About italk Broadband
We get it! It's easy to stay in your comfort zone when it comes to something like broadband, and to stick with the big names you're already familiar with. But how boring would life be if we never tried anything new? Dig a little deeper and there are some excellent, trustworthy providers that might be perfect for you.
italk is a small, but long-established, internet service provider (ISP) that also goes by the full name 'italk Telecom'. The company launched in Brighton in 2007. If you want to put that into perspective, that was the same year the first iPhone came out! It's stood the test of time and now offers broadband out to customers across the UK.
There are plenty of products available with italk, ranging from a basic 10Mb ADSL package to its fastest Fibre To The Premises deal, with average speeds of up to 220Mb. Just be aware, there’s a 24 month contract, regardless of which package you sign up for.
Ready to think about switching from your existing provider? Let’s take a closer look to see what’s available from italk and how it operates.
italk Broadband: packages and speeds
italk - Simply Broadband
This is the cheapest italk package, with a download speed of 10Mb and an upload speed of 1Mb. Admittedly, this won’t be very useful to the majority of users. We recommend going up a notch, if you can, to get a more valuable fibre broadband package.
italk - Fast Fibre
This entry-level package with a broadband speed of 35Mb will be fast enough for most homes. You’ll be able to carry out common tasks such as streaming Netflix, or playing online games without annoying buffering.
italk - Simply Fibre
Setting you back around £25-31, there are two products in italk’s Simply Fibre range. They provide average speeds of between 40Mb and 80Mb, respectively.
italk - Superfast Fibre
This fast broadband package is a good option if you have a large home. It’ll be able to cope with lots of you on the same connection, even if you’re downloading, gaming or streaming HD video. Download speed average 63Mb.
italk - Full Fibre (FTTP)
italk’s full fibre offerings will be plenty fast enough for even the most active of internet users. italk’s FTTP fibre packages are available with an average download speed of either 40Mb, 80Mb and 220Mb, depending on the product chosen. All of italk’s FTTP packages are priced under £50 per month.
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What does ADSL mean?
ADSL stands for ‘Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line’. It’s broadband technology that allows the transfer data across regular telephone lines. You can make calls at the same time as being connected to the internet.
An ADSL line will, at minimum, allow for a broadband connection of up to 8Mb. These days, that’s pretty slow and won’t allow you to do much other than emailing or basic web searches.
ADSL2+ is now available at nearly all exchanges across the UK with slightly faster data transfer rates of around 10-11Mb.
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What is fibre broadband?
Fibre optic broadband is a service that provides fast internet speeds using fibre optic cables. It’s much faster and more reliable than ADSL broadband, which uses copper telephone wires.
Fibre optic broadband is now available in every part of the country, and for a basic package, it never costs much more than slower ADSL per month.
The majority of fibre broadband deals are also known as FTTC or ‘Fibre-To-The-Cabinet’ Broadband. This is available on the BT Openreach network. FTTC uses fibre optic cables that connect to your nearest telephone cabinet. Keep an eye out for the green boxes you see on the side of the road - those are the cabinets!
From the cabinet to your home, data then carries on across the same copper telephone wire as a standard ADSL broadband service.
Fibre broadband is also sometimes referred to as ‘Superfast’ broadband. With fibre you can expect to receive a minimum speed of 35Mb.
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What’s the difference between ‘fibre’ and ‘full-fibre’ broadband?
Full Fibre broadband is also known as ‘Fibre To The Premises’, ‘Fibre To The Home’. This is often shortened to FTTP or FTTH. They’re all the same thing!
Instead of copper telephone wire making up the final part of the journey from that green cabinet on the street, fibre optic cables are installed right up to your home.
It’s amazing the difference in speed this small data journey can have. With full-fibre broadband you can expect to receive speeds of 1Gb+.
