If you've ever looked into ways of improving your security or privacy online, or want to access content in a different country, you might have come across the idea of using a VPN. At which point you probably asked yourself: what exactly is a VPN?!
Let's take a look and see what a VPN can do for you.
What is a VPN?
By default, the internet is not terribly private or secure. Your broadband provider can see every website you visit; every website you visit can see where in the world you're located; and this information is often just floating around for anyone else to snoop on if they were so inclined.
A VPN - or virtual private network - fixes this. It encrypts your connection and hides your location. It can significantly enhance your security and privacy online, and bring other benefits, too.
To use a VPN you need to install special software on your computer, phone, tablet or other device, and to sign up to a VPN provider. When you run it all of your internet activity is filtered through a secure connection between your computer and one of the VPN provider's servers. This makes it hard for anyone to snoop on your data or online activities, including your broadband supplier.
When connected, you also adopt the IP address (the address of your computer on the network) of the VPN's server. Most VPN services offer multiple servers based around the world, so you can give the impression that you're connecting from another location, or even another country. That has its own advantages.
With all this in mind you might be wondering, are VPN's legal? Simple answer: Yes! In fact, VPNs aren't just completely legal, they're absolutely necessary. As much as we'll focus on the consumer benefits of the technology, the fact is that any business that allows its teams to connect to a work server from outside the office will do so using a VPN.
Why do you need a VPN?
When you talk about masking your online activity it makes it sound like you've got something to hide. That isn't true - there are many reasons why all of us should use a VPN:
It's more secure. Your connection to the VPN is encrypted. This means all the data you download or upload is also encrypted, including the login details for all your online services. This is important at the best of times, but even more so if you ever use public Wi-Fi hotspots, like those in a hotel or when you hop on the network in your local Costa. You just don't know who else is connected to those networks, and if they're trying to intercept your data. Encrypting it protects you.
It protects your privacy. Normally, when you connect to the internet you publicly broadcast your IP address. This is the virtual address of your computer on the network, but it can often translate to a very precise physical location. Take a look at whatismyipaddress.com and you'll see the location information every site you visit receives. All those location-aware ads you keep seeing around the web? This is one of the ways they track you. A VPN gives out, in effect, a fake IP address, making it much more difficult for sites to follow you online.
It stops your activity being logged. Broadband providers are legally required to maintain a log of all the websites you have visited in the last 12 months. You don't need to be doing anything dodgy to regard this as a bit of an invasion of privacy. A VPN will allow you to browse the web in peace.
You can bypass region restrictions. VPNs can also help you if you're on holiday abroad or an ex-pat living in the UK and want to access region locked content from your home country, such as local television streaming services or content in your first language. You may even be able to access region locked content on Netflix. VPNs offer you a choice of servers around the world. When you connect to one overseas you'll be able to access previously unavailable content specific to that area. Just select the country you wish to connect via and then access the web or apps as normal. Of course, there's no guarantee that some services won't block access to your account in future, and there are already services, particularly for video games, that already enforce region locking based on payment address or the origin of your payment card.
VPNs can bypass internet restrictions. A VPN will enable you to access blocked websites, and you should probably also know that your kids can use one to bypass your broadband provider's parental control filters...
What are the downsides to a VPN?
Nothing comes without potential downsides, of course, and VPNs are no different.
A VPN can slow down your internet connection. You should always shop around for one with the best performance. Most fast fibre broadband deals will be good enough to withstand any performance overheads, though.
They require trust. Because all your traffic goes through the VPN, the VPN provider can potentially see which sites you're visiting. The best ones have clear privacy policies that state they don't log your activities, but not all are like this. Either way, a little trust is needed, although the encryption will at least ensure your data itself is never compromised.
They can block region-specific content. Remember how we said you can access international versions of Netflix with a VPN? It works the other way, as well. Log into BBC iPlayer with your VPN running and it won't let you watch because it'll assume you're not in the UK. VPNs can also interfere with any other location-dependent services.
Free VPNs may not actually be very private. Free VPN apps on phones and tablets often have a reputation for hoovering up your personal data - they have to fund their service somehow! You're usually better off going for a paid option.
Where can you get a VPN?
