Student Broadband

I got an email the other day from someone called Luke, asking for advice when it comes to student broadband packages.

Hi, I’ve just finished my first year at UNI and I’ve been put in charge of finding the best broadband supplier for me and my 2 mates who I’m sharing a house with next year.  Though we will have a TV, I think we’ll all still end up downloading and streaming quite a lot of large files of the internet (iPlayer and Spotify….).  I did think mobile broadband might be a good idea, as we could use it when we’re not at UNI and not pay for a telephone line, but I can’t find any plans where you can really download that much.

What would you recommend for the 3 of us?

Cheers,

Luke

Okay, hopefully more people will find this useful, hence why I’ve replied to it on the website (if anyone else does have questions they want answering, email me at: thomas.futureinsites@googlemail.com).

As a student the price is probably quite a deciding factor, though it is important to remember, you do get what you pay for.  Don’t expect a super fast broadband connection, with unlimited downloads to actually work if it costs 50p a month. The other factor is that you probably won’t be in the house for a full 12 months, which most broadband contracts are for.

Mobile Broadband

You’ve already mentioned mobile broadband and the low download limits associated with it.  However, Vodafone’s mobile broadband plans do offer an “all your can use” plan.  With this you would get the advantages of mobile broadband, without worrying about how much you download.  It isn’t cheap at £18 a month (assuming you each had one).  You do get a free dongle on an 18 month contract, but it costs £25 on their 12 month contract.  If you multiply this out, it would cost your house £54/month for this package, so even with a higher download limit, mobile broadband may not be your best bet.

Be broadband

The next option would be to look into normal broadband plans.  I would have thought it is unlikely that you’d be able to use a cabled service, such as with Virgin Media, so you would need a telephone line and to use ASDL.  I’ve had a look around and you might want to think about Be Broadband.  You may not have heard of them, but they are a well respected company who offer a good quality service and good customer care!

All of their plans come with unlimited downloads.  Unlike with some companies, Be do not ‘throttle’ your connection if you start to take advantage of being able to download as much as you like.  I’d probably recommend their Value plan (8mb downloads), which costs £13.50 a month with no connection fee (and you get some freebies like a wireless router).  This is on a 12 month contract, but would only cost you £54 a year (the equivalent to one month of unlimited mobile broadband).  Be currently have a 3 month half price offer on…and it is likely they’ll have s similar promotion when you would be signing up.  If they don’t, always try asking for a student discount when on the phone - you never know!

Sky Broadband

You mentioned you would be having a TV, but not if you would be signing up to a TV service, such as sky.  If you were, maybe look into their plans.  They’re quite good value and are cheaper than a lot of companies, because you’ve bundled services with them.  Along with this plan, you could also sign upto sky talk, which offers free evening and weekend calls.

12 Month Contracts

Most broadband suppliers insist on 12 month contracts.  Now, as a student it is likely that you won’t even rent your house for that long, never mind be there that long.  Don’t let this put you off though, most shorter contracts (or 1 month contracts) have very high set up fees and do not offer any free wireless modems, etc.  You may also find in the small print that they have cancellation charges, if you aren’t with them long enough.  AOL are one of the few companies to offer a shorter contract, but I’d be tempted to use a provider with a 12 month term.

I hope that’s been useful…anyone got any questions?  Leave a comment!