O2 broadband
O2's home broadband service keeps impressing with its reliability and ease of setup. It's not widely available as BT's ADSL service because O2 uses its own equipment in local exchanges rather than simply reselling BT's broadband bundles. Prices are extremely competitive, though, especially for O2 mobile phone customers who receive a £5 monthly discount and don't have to pay the £25.32 setup fee.
O2 data allowances of its different packages are generous. The Basics provides 20GB a month, not too shabby for £13.50 (or £8.50 for O2 mobile customers). The All Rounder includes 100GB for £17.50 a month, while The Works costs £26 and includes a whopping 250GB. The prospect of written warnings and possible service suspension for exceeding these limits might sound a little schoolmasterly but we prefer it to automatic fees or a throttled service.
All three packages have download speeds of 20Mbit/s, but The Works can upload at 2.5Mbit/s, rather than the more modest 1.3Mbit/s of the other two. O2 also includes free text messages, sent using a web interface – The Basics includes 100 texts, rising to 200 and 500 for the pricier packages.
O2's more expensive packages are a good deal for heavy downloaders, and the company's support and reliability are excellent. If you're an O2 mobile customer, this is definitely the way to go. Those on other mobile networks get a pretty good deal, too. With a generous 100GB allowance and excellent customer feedback, O2's All Rounder is hard to beat.