VPNs are a growing industry, so there are loads to choose from, some better than others. Many come with a free trial or money back guarantee, so it's worth trying a few before you settle on one. You should also check their policies, including the privacy policy and details of what they do and don't allow on their service - some will block file sharing services, for example.
The big brands include companies like NordVPN. We also like some of the smaller ones such as the Sweden-based Mullvad and Swiss-based ProtonVPN, which is developed by MIT and CERN scientists.
Using a VPN can help to beef-up your security and privacy online. It's not the only thing you can do. Take a look at our guide to the broadband providers offering free anti-virus software, and also see how to set up parental controls to limit what your kids can do online.
It's so important to keep your kids safe when they're on the internet. But they rack up so many hours a day online that it's impossible to monitor everything they do. A little helping hand is always welcome, and making use of the free parental control software offered by broadband providers is one of the best places to start.
Research shows that nine out of 10 parents think that these tools are useful, and even 65% of 11-16 year olds are in favour. So who offers these parental controls, how do you use them, and do they actually work? Let's take a look.
Who offers them?
All broadband providers have some form of parental controls, and you can take into account what each one offers when you're comparing broadband deals. Here's a quick summary of what you'll get from the big players:
Sky Broadband - Broadband Shield is free for all users. You can restrict content via three age range settings, or for specific categories or websites. There's also the option to pay extra for the Sky Broadband Boost service, which gives you access to the Broadband Buddy app and the ability to fine-tune your settings.
Virgin Media - All broadband users get access to the Web Safe service which includes Child Safe, a tool that automatically blocks eight categories of web content when activated, along with more that you can add optionally.
BT Broadband - BT Parental Controls lets you set strict, moderate or light filtering levels, and configure them to allow or restrict access to specific sites. You can also control the hours during which the filters work. On top of that, there's the Homework Time feature to limit access to the web at certain times of the day.
Plusnet - Plusnet SafeGuard lets you block websites based on category, as well as up to 30 individual sites of your choosing.
TalkTalk - HomeSafe is free for all users. It blocks websites in 11 optional categories as well as access to sites known to be infected with malware, although it is not a replacement for anti-virus software.
How to set up parental controls
Most parental control systems are centrally managed. As the account holder it's your job to set them up, and they'll apply to every device connected to your broadband network. In a few cases the provider will offer you a security suite instead. That combines things like content filtering and anti-virus, but needs to be set up on all your devices, assuming they're compatible.
When you first sign up to a new broadband deal you'll be prompted to set up your parental controls, which you can do via your provider's website. They're usually pretty simple - it's just a case of picking what content you want to restrict, as well as any other options you're given. The online safety organisation InternetMatters.org has instructions for many leading broadband providers. It may take a couple of hours for your settings to start working, and you can change them again later if you need to.
You mostly restrict content by category, and the available categories vary from one provider to another. Some offer large numbers of categories, ranging from obvious areas like adult content or violence, to more benign subjects such as fashion or gaming. Others can be much more vague - blocking things like 'inappropriate content', whatever that means.
Providers use large, continually updated lists of websites in each category and block access to those blacklisted sites. By default, they can't differentiate between users, so if you block your kids from seeing gambling sites you won't be able to see them either. Broadband suppliers normally strike a balance between security and privacy: you won't be alerted if someone tries to access a blocked page.
Parental controls can offer other features, too, including being able to limit access to the internet at certain times of the day. These work best when the provider also offers a mobile app that lets you customise the limits for specific family members.
Do parental controls work?
Having parental controls in place can give you peace of mind, especially as it isn't possible to supervise your kids' internet use constantly. But there are still some nagging questions: how good are they, and could your kids bypass them if they wanted to?
So do they work? There are few things to consider:
Parental controls will block every site on their blacklist in each of your chosen categories. But that doesn't mean they will block every single site that exists in that category, or that they won't block perfectly acceptable sites by mistake. There's often a lack of transparency about what exactly is being blocked - you might not know until you chance upon one of the taboo sites.
In most cases the controls affect all devices connected to your network. Set them too strict and you'll end up blocking sites that you want to look at yourself.
Some providers let you tailor your controls for specific users. Sky, for example, offer the Broadband Buddy app that enables you to set different filter levels for different family members, and also limit their internet time. However, these controls are device specific, and only available on phones and tablets.
