Our Most Popular Broadband Plans 2024

When you last changed broadband, you most likely signed a fixed-term contract to utilize the service. They normally last 12 to 24 months and obligate you to use the service for the entire period.

If you try to terminate your broadband contract before the end date, you’ll almost certainly be charged an early termination fee to cover the remaining monthly payments. If you’re canceling because of an unresolvable connection problem, though, your provider may waive these fees.

If you want to prevent an expensive switch, you should wait until your contract expires unless you’re not getting what you paid for. But make sure you know when your contract ends because if you stay on the same package after it expires, you’ll be charged additional expenses.

Thankfully, Ofcom recently mandated that broadband providers notify you when your contract expires. Your supplier is supposed to give you an end of contract notification (ECN) as your contract expires, informing you that costs will rise and that you can sign a new contract or transfer for free.

If you’ve recently received an ECN, it signifies you’re about to be switched to a far more expensive out-of-contract rate. The good news is that you will be able to move broadband providers for free.

There are several various forms of broadband to select from, each with varying levels of speed and reliability. Take a look at each one to see which one best fits your needs.

A copper landline is required for many residential internet packages to work. ADSL stands for ‘asymmetric digital subscriber line,’ and refers to a connection that solely relies on this sort of broadband.

Traditional phone lines are used to connect you from your provider’s broadband exchange to your home with ADSL broadband.

If you have an active Openreach line, you can pick between conventional ADSL, which is sold by the majority of UK internet providers, and ADSL2, which is slightly quicker but less generally available. If you need quicker internet, you can opt for a superfast fibre connection.

Because ADSL is the oldest internet technology still in use today, it is also the slowest and, in most circumstances, the most affordable broadband connection option.

Whatever house you move to in the future, you’ll very certainly be able to acquire ADSL broadband. However, knowing what to do if you want to switch broadband while moving house is usually a smart idea.

Fibre broadband just surpassed ADSL as the most popular broadband connection in the United Kingdom.

Fibre-optic lines, which use light pulses rather than electrical impulses to deliver data partially or directly to your home, make this a quicker sort of broadband.

As a result, they can carry far more data in a shorter amount of time than copper cables, allowing you to do a lot more with your broadband than ADSL allows.

Fibre broadband is divided into two categories:

• Fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC): This sort of fibre internet uses fibre-optic cables from your provider’s exchange to your local street cabinet, and then switches to the same copper phone lines as ADSL from there to your home, making it less expensive but more broadly available.

• Fibre-rich: This sort of internet, often known as ‘fibre-to-the-premises’ (FTTP), is currently the fastest available, with fibre-optic cables running to your home.

With our broadband availability checker, you can see what sorts of fiber broadband might be available in your location.

Cable broadband is a distinct form of fiber connection, and it’s nearly entirely provided by Virgin Media in the UK, which currently reaches roughly 52% of UK households.

It links its own ‘coaxial’ cables from the local street cabinet to your home, using the same fibre-optic cables as other providers from the broadband exchange to the local street cabinet.

This implies that if your home hasn’t already had the connection established, you’ll need an engineer to do it.

Virgin Media’s cable broadband is far faster than ADSL or FTTC, offering UK consumers speeds of up to 600Mbps, and in certain cases, even 1Gbps (1000Mbps). However, it isn’t as fast as full fibre internet, which uses fiber from the exchange to your home.

On our Virgin Media broadband deals page, you can learn more about cable broadband.

Mobile broadband connects to the internet using 4G and 5G mobile phone networks, eliminating the need for fixed-line lines.

It’s probably best for folks who need fast broadband but don’t have access to fibre broadband at home, or those who need to get online on the go.

5G is a relatively new mobile broadband technology capable of superfast connection rates of up to 300Mbps. However, 4G, which offers average speeds of 24Mbps, is now much more generally available.

More options to acquire broadband without a landline can be found here.

When selecting a supplier, there are various variables to consider. The speed, the monthly cost, any one-time setup fees, and the length of the contract are all important considerations. Understanding what you want to use your broadband for, how much you want to spend, and what extras are available will help you find the ideal broadband package.

The number of users and the estimated usage are the two most important things to consider when establishing the appropriate speed. Here are some general guidelines:

• Below 30Mbps: one or two people, primarily for web browsing

• 3+ users, sporadic streaming and gaming at 30-60Mbps

• 5+ users, regular HD streaming, multiple connections at 60-100Mbps

• 8+ users, multiple simultaneous streams, big downloads at 100Mbps+

ADSL broadband uses the same copper wire that links your phone to deliver data services and requires an active landline. Cable broadband services are delivered using dedicated fiber-optic lines. This makes it substantially quicker than ADSL, with speeds of up to 512Mbps available, however, it is less widely available.