What Broadband?

[tallulah]

I'm so fed up with my internet connection, (& of ringing home for a lift to get 1571 on) that we are thinking of getting Broadband. There seems to be so much to consider, as well as cost ,& I'm totally confused! Doesn't help that we have Mac OSX & not Windows, which seems to be a problem for some ISP.

So far we are comparing Tiscali, Wanadoo, BT, Virgin & Tesco. All have plus & minus points like limits & speed & connection charges.

Can anyone assist?! Anyone give me additional plus/minus. Are you with one of these & love/hate them, or with someone else? What do I need to think about & what difference does the speed/limits make?

I am with Telewest and (touchwood) am really pleased with it.

This is actually casa's DH. Anyway, I did some research recently on the best broadband package and currently Wanadoo seems to offer the best price/speed combination for full speed (512kbps or above) connections. The two I narrowed it down to are:

Wanadoo
1Mb Broadband_Option 1 (1Mbps)
£17.99pm
Free modem
Free connection

BT
Broadband Basic (512kbps)
£19.99pm
Free modem
Free connection

So, Wanadoo provides a connection that's twice as fast as BT for £2 less per month. If you're prepared for a slower connection (but still faster than dialup) then Tiscali do a "3x Broadband" package for £15.99 per month, but it's less than a sixth of the speed for £2 less than Wanadoo, and I gather it's not the most reliable of connections.

If you've got a Mac, you can use either a USB or a NIC (Network Interface Card) connection, just like a PC. The only problem might be that the ISP provided USB modem might not work with the Mac, so you should check this first. Alternatively, you could buy and fit a NIC (for about £10) and provided that works, you can then use a proper ADSL modem with an ethernet interface.

Hope that helps, let me know if you want to know anything else.