Your broadband provider's parental controls only work on your broadband network. When your children take their tablets or phones to friend's house, or even connect via a mobile network, the safeguards will no longer be in place.
While most providers will let you restrict access to social networks there's a good chance you won't want to do this - you might use them yourself. So even though you can block access to certain categories of website it won't stop your kids from seeing similar content on services like Snapchat, Reddit or Twitter.
Can your kids bypass parental controls?
Any tech-savvy child - or one with a tech-savvy friend - will know that there are a few ways they can easily bypass content filters.
They can use proxy sites that divert their traffic and hide it from the broadband provider so that it cannot be blocked. Some of these sites can actually be pretty dodgy themselves, serving up assorted malware to infect PCs or hijack web browsers.
They can also install a VPN app. A VPN encrypts the connection between a device and the broadband provider's servers, so that the provider doesn't know what pages are being accessed and is unable to block them. There are loads of free VPNs in the iOS and Android app stores and they don't need any know-how to set up.
Failing that, a quick web search will show up plenty of results with suggestions for bypassing the parental controls of specific broadband providers.
Parental controls should really be seen as making up one part of your toolkit for keeping your kids safe online, not as a complete solution on their own. They'll help to prevent your children from stumbling upon content that they wouldn't want to see, but they aren't perfect and they aren't foolproof. It isn't a replacement for supervising internet use as far as you can, or for teaching your children about online safety, including the importance of not sharing personal information.
Content filters are only one part of a PC security system. For more, see our guide on how to stay safe online.
It's the time of year where students around the country are heading to university, either to start their studies or return for a new academic year.
Whether you're heading to uni for the first time, returning to your student accommodation or about to start out in a new student house share, now's the time to look for a good student broadband offer to keep you online over the next 9 months.
Both of those option mean that you can avoid paying for broadband costs should you head home or go off on travels in the 3 months between academic years. But of course you don't need a special student exclusive offer to get short contract broadband from other suppliers, for example NOW Broadband, Plusnet and Hyperoptic also have competitive 1 month rolling contract offers that even undercut BT and Virgin's prices.
This year, we're also endorsing a mobile broadband option for the first time. Well, it's 4G or 5G mobile broadband technology sold as home broadband services. With 4G and 5G home broadband routers from Three, Vodafone and EE you may have to commit to a much longer contract, but you can then take your router with you wherever you travel during summer break. Vodafone even offer a 30 day rolling contract version, although you'll have to pay more than the cost of 3 months contract to get it.
Even if mobile data usually isn't strong inside your student accommodation, you may get a better connection from a router, or may even be able to get an external antenna installed to boost the signal.
We're very pleased to announce that Broadband.co.uk has been reaccredited by Ofcom! We've been accredited by Ofcom since 2010, and undergo regular independent audits every 18 months to ensure that our comparison service meets their rigorous standards.
Lindsey Fussell, Director of Ofcom's Consumer and External Relations Group, had this to say on the subject:
"Price comparison services like broadband.co.uk play an important role in helping people to choose a provider, by offering helpful information on services and costs. Ofcom's accreditation scheme means people can be confident that the information they've received is accurate, clear and up to date."
We take pride in the fact that we make every effort to ensure that the information we supply is accurate and up to date and presented clearly to users of our site. This means you can be confident you're getting the best service when you use our postcode checker to find the broadband deal that works for you.
Our CEO, Edd Dawson, had this to say in response to the news.
"It's fantastic to yet again be re-accredited by Ofcom. The broadband market is complex and diverse, our aim is to make it simple for consumers to find and switch to the best deal for them. Being part of the accreditation scheme is key to demonstrating that we are impartial, open and honest with our recommendations."
We look forward to continuing to provide users of our site with a service that they can trust well into the future.
If you enjoy playing video games you'll know only too well just how frustrating online gaming can sometimes be. Stutter and lag, random disconnections, painfully slow downloads: they're all a seemingly unavoidable part of the multiplayer experience. Expect they aren't - your choice of broadband provider and package can have a huge impact on your Fortnite or Call of Duty sessions.
