Which broadband should i choose

Ask your potential provider how additional data is charged before signing on to a limited plan. The benefit of longer-term contracts is that many service providers may sweeten the deal by providing a modem and free connection — the catch being that if you want to get out of the contract early you may have to pay out the contract or a hefty exit fee.

On the flipside, on contracts with no lock-in, you may have to pay a connection fee and for the modem. When deciding on a new broadband plan , look at the different bundles providers offer, as this may save you money on extras such as a home phone and Foxtel. Be aware that if you bundle your internet and home phone, often just the phone line rental, not the phone calls you make, are covered.

As with streaming, different providers will have individual arrangements as to how many and what kind of phone calls local, international, mobile are included before you start getting charged. To find the right plan for your household, do some research online, compare broadband plans , and speak to your friends and family about their experiences and recommendations.

With an array of superfast fibre and standard broadband packages to choose from, there's a lot to get to grips with when you're looking for a broadband deal that will meet your needs. To help you make the very best buying decision, we've matched broadband products and providers to the kinds of web users we think they most suit. If you're just starting out and don't know yet what you'll use the internet for, it's a good idea to choose an ADSL broadband package.

This way, you'll avoid paying for super fast speeds that you may not need if all you're doing is checking e-mails or watching the odd YouTube clip. Starting out small and working your way up is a better bet for beginners than buying too much: If at a later date you find you need a faster, more expensive broadband product, providers will happily allow you to upgrade mid-contract. Downgrading from an expensive product to a cheaper one generally isn't permitted, however.

If an affordable service is what you're after, find some of the latest cheap broadband deals with Uswitch. If you enjoy downloading HD movies or if you make extensive use of TV streaming services like Netflix or Amazon Prime Video, you're classified as a heavy user, so it's important to make sure whatever broadband package you sign up for has unlimited downloads.

Nearly all packages these days do, but it's a good idea to make sure. Heavy users may want to consider paying extra for fibre broadband. Fibre is faster than standard broadband and means you'll be able to download movies, music and games a lot quicker so you'll spend less time waiting and buffering and more time enjoying your entertainment of choice. Families are also almost certain to be heavy users, especially in homes with teenagers who've grown up with the web.

With four or more people in a household, all of whom are likely to be using a range of web-enabled gadgets and going online simultaneously, you'll likely want to sign up for a fibre broadband package to ensure your connection is smooth. It's also worth keeping an eye out for which broadband providers offer parental controls so you can keep your kids safe online.

Most providers do include it as standard, but before signing up for a package, check the provider's website. What sets student broadband apart from other broadband packages is that contracts last nine months instead of the month or month terms that usually apply. The shorter contract term means students don't have to pay for broadband during the long summer holiday, during which time they're likely to be at home and not occupying their student digs.

Be careful, though: a lot of student broadband packages include set-up fees, so it pays to sit down and do the math to see whether you're better off with a student broadband package or a cheaper, longer contract. You can find a good value student broadband deal here. If you're looking for a basic deal to keep in touch with your family and occasionally surf the internet, it'd make sense to compare broadband and landline deals that are packaged together.

Our broadband and home phone deals page displays home internet deals that have cheap landlines for seniors, so you can stay connected with your loved ones without overpaying for services you don't need. If you're a pensioner searching for your first broadband service, our broadband and home phone deals will let you keep your landline, and bundle both bills into a simple, single monthly payment. If you run a business, you're probably better off signing up for a broadband package that's tailored to the needs of enterprises.

If you're interested in fibre broadband, it's worth noting that very few "fibre" packages actually offer a fibre connection from your house all the way through to the exchange.

Instead the vast majority use fibre to connect the exchange to the cabinet in your street and then switch to the phone line for the final leg into your house. Compare these broadband deals using our super fast fibre broadband and ultra fast fibre broadband reviews. Learn more about this 'gigabit' broadband in our guide on the benefits of fibre broadband. Fast speeds allow for quicker downloads, uninterrupted streaming and also help to reduce the problems caused when different family members log on at the same time.

They let you seamlessly enjoy services such as online radio, video on-demand and catch-up TV at the same time, while fibre's faster upload speeds also make life easier when you're sharing photos online or making video calls for work. As the table below illustrates, at its fastest the difference between downloading a film from a service such as iTunes is about 90 seconds for fibre optic vs around 20 minutes for ADSL.

A good fibre connection should put an end to any stuttering and buffering of on-demand TV, too. Check the speed of your broadband package with our broadband speed checker. Superfast broadband is now very competitively priced when compared to standard broadband. Standard broadband can be adequate for browsing the web, checking emails, uploading the odd photo to Facebook and even streaming from BBC iPlayer or Netflix, but it's worth checking you can't get a more affordable superfast deal before committing.

For iPlayer you need 2Mbps of sustained bandwidth to watch standard-definition content or 3Mbps for high-definition, while the minimum recommended broadband speed for Netflix is 1. However, you will likely benefit from a speedier connection if you regularly:. Keep in mind that fibre doesn't only offer faster speeds - fibre connections are usually more reliable too, so it's worth considering upgrading if your standard connection drops out regularly. Compare the packages on offer using our superfast fibre broadband reviews.

A connection is generally considered 'ultrafast' if it's Mbps or faster. Some of the providers that use the Openreach network - such as BT and TalkTalk - offer ultrafast connections, but only to customers in certain parts of the country. Virgin Media is one major provider that doesn't use the Openreach network. Instead it uses its own fibre optic cables to connect its street cabinets to the phone exchange and then uses coaxial cables to link the cabinet to customers' homes.

Coaxial cable is faster than standard phone lines, so most of Virgin Media's deals are ultrafast. While it's less widely available than Virgin Media, Hyperoptic is another provider with its own fibre network - it's mainly available in apartment blocks in major centres. Find a speedy great-value package by browsing our ultrafast fibre broadband reviews. Speed is clearly important. But the reality is that not all of us will get the average speeds that providers quote in their ads.

We're pleased that this change has been made, but we think there's still more that could be done to improve broadband in the UK. Customer score. Superfast broadband sounds appealing.