TalkTalk Broadband

TalkTalk are pioneers in ‘free' broadband and now offer broadband from just £3.25 when taken with a home phone package.

TalkTalk won 'Best-Value Broadband' in Top 10 Broadband's annual awards in 2008.

Online exclusive: Order now and get the first 3 months 1/2 price

In this section

• TalkTalk online shop
• TalkTalk packages
• TalkTalk awards
• TalkTalk features
• TalkTalk news

Services

Services

• Free wireless router
• Free connection
• Calls
• ADSL broadband
• Trial period
• Support
• Modem
• Mac compatible
• Home broadband

Company history

Company history

Talk Talk is the sister company of telecommunications giant The Carphone Warehouse. The Carphone Warehouse was established in 1989, and has since grown to be one of the forerunners of the mobile phone industry in Europe, with over 1700 stores across the continent.

After 14 successful years, The Carphone Warehouse launched Talk Talk in 2003 to corner the domestic landline market. It is estimated that Talk Talk now has over 3 million customers in the UK and rivals BT as the UK’s fastest growing Broadband ISP.

Talk Talk Broadband made its name by offering a ‘free broadband’ service based on an 18-month contract and initiation fee. Though this bold claim eventually fell through, Talk Talk still provides some of the best deals available with additional rewards for Talk Talk mobile and landline customers.

Customer service

Customer service

As a Talk Talk customer, you can feel confident with this award-winning team - all the help you need is just a phone call or a click of the mouse away. With telephone lines open 8am-9pm Monday-Friday, 9am-6pm Saturday and 10am-5pm Sunday, you can get support throughout the day for all your broadband queries, plus calls are free from your Talk Talk landline.

The Talk Talk online HelpDesk is also available which will answer most of your queries, or you can contact the team directly via email. For complete online access, you can also manage your broadband through the ‘My Account’ feature, so you can look at your bills, and other details without even needing to pick up the phone.

Equipment

Equipment

All Talk Talk broadband packages come with a free wired modem, or a wireless router for just £20. To make installation easy, Talk Talk also throw in a ‘Connect & Go’ set-up CD.

If setting up broadband sound s bit too much like hard work, Talk Talk offers a discount on a great installation service from ‘The Geek Squad’, a team of experts devoted to your broadband needs. They will set-up your broadband remotely and talk you through the installation process on the phone for just £10. And they don’t mind being called geeks either!

Software features

Software features

Feel secure with Talk Talk’s online security, free for 90 days when you sign up for any Talk Talk broadband package. The software includes Firewall, anti-virus and anti-spyware protection. After the 90-day trial, keep the security software for only £2.49 per month (£3.49 per month for the Premium Edition, including spam filtering and parental control). Talk Talk also offer online back up, free for 30 days (usually from £3.99 per month), which means you can back-up and retrieve important data whenever you need to. Additionally, you can take advantage of Talk Talk’s Identity Care software free for 30 days, which provides crucial protection against identity theft and fraud (usually £4.95 per month).

Email features

Email features

Customers receive up to 5 email addresses with Talk Talk broadband, meaning your family members can have an email address too, for emailing friends, sharing pictures and music, as well as being able to order goods online. The dedicated Talk Talk Broadband Dashboard area provides access to your email addresses and inbox, as well as enabling you to set up a webspace domain name with up to 15Mb of webspace provided free.

Extras

Extras

All Talk Talk Broadband call plan customers have access to the Nectar reward scheme, with free Nectar points available for every £1 spent on your bill. This great offer means you can spend your points at many participating well-known stores including Debenhams, Sainsbury’s, Thomson, Dixons and Amazon.

TalkTalk news

• AOL Broadband and TalkTalk sign router deal
  26th September 2008
  The Carphone Warehouse has put pen to paper in an agreement with D-Link to supply routers to its...
• TalkTalk rapped over TV ad
  24th September 2008
  The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has taken a television advertisement off air after...
• Carphone Warehouse in for Tiscali
  24th September 2008
  Carphone Warehouse is reported to have put in a bid to buy broadband provider...
• Pensioner tricked into 'free' broadband deal
  9th September 2008
  A 69-year-old widow becomes the latest to be conned into 'free' broadband in Yorkshire...
• TalkTalk in router offer
  2nd September 2008
  TalkTalk has announced it will handing out free wireless routers with every single broadband...
• TalkTalk in mobile broadband offer
  28th August 2008
  Carphone Warehouse's TalkTalk has made a tempting bundle offer, including the promise of a free...

