Family broadband
Independent guide to the best broadband contracts for families
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| Hardware | Setup | Monthly price | Contract | Speed (Up to) |
Downloads | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|
FREE | £10 | 12 months |
20Mb | UNLIMITED | 0800 8405386 |
| Sky Broadband Unlimited | Extras: Now available without taking Sky TV | ||||||
| 2 |
|
FREE | £7.49 £14.49 after 3 months | 18 months |
20Mb | 10 GBper month | 0800 783 0968 |
| Broadband and Calls |
Phone: Free weekend calls to UK landlines (+ £11.54/mth line rental) Extras: Wireless BT Home Hub with Option 1 broadband, plus Unlimited WiFi |
||||||
| 3 |
|
FREE | FREE £6.50 after 3 months | 18 months |
20Mb | UNLIMITED | 0800 2947338 |
| Orange Home Max |
Phone: Free evening and weekend calls to UK landlines (+ £10.50/mth line rental). Extras: Wireless router included. 2 for 1 cinema tickets with Orange Wednesdays. Non-Orange customers pay £9.50/mth |
||||||
| 4 |
|
FREE | £7.49 £17.99 after 3 months | 18 months |
20Mb | 40 GBper month | 0800 783 0968 |
| More Broadband and Calls |
Phone: Free weekend calls to UK landlines (+ £11.54/mth line rental) Extras: Wireless BT home hub with Option 2 broadband plus Unlimited WiFi |
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| 5 |
|
FREE | £21 | 12 months |
20Mb | UNLIMITED | 0800 8405386 |
| Sky Broadband Unlimited plus line rental |
Phone: Includes telephone line rental plus free evening and weekend calls with Sky Talk Freetime Extras: Now available without taking Sky TV |
||||||
| 6 |
|
FREE | £27.50 | 12 months |
20Mb | UNLIMITED | 0800 8405386 |
| Sky Unlimited broadband with Sky+ box |
Promotion (Ends 26 Aug): ONLINE EXCLUSIVE Free Sky+ box with free standard set up PLUS £25 M&S voucher TV: 2 Entertainment packs Phone: Free evening and weekend calls Extras: Sky+ Box |
||||||
| 7 |
|
FREE | FREE £7.50 after 3 months | 12 months |
8Mb | UNLIMITED | |
| O2 Standard |
Extras: Wireless router, free 24/7 support,100 web texts/mth, McAfee security software. Non-O2 customers pay £12.50/mth |
||||||
| 8 |
|
FREE | FREE £10 after 3 months | 12 months |
20Mb | UNLIMITED | |
| O2 Premium |
Extras: Wireless router, free 24/7 support, 200 web texts/mth, McAfee security software (3 licences). Non-O2 customers pay £15/mth |
||||||
| 9 |
|
FREE | £9 | 18 months |
20Mb | UNLIMITED | 0800 2947338 |
| Orange Home Select |
Extras: Wireless router included. 2 for 1 cinema tickets with Orange Wednesdays. Non-Orange customers pay £12/mth |
||||||
| 10 |
|
FREE | £9.50 £19.50 after 3 months | 12 months |
20Mb | UNLIMITED | |
| O2 Premium + Evening & Weekend Phone package |
Phone: Includes telephone line rental plus unlimited evening and weekend calls to UK landlines Extras: Wireless router, free 24/7 support, 200 web texts/mth, McAfee security software (3 licences). Non-O2 customers pay £24.50/mth |
||||||
Currently showing the top 10 of 23 deals which match your search Show all >
Choosing your family broadband
If you're a parent with a child or two at school, there's a good chance your kids already know as much about the internet as you do. And while it may seem that every Christmas and birthday present your little angels demand also connects to the internet nowadays, there are a few simple rules that should ensure you get the right family broadband package to suit your needs.
Parental control
Being able to control what kind of websites your children can visit is vital to many parents. Some UK internet service providers (ISPs) offer specific options to make this quick, cheap and easy, while others include free anti-virus software that has parental control built in (sometimes at a small additional cost). The major players in anti-virus software - McAfee and Norton - both have this kind of software, so even if you decide on the cheapest home broadband package based on previous customer reviews that doesn't include one of them, you can sign up separately and have your parental controls set up in no time.
The whole family wants broadband
If you've got your PC, your other half has a laptop, your eldest has an Xbox and your youngest a DS Lite, it's a safe bet to say you're probably going to need to buy a wireless router. These sit in the corner of a room, making sure everyone in the house (they are password protected) can get online without having to fill your home with wires. Luckily, wireless routers arestarting to become the standard, and many broadband deals and offers now have them free as part of the package.
Speeds and download limits
If you really need to upload and download files, perhaps for work, but have kids (or a spouse) addicted to gaming, you may need to pay the extra for the best connection (fast connections currently run at around 20Mb through BT lines, or up to 50Mb via cable). Also be wary of download limits: just watching a 30-minute episode of Eastenders on the iPlayer, if streamed instead of downloaded, could use up 500MB of data - that's about 0.5GB. If the whole family is downloading a lot of data, and you exceed your limit, you may face traffic shaping and a reduction in speed, which could in turn seriously lessen your internet experience.
Broadband, television, telephone...
Once you've decided on parental controls, speed and usage, you should be nearly ready to sign up for your family broadband package. It may be a little pricier than you'd envisaged, but you can sometimes bring this price down by a nice chunk through adding additional services.
There are a host or double, triple and quad play deals out there which offer a range of products on one simple bill, reducing paperwork and also your overall monthly costs. Many suppliers will offer deals that include both your telephone line rental and fixed-line broadband at a reduced cost, while others will also bundle in mobile phone minutes, mobile broadband and even cable or satellite television packages.
The latest offers and deals are shown in the comparison table for the various providers from Virgin Media to O2 to BT. This can enable you to compare make the most appropriate decision for your family.
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Gillian's money-saving deals
- PlusNet broadband now free for 3 months on all packages; plus save £25 connection fee if you add PlusNet home phone 31 July 2010
- 3 mobile are now offering the cheapest Sim-only iPad contract currently on the market: 1GB on a 1 month contact £7.50 19 July 2010
- BE broadband is now free for the first two months using voucher code "FREEMONTHS"; BE Unlimited normally £17.88/mth 19 July 2010
- Plusnet business broadband from £5/month for July - promo code 3HLF 10 July 2010
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