Choosing your broadband can be extremely confusing as there are different broadband types, as well as too many different providers. The good news is that if you are on a budget and have specific needs for broadband service, you’ll find plenty of cheap providers in the UK. It is true that large internet service providers offer great services, but there are also advantages to opting for a less-known provider.
For your convenience, MovingWaldo has compiled a list of the 5 cheapest broadband providers to help you browse all the options and choose the most suitable deal for your needs.
What is MovingWaldo?
MovingWaldo is the Free Moving Concierge Service. Since 2016, we help millions of Americans tackle moving tasks in minutes. We care to take the stress away from moving by offering free tools, tips and tricks and referral of service providers that you can trust. MovingWaldo is everything moving under the same roof!
How are broadband providers selected?
All broadband providers listed are selected carefully from the best companies on the market. We care to help you through the maze of information the web provides about this industry. You will certainly find the perfect match for your Internet needs!
Six-time winner of Best Superfast Broadband (2013-2018)
About
Hyperoptic started its broadband services in 2011 setting a new connectivity standard in the community by specializing in FTTP (fibre to the premises) broadband. Engineered all the way to keep the service reliable, efficient and cost-savvy, Hyperoptic is known for its promise to price match, their 24/7 customer support and their “monthly rolling” services. The purpose-built full fibered network is all set to meet everyone’s connectivity needs.The company offers 18x more speed than any average internet service provider. Covering 64 towns and counting to transform UK’s connectivity, Hyperoptic is a wise choice for affordable broadband.
Prices start at £20 a month with a 24 month commitment
Broadband: Hyperoptic broadband brings the full fibre to your home to guarantee super speed and reliability wherever you are in the registered locations. There are 4 packages available offering an average download and upload speed range of 900Mbps. It is perfect for gaming, HD streaming, online meetings and downloading/uploading heavy files. With the addition of a mini-hub, the broadband can reach the whole house.
TV: Hyperoptic does not offer any of their own home entertainment services. Although they have a partnership with Sky TV which you can take in the bundle offer.
Home Phone: The broadband package comes with a home phone facility. The phone port becomes active as soon as your setup is done. Almost every handset is compatible with the phone port (RJ11). Call display, waiting, forwarding, and barring features are standard.
Pros
Cons
Why MovingWaldo recommends Hyperoptic
As a six-time winner of Best Superfast Broadband award (2013-2018), Hyperoptic is a broadband service provider that is committed to evolving the UK’s connectivity into a full-fibre network through FTTP. With its flexible plans, anyone can be pleased by Hyperoptic and no need to commit with their no exit fee within the first 30 days.1GB package offers a speed of 900Mbps at unbeatable market rates. And the best part is that there are no hidden fees and the packages are budget friendly.
Award-winning broadband provider for Best Value by Uswitch
About
Established in 2012, NOW Broadband is a broadband and television service and a subsidiary of Sky group. They specialize in internet and TV with a variety of entertainment that is streamed on NOW Broadband. NOW is an award-winning broadband; the company is notably the winner 2022 of the Best Value Broadband Provider by Uswitch. Regardless of where you are, NOW Broadband can be streamed on any device.
The pricing plan for Now Broadband starts at £18 a month with a year’s contract.
Broadband: NOW Broadband offers three plans with average speeds reaching up to 63 Mbps. These plans come with landline and home entertainment services. The basic plan offers a speed of 11Mbps. The broadband is based on Openreach networking.
TV: NOW entertainment, NOW sports, NOW cinema, NOW Hayu and NOW boost are NOW TV plans. You can avail of membership for any of these with no contract. You are free to stream on any device from anywhere. There is a restriction on the number of devices on which you can avail of the services.
Home Phone: Landline comes with all broadband packages. There is no liability to use the service. But for those who are interested, there are three plans pay-as-you-go, evening and weekend calls and anytime calls. All UK landlines and mobile are covered under the umbrella. Additional features like voice call and call divert caller ID are also available.
Pros
Cons
Why MovingWaldo recommends NOW Broadband
NOW Broadband provides their clients with fast unlimited downloads at low prices. Cancellation is easy and won’t cost you a penny. Plus, you don’t need any contract for the entertainment membership. In addition, NOW Broadband handles the process of switching from your previous provider hassle-free. Most importantly, NOW Broadband award-winning broadband provider for Best Value by Uswitch in 2022.