To help you out we've got a brand new guide on how to find the best broadband for gamers. It shows you what to look for in a broadband deal, and how to understand some of the jargon you might come across when comparing packages. It's well worth checking out - even if you aren't a gamer yourself you might have someone in your household who uses a Playstation or Xbox and who is struggling along with unsuitable broadband.
Before you delve into the full guide, here's a quick heads-up on some of the main things you need to know.
Download speed is important
Your broadband speed matters, but not in the way you might expect. You don't need fast internet for actual gaming - even a cheap standard broadband deal will be fast enough for almost everyone. But downloading massive files is another part of modern gaming. Triple-A games - the industry's blockbusters - will easily clear 50GB in size, and their regular updates might add another 10GB or more to the mix. If your broadband's too slow you'll be looking at a good 10 to 20 hours of continuous downloading before you can even start playing. Upgrade to a fast fibre deal (or something even faster) and you can slash that to a more serviceable couple of hours tops.
Anyone who's ever played an online game will have at some point found that games can start to stutter or lag, where they don't feel as responsive as they should be. These problems are most likely caused by technical issues like latency (or ping rate) and packet loss. Ofcom research shows that all major providers perform well overall in these respects. Yet there are so many things that can cause them - problems on the gaming server, with your broadband provider, or even on your own Wi-Fi network - that there's really no guarantees.
What you can do is use our Speed Test tool to check the latency on your existing broadband connection, and also read the reviews of any providers you're switching to to see if your fellow gamers are reporting any concerns. You can find out more about these technical issues in our guide.
Reliability matters
Good old fashioned reliability also shouldn't be overlooked when it comes to finding the best broadband for gamers. It's annoying enough when your internet drops at any time, but if you're about to smash in an open goal in FIFA a dropped connection will leave you smashing your controller in rage instead.
You can totally relate, right? Then take a look at our guide on speeding up slow internet for tips on making sure your Wi-Fi network is set up properly. If the problem is still there, it may be time to switch to more a reliable broadband supplier. You can check out broadband deals in your area based that have the highest customer satisfaction rating.
4G and 5G home broadband are okay
Finally, if you're thinking of switching to 4G or 5G home broadband, then you can rest assured that both of these are absolutely fine for online gaming. In fact, in some cases they might even be better than the fixed line broadband options available to you. The only caveat is that you should try and avoid broadband plans that have a strict data allowance in place, or those that slow down your speed once you pass a certain usage level. One or two game downloads a month could eat through your data in no time at all.
For more information on how to find the best deal take a look at our in-depth guide to broadband for gamers. It'll help you pin down everything you need in a broadband package, and also shows you the best deals that are available in your area right now.
It's the bank holiday weekend, and several providers have new offers on to tempt you to switch broadband. We've got the best highlighted for you below.
You can get still Shell Energy's fantastically low-priced Standard Broadband for just £16.99 a month, exclusively through the link in this blog post. This offer is only on for another week, so take advantage of it while you can.4
In a Virgin Media area? You can get M50 Fibre and Phone for £26 a month, plus a £75 bill credit! This offer is only available via the link in this blog post.5
All offers available to new customers only unless otherwise specified. Some offers only available in provider network areas. Use our Use our postcode checker to find out what's available in your area. See respective landing pages for full terms and conditions and details of how to claim rewards.
1. All BT products are on an 18 month contract. Connection fees may apply. Prices increase from month 19, see website for out of contract prices. Connection fees may apply. BT reward is a prepaid Mastercard of the specified amount. Offer ends 11:59pm 29th August.
2. Plusnet ADSL products are on a 12 month contract and Fibre products are on an 18 month contract. Connection fees may apply. Prices increase at the end of the offer period when your contract is up, see website for out of contract prices. Customers outside Plusnet Low Cost network areas pay an additional £7.50 per month on all broadband products. Plusnet reward is a prepaid Mastercard of the specified amount. Offers end 11:59pm 27th August.
3. Sky deals are on an 18 month contract, prices will rise from month 19. Connection fees may apply. Offers end 11:59pm 26th September.
4. All Shell Energy deals are on an 18 month contract. Prices will rise from month 19, see Shell Energy site for more details. Connection fees may apply. Offer ends 11:59pm 1st September.
