How to choose an internet service provider

Choosing the right Internet Service Provider (ISP) for your home or business shouldn’t be a decision you make lightly.

You know what you want – a great internet connection that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg, with enough speeds for your whole household to feast on too. It seems simple, right? But the first hurdle is knowing where to begin.

Don’t worry, it’s a doddle once you know what to look out for, so we’ve made it as simple as can be.

This handy broadband blog provides a breakdown of what to consider when choosing the best broadband provider in your area.

Whether it’s speeds, service, or savings you’re after with your broadband; you can get it all when you choose the right service provider with the right broadband package. (And of course, we know a great one if you’re wondering…)

Let’s dive right in and get familiar with the most common broadband connections in the UK.

Common broadband connectivity options:

Make sure you know what connection you’re signing up for. The most common types of broadband available to get you connected to the internet in the UK are:

• DSL (digital subscriber line)
• Cable broadband.
• Fibre optic broadband.
• Wireless or WiFi broadband.
• Satellite and mobile broadband.
• Dedicated leased line.

Find out more about different broadband types.

Differences between UK broadband types

The main difference between the types of internet connection is all about the type of cable used at various stages of the journey from the exchange. We’ll let you into a secret: the newer the technology, the more advanced your broadband speeds will be.

Copper broadband

Historically, copper cables opened up a world of opportunities online. With the ability to deliver a broadband service via your copper telephone line, it was ground breaking at the time. And, to be fair – it worked really well for a while too – but copper’s limitations have became more apparent since the growth of the internet and need for better speeds.

With the rising demand for better internet, big-name broadband providers, such as BT, have been gradually replacing parts of their copper cabling with fibre optic cable in order to improve their existing services. (As well as the smaller rural broadband giants like ourselves shifting focus from wireless to full fibre too!).

A lot of the UK is now covered by a part-fibre, part-copper connection, known as fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC). paving the way for full fibre to make itith full fibre paving the way

Fibre-to-the-cabinet broadband

FTTC connections use fibre-optic cables to carry your internet connection from the exchange to those green cabinets that you will see locally, normally found at the end of your street.

Copper cables then carry your internet connection from the cabinet to your home.

As you can probably guess, this means the further you are from the cabinet, the slower your connection will be.

Why is fibre better than copper broadband?

Fibre-optic cables have a much higher capacity, and aren’t affected by longer distances because the signal is carried using light, rather than electricity.

With electricity, resistance begins to build up inside the cable, slowing down the signal that is being pushed through it.

So, the longer the cable, the more resistance your signal will have to fight to get to you. Resistance doesn’t build up when you use light.

Also, with copper connections, a lot of the time you will have a contended connection, which means that you are sharing your cable with other properties.

Copper cables don’t have a very good bandwidth, meaning they can’t carry a lot of signal at once.

What does this all mean? Simply put, if the other properties you are sharing your connection with are using a lot of data at once, your requests won’t be able to get through at the same time.

So, you’ll have to wait until there is enough space before you can get online. Nightmare!

Fibre-to-the-premises broadband

Fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) broadband uses fibre cables for all of your broadband connection.

With a full-fibre connection, you have your own dedicated line to the cabinet, so there’s no fighting with the neighbours over bandwidth.

Replacing copper cable sounds pretty simple in principle, but it is no small task. BT alone has over 75 million miles of copper cabling in UK.

The issue is that BT and other large providers are replacing copper with fibre in their most densely-populated coverage areas first, and slowly working their way out.

People in more urban areas tend to already have pretty decent speeds, while in more rural locations, people can be miles away from their nearest cabinet.

Luckily, there are more options for people in these areas. Companies, like Airband are bridging the divide, bringing full fibre to communities who need it most.

Find out more about the differences between FTTC and FTTP.

There are other ways of getting a superfast broadband connection too, like fixed wireless broadband.

This type of broadband uses radio waves instead of cables for the last leg of your connection and can achieve speeds of up to 40Mbps. Suitable for some, but it’s admittedly no match for full fibre broadband.

What bandwidth do I need?

What size bandwidth you’ll need depends on what you use your connection for, and how many people will be using it.

If you just use your connection to surf the web or check your emails, you’ll be able to get away with a smaller bandwidth. However, if you live in a house where more than a few devices are likely to be online at once, you’ll want a decent-size bandwidth, so that none of you will be interrupted. You might want to check out how to tell what is a good download and upload speed.

Netflix streamers, business owners, home workers, school learners, online gamers, file downloaders – what you do online makes a difference to the speeds you need. So why not live life online unrestricted?

What do I need from an ISP?

When choosing an internet service provider, it is important that you decide what matters most to you.

Do you care more about speed, price, reliability – or all of the above?

Here is a list of the best things to look out for when choosing your ISP:

• Speed – is what they offer fast enough for your needs?
• Price – is the price in line with the service?
• Reliability – are speeds consistent?
• 24/7 customer support – do they resolve issues in good time?
• Service Level Agreements – what do their commitments offer?
• Fixed price contracts – will there be price rises while in contract?
• The best service & technology – is the technology future-proof?
• Cares about customer experience – do they provide a good customer service?
• Delivers what they promise – do they do what they say they will do?

Which broadband providers are in my area?

Some providers offer fantastic coverage in densely populated areas, and terrible to non-existent in others rural.

Check availability for where you are and what you can receive.

You can use our broadband coverage checker now to see if you’re in range for an ultrafast Airband connection, with speeds of up to 900Mbps.

Check availability:

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How much will my broadband cost?

Costs of broadband can vary, with many factors affecting the price of your connection:

• The area/competition.
• Contractual commitments
• Type of connection
• Speed of the connection
• Service level agreements and guarantees

Comparison sites, such as Compare Fibre are one of the best ways to look at what deals are on offer in your local area.

The Airband advantage

Why choose Airband? We are the UK’s biggest non-urban network and provide coverage in rural areas that other providers won’t go.

We use future-proof fibre broadband technology, meaning that your connection will still have the best technology in 10 years time.

We offer ultrafast speeds and an uncontended service, direct to your door.

We never rise your prices while in contract, unlike other major providers who up their prices regularly.

When you sign up for a connection with us, you’ll have no obligation to have a landline, since we don’t use copper telephone wires for your connection.

Most importantly, we understand struggle of poor broadband and every single customer matters to us, so we’ll go above and beyond to provide the best broadband solution for you.

Join the UK’s largest non-urban network provider to benefit from the full Airband Advantage. Use our coverage checker to see if you’re in store for ultrasonic fibre speeds up to 900Mbps.

Some providers will charge an installation fee too – but we don’t. We offer broadband with no upfront costs.

Check availability:

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