India broadband

I have been here in India for some time now and I think its about time I go back to UK and get my act together I have booked my ticket for next month… Yeh Virgin Atlantic.. you guessed it right Its the airhostesses.. not the fare which makes me go back to them every time.
I had a blueyonder broadband connection there which I got disconnected when I came to India as I didint want to pay for it when I was in India as it was a long trip this time around. I have spent this long hot and sweaty summer in Delhi and would love to go back to the damp cold and wet weather which does feel lovely for a few days after you get out of an oven which New Delhi is in summers..

Crap apart I am going to be without a broadband connection for a few days when I get to UK and as far as I know isp’s like bethere and ukonline who provide fast connections are still not available in Crawley (thats where I live) so I will have to put up with whatever is available like bt which is somethign I dont like due to a bitter experience a few years back and then there is blueyonder which has been alright but they are going to take a lot of time to get my connection up and running .. last time it took almost a week and I dont have a week to spare as I need the net 24/7 Yeh call me a geek if you like but thats how I make my living

As I was struggling to find out what all isp’s are available in Crawley my beautiful friend Anne shows up on messenger and told me about this broadband site which lets you see which all broadband providers are available in a given area and all you need to do is enter your post code and you get a list of what all is on offer by different isps and what is available for you to choose from with all the speacial offers and all those all singing and dancing packages they have for you. I am going for virgin media this time which has got some great offers and is very reasonably priced.. I would have gone for a 24meg connection from bethere but they are still not available in my area in westsussex.

Having said all the above I will have to wait for a few days before my connection is provided by virgin media as my flat is locked so I would need a way to connect to the WWW as soon as I land in UK because I also manage my own servers and with no one to help me on that front I have to have my e-mails accisible 24/7 as help comes at a price and I would rather blow that money in a pub instead of paying it to some server management firm who do nothing except for taking instructions from you and monitoring your server which any one with a little linux experience can do him/her self. I am going to get mobile broadband for starters when I get to UK and use it untill I get my wired broadband and this mobile broadband thing will also come in handy when I am travelling so it wont be a waste of money I guess.

Virgin media also provides wireless broadband which means they will provide you with a modem and a wireless router so you can use your wifi phone or laptop in and around your house without having to plug in a cable. I am planning to get this wireless router so I can use skype on my mobile phone when I am at home.

If you have any better ideas for me please leave your comments… And lastly I thank Anne for giving me such a wonderful idea Muaaaaahhhh.

Mobile broadband as we all know is catching up in UK and the rest of Europe aswell but the prices still remain very high in most of the countries. In UK a mobile broadband connection will set you back by around £15 every month depending on which mobile broadband provider you go with and the package you opt for. Almost all the internet service providers offering mobile broadband service have a cap on bandwidth usage which makes it mandatory to have a seperate residential broadband connection for heavy duity usage as otherwise you have a risk of exceeding bandwidth quota of your mobile broadband connection and possibly get a huge bill which can run into thousands of pounds as I have read on some forums where some people used these connections for downloading movies and music without realising that they will be paying for the extra usage.

The main mobile broadband service providers in the Uk are T-mobile, Vodaphone, 3g, Orange mobile broadband and thats it I think.. if you know any others please feel free to leave your comments. The best way to choose what suits you best is to compare mobile broadband offers by different internet service providers and go for the one which suits your pocket and your monthly requirements. I have used T-Mobile’s mobile broadband service for about a year and a half when it was first launched back in 2005 and at that time my town Crawley in Westsussex was not covered by 3g services due to which I had to rely upon gprs connection while in Crawley but now 3g is almost every where and I get excellent speeds where ever I go although I have changed my service provider now. While travelling its a great way to spend time surfing the net in a train as you can utilise the time doing something constructive. If I could change one thing about mobile broadband in UK that would be the harges while roaming internationally as its just out of reach for people like me to afford such high rates otherwise the prices in UK for mobile broadband have come down considerably in the last couple of years and thats whats spreading mobile broadband to every corner of the country.