Customer reviews

• TalkTalk are terrible.

  The only reason I signed up in July was because I thought i'd save money, and it was convienient to do. They told me they would take care of the transfer between my old phone and broadband provider. They did with the phone, but did not with the broadband. Shortly after connection date, I went away, I have just come back, to find that TalkTalk, did not cancel my broadband, as promised. So payment to my old provider continued which amounted to £60. For the last two days I've been phoning TalkTalk to resolve the matter and I have had nothing but hell. All my calls get divereted to South Africa, with no help, And call staff refuse to let me speak to a Manager. Customer Service is very, very, poor. I wish I had stayed with my old service.

  Worst thing I've ever done switching. If you want false promises that cost you money, a mega slow and unreliable broadband connection, uncooperative and rude call centre staff, then join TalkTalk.

  Cheryl, 25th September 2008

• TalkTalk broadband is the only choice to make during this credit crunch. It's dirt cheap at the start of the contract and it works! £3.25 is nothing for broadband and the calls work out super-cheap as well. If you are looking to save on your household bills - or more to the point, your broadband bills - then TalkTalk is the only choice to make.

  Marie Ryder, 19th September 2008

• They're rubbish, their broadband is rubbish, it cuts out on its own, it's not 8Mb.... It works at around 2 or 3Mb on a good day (though this is dependant on where you live). A TalkTalk advisor himself even once said "your getting the broadband free, I mean what else do you expect? You were paying for your last one with bulldog" Now thats pathetic!!!

  Believe me... 7 out of 10 customers WILL BE DISATISFIED. Thank you have a nice day :)

  BIll, 11th August 2008

• I am very happy with TalkTalk broadband. I have had it for a year and it's great. Calls are so cheap!

  Marie Ryder, 06th August 2008

• I switched to TalkTalk to avail of their free broadband offer and it was terrible so I cancelled.

  My previous ISP were giving me about 6.5Mb download but with TalkTalk I could barely get 0.5Mb.

  Keith, 07th July 2008

• Just to say that we have recently gone live with TalkTalk broadband, having been with PlusNet for three years. Yes we did have a problem with the phone (couldn't get international line).

  We contacted their customer support and they couldn't have been more courteous & helpful. We lost our line completely for twelve hours, yes inconvenient but they diverted all calls to our mobile and all our problems were solved within 24 hours.

  We had no problems getting through to speak to someone and that 0870 number that everyone complains about, which is free from a TalkTalk line. We even had a coutesy call to check that we were happy and had no further problems.

  We are more than happy with the level of service provided. I guess the majority of people who take the time to review do so because they are unhappy - it is hard to get a balanced opinion.

  We were originally with Onetel for our phone (10 years with them) and of course they were taken over by TalkTalk several years ago. We have never had any complaints about the service and just can't understand why people have such bad experiences - clearly they do and it must be dreadful.

  For us - we would happily recommend TalkTalk, most of our friends are with them, and they are more than satisfied too.

  Lois Hutton, 20th April 2008

• I switched from BT to TalkTalk - big mistake - when my contract is up I will be leaving them.

   

  They might as well not have a customer service, they don't know what customer service means. If there was a 0 star rating I would have given it.

  j evans, 13th April 2008

• TalkTalk broadband is terrible don't join if your looking for fast reliable broadband. The modem I got would not work at all so I had to use my old Sagem Fast 800. I wish I had never left Tiscali and I'm probably going to go straight back to them when I'm out of contract with TalkTalk.

  Martin Mc Colgan, 11th April 2008

• I have had all the problems listed above... I have received no customer serivice at all! They either tell lies or refuse to answer the questions they were asked!!

  Eric Orchin, 07th April 2008

• Absolutely diabolical customer service from a cynical firm that does not care about its customers. If you value your sanity sign up with Zen Internet instead.

  How TalkTalk can win any kind of award is beyond me.

  Greg Grimer (Maidstone exchange), 20th March 2008

• My broadband and phone are with TalkTalk. It is very good I have no problems at all!

  john watson (Royston exchange), 03rd March 2008

• I only get speeds of 0.96Mb to 1.05Mb when I should be getting up 8Mb. TalkTalk is very slow and keeps disconnecting.

  anthony whyte (Burton On Trent exchange), 25th February 2008

• Stay away from Talk Talk!!!

  The speed you get is not the same as the one they advertise. I was with Onetel at 2Mb and switched to Talk Talk for 8Mg broadband but my speed is only 276Kbps.

