MONEY COMMENT
Better Deals For Broadband

By Cliff D'Arcy
May 14, 2004

Last month, telecoms regulator Ofcom criticised BT (LSE: BT.A) for charging its rivals too much to access its 'local loop' - the final mile of copper wire which links homes to local telephone exchanges. BT's competitors have to pay to gain access to these phone lines, without which they cannot provide high-speed broadband Internet services.

From next month, BT will cut its wholesale monthly rental and connection charges by 35%, rising to 70% as business volumes rise over the coming months. Nevertheless, BT a long way to go, as its reduced wholesale access costs are still five times as much as those levied in France!

Sadly, this price reduction will not necessarily lead to savings for users, as Internet Service Providers (ISPs) may decide to boost their profit margins instead. However, leading ISP Bulldog has already confirmed that it would be cutting charges for its super-speedy packages, which are two to four times as fast as BT's standard 512k service.

Tips on upgrading to broadband and reducing your bills

1. If you fancy upgrading from dial-up to broadband, the first thing to do is to check if broadband is available in your area by keying your telephone number and postcode into a broadband checker.
2. Next, decide how fast you want your service to be: 512k, 1MB or 2MB. Some providers call their second-rate 128k or 256k services 'broadband', but your entry level should be 512k, which is ten times as fast as a 56k dial-up modem.
3. Then choose an ISP: ADSL Guide and ISP Review provide excellent search facilities, customer reviews and service rankings.
4. Make sure you've taken account of all one-off and ongoing costs, including any installation fee, buying a PCI or USB modem and micro-filters (if you don't already have these), monthly fees, minimum contract lengths, etc.
5. Watch out for daily or monthly download limits or the number of hours that you can remain online. If you are (or plan to be) a heavy user, stick to unlimited packages.

6. Make a few calls to your chosen ISP's customer service helplines to make sure that its service stacks up. Also, if you cancel your existing contract, you could lose your current email address. To keep this active, ask your ISP to downgrade your contract to a free "pay as you go" service.

More: ISP Review's Top Ten broadband providers | 512k services ranked by total annual cost | Internet Phone Scam!