Broadband penetration in UK is not as much as I would like it to be at the moment as countries like Japan, Tiawan, South Korea are far ahead of us in that respect. I have been trying to spread awareness amongs our local community about the benefits broadband brings with it which did help in increasing the number of broadband connections on my own street atleast

Broadband availability is still an issue in UK as I am not able to get the best broadband connection available in UK when it is first launched and I have to wait untill it is launched in my area but there is a way to keep track on what all broadband providers are available in your area by using this broadband availability checker. The first ever broadband connection I had in UK was from BT and the speed used to be 256kbps for which they used to charge £29 per month and after using it for six months they doubled everyones speed and I got my first 512kbps connection. It was called BT Yahoo back then which had some goodies from Yahoo in the package and then after a year or so they came up with 2mbps connections and I must have been one of the first ones to get their 2mbps connection which used to make me feel as if I had the fastest connection around which was true to some extent as I am talking about 2003 when broadband was still a little new not just in UK but all around the world including the United states.

Cable broadband was something I had never tried so I switched to Blueyonder and got their 4mbps connection which was again a great deal faster then adsl and unlike adsl the connection never used to drop although speeds were not as much as I would like. In 2005 Blueyonder (Telewest) came up with 8mbps connection and it was priced at £55 a month which included my television and phone line as well but I never got speeds more then 4-5 mbps except for when I used to do broadband speed test which showed speeds of more then 7mbps which is not bad considering the fact that you dont ever get the promised speed as they write it as upto 8mbps. Telewest was later merged with NTL and I being a broadband speed freak I switched again and got a connection from Bethere which is a 24mbps connection and to be honest I have never experienced anything better, probbably because there isint any other company providing faster connections then 24mbps offered by Be there broadband and it is priced very reasonably.

Mobile broadband is catching up really fast in UK as evident from Google trends and almost every one I know has a data card and I use a t-mobile data card which has made my life so easy as I can stay connected while travelling in trains or sitting at a coffee shop somewhere in London It does make a lot of sense to get just a mobile broadband so you can use it at home and outdoors if you are not a very heavy downloader as I am as most of the mobile broadband service providers have capped bandwidth usage ranging from 1GB to 10GB a month and some hide under the umbrella of fare usage policy and other fine print.

Selecting a broadband package largely depends on the reasons one needs to connect to the Internet. It is totally dependant on the user and the usage limit. Based on the different needs, there are a number of broadband bundles for home, business, for few users, for multi users, those combined with TV, phone and mobile, standalone broadband etc. There are others catering to specific needs like fast, cheap, free, cable, wireless, no contract broadband etc.

Broadband users may use the internet for basic tasks like emailing, browsing, chatting, sharing pictures or advanced ones like audio, video streaming, uploading or downloading large files, gaming etc. All the above mentioned types of services are suitable for this wide array of usage. While selecting a package one has to bear in mind a few essential details like speed, pricing, download limit, contention ratio, reliability, customer service, etc.

Most providers have minimum 3 choices of packages with varying speeds (512 kbps to 24MB) and download limits (1GB to “Unlimited”). Unlimited broadband download is practically not possible and there is a fair usage policy that customers are required to abide by. Virgin Media offers packages along with all 3 services – TV, Mobile and Phone. TalkTalk’s broadband is entirely dependant on the phone options and therefore broadband is given for free. BE Pro is the fastest broadband connection offered and therefore suitable for business and gaming. Pipex is the oldest provider and PlusNet provides broadband connectivity for teleworker and small businesses too. All packages are accompanied by a modem or router, anti-virus, webspace, email addresses etc. There are free trials also given by some providers. 

A brand of THUS plc, Demon is 12 - year - old Broadband Internet Service Provider delivering customised solutions for its Customers. Its success as one of the leading Internet Service Providers in the UK can be attributed to its Customer - centric approach towards business.

It provides a wide spectrum of broadband solutions tailored to meet the requirements of all users across the UK. Demon Broadband Service Provider offers two Packages namely Demon Home 8000 Broadband Offer and Demon Home Office 8000 Broadband Packages.

The numerous advantages that subscribers of   Demon Broadband Service enjoy are high - speed internet connection, unlimited download, easy to install and free connection besides free modem & router and email security features. However, one of its most striking features has been its ability to prioritise traffic during peak periods.  Demon Home 8000 Broadband Offer is an ideal package for Home and Demon Home Office 8000 Broadband suits internet users working at Home. Demon boasts itself to be the first service provider to provide their customers with a free anti-phishing function. Demon also provides a wide spectrum of hardware and security products, hosting and web services and Mobile Internet Services.

