For a full and detailed listing of ISPs and current features and prices, download the NEW PDF: March 2008 edition.
Also note that this PDF is updated every 6 - 12 months.

UK Broaband ISPs (Internet Service Providers) - The Best Deals for 2008...

Website - Abel Always : Email Sales Team : Telephone 0871 717 8252

Website - Be : Web-Email Sales Team : Telephone 0808 234 8570

Website - Beaming : Email Sales Team : Telephone 0870 199 4444

Website - Bulldog Broadband : Web-Email Sales Team : Telephone 0800 404 8151

Website - Easyspace : Telephone 0870 755 5088

Website - EFH Broadband : Web-Email Sales Team : Telephone 0808 156 4775

Website - Elite Internet Services Ltd : Email Sales Team : Telephone 0870 741 5898

Website - Fast4 : Web-Email Sales Team : Telephone 0871 4240185

Website - Freedom2surf : Email Sales Team : Telephone 0870 242 3758

Website - Jungle247 : Email Sales Team : Telephone 0845 345 9234

Website - Karoo : Email Sales Team : Telephone 001482 602300 (sign-up), 01482 606101 (tech)

Website - Namesco : Web-Email Sales Team : Telephone 0845 363 3630

Website - Naims : Web-Email Sales Team : Telephone 0870 224 3494

Website - NewNet : Web-Email Sales Team : Telephone 0845 684 0684

Website - Nildram : Web-Email Sales Team : Telephone 0800 072 0405

Website - Norfolk Internet : Email Sales Team : Telephone 0845 644 2931

Website - Pipex : Email Sales Team : Telephone 0871 222 5550

- Plusnet : Web-Email Sales Team : Telephone 0845 140 0200

Website - Post Office : Web-Email Sales Team : Telephone 0800 092 0514

Website - Redten Internet : Email Sales Team : Telephone 08442 410 285

Website - ScotDSL : Order online!

Website - Seriously Internet : Web-Email Sales Team : Telephone 0871 223 5348

Website - Sky Broadband : Web-Email Sales Team : Telephone 08442 410 285

Website - Supanet : Telephone 0800 915 8188

Website - Tiscali : Web-Email Sales Team

Website - Toucan : Email Sales Team : Telephone 0800 0613 612

Website - UKonline : Email Sales Team : Telephone 0800 053 2222

Website - Utility Warehouse : Web-Email Sales Team : Telephone 0871 222 7777

Website - Virgin Media : Telephone 0845 840 7777

Website - Virgin.net : Telephone 0845 840 7777

Website - Zaggle : Web-Email Sales Team : Telephone 0871 424 0185

* A red ISP name means that not only is it a good deal, but it is an affiliate link, so, if click on this link and subscribe to them, you save money, and I get some money!

Broadband / ADSL / DSL

Most ISPs have a lot of features and options available to you, so I am unable to list them all, there’s just too many to list, so I’ve devised a list of popular and equally as many unknown ISPs for you to browse through. Therefore I’ve listed broadband speed, Macintosh support availability (phone usually), and prices. Just click on the ISP name (URL link) to visit their web site, if you need further info.

To check if you can get broadband, go to www.broadbandchecker.co.uk.

Usual ISP Features

Many ISPs offer a number of standard features, these are usually:
• Home or business user packages and prices.
• Web space (in megabytes).
• Domain hosting.
• Number of email addresses per mailbox.
• Number of mailboxes.
• A choice of contention ratio.
• Sometimes a USB or Router Modem is included in package, usually free!
• Download capacity (measured in gigabytes) per package.
• IP-Talk availability.
• Online gaming support.
• Anti-SPAM & Anti-VIRUS feature for your email.
• Newsgroup (Usenet) facility.
• Fax to email feature.
• Technical support via their website, email or phone.
• Monthly or yearly contract - some will charge you for cancelling before 1 year's use.
• Fees (sometimes they're FREE): Installation service / Migration from another ISP / Activation or connection to Broadband/DSL.

Internet Jargon

Anti-Spam/Virus features - Spam is a big problem with email, and therefore a lot of ISPs have taken this matter seriously to date. Their ‘feature’ for dealing with spam is often to mark the offending mail with the words SPAM in the subject header. Anti-virus feature is handled differently, viruses are commonly attached to the email, so the ISP scans your mail, and either deletes the virus attachment, or informs you of it’s existence.

Broadband speeds - Today you have a number of choices with speed, normally 512 Kilobits (Kb), 1 Megabits (Mb), 2 Mb, and sometime later 4 Mb (512KB per sec.) and 8Mb speeds. The slowest to fastest download speeds are 521Kb to 8Mb.Contention ratios - This means the number of households using the same bandwidth as you. The smaller the number eg.10:1, the more consistant bandwidth you’ll have. 1:1 is the ultimate bandwidth ratio, however it is more likely you’ll get 30:1 or 50:1.

Contention Ratio - Refers to the number of households using the same bandwidth as you. The smaller the number eg.10:1, the more consistant bandwidth you’ll have. 1:1 is the ultimate bandwidth ratio, however it is more likely you’ll get 30:1 or 50:1.

Domains - Refers to your own unique web address eg. www.myownweb.co.uk. You have to pay for the privilege most of the time, however some ISPs have been known to throw this feature in for free!

Download Capacity - All this means is the amount of data you are allowed to download within a month. Usually a measured in gigabytes, and includes surfing, email downloading, file downloading, video/music streaming, online gaming, and anything else you do via the internet. Note that most ISPs will allow you expand this initial capacity with extra 1GB increments or more, at an extra cost though, normally between £1 and £1.50 per 1GB, although I have found an ISP charging £5 per extra 2GB! Note: xGB+ means you have to pay for extra gigabytes.

Emails Addresses & Mailboxes - Do not confuse the two, they are different. An email address is a string of letters and numbers with a @ in between, this is your unique email posting address whenever someone sends an email to you. A mailbox is the area where your emails are stored on the ISP’s email server, some ISPs allow you to create more than one mailbox per connection account.

Migration Authorisation Code (MAC) - A MAC is issued by your current ISP and is used to authenticate the migration request from your current ISP to your new one. This makes migration much simpler and quicker.

Modems (USB / Routers) - About half of the ISPs offer a broadband modem of one sort or another, the usual types given out, are USB modem and a network router modems. Router modems use an Ethernet network (wireless or cable) as it’s interface, and is therefore ideal for connecting multiple computers, even if they are Macs and PCs. They also do not need any drivers to make them work unlike USB modems, and therefore do not brake when the merest OS update is installed. They can also be configured by a web browser, but some do require a PC for it’s initial setup. On the other hand, USB modems are cheaper than routers and are more commonly bundled with a Broadband package. I personally recommend you get a Router broadband modem combo, wireless if needed or cabled if the telephone is near the computer - you can always buy a long telephone cable to connect to the modem next to the computer!

Technical Support - When ISPs say that only PCs are supported, they mean that their technical support staff can only talk with people through a version of Windows for PCs. This does not mean that you cannot use their services, only that you will have to deal with any technical issues that reside on your computer, eg. Apple Macintoshs, Linux OS, Unix OS, etc. Note that some ISPs have tech support via their web site, this is often more convenient when dealing with queries or non-urgent matters via phone. Most ISPs have a phone number you can use for serious problems.

Web Space - Is the amount of server space you are allowed. This not expandable, and therefore you require more space you may have to talk to the ISP people to find if you can buy more disk space.