Which is the best broadband provider?

Now that 57% of British households are online and, of those, around 70% have a broadband contract, we're often asked at This is Money who offers the best deal.

But as with mobile phone tariffs, there are so many options that it's nigh on impossible to answer such a question.

So I thought I'd take a quick stroll around the office and ask folk who their current supplier is and, if any, who they were with previously and why they changed.

I'm with Virgin. And have been since 1998 after a couple of years of forgettable experiences with AOL and MSN. I have the basic £14.99-a-month package, which ironically works out cheaper than when I first went online with dial-up more than a decade ago.

This is Money editor Andrew had a well-documented nightmare with Wanadoo. 'When it finally worked it was fine. But it's too expensive. I'm now out of contract and looking to change.'

Deputy editor Simon Moon says, 'My current provider is Tiscali. I'm reasonably pleased but not totally (occasional breaks in service). I have since signed up for Tiscali's phone service so I need have nothing more to do with BT. My previous dial-up provider was CallNet, which as far as I know does not provide a broadband service and was pretty useless anyhow.'

Broadband and property reporter Simon Lambert is with Telewest, 'because my new home already had cable set up and BT were unable to locate the BT line and switch it back on. So far it has been very good.

'I dumped BT because they couldn't find the old BT line without sending an engineer out a fortnight later and said if he had to fit a new line it would cost £125. I'm not paying a company £125 for the privilege of more than £500-a-year's worth of my business.'

New reporter Ed, who covers the insurance patch among others, shared a flat that had NTL (pre-Telewest). 'But they told my housemate that we could get a contract for nine months - then stuck us on a 12 month contract.' Ed is now without broadband.

Investment reporter Mike, who writes the brilliant Fundwatch column and also covers credit and debt, is with the infamous 'free broadband' offer from TalkTalk (Carphone Warehouse). So how did it go Mike? Read all about it here. And here.

'Previously I was with AOL, but that was dial-up and their broadband offer was uncompetitive. Also, I thought their site was rubbish,' says Mike.

Richard, deputy personal finance editor of the Financial Mail on Sunday, meanwhile, has stuck with AOL. 'I'd consider changing but I don't want to lose my AOL email address.'

Banking correspondent and our increasingly high-profile campaigns editor, Sascha, is having a happy time with Virgin. 'Although they're a few pounds more expensive than their rivals you don't have to sign up to a fixed contract [there's a £50 penalty in the first year] which is convenient when you have flatmates who are likely to leave the country at any tick of the clock.

In spite of a spate of recent bad press, Justin at Money Mail is happy using Bulldog. 'They offered a cheap package at £9.99 a month with up to 8meg speed. Previously I was with Tiscali but found them expensive although I had no problem with service.'

Web designers, as you might expect from people who show up for work in T-shirts, go for the slightly more esoteric providers.

Head of design Toby says, 'I use Pipex, which has been very solid for the two years or so that I've used it. It costs me about £23 a month which seems a bit steep but when you look at the cheaper ones - and the feedback they get on the forums on adslguide.org - I think that changing is not really worth the risk. However, I am thinking of getting Homechoice because of the TV option however, but the deals never seem to bowl me over.'

This is Money designer James is with Homechoice, 'mainly for convenience'.

'You get a TV/broadband bundle and unlimited downloads, which is becoming rarer. And they offer it as a realistic 8meg speed. Previously I dumped Bethere, not because of their weird, pink site, but because it took weeks to fix after speaking to lots of customer service advisers and it wasn't very quick for sustained periods of time.'

Over in the technical department the choices are just as varied.

Techie Amit says, 'I use Metronet, which is a pay-as-you-go service. The cost varies so the first 2GBs of download is £13.00 rising to £23 when you download up to 7GB. I chose Metronet because I don't use the broadband a lot at home so am only paying for what I use but I am waiting for Homechoice or Sky broadband to be available in my area so I can change.'

Amit says he find these sites useful for information:

http://www.adslguide.org
http://www.samknows.com

Len, the main technical developer on This is Money, is a fan of Pipex - apart from the cost. 'I've been with them a long while and they were my first broadband provider. But I'm looking to ditch them soon because they are simply too expensive.'

And Mark, another tech guru, has been with the same provider for three years: NTL.

Says Mark, 'It was easy to have TV, phone and internet with one company and I've never had any "contention ratio" problems unlike most broadband suppliers that rely on BT lines. So performance is always first class and I get unlimited download/uploads which is ideal as I download a lot.'

On the commercial side, Damien uses BT, 'because our phone is with them' and Sheila is having 'the worst experience ever, ever, ever trying to switch from Pipex to Sky'. We'll hear more from Sheila anon.

So there you have it. There is no one company that stands out above the rest. And it's encouraging to see the cable operators finally emerging with something of a reputation. But we're keeping a constant eye on the market in our new Broadband and phones section and you may want to have a go of our Broadband finder for more tips on choosing a provider.

Richard Browning - This is Money

Useful links

Is your provider preventing you from switching?

'Fourplay' - broadband, phone, mobile and TV - has arrived

Five steps to switching broadband

And finally...

Try our broadband finder

So, you are who with? Share your stories by clicking on the Comment link below.

Comments

[Seamus McCauley]

I use NTL for one reason only - it comes into the house on NTL's own cable rather than via BT, so if it stops working they can't trot out the same inane excuse as Wanadoo et al that "it's something wrong with the BT line".

[IAN CRITCHLOW]

I used to be with Pipex, once I cancelled, this is when the problems first started.
I rang them so many times to find out how much I owed them, they told me my bill was £46.88 , but they had charged me for a full month and I only had 8 days service so I refused to pay a month and asked for the figure to be revised. After hundreds of emails later, letters and phone calls, none of which were returned I finally got hold of someone who then in formed me my bill had doubled even though I no longer was with Pipex.

They sent me the bill which claimed that I had missed payments, so I then got proof from my bank that these had been paid and sent it off recorded delivery.
Still waiting 2 months later, call the chairman of Pipex, on vaction, spoke to his PA no help here. All I want to do is pay what I owe so I never have to speak to anymore painfully stupid people, can you help me ?
Ian Critchlow