All of the major providers will have a cheap broadband option for you to consider. However, the nature of each one and the specifics that you get with each provider will be a little different.
It’s hard to definitively say who has the best cheap broadband deals as many different factors are involved. Plus, what makes a good deal for you will be different for another individual.
Here’s a look at the cheapest broadband deal each major provider offers so that you see roughly which one falls into your budget and what you get with that provider.
The following prices are for a home based in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. This has been chosen to represent what you can get and at what prices if you live in a large town in a rural area.
BT Broadband
When looking for the cheapest broadband package available for the Cheltenham address, only fibre broadband was available with BT Broadband. This may be because these households do not have a phone line which is required to deliver ADSL.
If your house can get it, BT’s cheapest deal is their Standard broadband package. With this, you’ll get up to 10Mbps of data, which is great for single-person households who don’t use the internet for intensive purposes.
If you’re not being offered Standard Broadband from BT, then the cheapest you can get is Fibre Essential.
This package gives you around 35Mbps of download speed and a guaranteed minimum speed of 32Mbps. This cheap broadband deal is great for browsing social media and streaming on either one or two devices.
This option is broadband only, meaning that it does not come with a phone line. This package costs around £28.99 a month if no promotions are running, and you may also have to pay £9.99 for the postage of your router.
With their cheapest option not being available to those without a phone line, and their second best choice being over £25, this is still a pretty expensive choice, and there are many more affordable options.
With that said, BT is reliable and one of the most trusted brands in the telecoms industry.
Sky Broadband
Much like the issue with BT, when looking for the cheapest broadband available from Sky Broadband, it wasn’t possible to get their Sky Essential broadband option at the address used to get these prices.
If you can get it, Sky Broadband Essential is a decent option, as it gives you an average of 11Mbps in download speeds, which is a tiny bit faster than most. What’s good with this option is that there are no download limits, meaning you can use your broadband as much as you want.
The next cheapest option is their Sky Broadband Superfast 35. This package costs around £30.50 a month and gives you an average speed of 36Mbps. This makes it great for streaming and playing online games with a few people.
If you’re given the option to get either Sky Broadband Essential or Superfast 35, it may be the more sensible decision to choose the faster package. This is because Superfast 35 only costs 50p extra and more than doubles your speed. This makes it a very worthwhile cheap broadband option.
TalkTalk Broadband
TalkTalk Broadband is one of the more budget broadband providers when looking to get decent fibre broadband speeds, and it’s unique in nature where its cheapest deal isn’t actually its slowest.
When getting their Fast Broadband package, which gives you an average speed of 11Mbps, it’ll cost you around £24.95 a month for an 18-month contract, and there’s also a £9.95 upfront cost to activate your phoneline to supply this broadband.
For £24 a month, you’re able to get Fibre 35 broadband. Despite being nearly £12 a year cheaper, you can get speeds of up to 38Mbps on average, which is great for couples and households with multiple streamers.
Because you’re able to get good quality fibre broadband for cheaper than standard ADSL, this is easily one of the best cheap broadband deals.
EE Broadband
EE broadband provides the fastest and most expansive mobile network in the UK, making them a good option if you want to bundle mobile data to your broadband.
However, they may not be the best option if you’re interested in getting a cheap broadband deal.
This is because their standard broadband deal, which can give you speeds of around 16Mbps, can cost as much as £27 a month.
This makes it pretty expensive for this kind of speed, especially as you can get faster downloads for cheaper with other providers.
Despite this, EE can become worth it if you’re already a mobile customer with them, as you’ll be able to get a discount and extra mobile data, making it an interesting choice if you are looking to bundle services together.
Now Broadband
Now gives you access to a cheap broadband deal called Brilliant Broadband. It gives you access to a speed of 11Mbps, which is perfect for a lighter internet user.
What’s great about Now Broadband is that their contracts are a bit shorter than other providers, averaging 12 months. This means that you don’t have to commit to Now Broadband for too long, making it a good option if you’re renting a location for a temporary period.
Now is pretty cheap and works out as one of the most affordable providers in the country, charging £18 a month for this Brilliant Broadband package. There is a £5 up-front fee that can make things a bit more expensive, but it’s still a great option if all you need is standard broadband.
Do be aware that you can get a package that offers 63Mbps for just £22 with Now, meaning that if you need fibre broadband, they can be a cheap option for that type of connection as well.
Plusnet Broadband
Plusnet Broadband has the reputation behind it as being a cheap and straightforward broadband provider. With Plusnet, you can only get broadband-only packages, meaning that you won’t be paying for any additional features.
Plusnet’s cheapest broadband costs you just under £24 a month, which means that it isn’t actually the cheapest option on the market. Their packages are unlimited, meaning you can download as much as you like, but it may be worth looking past its cheap reputation to help you find something that’s a bit cheaper.
Plusnet is also notoriety slow, as they can’t offer speeds beyond 64Mbps on any package. You can get some faster broadband speeds for cheaper elsewhere, meaning that Plusnet may not be the best option for you, regardless of if you’re looking for standard or fibre speeds.
They do have one of the most well-renowned customer service teams in the industry, however, so they may be able to offer a good service, although it’s a bit more expensive than other options.
Virgin Broadband
Virgin Broadband is one of the leading providers if you’re looking for faster broadband, as they don’t offer speeds below 54Mbps. This speed is perfect for an entire family of average internet users and is why Virgin is the top choice regarding fibre broadband.
With their M50 Fibre Broadband being their minimum speed, it means that there are not cheap options when going with Virgin Broadband. Currently, this package costs around £38 a month and also includes a £35 upfront cost, meaning that Virgin can’t really be classified as a cheap broadband provider.
Vodafone Broadband
Vodafone Broadband is a fibre-only provider, much like how Virgin is, and because of that, you may think that it’s not a good option for cheap broadband deals. However, despite only having packages that start at 38Mbps, which is excellent for a household with a couple of people in it, the starting price for it is only £22 a month.
This is an excellent price point and means that you can obtain a pretty fast speed for a low price. In fact, this costs less than slower packages offered by other providers.
Vodafone’s cheapest package is called Superfast 1 and comes with unlimited downloads, making it a sensible option if you’re looking for affordable broadband.