All consumers want the best broadband that money can buy, but most people don't want to have to spend all their money on it. Many UK consumers want to know where they can get the best broadband deals. A quick online search is a great first step when looking for broadband providers. There are many services which offer a good comparison service of all the top broadband providers so that people can find the cheapest deals, offers and packages available.
Once consumers find a site which compares broadband packages, they would need to sort by price to view the latest cheapest deals and packages. Bear in mind that cheap broadband can come with its pitfalls. Some broadband providers offering cheaper broadband may try and tie subscribers into longer contracts, speeds on offer might be lower (less than 8Mb), they might limit download allowance which in turn can mean a subscriber could even incur usage charges if they go over the set download allowance. Some providers even limit bandwidth for periods of time if fair usage is exceeded. Some of the more sceptical individuals out there even theorise that for very cheap broadband packages, bandwidth allocation during peak times could also be affected and given less priority thus giving subscribers a slower connection.
It is also important to measure cost against requirements. For example, if a consumer is looking for cheap broadband but is likely to rely heavily on broadband because they are working from home, then it would make sense for them to pay that little bit more and get the second or third cheapest broadband package available in their area. This would also probably give them more download allowance.
In terms of availability, whichever Internet service provider (ISP) people decide to get their broadband from shouldn't essentially matter as most UK broadband is provided through the same infrastructure of copper cables which are all owned by BT. Providers who offer amongst the cheapest UK broadband in the UK include PlusNet and TalkTalk. Virgin Broadband is currently an exception to providers reliant on BT's copper cables. In many areas, Virgin can provide their fibre-optic cables which mean faster speeds, however their superfast broadband packages aren't cheap and typically range from ?20 or more but the bandwidth is good. Again depending on budget, this might be cheap for some people.
In summary, All consumers should ask themselves is whether a cheap package is good enough for what they require. If they need fast speeds, high or unlimited download allowance then cheaper isn't always necessarily the better option. Users will need to compare broadband find the cheapest packages and decide which are most suitable for their own individual requirements vs. what they are willing to pay for or can afford.