5. Virgin Media M50 is on an 18 month contract, prices will rise from month 19. Credit will be applied to your first bill. Connection fees may apply. Offer ends 11:59pm 30th September.
Among the very many pronouncements made by Boris Johnson over the last few months was the strikingly ambitious plan to make full fibre broadband available to the whole of the UK within the next six years. It received a cautious welcome from the industry, along with warnings that there are some big challenges that will need to be overcome first.
The pledge replaces the Government's existing aspiration to deliver full fibre to 'a majority' of homes by 2025 - with the rest to be completed by 2033. However, it is still a pledge, rather than a detailed policy announcement, and there are questions as to whether it's really achievable.
What's in the pledge?
The goal in itself is laudable. When it comes to ultrafast internet we lag behind most other European countries, from Spain and Sweden to Latvia and Lithuania. The PM's 'full fibre' pledge refers to what's known as 'fibre to the premises' (FTTP) broadband. This is a much faster type of broadband supplied by fibre cables connected directly to every building. Currently, most of us get 'fibre to the cabinet' (FTTC), where the fibre cables only extend to the nearest street cabinet and the last part of the connection is made over old, slow copper wires.
The difference between the two technologies is huge. While most current fibre deals offer speeds up to around 68Mb, FTTP makes 1Gb speeds a reality. That's a good 15 times faster.
But the sheer scale of the project cannot be understated. The network needs to cover the best part of 30 million premises. That's a lot of streets to dig up, a lot of planning permissions to be attained, and a lot of skilled workers to be found to do it all. It also needs a lot of cash - estimated to be around £30 billion - paid mostly by private companies but also including an as yet unspecified chunk of public money.
While FTTC is available to over 95% of UK buildings, full fibre covers just 8% right now. Researchers have calculated that to achieve full coverage by the end of the 2025 financial year FTTP would need to become available to over 11 thousand more homes every day. That's a big upgrade on the current total thought to be around three or four thousand. Hence the industry's scepticism.
The industry response
In response to Boris Johnson's plans, three industry groups signed an open letter outlining the issues that would need to be resolved in order to make it possible. The Internet Service Providers Association, the Federation of Communications Services, and the Independent Networks Co-operative Association called for four main changes:
Fibre tax. They want the abolition of business rates that tax fibre cables as if they were business buildings. The groups say that this hinders investment.
Wayleave agreements. Unresponsive landlords can delay the rollout of broadband services, so the industry wants wayleave agreements that would allow providers access to properties and land.
New builds. Changes to planning laws are needed to require all new builds to have fibre infrastructure as standard. It's currently around three in five.
Skills. The industry is concerned about a skills shortage post-Brexit, so wants to retain access to global job markets.
They were also keen to emphasise just how big the job would be, but insisted they were "ready and waiting to take on this considerable engineering challenge".
Alternatives to FTTP
Upgrading the UK's broadband network is a plan we can all get behind. But does the upgrade need to be so fully focussed on fibre?
The network is already being upgraded with the G.fast service in many areas. G.fast supercharges the normal fibre to the cabinet infrastructure simply through the installation of nodes in existing street cabinets. No extra cables, and no digging up streets are needed. It still uses copper wires, and isn't as good as FTTP, but it's quicker and cheaper to roll out. It can also achieve decent speeds of up to 300Mb, with much higher speeds possible in future generations of the technology.
And then there's 5G, which launched this summer and is already available in 15 cities, expanding to over 35 by the end of the year. 5G will be able to deliver those all-important gigabit speeds, and with a much bigger capacity the download limits that plagued 4G will be consigned to the past. Those two factors will make 5G a much more viable option for home broadband.
The 5G rollout will take some time, but by 2025 it's likely that many of us will have already switched. It'll be especially valuable in rural parts where installing fibre cables will be take a lot longer and be more expensive. Perhaps using a combination of complementary technologies would be a more achievable way of upgrading British broadband, rather than going all in on just one.
If you don't want to wait to experience the benefits, you can already get 5G home broadband through a few suppliers in limited areas. You can get unlimited data for £50 a month from Vodafone, and it's even available on a 30-day deal if you don't want to commit long term. EE have their own 5G Hub that costs £50 a month with 50GB of data, but is on a 24 month contract. If you live in London, then you may be able to take advantage of 5G from Three now. O2 will follow suit in the coming months, along with more locations for all providers.
