You are going to live in the UK for a long time; you will probably need to contact a broadband internet provider.
If you are going to a roommate, the owner or your roommates will already have internet installed, so you should not worry about anything. The corresponding price is usually included in the rental price of the house, but sometimes it will be an extra in the rental price.
If you decide to live alone in a studio or a house or to share a house with friends, you will have to subscribe to an Internet and telephone subscription, whether we like it or not: having an Internet connection is something fundamental today.
Broadband Internet Provider and Telephone Line in the United Kingdom
Before subscribing for a broadband Internet provider with a telephone line, it is necessary that you take into account certain differences in the British offers that are different from those that can be in other parts of Europe.
Also, because contracts tend to have a duration of several months, it is important to take stock of all important aspects, including the following:
- Connection speed: Welcome to Northern Europe. This is the main difference compared to the internet offers of southern Europe. Here in the UK, all companies have fiber optics, which allows them to offer download speeds between 15 Mbps and 78 Mbps. Take into account that the final speed will depend on several factors, such as location. In any case, it is much faster than in southern Europe.
As is the case in France, to have an Internet connection, the internet provider forces you to have a telephone line, even if you never use it, so we can not avoid paying this ” rate.” In any case, this tends to change and some companies such as Virgin Media, do not require the use of the telephone line to have an Internet connection. Unfortunately, Internet rates are often more expensive than others.
- Free calls: Everything could not be so good. Unlike the French system, in the UK, calls from the landline are not free, and you have to pay extra, so be careful, to receive a surprise when receiving your bill. Most phone companies offer free calls on the weekends and some evenings during the week, anyway, this is not likely to be a huge problem, since using the mobile phone is more common than fixed.
Remember, with a Giffgaff card you can have these calls at a “very low” price with the use of WhatsApp included, but you will need to know the phone prefixes to be able to call the recipient correctly, which is available on UK’s Usave broadband deals.
- Traffic Control: Unknown in France (or at least for the moment) is what is called “Traffic Management,” which mainly involves reducing the speed of the connection by your internet provider during peak hours to guarantee a correct supply of all the demand. This decrease never exceeds 5% and usually occurs in the evening. Do not worry, because you will not notice it or almost not regarding speed or performance.
- Commitment to permanence: Most internet providers require a commitment that is generally greater than 12 months, and in the event of non-compliance, a penalty applies. Small reminder, in the United Kingdom, it is very common to change your address, so the permanence does not concern the address, but rather the person who hires the internet service. If you move, you will not have a penalty.
- Limitations of downloading: This is something new for many of you since, for the moment, it does not exist yet in most of Europe. Some contracts with your internet provider limit the monthly download to a volume between 10GB and 40GB. A point to consider, unless you use the internet for surfing the web. If you want to watch movies or television over the Internet or if you are going to spend the day working on the network, our advice is to engage an Internet connection with no download limit.
- Installation Fees and Router: Although the installation fee and the router are included “free of charge” in the contract, make sure that your Internet company does not charge them as an extra, it can cost around £50. You can also check an excellent modem router guide here.
Which Internet Provider to Choose?
Choosing an Internet provider can be a very boring process, especially because of a large number of companies available. That’s why we’ll save you those efforts and offer you a list of the UK’s leading Internet providers.
The prices shown are those that existed in July 2017 for the cheapest offer from each company. In any case, it is well known that these companies are still launching new promotions, i.e., the price may vary slightly.
Another tip, you can also ask the neighbors what business they use and what their experience is. Depending on the neighborhood or city, the quality of one internet provider may be better than another (e.g., fiber optic).
In general, the best internet providers are British Telecom and Virgin Media, which are also the ones with the largest fiber-optic network. On the other hand, the cheapest is TalkTalk, and as far as its service or customer service is concerned, we find little difference between them.
Rates And Offers, Which is The Cheapest.
As you can see, despite small differences, the vast majority of companies have very similar prices, especially regarding line rental (Coincidence?). Therefore, be aware which of them offers better service in your area depending on the offers.
Above we have only collected the prices of the standard internet connection packages but look carefully at the advanced offers that include television (remember that in the UK, as in France, you have to pay a TV license ) and the phone because they can be very interesting.
I hope this post has helped you to know more about the internet companies offering great deals, and that it will be useful to subscribe the internet membership of your home in the UK.
