First thing to do is find our whether you can pick Cable TV in your area, this leads you down two potential paths :

No Cable

Do you down a lot from other peoples computers, ie peer to peer? NewNet, this company treats users fairly and offers upto 8Mbps service, it doesn't use Traffic Shaping (see previous article) so illegal file sharers or legal will not have their connection cut or subjected to threats, a 60Gb monthly cap. The service usually costs c.£20

Do you already have Sky TV? Sky has invested in newer ADSL equipment which can deliver upto 16Mbps, murky usuage as not clearly defined however from £5 a month you can't complain!!!

Is reliability the key? Zen 8000 Active, Fast no frills with great customer services, one month rolling contracts, its not cheap at £25 per month, it also have a monitoring device to show how much of your download allowance you have used.

So you have Cable in your area (almost have UK homes do, unlimited downloads, high connection speeds, tv and phone bundles)

NTL, 10 Mbps and £35 per month, ideal for teanagers downloading game demos etc, however NTL have had a hard time with their poor customer service, this may improve now they have merged with Telewest (no complaints from here).

Orange free broadband, or is it Wanadoo or perhaps FreeServe, who knows.... Offered free when you spend £30 per month on a mobile phone contract, this may suit big spenders on the mobile phones, low cap (only 2Gb), poor customer service and poor real world speeds, claim 8Mbps but really deliver real word speeds of 1.2Mbps.

PlusNet, the surfers buddy? Top of the uSwitch customer service survey and reported speeds of 2.52 Mbps despite capping of 4Gb during peak times, there is however a 50Gb buffer for night time downloading and meter to help you keep track of your usuage. Not the best for downloading but definately good for the average surfer.

Is Talk Talk really free? Cheap but is it really cheerful? Package from National advertising seems to offer 'free' broadband, but is based on you signing upto their landline service on which you must spend £20 a month in order to qualify for free broadband. However you do also get free UK Land Line calls, this stricts me a fairly difficult target of reaching £20 a month.... Apparently the customer service is woeful and their are long connection delays, on top of this an 18 month contract makes this offer less and less rosey.

We hope this has cleared up a few of the questions you may have regarding the various ISP's out there, if you'd like to add your own comments feel free to use our Contact form.