Blimey we can finally get broadband! Now what?

[allmytimeonmumsnet]

Looking at some of the other threads on here prompted me to check once again if we can get braodband yet and for the first time everywhere seems to say yes! Blimey she picks herself up of the floor!

Anyway now what? I had a quick look at uswitch but even the form you fill in is mindboggling? Do you want router, wireless etc etc. I don't know!

We pay line rental to BT, call charges of around £10 per month to phonebank. And we have sky basic package. From what I've read so far I think probably, BT Talk Talk, Virgin or Sky are the best bet but I'm not really sure what to look for. Should I look for a package. To be honest don't use the phone that much at evening and weekends - most calls are to DH on his mobile or to family elsewhere in UK. So it that just a scam should I stick with basic package because other call rates higher etc? Oh I'm so confused. And then there is the wifi thing. I'm pretty sure my laptop is WiFi ready and DH wants to work from home too so does that mean we need wifi kit or am I already set up.

Help!

Hi - just going through this myself. Depends on a couple of things - what can your exchange handle, if it is a basic 500Kbps or so, then you need only go for the cheaper 1Mbps packages. Virgin do one at £9.99/month. BT has one at that price, but it reverts to £17.99 after 6 months. This is ample if you are just going to do a spot of mnetting and e-mails/IM etc. The phone packages are for national 01 or 02 numbers and look to cost more if you are phoning mobiles, so unless you are careful how you dial it is prob not worth it. You will need a modem or a wireless router if you want to go wi-fi - you should have a wifi button somewhere on your laptop if it is enabled. Wireless is great if you can get it to work. DH can use his laptop anywhere in the house. I however keep droppping off and have to plug in to the router, which kinda defeats the purpose, but I think that is one of the vagaries of my laptop. A good router with good security/firewalls can set you back £150-200, so worth shopping about. HTH, wireless is great if you can get it to work!! Have fun!

we've just ordered Sky broadband - DH sorted it out and he is a bit of an internet geeky type so I'm assuming it's pretty good!

From what I can work out from their site I can have sky broadband for £5 plus a £20 connection fee which sounds pretty good. but whats the catch? There must be one.

Quite like the sound of the BT home hub thing but its £22 or £26!!!! Seems too big a jump to justify unless I'm going to have to get loads of extra gear for the sky one. Laptop has the wifi light lit up though!

Sky might tell you they are not in their area for the cheap broadband, I don't know anyone that has asked that has got it. They then try to sell you the £17.99 deal until it's in your area with a £40 charge upfront.
However, I'm in Scotland so maybe ok elsewhere.