broadband supply optionsThe availability of broadband technology in today's UK market has well & truly arrived, moving closer towards a path of affordable access for all. However even with the growing trend of free advice from sites like Simply Digital, Sam Knows, Kitzs & Money Saving Expert. This is still a niche market where prices are not as transparent & competitive as consumers would like to see or can clearly understand.

Despite all this, it's still an area of technology that provides access to substantial savings for many home & small business users. The main benefits come from actual cost savings made when purchasing products & services, as well as an increased level of easy access to information.

In the early days, dial-up access via modems was the only mainstream access method, this was slow & did not allow the phone to be used at the same time as Internet access. Then came ADSL which offered greater speeds & the ability to use the phone at the same time as Internet access. Currently, ADSL 2+ is one of the most widely deployed Internet access technologies in the UK, ADSL 2+ can support download speeds of up to 24 Megabits per second subject to the quality & length of the telephone line used to supply it.

In more recent times broadband Internet access technology has evolved & progressed to exploit other transmission mediums such as cable, fibre, wireless & satellite. Whilst these technologies have been around for some time, it is only recently that they have to some degree become economically viable to use for mainstream access.

Guideline data rates & cost for technology type, cable methods were excluded as this is limited in its UK coverage as well as being an exclusive single-company access network.

 Technology Down  Up Landline  Monthly
 *ADSL2+ 4-24 Mbps 64-832 kbps YES  £5-£10
 *FTTC*(Fibre) 40-80 Mbps 10-20 Mbps YES  £18-£35
*FTTP (Fibre) 100+ Mbps 15-30 Mbps YES  £60-£200
 **3G (Mobile) 3-7 Mbps 1 Mbps NO  £10-£20
 **4G (Mobile) 7-60 Mbps 1-6 Mbps NO  £36-£56
 **SATELLITE 5-22 Mbps 1-6 Mbps NO  £15-£80

 * Be aware of low monthly data download cap packages

 ** Be aware of low monthly data download caps as standard packages

At present in terms of having a very fast broadband access service installed, it makes a lot of sense to go for FTTC if it's available in your location. By comparison to other supply technologies, it packs a convincing punch when it comes to value, performance & generous monthly data allowances. Note most ISP's include both down & up-loaded data if they operate a monthly cap, depending on the level of the cap, you could easily become a victim to excess usage changes on top of your monthly service charge.

Over broadband limit warning

Don't forget to do your research, as there are a lot of great deals for standard / ADSL broadband access services. So if you do not have any great need for high speed you could save yourself some money.

As a rough guide ensure that your package includes at least 20GB per user per month.

Alternatively, go for an unlimited usage package if one is available, remember that as far as ADSL & FTTC are concerned you are most likely to be supplied by BT Openreach for the physical distribution network section of your service. This is the actual path from your ISP's Internet connecting equipment to your property. BT Openreach operates a country-wide service that allows you to select an alternative retail supplier on its network.

If you are in the Manchester area and need some affordable technical help with your phone or broadband service. Then why not give Peter a call, Telephone Engineer Manchester

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