 number Free storage - Digital Vault lets you back up your important files to a secure website Free security - Norton PC antivirus & firewall software on most packages BT Total Broadband gets our vote, and in March 2007, BT Total Broadband was voted top Broadband provider by BBC Watchdog viewers. BT offers the following Broadband options: Option 1 - £7.95 for the first three months for speeds up to 8 Meg (then £15.99 a month). 5 Gig monthly transfer allowance. Five email addresses. Option 2 - £13.99 for the first three months for speeds up to 8 Meg. 8 Gig monthly transfer allowance. Includes five email addresses and a free wireless BT Home Hub. Option 3 - £18.99 for the first three months for speeds up to 8 Meg. Unlimited monthly transfer allowance. Includes 11 email addresses and a free BT wireless Home Hub. More details at www.bt.com/btbroadband
	Virgin Media formed in February 2007, seeing Virgin.net, Telewest and NTL cable joining into one company. They offer three broadband options, all with no download restrictions: Size: M: Up to 2 Meg download speed, with no download limits - £4.50 a month with Virgin Phone Size: L: Up to 4 Meg download speed, with no download limits - £11.50 a month with Virgin Phone Size: XL: Up to 20 Meg download speed, with no monthly limit - £20 a month with Virgin Phone Virgin Media's Broadband services include: Free Broadband modem £10 credit per product when ordered online Free Internet security No download limits (Acceptable Usage Policy applies) 15 Virgin email addresses Virgin Media offers digital TV, home phone and mobile phone - signing up for a package can bring great savings For more details, go to www.virginmedia.com.
Sky Broadband	In July 2006, Satellite TV firm Sky Digital entered the broadband marketplace, offering Free Broadband to subscribers of its satellite TV service. They're offering three packages: Free Broadband for Sky customers - Speeds up to 2 Meg. Up to 8 Meg Broadband - £5 a month Max Broadband - Up to 16 Meg for £10 a month - no usage cap For full details of Sky's offering, go to www.sky.com/skycom
	Tiscali offers two Broadband packages, to keep it simple: Option 1: Speeds of up to 8 Mbps. Monthly download limit of 5 Gigs. Free UK Weekend calls. £6.49 for the first 3 months Option 2: Speeds of up to 8 Mbps. Unlimited monthly download - £8.49 for the first 3 months All broadband tariffs include free connection and a free modem. Go to www.tiscali.co.uk for more information.
	Be Broadband is not the most well known name, but they have a great selling point - Speeds of up to 24 Meg. That's faster than BT and even Virgin Cable. The number of exchanges supporting Be Broadband is growing (slowly). Prices to join the Broadband revolution start from £14 a month for lightening fast Broadband. Check if Be is available in your area at www.bethere.co.uk.
	In April 2006, TalkTalk launched "Free Broadband" for customers of their home phone tariffs. There are a number of different tariffs - best value seems to be Talk 2, which offers: Free broadband - speeds up to 8MB Inclusive and unlimited anytime local and national UK landline calls Free calls to other TalkTalk customers Earn 2 Nectar points per £1 spent on your TalkTalk bill This package costs £5.89 a month (in addition to the phone line rental of £10.50 a month). Compared with BT's £26.49 a month (BT line rental and BT broadband), this is a great saving. Visit www.talktalk.co.uk to check for coverage and for full details.

If you're not able to get Broadband where you are and still want to get the speed benefits of a Broadband connection, you might want to take a look at the service from OnSpeed. If you are running on a dial-up connection, the speed difference with this service can be dramatic. To use it, you'll need to download the special software from the OnSpeed website. Once installed, you won't even notice it's there, it runs in the background speeding up your Internet connection automatically.

Dialup Internet Service Providers

BT Yahoo (formerly BT Openworld / BTInternet): 150 hours a month of unmetered access via a freephone number. Payment of £15.99 a month payable by credit card or direct debit.

You can also opt for a pay-as-you-go scheme - setup is free, and you're charged by the minute that you're connected .

BT offers broadband access for less than £15 a month with free activation and a free modem. Take a look at the full BT Total Broadband tariffs.

Domain names and web hosting

Names.co.uk offers a range of hosting packages, starting from £4.99 a month for a basic package. Their basic packages include free software and a large area of web storage space. Extras such as webstats are provided too.
Also of interest is their domain parking. If you're just looking to secure a domain name - perhaps you'd like firstname@surname.com as your email address, are thinking of creating a site soon and want to reserve a name, or you'd like a new webname to point to an existing website, then these can be bought for £1.99 for a year. A bargain compared with many providers, as Namesco (formerly Simply.com) buy in bulk. Well worth checking out. Details at www.names.co.uk

1 & 1 Internet - Not recommended

If you're looking for a hosting provider - We advise you to stay clear of 1 & 1 Internet. They were favourites of ours... until they sent one of our team a totally unjustified debt collection letter for £10.45. Now, they've made it to our Beware page

Hostway - Although we have no direct experience of Hostway ourselves, their range comes highly recommended. Prices for hosting and domains start from £4.95 a month and you get the following: 100 MB Disk Space, Webstats and raw log data, 5 POP3/Email Accounts, custom Error Pages, Real Audio/Video and Windows Media Streaming, Perl 5 CGI, CGI Bin and SSI, WAP/WML support. For details of their range, see www.hostway-uk.com

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