This summer has seen a price war between broadband providers after Sky’s announcement that it is to offer a free service to 8m of its TV subscribers. While lower costs are great news for consumers, the “free” deals for high-speed internet connection are not easy to compare and experts say broadband users must be careful not to get locked into an unsuitable deal.

What is broadband?

Broadband is a high-speed connection to the internet that is “always on” and with a large capacity to receive and send data. It is up to 20 times faster than a normal 56K modem and lets you surf the internet and download files much faster.

How do I get it?

There are two main ways to get broadband into your home. One is through an ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) which works through a modification of your existing telephone line and needs a high-speed modem. Or you could get cable installed (which you may already have) to receive your TV or phone service and run broadband through that as well.

Why would I want broadband?

You can watch video clips and listen to music in real time, including live broadcasts as well as download large files from the internet. Essentially you can just do everything you did before but much more quickly.

How much faster is broadband?

At entry level, a 512K broadband internet connection is around 10 times faster than a 56K dial-up connection, allowing you to view web pages with barely any delay, whereas with an 8MB broadband connection you can watch TV quality video over the web.

How can I find the right service?

There are dozens of broadband providers in the UK. Some simply offer internet services, while others also provide home telephone and digital television. Providers who supply ADSL broadband require you to have a BT phone line, but you can only access cable broadband if a cable broadband provider, such as NTL or Telewest, has installed a cable network in your area. You can use a comparison website such as uSwitch.com and www.compare-uk-broadband.co.uk to find which broadband provider is best for you.

What services are available?

Sky offers “free” broadband to its TV package customers currently paying £15 a month for the TV service. Also, Carphone Warehouse, through its subsidiary TalkTalk, offers broadband through its Talk3 International call plan. Subscribers will need to switch to the £10.99 monthly telephone line rental payments with TalkTalk, and pay an extra £10 for the service making a total monthly outlay of £21. If you make a lot of phone calls this is a good deal, but there is also a £30 connection charge.

Orange also launched a “free” broadband service last month to customers taking out one of Orange’s Racoon, Canary or Panther mobile phone plans.

Finally, if voice calls are down on the list of priorities and you only surf the internet occasionally, there may be cheaper ways to enjoy fast broadband. Bulldog Broadband, for example, offers a “metered” package called pay-as-you-go which charges by time spent online, with prices ranging from 1p per minute at weekends to 3p during peak hours. It only exists alongside Bulldog line rental so check call charges for the full picture.

What about a basic no-limit broadband package?

NTL offers a simple monthly package at £17.99 for no-limit broadband but it has a download speed of only 1MB. Customers must be in the NTL cable area.

BT Total Broadband charges £17.99 a month plus line rental of £11 a month. But although the downloads speed is fast at 8MB it limits usage to 2GB a month.

Anything to be aware of when choosing a package?

Expect to pay a minimum of £10 per month for a package, more if you’re going for a faster connection speed. Make sure you factor in one-off costs such as installation fees and any extra equipment you might need to purchase.

You should also be aware of “capping”, a system which disconnects you or charges you more if you use too much memory. As a rough guide, surfing two hours a day with no downloads uses about 0.3 gigabytes a month and caps tend to be set between 1GB and 2GB.

What are the restrictions on usage?

An important factor in your choice of broadband internet deal is whether there is a download limit and how high this limit is. Not every broadband provider imposes a limit, although most have clauses to prevent what they consider excessive use. Where downloads are imposed they can range from as little as 1GB per month to 15GB or 30GB per month. But you are very unlikely to exceed your monthly download allowance just by looking at web pages.

Once I’ve found the perfect service do I just ring up and get it?

Not everyone in the UK has access to broadband. To find out if you have, go to www.ukonlineforbusiness.gov.uk and type in your home phone number and postcode.