The Premier League is back, and there are more ways than ever to catch the action. Pick the wrong ones, though, and you could end up paying the best part of a grand for the privilege. Shop around, and there are savings to be had.
Let's look at the cheapest ways to watch the new Premier League season.
Sky Sports
Sky Sports is the self-styled home of football, and Sky have the rights to by far the most games. They'll show 128 in the 2019/20 season, across Friday nights, Saturday evenings, Saturday nights, Sunday afternoons and Monday nights. They get the first pick from all the games from each round, so this is where you'll catch the big derbies and the title deciders.
But Sky Sports isn't cheap. Although it actually only costs £18 a month, you can't get it from Sky TV as a standalone service. You need to take Sky Entertainment, too, which bumps up the price to over £40. Plus you need a dish, and a Sky Q box (with optional UHD viewing), and have to pay any installation and setup fees. And it all comes with an 18-month contract.
If you want the best service and are happy to make the commitment, your best bet for a good deal might to get Sky Sports and the rest along with Sky Broadband as part of a bundle. Check out the latest Sky TV with Broadband deals.
The same goes for Virgin Media customers, you can't just sign up for Sky Sports Premier League, it has to be taken as part of an expensive bundle along with all the other Sports channels and a variety of other premium Entertainment channels. However, if you're already with Virgin Media, this could still make sense for you. Check out the latest Virgin Media Sports offers.
NOW TV - the cheapest way to get Sky Sports
The cheapest way to get Sky Sports on your TV and tablet is through NOW TV's Sky Sports Football Season Ticket. Right now, they've got a 10 month season ticket available for just £199, offer ends on the 26th of August.
Alternatively, if you just want to watch on your phone, you can get the Sky Sports Mobile Month Pass for only £5.99 per month - you're limited to only one smartphone viewing at a time, but that's otherwise an unbeatably cheap way to access Sky Sports Premier League, and 4 other Sky Sports channels!
You can also get a cheap deal on the full Sky Sports Pass when you take it as part of a great value bundle with NOW Broadband. Just choose your preferred broadband plan and you can add the full Sky Sports package for only £20 a month for a year. That's 40% less than the full price. Even better, there's no contract on the TV side of the deal, so you can cancel whenever you want.
The NOW Broadband plans are very competitvely priced, ranking among the cheapest in the UK. They start at just £18 a month for the Brilliant Broadband service, with average speeds of 11Mb. Or if you'd prefer fibre you can get it for £25 or £30 depending on what speed you need. They're all on 12 month contracts as standard, or you can switch to a rolling contract by paying extra £60 upfront. Choose your NOW Broadband and Sky Sports Pass deal here.
If you don't fancy a broadband bundle and don't want to pay for a season ticket pass, you can take a standalone NOW TV Sky Sports Pass and get access to all 11 Sky Sports channels for £33.99 a month on a 30 day rolling deal. This undercuts the Sky Sports + Entertainment deal for Sky TV, and you can save more money by cancelling in June and July when there are no games.
Although the content's the same, the NOW TV experience isn't quite as good as what you get from Sky. There's no UHD, and HD resolution is currently pegged to 720p. You also can't record shows, though you can pause, rewind and watch on demand. For most, though, it should more than satisfy your hunger for the beautiful game.
As a streaming service you'll need to make sure your internet is fast enough to handle it. 4 to 5Mb should be enough for one device to stream 720p HD. If you need to upgrade, use our postcode checker to find the best and fastest broadband deals in your area.
This offer is available to new and existing customers. Take a look at the latest TalkTalk TV offers to see what takes your fancy.
Want BT Sport?
BT Sport have the rights to 32 matches on Saturday lunchtimes. BT get second pick of the games for 20 rounds, and fifth pick for the rest, so you might be more likely to get Watford's trip to Burnley than Liverpool vs Man City. They've also got all 20 games from two midweek rounds, and you get the Champions League and FA Cup among other things, too.
