Bundle up Your Broadband

There are many things to be taken into consideration when choosing a broadband provider, but one of the most common is the extra features you can get with it. Getting broadband on its own is no longer necessary; instead you can receive your phone, TV and mobile phone from the same company.

The Broadband Bundle started in 2007 with Virgin and their "4 for 40" TV, internet, home phone and mobile phone package. Other companies have followed suit and with one company you can even get your gas and electricity along with your home phone and broadband.

But can a broadband bundle save you a bundle? There's no doubt that having all your bills coming from the one provider makes life a lot easier, but can you actually save money by doing so? The best way to find out is to simply assess the options. Say the package you're interested in offers free evening and weekend phone calls and 139 TV channels. This is all well and good if you work office hours and are a telly addict. But if you work nights and hate daytime TV, you're not really going to benefit from this package, in which case a simple cheap broadband package would be more cost-effective for you.

Don't just go by the headline price. Often this doesn't take into account the line rental you'd still need to pay to BT (currently around 11), and is usually for the lowest specification package with the lowest download cap. Decide how much you'd use the internet and go from there. A heavy user who surfs every night and downloads lots of music files or watches TV internet will need a download cap of around 40MB. Someone who only uses it occasionally, perhaps for online shopping, may only need a limit of 2MB. Be careful you don't end up paying for more than you need.

As with anything, there are pros and cons of a bundled package. You have the advantage of just one direct debit to one company, and a single line technical support, but on the other hand if something goes wrong with one service, your others may be affected too. Plus, minimum contracts for broadband bundles tend to be longer, usually around 18 months, so if you experience problems with one of your services you're tied in for longer.

If you choose your product wisely and compare different packages before buying, and read reviews from other customers, this shouldn't be a problem. Read the small print, make sure you know what you're signing up for, and you should be able to enjoy a hassle-free internet connection with all the extras.

Want broadband? Find cheap broadband by comparing broadband online.

J Tillotson is a UK author specialising in technology and communications.

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