Fuel discounts with the Shell Go+ rewards program
About
Shell Energy was established when the company acquired First Utility, back in 2018, a company with a long heritage of supplying Britain’s homes with good energy and broadband. The strategy offers everyone 100% renewable energy, smart home technology, exclusive customer rewards and reliable broadband. The service is simple with competitive rates and good download and upload speeds. Shell Energy has yet to expand their broadband network nationwide.
Shell Energy’s broadband pricing starts at £18.99 a month
Broadband: Shell Energy offers three different plans: Standard, Ultrafast and Full Fibre. Full Fibre is a supreme service which uses FTTP (Fibre To The Premises) networking with speeds as high as 1Gbps. Shell Energy’s broadband ranges from 11 Mbps to 900 Mbps, a big enough range to satisfy anybody. With Ultrafast and its 290 Mbps speed average, feel free to browse, stream and download as much as you want, whenever you want.
Home Phone: The broadband plans (excluding Full Fibre) come with free landline calls between Shell Energy customers and phone users. With a small fee, you can add one of the optional call packages to your order.
Pros
Cons
Why MovingWaldo recommends Shell Energy
As a widely known company worldwide, Shell Energy is quite the unique yet wise choice for broadband in the UK. They are recognised for offering prompt customer service without hidden charges. Shell Energy offers no usage caps, no activation charges, and a free router. Also, with the Shell Go+ rewards program, you can enjoy fuel discounts at Shell petrol stations as well as personalised offers and surprises. You can count on Shell Energy for customer satisfaction as they were recognised in 2020 by Resolver for their excellent customer service.
Most affordable broadband provider
About
The business model at Origin Broadband aims at providing quality products with affordable pricing. Their service is backed up by diligent and friendly customer support. The company was founded in 2011, and from then on the target focus has been connecting the UK with cheaper costs so that everyone can afford to stay connected. The company offers broadband along with landline and home entertainment services.
The broadband pricing plan starts at £20.99 a month
Broadband: Origin Broadband offers three broadband products. The base product offers a speed of 11Mbps. The networking for two of these products is based on fibre. Origin Max Fibre and Origin Superfast Fibre offer great downloading speeds. Max offers twice as speedy as the Origin fibre plan offers which is 38Mbps.
TV: Origin TV offers a box that shows channels that are available in your area. It comes with parental control features and easy recording that is available on all devices. You also have the option of pairing your Origin TV with Alexa.
Home Phone: Origin offers a variety of landline plans that are engineered to meet your needs. These come with features like call barring, call display, voice mail and ring back. The international calling package includes 36 destinations. All UK landline and mobile numbers are included in all Origin calling plans.
Pros
Cons
Why MovingWaldo recommends Original Broadbank
Origin Broadband is suitable for those looking to get good internet on a budget. By good internet, we mean efficient and reliable speeds. The broadband comes with a landline service, which is not something less than what the competitors offer. And you are getting all of this in a cost-savvy bracket. Moreover, there is a referral perk (refer-to-a-friend) of £25 credit on your bill.
All plans come with no usage caps, a free router and free installation
About
Onestream is a broadband provider established in 2018 that believes in delivering only the most affordable broadband. Their business model revolves around a strong emphasis on reliability and quality of the product. They offer two broadband products. Both come with different price plans. The customer support is UK based and readily available without missing a beat. Onestream’s prime focus is to provide a limit-free service which is why their broadband comes with no caps.
Onestream’s broadband plans start at £18.95 a month.
Broadband: Onestream offers two products for broadband: Onestream 55 and Onestream 80 which come with an average speed of 45 Mbps and 67 Mbps, respectively. These plans allow you to browse the web and stream your favorite shows and games. This technology is based on no broken connection and ensures a glitch-free service.
Home Phone: Onestream offers a home phone service with a line rental of £22.50 a month. You can modify your call bundle according to your needs with added features like call divert, voicemail, 3-way calling, smart divert and many more without additional costs.
Pros
Cons
Why MovingWaldo recommends Onestream
What sets Onestream apart from other broadband providers is that all their plans come with no usage caps. With no usage caps, you can browse the internet as long as you like without having to worry. If you’re not sure about committing to a long term contract, you can sign up for 14 days and cancel without a fee. On top of it all, Onestream offers a free router and free installation with all broadband plans.
Most broadband providers do offer cheap unlimited Internet plans; however it is always best to directly contact your provider for details on these services and check their website for the latest voucher codes.
It’s important to note that cheap internet providers may not always be the best choice. Sometimes they will offer attractive packages at low prices, but when reading the fine print, you will notice that the prices are only for a limited time, and you’ll have to pay more than the average price a few months into the contract. Cheaper internet providers are also often smaller companies that have limited customer service, making it difficult to reach them when your internet is having problems.
