Broadband News

The average price for broadband in the UK has dropped since the start of the year (January 2007), with the big players in the broadband world making the big moves. The most notable drops in prices have come from BT, Tiscali and Virgin Media who have all reduced the cost of their basic packages, lowering them to £8.95, £7.99 and £10 respectively.

These recent changes in price show how competitive the broadband market is becoming now as each ISP is trying to win more business and increase their market share. It is worth noting however that with most of the packages, the price has only been reduced for a temporary period (normally 3/6 months) after which the monthly cost is increased to a set price for the remainder of the contract.

There are still also a number of broadband providers who claim to offer ‘free’ broadband, such as TalkTalk, Orange and Sky, although these offers are only part of a wider deal, i.e. included with their phone, cable or TV services. We at Top 10 Broadband have noticed a slight decline recently in ‘free’ broadband purchases, as customers seem to be moving back to paid-for services, possibly for a perceived better broadband service.

Even though broadband prices are dropping and ‘free’ is still de rigeur, Britons are still paying far more for their connections than our western European counterparts (except Spain). Countries such as France, Germany and Italy all pay less for their broadband services and in most cases have a much better average line speed. As mentioned in the article ‘Britons being ripped off by broadband’ on the 25th June, France who as stated pay less, have an average line speed of 17.6Mb/s compared to the UK’s average of 2.6Mb/s.

The next couple of years of broadband in the UK are sure to be interesting as the need to reduce costs is evident, whilst increased line speed is becoming more and more essential, especially as IPTV becomes more prominent. The UK needs some serious investment in its broadband capabilities or it is likely to fall way behind the standards in other countries, this in turn is likely to have significant economical ramifications.

What do you think is going to happen to UK broadband over the next couple of years? Let your feelings known by leaving your comments below.

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