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You’ve been there before. You’re on a Zoom call, trying to give a work presentation to your boss, when suddenly everything starts lagging and you see that spinning wheel icon. You know what’s coming next: your internet is about to cut out and now your boss thinks you’re unreliable. And if that wasn’t bad enough, you were in the middle of making a joke about the weather (it was actually funny) and now no one will ever know how witty you are. This wouldn’t happen if only you had better broadband! Broadband is an important part of our daily lives. It allows us to stream movies with Netflix, work from home using video conferencing services like Teams or Zoom and listen to music while working out with Spotify.

Broadband is a way of accessing the internet through landlines, fibre optic cables and wireless technologies. It’s the most popular form of internet access in the UK because it offers speeds that are up to 10 times faster than standard dial-up connections.

ADSL stands for Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line, while the latter refers to any internet connection that doesn’t use a telephone line. The key difference between the two is speed; an ADSL can only offer download speeds up to 8Mbps (megabits per second), while most other types of broadband connections can support much faster download speeds ranging from 10Mbps to 1Gbps (gigabit per second).

You may have heard of the terms ‘megabits per second’ or ‘Mbps’, but what do they mean?

Your broadband speed is measured in Mbps and it’s the amount of data you can download and upload over your internet connection every second. The faster your connection, the quicker you can download large files such as movies, music or photos.

With the rise of the remote worker the demand for faster broadband speeds has never been more important. The average speed of a UK broadband connection is 16Mbps which is enough for households to stream HD content on multiple devices at once without experiencing buffering problems. However, if you want to enjoy 4K Ultra HD TV on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, then this would require speeds of 30Mbps+.

You can often boost your broadband connection by upgrading to a premium wireless router (not the one your provider supplies). Most provider supplied routers are basic and will have a limited range, which means that you might be able to get full signal strength in the kitchen but not in your bedroom. To fix this problem, you can purchase a wireless repeater or range extender for around £30 on Amazon. The device will extend the reach of your router’s Wi-Fi signal enabling a wider coverage throughout your house.

If you’re looking to compare broadband services, and find the best option for you, then our Broadband Comparison tool is perfect. We compare all major UK providers and will automatically showcase relevant deals set by your postcode. 

You should also assess how busy your household is when it comes to using the internet – do you need lots of bandwidth? Just enough for basic browsing? Working from home or regularly making video calls? Multi streaming / 4K streaming or gamers? Then you might want to be looking for a faster connection that provides more bandwidth. 

Checking download limits will allow you to see how much data will be available before reaching a limit set by your ISP. Some providers may also limit upload speeds or impose bans on certain types of traffic such as peer-to-peer file sharing services like BitTorrent—so make sure these restrictions won’t affect how often or how much data needs to be uploaded from devices connected via wireless networks at home or work before making any commitments.

Speed is the priority of most, but when signing up for a new broadband package cost is a key driver for most.  Within cost, you should check for any setup costs associated with the services you opt for. There are lots of cheap deals out there, so if you’re on a tight budget but still want super-fast internet access then look no further than our Broadband Comparison tool.

How much data you need on a broadband plan depends on what you use it for. If you’re only using the internet to check your social media accounts, then a smaller data allowance will be enough. However, if you’re using it for work purposes or streaming movies on Netflix then it may make sense to get a higher data allowance. Some people with busy households opt to have more than one internet connection, such as a dedicated “work only” connection, especially now working from home is deemed as common practice.

The most common types of broadband connections are:

Fibre optic

This is the fastest type of broadband available and it offers fast speeds, but it’s only available in select areas.

The fastest fibre optic connection can reach speeds of 1Gbps (that’s 1 gigabit per second!). While some providers offer a choice between their own and Openreach’s fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) products, others provide either FTTP or VDSL2 as standard.

Cable

Cable broadband uses your TV coaxial cables to deliver internet connection to your home—it’s perfect if you’re already paying for cable TV.

It gives you faster download speed than ADSL but isn’t quite as fast as fibre optic connections because its data is transmitted over copper wires rather than fibre optics.

ADSL

ADSL stands for Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line and it relies on copper telephone lines to deliver internet access to homes and businesses within range of an exchange (which might be miles away).

It uses more capacity than unidirectional ISDN, but less than T1 circuits, which means that users can download at higher rates than they upload, so even though it doesn’t offer gigabit speeds like other technologies do these days; it provides decent performance.

Location is key. Although there is a push to ensure network infrastructure is upgraded across the country to allow faster connections, it is slow and still very limited to major cities. 

Other reasons include:

  • You live too far from the exchange.
  • You may be too far from the street cabinet, which can affect speeds during peak times (if you’re in this situation, it’s worth contacting your ISP to see if they can do anything).

The biggest names in the Broadband category are: Virgin Media, Sky, Plusnet, BT, Vodafone and TalkTalk.

As you’d expect, competition is fierce in the Broadband industry, and bigger isn’t always better.

Some of the smaller challenger Networks offer competitive deals and solutions, some even offer free gifts such as gift cards or bill credit and are on par with the bigger names in terms of quality.

Browse challenger providers: EE Broadband, Shell Energy Broadband, John Lewis Broadband, Gigaclear Broadband, WightFibre Broadband, iTalk Broadband, Trooli Broadband and Truespeed Broadband

There are big savings to be had when you look at Broadband Packages. The big suppliers such as Virgin Media, BT and Sky offer broadband and tv deals in the form of entertainment bundles. 

BT for example offer Broadband and TV Deals that include BT Sports and Netflix, that will offer considerable savings versus buying each individually. New customers can often get entertainment products like Netflix added to their bundle for free for the first year. 

Likewise, Sky Broadband Packages offer similar bundles that will incorporate Sky TV services alongside broadband.  

Use the SavingSuperStore Broadband Comparison tool to search for Broadband Packages

Conclusion

While there are lots of factors to weigh up when shopping for broadband, speed is by far the most important. Make use of the SavingSuperStore Broadband comparison tool to filter providers and plans based on your location and find the best deal for you!