Who they are

They are the world’s largest communications company and they were the ones to make the first mobile call way back in 1985 and to transform the way the world looked at telecommunications. They’ve always led when it came to mobile communication services. They have a range of packages and there is always something for everyone.

What they offer

They offer the fastest mobile broadband speeds today – and while these speeds might not be available everywhere yet, they are working on it. They are also looking at zooming into the super highway when it comes to speeds and they are testing their High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) technology which could take speeds to nearly 29 Mbps. While mobile broadband will never take the place of a fixed line broadband – it’s just too expensive to compare – it can always be an alternative. It just gives you the freedom of broadband on the move. They have the best hardware available in the market as well. Their USB modems are the latest and they even offer a router so you can share your Internet connection.

How they are perceived

They are seen as quality services as well as hardware providers by the customers. They’re a great choice when it comes to mobile broadband. They are looked upon well by both individual customers as well as businesses who need their employees to stay in touch when they are traveling.

Who they are

Three years ago, Virgin Media became the first ‘quadruple play’ media name when they offered all four services – broadband, digital TV, mobile services and home phone lines together. They were the first to converge all these communication services and bring them under one roof, making them the only major cable company in the country. Virgin Media Broadband came into being a couple of years ago when the cable broadband providers NTL and Blueyonder merged with the ADSL broadband provider Virgin.net. They use DOCSIS 3.0 through the axial cable which connects the customer’s modem to their closest node on the street.

What they offer

According to them, ‘the fastest broadband in the land’. They really do deliver great speeds in their broadband packages and theirs is one of the few really standalone broadband packages. Their bundles are also great and they offer the works – TV, line rental for home phones and mobile broadband besides the regular broadband. Their broadband packages come with unlimited downloads and their fair usage policies are geared to each package. Faster downloads mean great news for customers who want to download pictures, large files, music and movies. There are also quite a few extras that they offer with their packages.

How they are perceived

When it comes to speed of downloads, they are by far the best. Their digital TV is also seen as being among the best. Their prices when unbundled could be on the high side and they do not seem to rate too highly when it comes to customer service.

Who they are

T-Mobile is a company with one very clear aim – to make mobile access to the Internet as affordable and simple as possible. The head of the company would like to see their customers free to access the Internet from any location. They have made large investments in their mobile network and it seems to be paying off. In the recent YouGov 3G Mobile Broadband Survey, they topped the list, coming first in six out of thirteen customer-centric categories.

What they offer

They have two packages – Web ’n Walk Plus and Web ’n Walk Max. There are different prices applicable for each depending on whether you have a one-year or a two-year contract. They were the very first with pay-as-you-go packages. The fastest speed that you can get right now is 4.5 Mb and that is slated to go up shortly to over 7 Mb.

How they are perceived

Users have been surprised at the speeds they get and also taken aback at the good connectivity they get even in far-flung locations. Will it replace home broadband services? Unlikely as most of the users felt that it was a great add-on to their fixed line broadband if they had to travel and stay connected during that time. Mobile broadband is more expensive especially if you want to download a lot.

Who they are

Tiscali has carved a niche for itself – providing reliable and cheap broadband services as well as a bundled package. When TalkTalk took over the company this year, naturally there was a feeling of worry among its subscribers. Everyone wanted to know whether the terms of the contract they had signed with Tiscali would change or not. TalkTalk has reassured everyone that everything would carry on as usual. They hope that the change is seamless and that the only change the customers feel is one of improvement.

What they offer

They offer the cheapest broadband and phone bundled deal in the country and this is possible only because of their LLU or Local Loop Unbundled network. So they can offer ‘free broadband’ to their users which is a huge saving. You can get standalone broadband from them or you can get a bundle with home and digital TV as well. The one broadband package that they offer comes with speeds that go up to 8 Mbps and the downloads are unlimited. Their package comes with a free modem. If where you live falls within Tiscali’s LLU range, then you get their home phone and line rental added to the package they offer as well. Their triple play bundle is the cheapest – less than £20 a month and it comes with digital TV, broadband, home phone and line rental. The set-up is free and they give you free anti-virus and anti-spam protection.

How they are perceived

Tiscali is seen as a value for money connection and if you happen to be living within their LLU area, it could just be a very good deal, especially as their service is quite good too.

Who they are

TalkTalk is amongst the cheapest broadband providers and they can offer this because they use their local loop unbundled network. When they first offered free broadband, they ran into a bit of trouble trying to get it going but their reputation is fine now that they have put in a lot of money to improve their services. They won the Best Value for Money for Bundled Services Award this year as well as other awards.

What they offer

They offer cheap broadband as well as cheap home packages and their own line rental. Their line rental is cheaper than BT’s and their bundles mean that calls are extremely cheap. Right now, they only have one broadband package that they offer and the speeds go up to 8Mbps with a download of 40 GB a month. They provide you with a free wireless router.

