It’s never a bad time to reassess your home broadband provision. In such a competitive buyers’ market, the potential rewards are obvious: you could save money, improve your level of service, gain faster speeds or improve your browsing limits. But before you dive, headlong, into a deal, here are some important pointers that could help you to get more for your outlay.
Do: give your existing provider a chance
If you’re thinking about leaving your existing broadband internet provider, don’t just phone up and cancel your contract. Instead, shop around for quotes and arm yourself with the other offers you have been given. Ask to speak to someone in business retention, as they’ll be best placed to improve on your existing deal, and explain that you’re planning to leave. At first, the person you speak to may attempt to overcome your objections or make you a grudgingly low offer, but be firm, persistent and informed. You might just find that loyalty pays: some companies even offer gifts in the way of upgrades and store vouchers to retain business.
Don’t: take speeds at face value
Whether or not it’s marketed as ‘lightning speed’, ‘super fast or ‘turbo-charged’, if you read the small print, broadband speeds are often given as the top, indicative or average limit, which means the figure you’re tempted by is best case scenario. Always give the provider your postcode and request a realistic indication of broadband speed for your area before buying: you might find it’s slower than the eye-catching ads would have you believe.
Do: consider unlimited
Whenever you get the chance, opt for unlimited broadband. While you may not necessarily believe you need more than a 40GB limit, if you ever happen to go over it, you’ll incur hefty charges, and you might have to pay more in the future to upgrade. Plus, in today’s world of streaming sites, hyper-fast download speeds and rich media content, it’s good to know you have room to manoeuvre.
Don’t: rush your decision
So: you consider yourself to be something of a broadband aficionado. You’ve scouted out the best broadband deals, given consideration to exactly what you want to get from your set-up, and been given a figure from your existing provider to bargain with. Don’t rush straight into a 24 month contract. Use a price comparison site and check for any special deals that may have slipped through your initial net. Even a saving of a few pounds per month will add up, over time.
I totally agree with you.
When we signed up with our current provider they told us we could hit 10MB of data but the lowest amount would be 4. The first few days it was around 3.5 and they told us not to worry and, after it settled, it would go up. Over a year on and we get around 4MB, which is just not fast enough.
We’ve done some research recently and found it often works out cheaper, and you can get better overall value, if you get an all-inclusive bundle deal and include a home phone and a TV package too.