  Beware! I just hope I won't have any problems cancelling my contract.

  Wendy, 12th February 2008

• DONT TAKE THE 30 DAY TRIAL!!! You have to pay £120 to connect to BT and then cancel it to go onto TalkTalk!!

   

  DUffy, 04th February 2008

• There are 5 people in my house and we're all connecting happily to Talk Talk, it took a while to arrive but since then it's been plain sailing.

  Great to have the included international calls too- great for keeping in touch with friends!!

  Sarah Jones, 18th January 2008

• Very poor. Support dreadful. E-mails answer questions you haven't asked and if you telephone you get through to someone who doesn't speak English as the rest of us know it. Slowness doesn't relate to bandwidth. The system varies between 0.6M and 6.5M but this doesn't reflect the difficulties. It can take over 1 minute to send or receive a 50 word e-mail. So, problems suggest poor or too few servers. Phone services like 'Caller ID' seem to work according to the phases of the moon. Technology should NOT be this unreliable or frustrating. They are always telling me that they are making improvements for the future. But the future never comes and I'm paying for it now.

  Gerald Ramshaw (Weybridge exchange), 06th December 2007

• The phone and the internet work fine and it is a good deal. Unfortunatly their accounts Dept are a nightmare. They can't set up a direct debit. I have to keep paying by phone or go into arrears. The customer help line for bill enquires is hopeless. I shall be glad when the contract ends.

  Tony Rowe, 28th November 2007

• Poor free modem. Gave up in setting it up and bought a new standard wireless modem.

  Claims up to 8Mb download. Even though I am close to my BT Exchange the maximum I get is 1.3Mb download and 350Kb upload. Sometimes as bad as 300Kb download and 300Kb Upload.

  Cheap and cheerful yes. Speedy? No!

   

  Sean Whetstone (Bookham exchange), 25th November 2007

• We signed up with TalkTalk in July - from the outset I had problems setting up my modem with the software disc provided and had problems getting technical support. After finally getting sorted out I was disappointed with the broadband - it was slow and difficult to connect to the internet.

  I have just changed the modem on my system from the TalkTalk wired to a belkin wireless system and it has made a big improvement it is much faster and more responsive. As for the phone it all seems fine, so all in all I'm fairly satisfied with the package so far as it's the best deal on the market at the moment. However, TalkTalk need to sort out their inherent problems to keep ahead in the market.

  Rod Killick (Faversham exchange), 20th November 2007

• It's cheap and it works. My broadband is fine, the calls cost next to nothing and the TalkTalk customer service representatives are friendly and co-operative. Why anyone has reason to complain is beyond me. Yes, the broadband might go down, but get over it! It will happen with any broadband provider you could sign up with.

  John Ashton, 11th November 2007

• Was with TalkTalk for seven years and was quite happy until I decided to get broadband. After nine months of trying and waiting for a response, and applying three times with a MAC code to somebody in India who could not understand me, I gave up and went with someone else.

  marion douglas (Dalgety Bay exchange), 11th November 2007

• I subscribed to TalkTalk about 7 months ago and have not been disappointed, and I can't understand why they have had such bad press, the service for me has been first rate, and no problems with the connection at all. And show me where you can get broadband, phone and line rental for cheaper!

  Lewis Greene, 26th October 2007

• Started with TalkTalk early August within 12 days had a letter from them telling me that they had a request to transfer me to another service provider, they were treating this as my notice to quit. I rang immediately telling them I had not requested any transfer. I was told it was a TalkTalk mistake and not to worry they could see the problem and I would not be cut off. Ten days later, despite a second reassurance, we were cut off. Three weeks without a phone line, plus a further three weeks trying to get my original telephone nymber back, but that's yet another long story with BT. TalkTalk deals look great, I am sure they are if they ever get it right.

  Phil, 11th October 2007

• After some initial teething problems with TalkTalk, my service has been first class and without a hitch for 12 months now. Read the other reviews with caution, as Talktalk have well and truly sorted out their early problems. I will not hesitate to sign up again for another contract period. It's cheap, it works and I'm 100% happy.

