Broadband Costs

[caddyman]

I have spent some time over the past couple of years bemoaning ntl's inability to provide broadband where I live, just 2 miles from the centre of London. The only option for me would be to have BT install a line and pay them huge installation charges and I pretty much discounted that as an option straightaway since, to be honest, I'm not sure how long I'll continue to live here.

That is not to say that I am planning an immediate move - I have to say that since the work climate improved, my God-given lethargy has reasserted itself and I am in no hurry to do anything about living in London, though a move back to the West Midlands remains an eventual aim. Nope, at the risk of digressing (as if I would) it is entirely down to the practicalities of things. My landlady, Mrs. Z is not getting any younger and despite being a quite sprightly 86 year old, she is well, 86.

Anyway, back to the broadband.

I return from the office this evening to find that ntl are offering to install broadband free for a 60 day trial period, and £24.99 a month thereafter for 600k access, or £17.99 for 150k. I'm reasonably sure 150k is not worth the effort, but equally I'm not sure that 600k is worth the price (after the free bit is over, of course!). And so, my internet chums particularly those of you in the UK and with broadband, is £24.99 a month a reasonable charge for 600k broadband, or is it a bit steep?

Comments

[bibliogirl.livejournal.com]

We pay 37.99 for 1Mb just upgraded to 1.5Mb through NTL, and it's not bad. I think you might be able to do slightly better on price but probably not sufficiently to make it worth the faff ;)

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

It's the free installation that attracts me. I now know that the pricing policy gives an additional 100k compared with Demon at the same price...

[irdm.livejournal.com]

Check the minimum contract period, esp if you might move??

Other than that I have Demon bb and you have covered that.

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

Good point. Twelve month minimum.

The Old Girl should hang around that long (he says callously)...

[barrettyman.livejournal.com]

24.99 for 600kb is about average, I would ask about the contention ratio though. Most ADSL services are based on a number of users going through a single cable and competing for bandwidth on that cable, hence contention. So although 500-600 is promised you may not always achieve those speed. This is particularly true with some cheap broadband deals, the contention ratio can be as high as 50-1. In the past Cable such as NTL had lower contention ratios of about 10-1, so generally speaking cable offers a better service than adsl, although this is not always the case.

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

Blimey. He speaketh in riddles, verily...

I think this would be a cable modem deal...

[nyarbaggytep.livejournal.com]

I think we pay £19.99 plus VAT a month with Pipex.

[westernind.livejournal.com]

We have ntl 600k. Yes, it's worth it because you don't have to pay extra to BT for the monthly line rental. We don't play online games, so it's fast enough. The service in our area is quite adequate.

I wouldn't bother with 150k.