The downside is full-fibre is only available to a small percentage of homes in the UK, and it’s taking a good while to get everyone up to speed.
italk Wi-Fi Hub router
There’s a free Zyxel router bundled into all of italk’s standard fibre broadband packages, worth £99. Comparing this to other bundled routers on the market, this is a pretty basic device. You’ll need to pay £8.95-£12.95 for the postage and packaging of your router when you sign up. The router should arrive 1-2 days before your line is activated.
In-depth: italk Zyxel Wi-Fi Router
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Does italk offer home phone packages?
All of italk advertised packages are broadband only deals. Line rental is included in all packages as standard. If you’re keen to sign up to a bundled broadband and phone package with free evening and free weekend calls, you can compare these broadband and phone deals instead.
italk Broadband extras and free gifts
italk doesn’t usually include a lot of extras, besides its free router, but it's been known to offer an Amazon gift card of up to £70. We work hard to get hold of these great deals, they're frequently exclusive to Broadband Genie and won’t be available if you sign up directly with the ISP.
In a way, the lack of incentive discounts could be good news for italk’s current customers. It’s made a pledge not to prioritise new sign-ups with welcome offers. Instead, it aims to make sure existing customers always have access to the best price.
italk Broadband: pros and cons
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Frequently asked questions about italk
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What network does italk use?
italk uses the Openreach network. This means that download speeds are roughly the same as other providers using the network.
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Can I get italk Broadband in my area?
italk is a smaller ISP. Because of this, availability will be more limited. If you’re keen to sign up to a full fibre package, but you can’t sign up to italk, you should check out these other FTTP deals.
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How long are italk Broadband contracts?
All italk Telecom contracts require you to commit to 24 months of service. During this time, it’s pledged to keep its prices fixed.
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Are there upfront costs?
Expect to pay a set-up fee of £10 when you sign up to italk. You’ll also have to pay £8.95-£12.95 package and posting to cover the cost of your Wi-Fi router delivery.
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How long will it take to install italk Broadband?
Once you’ve signed up to an italk package, you’ll receive a confirmation text or email confirming your contract. A welcome pack should then arrive within 3-5 days. It can take between 2-3 weeks to activate your broadband package. This waiting time can be a little longer for FTTP at 4 weeks.
italk promises to keep in touch throughout the setup process, and customers will be contacted via email or text once their connection is live.
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Does italk have good customer service?
One benefit you hope to receive when shopping small is a more personal service. It can be like the difference between shopping at a little boutique store as opposed to a supermarket.
italk’s customer service rating is impressive. It’s currently rated 4.6/5 on Trustpilot, and reviews are overwhelmingly positive. Special mention is made to its helpful support team.
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How do I contact italk?
You can get in touch with the italk customer service team by calling 0330 1915 255, emailing [email protected] or using the Live Chat featuring available through the italk website. You can also request a callback.
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How do I cancel italk Broadband?
You have the right to cancel your italk contract within 14 days without giving any reason. After this time, if you decide to quit before the contract end date you're likely to be charged an early cancellation fee.
If you’re out of contract, you can cancel or switch without penalty. As you’ll be on the Openreach network with italk, you’ll find switching broadband providers a simple process. If, after the 24 months is up, you decide to move to another Openreach provider (such as BT, Plusnet, TalkTalk, or many others), the new provider will notify italk that you’re leaving.
If you no longer need a broadband service after your italk contract expires, you’ll need to get in touch. italk has a standard cancellation form, or you can speak to a member of the team by phoning 0333 3312 439.
Expert Summary
Sure, there are faster and cheaper broadband packages out there, but italk stands out among the competition for its transparent prices with no hidden fees. You won’t find many lavish discounts or free incentives, but this is because it’s made a promise to keep the best prices available for its existing users
italk’s customer service is personable and there’s great feedback from those who received speedy, friendly advice from its support team.
On the downside, its bundled Wi-Fi router is fairly basic. We also note there’s a traffic management policy in place.
For a more detailed look at italk, head over to our full review.