The UK Government is dedicated to investing over £22 million for the costs of building faster broadband by 2025. Fifty-eight percent of the UK make up the hard-to-reach rural areas.
(*Comparethemarket.com)
Depending on your Internet provider, if you cancel your internet contract before the end of your offer period you may be subjected to early termination charges. The early cancellation fees usually vary from customer to customer depending on the services you previously paid for and the minimum period which remains of your service.
Keep in mind, if you plan on cancelling your internet service, you will need to return your broadband kit to the respected provider.
If you are looking to improve speed, an easy way would be to gather your neighbors and discuss purchasing a faster broadband service altogether. You may also get fibre broadband delivered by fibre optic cables, this is amongst the most popular options that appear in most English households because it is high-speed, reliable, and efficient especially for rural areas. Another way to improve broadband speeds would be to ask a private company to install a local network to sharpen your internet speeds.
Of course, it is always worth saving money each month with your broadband provider, but it is also extremely important to read the fine print on what the internet provider is offering for these reduced prices.
To give you an idea, if you use the internet for emails, basic streaming and browsing, the cheapest broadband package should be perfect with an average speed of 11mb speed. Take for example streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video or Disney+, they recommend having an internet speed of 3Mb, therefore it is worth getting cheaper internet packages depending on your needs.
Yes, you can have 2 broadband providers in 1 house (or more), whichever type of internet you want to install. It is recommended to let both providers know that you want to install two separate lines so that they can properly plan your home’s wiring.
Mbps means megabits per second. It is a way to quantify the speed of your broadband connection. The higher your Mbps are, the faster your broadband speed will be!
Fibre, cable, and ADSL are the three most common types of broadband in the UK:
Fibre: Fibre broadband is ranked #1 when it comes to the fastest broadband speeds. Fibre broadband will typically have 30-1000 Mbps. The average price for fibre broadband is around £27-£65 per month. Fibre broadband is good for families, gamers, and businesses. If you want to increase your broadband speed, fibre broadband is a great option.
Cable: Cable broadband is not as widespread as ADSL in the UK but it’s usually faster. It uses a coaxial cable setup and its speed ranges from 35Mbps to over 300Mbps. The UK’s main cable service provider is Virgin Media. The average price for cable broadband is around £22-£52 per month.
ADSL: ADSL broadband is considerably slower than cable broadband. In terms of speed, there is ADSL2+, with a maximum speed of around 24 Mbps, while ADSL1 has a maximum speed of around 8 Mbps only. The average price for ADSL broadband is around £18-£35 per month. ADSL broadband is good for completing online assignments, social media browsing, and casual internet users.
To check your broadband speed online you can use a broadband speed checking tool. There are various broadband speed checking tools online, but the easiest way is to search “speed test” directly into Google and the tool will immediately appear.
Several factors can affect the speed of the plan you choose from your broadband provider. These factors include other people using it at the same time, your type of usage, and if you choose a plan that is too low in megabits per second based on your lifestyle.
Speed needed by lifestyle
Speed | Good for what | Good for who |
5 – 10 Mbps |
|
|
10 – 40 Mbps |
|
|
40 – 100 Mbps |
|
|
100 – 500 Mbps |
|
|
500 – 1000 Mbps |
|
|
Moving is often synonymous of stress, long administrative tasks and a significant waste of time and money. MovingWaldo helps you solve all these problems in just a few clicks! After some shameless self-promotion, we invite you to discover our free moving tools available to all.
We bring together more than 700 organizations across Canada with a single and simplified form.
917 Mont-Royal Ave E,
Montreal, Quebec H2J 1X3
1 (844) 258-MOVE (6683)
Easily compare multiple quotes
Guided through a checklist
Get up to speed on the new deals
Update your address in a few clicks
Become a trusted vendor in your service area
MovingWaldo is a one-stop-shop that simplifies tackling moving tasks
What is MovingWaldo?
We guide millions of families through each step of their moving process, helping them save time and money, and making sure nothing gets left behind.
Comparez plusieurs devis
Guidé à travers une checklist
Mettez à jour votre adresse en quelques clics
Soyez au courant des nouvelles offres internet à domicile
Devenez un fournisseur de confiance pour desservir votre région
Prolongez la relation avec vos clients grâce à votre propre plateforme de déménagement personnalisé
Qu'est-ce que MovingWaldo ?
MovingWaldo est un guichet unique qui simplifie la planification du déménagement