A dedicated and an efficient Support Desk that resolves tricky Technical and service related issues, operates round the clock. Therefore, Demon Internet Service Provider is more than a Broadband Connection Service offering incessant value added service to all its Customers across UK.

ISPs are nothing but service providers who enable users to get connected to the World Wide Web. There a many internet providers in UK, and across the world. They provide dial up or broadband connections to the Internet. While dial up provides very less speed (56kbps), broadband allows minimum 512kbps speed and a maximum up to 24 MB. Broadband connection options are either via phone (ADSL) or cable. Dial up connections are being replaced by broadband nowadays, as more and more people appreciate its advantages.

The Internet Service Providers compete mainly in the speed provided and price charged. Other aspects include reliability, package benefits, customer support, free stuff offered etc. Some offer free broadband, as they believe that since the same line is used for both phone and broadband, phone alone needs to be charged and broadband offered for free. Business broadband costs more because of it wider range of features and support. There are several providers in the UK offering all these services. BT, AOL, Pipex, BE, PlusNet, Tiscali, Toucan, UK Online etc, are some of the popular providers in UK. Internet service is also combined with other services like phone, digital TV, mobile etc. These are called as broadband bundles. Virgin Media is the first to incorporate all these options and is known as the pioneer in “quad play”

An association called “The Internet Services Providers’ Association” (ISPA UK) is a trade association fro UK ISPs. It was established in 1995 and is responsible for regulation and development of the Internet industry.

BT is the world’s oldest and a global leader in providing communications solutions to 170 countries. BT’s core businesses include telecommunications, networked IT services, internet products and services and broadband.

BT’s broadband connectivity is offered via three options - Option 1, 2 and 3. Contracts for 12 or 18 months are applicable and longer the contract lesser the price. Whatever be the contract length, the first three or six months (depending on the option chosen) are charged lesser than the subsequent ones. A standard wired router or wireless BT Home Hub accompany the package. The broadband speeds are up to 8MB and download limits are either 5GB, 8GB or unlimited. A BT Hub Phone and unlimited Wi-Fi minutes are available along with Option 3 alone, whereas other options allow 250 or 350 minutes only. Basic or advanced Norton security is also provided.

Features common to all options are the availability of BT Vision, 24/7 customer support, 5GB free online storage, evening and weekend UK calls. The security features include email anti-virus protection and parental controls.

Consumer Reviews of BT Broadband packages have been postive most of the time, with some occasional customer service complaints.
BT broadband can be connected via a BT landline or non-cable telephone line. When the usage allowance is exceeded for two months continuously a charge of 30p per excess GB is levied, starting on the second month. Depending on the choice of connectivity you will receive a welcome pack that contains a microfilter, BT Home Hub, BT Hub Phone and an installation CD and if required an engineer will install the broadband connection. After an order is placed, the connection will be established in 5 working days and orders can be placed via the website or phone.

Broadband bundles are nothing but broadband in combination with TV, mobile or phone. Different broadband service providers offer different combination packages. Up to 3 services can also be combined with broadband. When such packages are purchased it can save a great deal of money, but it is important to figure out the one that suits you the best. It should be ensured that you use all services of the broadband bundle paid for. Picking up one such package depends on various factors like number of users, the type of service preferred most etc. Generally, providers charge less for broadband bundles than for standalone broadband. Some offer free modem, free mobile talk time, free TV channels, unlimited speed, etc. A single charge is levied and one customer service centre caters to sort issues relating to all services in the package.  

AOL, Pipex, PlusNet, Sky, TalkTalk, Tiscali, Toucan and Virgin provide broadband with home phone and mobile. Those offering TV services along with broadband are Sky, Tiscali and Virgin. Virgin is the first broadband service provider to provide “quad play” services by combining TV, Internet, mobile phone and fixed-line telephone. The more the number of services in one package the lesser the package costs. It is always beneficial to go by the services required than by the cost.

Though bundling has its own advantages like single bill, single contact point fro customer service etc, it has its own set of cons like contract period, one faulty service affecting all other services, over dependence on one single provider even if services aren’t good. It definitely pays to read the finer print too while settling for a bundle.