  Graham Thomson (Easton exchange), 15th September 2007

• I recently joined TalkTalk, and thier service is absolutly rubbish. I had to wait over 2 months to recieve the modem, when my activation stated that it was after 2 weeks of joining, I called the customer services, and they kept on saying that I will recieve it tomorrow or the next day, until i found out they were liars. When I recieved my modem, they couldn't even recognise my phone number, I had to wait for weeks until they did, until then the speed was pathetic, 8MB was offered, but my one was under 1MB! I could not cancel my 30 day trial, due to late service, and now I am in a contract with them for 18 months! My advice to you people to join TalkTalk, is to not to join these stealers and liars, and your money will be at stake if you dare to join, they make you join, because they say free, but my advice is to join a broadband provider that will provide you with top quality speeds and services - for example BT, Virgin or Sky, and not to join these cheap companies that offer free broadband. They might be cheap but not worth it, with a service like that, you will be stuck. Don't join TalkTalk.

  Harold (Mile End exchange), 14th September 2007

• I was on TalkTalk free broadband - a JOKE. I paid £10 rental for well over a year and got fed up so asked for a migration code and soon after they cut me off broadband. I tried for over 10 weeks to be reinstated and finally I switched my phone and broadband to BT, but because it was 6 weeks from the end of my contract, they charged £60 disconnection fee. I was a Carphone Warehouse customer for over 15 years. I wrote 2 letters to Mr Dunstone but he never even had the courtesy to reply. The service is the worst I have ever come across. My advice: don't sign up with them.
  

  Arthur Davis (Steyning exchange), 14th September 2007

• I was initially with TalkTalk for my telephone service and had no problems, they contacted me for broadband, I signed up and received a modem. My broadband never worked. After countless calls to technical support, they finally said they did not recognise my username and password. I asked them to fix it - they could not. They then cut off my phone and charged me line rental for four months until they put me on to a debt collector for £220. I never used my phone or my internet as I never had a service. TalkTalk are thieves and I am still battling. Do not sign up to anything with these rip off merchants.

  P amable, 12th September 2007

• I am currently changing from Onetel where I have been a customer for many years to TalkTalk as I am fed up with Onetel continually breaking down. I am unable to get emails from them at the moment and they tell me it may take to the end of September to sort out. I do feel that as Onetel and TalkTalk are the same company, I should not have to sign up for a 18 month contract and I also ought to have a discount for changing over. I welcome any comments.

  Gordon Rooke (Hatfield exchange), 01st September 2007

• I have found Talk Talk absolutely rubbish. I was with them for the telephone - no problems. They then contacted me about Broadband and I asked them to send info through the post for me to have a look at - THE SIGNED ME UP WITHOUT CONSENT and the first I knew was when the modem was delivered. After many annoyingly long calls to Customer Service I was getting know where fast. I wrote a letter and thought it had all been sorted only to find now that I need a MAC code to sign up to a Broadband Provider as they have stolen my line!

  Anonymous, 21th August 2007

• I have recently joined talktalk broadband after being approached in carphone warehouse when I upgreaded my mobile. I was hesitant as I had heard poor reports in the past about talktalk.I was then using AOL. After initial problems in the change over and installation I am up & running. I wish I had been offered the £10 'geek squad' (see reports) I do find that very often I cannot get onto the internet, sometimes for a whole day - frustrating! It would be helpful if talktalk had an error message saying the problem was theirs instead of getting one that implies it is your fault.

  V Richardson (Botley exchange), 17th August 2007

• Switching to Talk Talk broadband was so easy, especially as they offer a 30-day trial. As it happens I stayed with them as they provide such a good service. Their support team are second-to-none and have been really informative, helping me with any technical queries or just to tell me how to obtain my Nectar reward points. Speaking of which, I have accumulated quite a few points now with my Broadband call plan, so I’m going to get some money off my next online purchase.

  Roger, 09th August 2007

• I was a complete technophobe, so Talk Talk’s no-nonsense approach really appealed to me. Obviously I chose to have a member of the Geek Squad (hilarious) help me install my broadband–they made it seem so easy, and all for just £10. Now I’m up-and-running with broadband I’m always online, from checking my bank statements to ordering my groceries.

  I feel completely safe in the knowledge that I have their security software installed, which is especially useful for all my online shopping. I’ve continued to use the software even after the free trial as it gives me such peace of mind.

  Abigail, 09th August 2007

• I’ve been really pleased with Talk Talk, they make broadband really simple. It was very easy to choose from their Broadband call plans as they don’t over-complicate things with loads of gimmicks. What you see is what you get–free modem, really fast download speeds and a massive monthly allowance. On top of this I also received a £20 credit on my first bill just for signing up online.

  Tony, 09th August 2007