Guide – What’s the best Broadband Plan for you?

Broadband Plans Around You

We at Broadband Freedom are proud to give our customers flexible choices. After all, we’re firm believers that broadband should plan around you and not the other way around. That’s why we offer a wide variety of contract terms because we know everyone has different circumstances.

Maybe you’re a homeowner who wants broadband sorted for the next two years? No problem. Or a student in temporary accommodation? We’ve got you covered. Perhaps you have had to temporarily move for work-related reasons? You’re good with us too. Maybe you live life as it comes? Our monthly broadband fits you like a glove.

But there’s more to picking a plan than that. Let’s dig deeper!

Our Speedy Broadband Plans

In an ideal world, you want the fastest broadband. The only problem with that is the majority of the UK still depends on FTTC. The good news is that we’re starting to see the beginning of a mini-revolution for the UK’s digital infrastructure. A full-fibre future and upgraded networks are on the horizon but you need to know what’s the crack right now!

First things first; you need to check your speed. All done? Okay, let’s see what’s available with Broadband Freedom. By the way, all these plans are included in all of our contracts. So, it doesn’t matter if you sign up for monthly rolling no contract broadband or stick with us for two years, you can choose!

Unlimited Broadband

We start competitively with our first package. Our ADSL sourced Unlimited Broadband is ideal for low usage households who want cheaper broadband. Don’t let “ADSL” or cheap broadband put you off though! With an average speed of 16Mbps, we’re blowing the competition out of the water. Take PlusNet for example, for a similar package with them, you’ll only reach average speeds of about 10mbps.

Home Fibre Broadband

Our Home Fibre Broadband holds its own against the big boys. Virgin Media has a similar package with average speeds of 35Mbps, up to 35Mpbs download speeds and 10Mbps upload speeds. We’re happy to say that we just beat their average speeds (36Mbps). Our download speed is 40Mbps and we match their upload speeds.

Home Fibre Plus – Super Fast

This is our fastest broadband package with average speeds of 53Mbps, 80Mbps download speeds and 20Mbps upload speeds. Compare that to a similar package by Sky, which had 59Mbps download speeds and 16Mbps upload speeds and you can see Home Fibre Plus – Super Fast is also Super valuable cheap broadband! In fact, unlike Sky, our price won’t increase each year up to £72.00! And unlike Virgin, we’ll commit to our price, even after 18 months.

How Long Do You Want Your Broadband Contract For? 

This is where you take control, we will not tie you into long contracts. You can choose from one month, up to a 24 month contract, and you can find out more below. 

• Rolling Monthly contract
• 6 month contract
• 12 month contract
• 18 month contract
• 24 month contract

What Speed Should You Go For?

Overall, this depends on how you plan to use your broadband. In our contract guides, we give you some advice on which of our broadband plans you should go for. We’ll break it down even more in this guide. We’ve listed different categories below.

Light Broadband User

If you use the internet for basics, such as checking emails and perhaps browsing online for a little bit, this could be the best for you. Assuming that you rarely stream videos or listen to music on the internet, our Unlimited Broadband is ideal if you live alone, and it means you can get exactly what you need without the expensive broadband costs.

Not to mention, with average speeds of 16Mbps you can do more than stick with the basics. You can watch Netflix in HD and browse the web at the same time. Of course, performance will slow down the more people and devices are on the bandwidth at the same time. If that’s the case, the next plan may be more suitable. 

Average Broadband User

If you enjoy catching up on the latest shows via streaming services, watching YouTube videos, spending a couple of hours browsing, emailing and perhaps online meetings, you would no doubt find our Unlimited Broadband plan more than satisfactory. However, the more versatile your use is of the broadband, the more data and bandwidth you’ll need.

Using the internet fairly regularly, and for all the reasons listed above, may mean you need our Home Fibre Broadband with a decent 26Mbs. This is definitely the case in a household with multiple devices online at the same time. 

Multi-Users

Do you push your broadband to the limit? Maybe this sounds like your household? Your partner is streaming BBC iPlayer. One of the kids is watching their favourite TikTokker. Your teenager is supposedly researching online for their homework (yet they are more than likely on Spotify and gaming). In the meantime, you’re watching the latest blockbuster and looking for Christmas presents on a tablet.

For this, you need a very high bandwidth. Of course, we’re going to recommend our Home Fibre Plus – Super Fast Plan, with an average speed of 63Mbs. You want to get the most out of your money with broadband that can keep up, and this is especially for households in which there are more than two people regularly using the internet. This plan is also ideal for gamers.

Cut The Jargon

You’ll have seen numbers in this guide with Mbps next to them, but what are Mbps and what do the numbers mean? What is a data allowance? And upload speeds? This technical jargon is a mystery to many so allow us to clear the muddy waters, so to speak.

Mbps

Mbps, also known as megabits per second and Mb or Mbits, is simply a measure of how quickly you can download something from the internet to your smartphone or other devices. The term ‘download’ includes actions such as streaming your favourite series, listening to your playlists, and even browsing the web, as each page loads onto your device. 

The higher the Mbps, the quicker you’ll see the end product, but this comes at a price because you will pay more for a higher Mbps. You may see the term bandwidth too – this is also essentially the download speed of your internet connection. Therefore, lower Mbps = lower bandwidth.

Data Allowance

Data allowance is generally unlimited for the majority of broadband packages and applies more so to mobile phone contracts. If you have a set amount of data, for example, 5GB per month, and you use it up, you will either incur extra charges or find there is a block to stop you from further accessing the internet. 

Considering one hour of television streaming will use an average of 650Mb, or a movie in HD (high definition) could use over 4GB, it’s a good job we at Broadband Freedom offer unlimited data with our packages! Combine that with survey results that found adults in the UK spend an average of 24.9 hours a week online (Statista.com, 2021) and you’ll see that we’ve got you well and truly covered!

Upload Speed

An upload speed is simply the opposite of a download speed. Broadband providers place more importance on download speed because we generally download data far more than we upload it. But we do upload data, such as logging into an app, your details are uploaded there, or credit card details when shopping. The amount of data we upload is minuscule compared to what we download, so upload speed almost becomes irrelevant. 

All things now considered, the best thing to do is talk to your broadband provider:

1) let them know how many people will be using the internet

2) how regularly

3) how they’ll use the internet (gaming, Zoom meetings, streaming etc.)

Doing this helps you to make an informed choice and the person on the call should be able to properly advise you. Otherwise, you could end up with a broadband plan that is completely wrong for you.

Don’t forget, we at Broadband Freedom and Home Telecom have an ‘Excellent’ TrustPilot review for our customer service, and that’s for many good reasons!

Communication is key between you and your possible broadband provider at this stage, as it means you know what you’re getting into. Any service that is subpar to your expectations could warrant the early termination of your contract. Check out our guide here for your rights as a broadband consumer. 

Further Information On Our Plans

Our competitive and cheap broadband prices, along with speedy and reliable broadband, also contain included extras. All of our plans, regardless of contract length or broadband package, come with a free router, phone line and 100 free minutes. When you switch over to us, we let your current provider know, and make all necessary arrangements for installation.

Ready To Put A Plan Together?

All of our newcomers and loyal customers are welcomed to our service on an equal footing. We avoid price hikes or lowering the cost of our services to unsustainable prices just to entice people to join us in a long contract. We do this without compromising on our mission to deliver flexible services.

There’s a plan for everyone with Broadband Freedom.