Broadband

Welcome to the Broadband page, this is our guide to buying broadband online and includes broadband providers such as BT Broadband, NTL and Tiscali and also features shops that sell broadband equipment such as wireless routers and ADSL modems.

Broadband Internet access is very popular in the UK, this is because it has many advantages over the old, slow dial-up method. The main advantage is the speed, the speeds vary but are much faster then dial-up. The slowest broadband speed these days is generally 512k which is around 10 times faster than dial-up Internet access, this speed is fine for most users and will provide fast Internet use. The next level up from 512k is the 1meg speed, this is twice as fast as 512k and 20 times faster than dial-up Internet access, 1meg broadband offers very fast Internet access. There are speeds that are faster than 1meg but they are generally not needed unless you download an awful lot of media, a 1meg broadband line will download most media types in no time at all. There are many companies who offer broadband Internet access and they include BT Broadband, NTL and Tiscali.

Another great feature with broadband is that it is cheap, when you consider it is 10-20 times faster than dial-up but only a few pounds more expensive then broadband really is the only option and explains why so many people are switching to broadband. There is allot of competition between the broadband providers which is also good for us users, this means that there are lots of cheap deals around with cheap broadband Internet access easily found, you can get packages for around £15 a month which is around that charged by dial-up companies so you can see that broadband really is very cheap indeed. Many providers offer cheap broadband access including BT Broadband, NTL and Tiscali.

The other advantage is that the broadband Internet connection does not use up your phone line, you can make phone calls at the same time as using the Internet. This was not the case with the old Dial-up connections, if you were on the Internet people would get an engaged tone when they tried to ring you, this is not the case with broadband.

Setting up broadband in the home is very easy, on a single computer all you need is a broadband modem which usually comes with your broadband package. When your broadband account is activated there are just a few simple things to do, firstly each telephone in your house needs to have a microfilter inserted between itself and the telephone socket on the wall. These microfilters stop interference between the phone line and the ADSL broadband, they have 2 sockets with one for a telephone and one for the broadband and they are usually clearly marked. So all you have to do is plug the telephone into the socket on the microfilter which is labeled for telephones and the plug the microfilter into the telephone socket on the wall.

The next thing to do is to connect your ADSL modem, this is simply a matter of plugging the ADSL modem into the socket on the microfilter that is labeled for broadband and then plugging the microfilter into a telephone socket on the wall. Then you have to plug the ADSL modem into the computer, this is done with the provided USB cable but check the instructions that came with your broadband package as often you need to leave the modem unplugged from the computer for a while. The next step is to install the software, this is simply a matter if inserting the CD that came with the broadband package and following the on screen instructions, it will ask you at some point to plug the modem into the computer so wait until you see that before you plug it in.

So when you have done that you should have access to a high speed broadband connection which is much faster than the old dial-up, you will be able to do cool things such as watch videos online, download large files very quickly and play games online that require allot of data to be sent and received.

There are other products that you can buy to enhance your broadband experience, the main one is a wireless router. A wireless router will transmit your broadband Internet connection all over your home without any wires so that any computer with a wireless adaptor can access the broadband Internet connection anywhere in your home. The best wireless routers are the ones that have a built in ADSL modem, that way you simply plug the phone line (with the microfilter) into the back of the wireless router and all you have to do is configure the router with your broadband account information, it will then broadcast the broadband connection to all of the computers and you can also connect computers with wires if you wish (if they are close to the router). Each computer will need a wireless adaptor to access the wireless signal but they are cheap to buy separately, most new laptops also come with a built in wireless adaptor so they can access the Internet wirelessly from anywhere in your home or garden. This kind of freedom really is worth buying a wireless router for, just the fact that you can sit in your garden with no wires at all and access the broadband Internet connection makes it worthwhile, you can also take your laptop anywhere else so you could be sat on the sofa or lay on your bed, as long as you have battery power in your laptop you will be fine.

So there are a few things to consider when buying broadband Internet access online, the main one is the speed with the most popular speeds being 512k and 1meg. The next thing will be the price, there are many cheap deals around and broadband is generally cheap anyway, it's best to have a look at what most of the companies are offing line BT Broadband, NTL and Tiscali to find the cheapest deal. Then you may also consider a wireless router, these are great and enable you to share your broadband Internet access with any computers in your home.