They also offer what they call ‘boosts’ for which you have to pay an extra £4 every month – payable on a monthly basis. The TurboBoost makes your broadband the fastest possible for your line. The telephone boosts add on features to your phone like ring-back, call diverting, call waiting, cut-price calls to mobiles, etc.

How they are perceived

Very good value-for-money because their broadband is cheap and their bundles make calls cheap as well. For less then £20 monthly, you can get broadband, line rental and telephone calls. Now that is very affordable. They do give you a lot of extras too but their main advantage is seen to be their price.

Who they are

They are slated to be the UK’s fastest growing broadband provider. They have won awards in probably every category when it comes to TV, home phone and broadband services and they are known for their reliability.

What they offer

They are the only ones who offer a truly free broadband package. They are also the country’s only providers who offer a totally unlimited package. Their services are bundled so you have to take their TV and broadband services together. They also provide you with home phone services and have a couple of very good schemes when it comes to calls. Their three broadband packages are called Base, Everyday and Unlimited. The packages all come with a free wireless router.

How they are perceived

Their users will tell you that their broadband is fast, giving them excellent speeds most of the time. What’s more, they are also seen as both consistent and reliable. If there is one little blip on the Sky horizon, it’s the fact that their broadband and TV services come bundled so a person who is looking for broadband does not have a choice but to take both if he wants to go with Sky.

Why are they called the Post Office? It was because they aimed their service at an older audience – if you said 50+ you’d be quite close. It would be easy for people in this age group to pay at the counters in the post offices – and that’s why their name.

Who they are

They entered the market late – as late as 2007 and they offer no-frills, no nonsense packages. They came in with a kind of niche target audience – a more mature and older audience who didn’t want anything fancy – just to stay connected with the world.

What they offer

The options they offer are a broadband-only package or a broadband with a landline telephone. The great part is that their users can pay for it in cash. Now this is a great boon to the older generation who very often don’t like credit card transactions or find it difficult to keep going to the bank. Not only can they pay in cash, they can pay at any post office counter.

The connection comes with a free router and modem as well as security software. They also offer 5 email addresses and free web space.

How they are perceived

It should have been a great service for the older people in society and the broadband as well as the landline do not really have too many problems. However, their service seems to be rather apathetic going by the complaints that seem to be coming in.

Who they are

They used to offer dial up services in the nineties. Today they are among the popular broadband providers and they have won many awards as well, primarily for the service they offer and the customer satisfaction rate.

What they offer

If you want to know who offers the country’s cheapest standalone package for broadband, this is it. Today they have 200,000 customers and they provide bundled packages which include line rental, home phone and VoIP. For home broadband, they offer a package with limited download as well as an unlimited option. They also have a high usage package which is great for gamers, large downloads, etc and they pride themselves on a reliable and fast connection. The speeds of all the packages are 8 Mbps.  They also state that they manage the traffic on their network so everyone gets good quality connectivity.

How they are perceived

They may be small but this is seen my many users as an advantage. It just means that they go that extra mile to keep their existing customers happy. Anyone who is on a fairly tight budget will find this useful.

Who they are

This is a company that is generous with its deals and you tend to get packages with better speeds and better downloads than many others. They let you check the coverage before you sign up for any of their packages and if you do buy one and you are not satisfied with the coverage, you can return it to them in 14 days and they will cancel your contract.

What they offer

Their mobile broadband bundles come in 30 day, 18 month or 24 month contracts and they go from 500Mb to 10Gb. They also have free laptop deals on some of their packages. You can also buy roaming bundles and this is great if you are traveling abroad. You need to activate the dongle for roaming. They have recently shaken up the price structures of the UK mobile broadband market by offering the lowest rates. These low rates come with a free dongle in a choice of three colours.

How they are perceived

Their packages are seen as value for money deals but it takes time for the shadow of bad service to go away. However, customers are beginning to see the improvements that they are making and acknowledging them. There are some customers however, who have had a bad time for the past couple of years and they still hold on to their opinion that they are among the worst providers.

Who they are

They used to be known as Freeserve, then became Wanadoo and they have now changed their name to Orange. When they offered ‘free broadband’ with their mobile contract, they had a lot of subscribers signing up but as their service was not really anything to scream about, there wasn’t too much of goodwill that this plan generated, so much so that they were named the worst ISP in the country. Things have changed lately and they seem to have ironed out their problems.

What they offer

They have three broadband packages and if you have a mobile contract with them, one of them comes free. They also offer a range of bundled packages and you save quite a bit if you sign up for any of them. They offer a few freebies that come with these bundles like the Wednesday cinema tickets 2-for-1 offer. They aim to start their 20 Mbps packages soon and they say that it will cost the same as their 8 Mbps packages.

How they are perceived

Their broadband services are perceived to be quite reliable but their customer service seems to not be up to the mark.  It might take a while before the perceptions that their initial problems created is put to rest.