Broadband help and advice

If you're looking to get broadband, you first need to select a preferred supplier (see the information above), and then need to check if that provider can offer you broadband in your area. Each supplier should have an online checker that allows you to enter a postcode and phone number to see if ADSL broadband is available.

If in doubt, BT's site is a good one to check first. Go to www.bt.com/btbroadband - pick one of the packages (Option 1, 2 or 3), and select "Order now". You don't actually have to order at this stage - You'll be prompted to enter your phone number and postcode, and a check will be done on your service. This will identify if you already have broadband. If not, you'll get an estimate of your top speed

• Cost - There are no call charges so you don't have to worry about hanging up when you're finished. On the downside, you have to pay a monthly subscription fee to use broadband, and you have to buy a special broadband modem (although see the offers below!).
• Connection time - This is where the 'always-on' bit has benefits - you establish a connection, and hang on to it. You don't have to worry about logging off to save money. This saves all the hanging about waiting for your modem to dial in, connect, establish a connection and authenticate with your password
• Speed - Standard dialup modems have a maximum speed of 56k, and broadband typically offers between 1meg and 8meg connections - up to 160 times faster than dialup. Note that you're sharing your bandwidth with other users in your area, so data transfer speeds vary, and you're unlikely to achieve the maximum throughput (this is known as 'contention', and eases bottlenecks at phone exchanges and ISPs).
• Phone line - When you're online with broadband, your home phone line isn't tied up.
• Extras - With Broadband, there's the option to watch TV over the Internet, make voice calls over the 'net, and even take control of your home PC from work

When Broadband first was launched, it was a case of having an engineer call out and connect you up. Now, broadband providers supply self-install kits. When ordering broadband, check what your chosen provider will be sending you. Here's what you need to do:

• Plug a Broadband modem or router into your PC (normally via a USB socket or an ethernet network cable)
• Plug a filter into your standard BT phone socket
• Plug the Broadband modem or router into the ADSL socket of the filter
  
  

Known as IPTV, we're about to see a large increase in the number of companies offering TV programmes over Broadband. Services will allow you to download TV shows that you've missed, get movies on demand, and do a whole range of clever stuff, either to your PC, or to your TV via a set-top box. Services include BT Vision (free to BT Total Broadband customers, using a BT Home Hub), Tiscali TV and Virgin Media (in cable areas).

For more, see Radio & Telly's IPTV page

When you're looking to sign up to broadband, you may see mention of monthly download limits or a monthly cap. If you're not sure what this is all about, read on.

Some broadband customers make an awful lot of use of their broadband connection, downloading movies, file sharing and streaming audio/video. Heavy users can cause congestion and slow down access for other broadband users on the same phone exchange and ISP. For this reason, many broadband providers "cap" usage, to make sure that the heavy users don't degrade the service for others. Persistent offenders are likely to be moved onto a more expensive tariff, or have their account "throttled" to a slower speed.

Some providers don't 'cap' accounts, but most of the mainstream suppliers cap anywhere from 2Gig to 30Gig. The download allowance includes the download of all content (email, files, images, audio, video) made over the Internet within a month.

If you're looking to work out how long it takes to transfer a file over Broadband, here's a rough guide of how long it takes to transfer 1 Meg over various connection speeds:

• Dialup (56kps): 2½ minutes
• 512kpbs: 16.5 seconds
• 2 Meg Broadband: 4 seconds
• 8 Meg Broadband: 1 second

Check out the Download Calculator to check transfer speeds

BT started pushing videocalling over broadband in 2006. If you're keen on the idea of keeping in touch with voice and video, videocalling might be worth a look. BT's service uses BT Broadband Talk. You can use BT's Softphone application on a PC, or there's a more convenient option - getting one of BT's new range of videophones, which includes a colour screen and a built-in video camera.

For more info, see our Videocalling page, or our reviews of the Videophone 1000 and Videophone 2000 handsets

If you're not able to get Broadband where you are and still want to get the speed benefits of a Broadband connection, there are a few other options open to you:

1. Dial-up accelerator: There's a way to make your dial-up connection faster, using a service from OnSpeed. If you are running on a dial-up (narrowband) connection the speed difference with this service can be dramatic. It should increase your speed by up to 10 times. To use it, you'll need to download the special software from www.onspeed.com. Once installed, you won't even notice it's there, it runs in the background speeding up your Internet connection and compressing data automatically.
   
   
2. BT Satellite Broadband: There's an option to get broadband via a satellite download for those too far out from an exchange. Not cheap, at over £900 for equipment and installation, plus £60 a month for speeds of only half a meg – but it’s still an option. More on BT's Openworld site.
   
   
3. skyDSL Satellite Broadband - No ADSL availability? Check out skyDSL - offering satellite broadband from £9.90 a month
   
   
4. Mobile Internet. Get high-speed Internet access to your PC. If you want to connect your laptop or PC to the Internet while away from home or the office, take a look at T-Mobile Web 'n' Walk offering - Their 3G network covers a reasonable amount of the UK. At the time of writing, their Web 'n' Walk tariffs come with a free USB data modem offering wireless data speeds of up to 1.8Meg/sec.
   
   

Take a look at MyHome247. For £49.95, you can get the Motorola HMEZ2001 - Wireless Starter Kit in your home, and get notifications when someone enters your home. £49.95 is a great price for such a useful product. See our review on the FrequencyCast site

Before you can be converted to Broadband, you will need an engineer to visit to remove your ISDN box, and convert you back to a standard BT socket. Check your provider for prices.