Cheapest, most reliable broadband provider.

[PAH]

I've just signed up with Talk Talk at my new rental accommodation near the client. Paid line rental 12 months in advance so it works out at under a tenner a month (£114 for the year), then the cheapest broadband they do is £3.50 month with 40gb limit. Plenty for my needs.

Until it's activated I'll be using my '3' mobile broadband dongle, £10/month top up PAYG. Got the dongle from PC World for 30 quid. Have been using it for over a month now, originally working from home, and it has been very reliable when in a signal area, staying online for hours on end and as I'm not downloading anything significant or streaming anything the 1GB easily lasts a month of normal surfing.

My brother has recently had PlusNet set up at his place. Went on the cheapest package with a 10gb monthly limit and ended up paying 50 quid for the first month () as he kept exceeding the limit so they kept adding another 5gb for £5, and he couldn't upgrade to the package with a 60gb limit until after the month ended. He reckons he used all that bandwidth streaming YouTube music videos etc. Yeah, course I believe him.

So a few options worth considering.

[SimonMac]

I can recommend o2 as being cheap and good, especially if you have a mobile contract with them too.

These are my number one at the moment (my home account is with Be who were bought by O2, and I am an O2 customer so get the £5 a month discount and I can get £50 cash back making its about £4.33 a month)

Orange do mobile pay as you go dongle, easier than messing about with fixed lines, my brother had one for 3 months when he moved house and it never missed a beat no contract just pay month by month, you might want to check the coverage in your area though

I like the idea of MiFi and the area they are in is pretty good for coverage, however not sure how it is putting data through it like remote desktop and TFS etc

[Support Monkey]

Orange do mobile pay as you go dongle, easier than messing about with fixed lines, my brother had one for 3 months when he moved house and it never missed a beat no contract just pay month by month, you might want to check the coverage in your area though

[escapeUK]

I can recommend o2 as being cheap and good, especially if you have a mobile contract with them too.

[Durbs]

First of all, sorry to hear about your nan.

Is the property area covered by any by anything like BT Openzone? Maybe you could just use that instead of actually getting 'real' broadband as its a monthly subscription and is generally reliable if you are in an area with decent coverage.

If not, Top10 Broadband Deals From £2.50 - Cheapest Broadband Comparison - 50% Off - Cheap Broadband Offers - uSwitch.com seems to have the lot.

[pmeswani]

My nan has been taken into hospital and so gonna be there for some time (9-12 months) so the family are rallying around to spend as much time etc near her. To make things easier WFH etc I want to get broadband installed at her address, she is completely computer illiterate so I will be the only one using it (well maybe my uncle too as he uses a WiFi dongle at the moment when he goes to see her) Not looking for anything mega fast or with no download restrictions as I will not be doing any thing heavy on it other than VPN to the office, occasionally skype etc so reliability is the key not speed/allowances. They only requirement is that it has to be a broadband only package, the phone is in my nan's name so she cannot authorize a change to this

Added bonuses would be 1 month rolling contract, and the ability to use WiFi out of the house (dunno if BT are the only people who offer this with their broadband)

Thanks in advance

If you can get Virgin Media fibre optic, go for that. No obligation to take the phone, and it is reasonably reliable. Either that or PlusNet. Was reliable when I used it a few years back, don't know if they tie you into a phone line or not.

[SimonMac]

My nan has been taken into hospital and so gonna be there for some time (9-12 months) so the family are rallying around to spend as much time etc near her. To make things easier WFH etc I want to get broadband installed at her address, she is completely computer illiterate so I will be the only one using it (well maybe my uncle too as he uses a WiFi dongle at the moment when he goes to see her) Not looking for anything mega fast or with no download restrictions as I will not be doing any thing heavy on it other than VPN to the office, occasionally skype etc so reliability is the key not speed/allowances. They only requirement is that it has to be a broadband only package, the phone is in my nan's name so she cannot authorize a change to this

Added bonuses would be 1 month rolling contract, and the ability to use WiFi out of the house (dunno if BT are the only people who offer this with their broadband)

Thanks in advance