The big new signing for the season is Amazon, who'll be showing games through their Prime Video service. They've got the rights to an impressive 20 matches spread over a rather less impressive two rounds played on Boxing Day and another as yet unspecified bank holiday. With staggered kick off times you might be able to catch more three or four games in total, if you want. But on the whole we'd regard this as a nice addition to the whole Prime package rather than a reason to sign up on its own.
If you're not on Prime Video yet, Amazon will often offer free trials of Prime that can be easily cancelled. If there's a particular Prime Video exlusive game or games that you have to watch, your cheapest option may be strategically timing when you begin your trial membership in order to cover the most matches.
So you're ready to switch broadband providers. You've compared the best deals, you're going to get a faster service, and save heaps of money. But there's a snag: your old provider also supplies your email address. Can you take it with you?
Free email offers are not quite as common as they used to be, and they're certainly less of a selling point. This means that if you do have an email address from an ISP, you've probably had it for a very long time.
Trouble is, they own that address. If you choose to switch providers there's no guarantee you'll be able to keep using it.
The process to switch broadband provider has been made much easier, and switching will certainly save you money. But the prospect of losing your email address can be a pretty compelling reason to stick with what you've got. So what can you do? Let's take a look.
Can you switch broadband suppliers and keep your email?
There's no simple answer to whether you can keep your email address after you leave a provider. Each company has their own policy, and you might need to contact them before you switch to find out exactly what will happen.
Here's what you can expect from the main providers:
Sky: Sky's now-discontinued email service was provided by Yahoo, so you can carry on using it as normal. You can even sign in via the Yahoo website.
BT: You can keep your BT email address if you're willing to pay. You have to sign up to the BT Premium Mail service which will set you back a hefty £7.50 a month. We wouldn't recommend that unless there's some reason why you absolutely need to keep your address.
Plusnet: By default, your Plusnet email account will be closed when you close your broadband account. However, you can keep it open by requesting your account gets downgraded to a mail-only package, costing £1.06 a month. It's important to note that you must request this when you contact them to close your account - don't wait until afterwards.
Virgin Media: When you leave Virgin Media you'll continue to have access to your email for 90 days after you close your account. This should give you enough time to set up and switch to a new email address.
TalkTalk: On TalkTalk you need to pay to keep access to your email address. You do this by signing up to the TalkTalk Mail Plus service, which will cost you £5 a month, or £50 a year.
Bear in mind that even if you can keep your email address now, there's no guarantee you'll be able to keep it forever. Providers can change their policies, or discontinue services, at any time. And if you're no longer a customer of that provider you won't really have grounds to complain.
With this in mind, we'd always recommend against using an email address tied to a specific provider. And if you already use one, it's worth switching.
How to switch email addresses the easy way
The simple solution to all of the above is to switch to a new email address. Most of us have already got Google or Microsoft accounts, which give us free Gmail and Outlook email, respectively. Or if you don't fancy giving all your data to one of these tech giants, you could try a free, privacy-focussed service like Proton Mail instead.
The idea of switching email addresses sounds like a bit of a faff, but with some planning you can make it reasonably painless. The trick is to open and start using your new address at least a month before your old address gets shut down. That way you can get everything sorted and there should be no interruptions to your email access.
Here's a checklist of things you need to do:
In your old account, set up email forwarding. This automatically sends a copy of all new messages to your new account.
Log in to all your main online services and change the email address associated with those accounts. Prioritise the important ones first - banking, bills, subscription services like Netflix, social media accounts, and so on. Don't forget to change the main email account on your phone, too.
Export your contacts from your old account. Send an email to your key contacts to let them know you've got a new address.
If you used webmail on your old account, manually forward any important mails you need to keep to your new address. Alternatively, if you're switching to Gmail you can use the Import Mail and Contacts features to pull it all across in one go.
Finally, for security purposes you could delete all the emails in your old account, and set a new, strong password. Although the account may shut down on its scheduled date, there's no guarantee that will happen. It might lie dormant for several months, which could leave it at risk of being compromised.
If you do miss any services that are linked to your old email address, don't worry. You'll still be able to log in to them after the account has closed down, as long as you can remember the password.
Once your new email address is up and running don't forget to sign up for our exclusive newsletter. It'll keep you bang up to date with all the hottest broadband deals and offers in your area.
5G is now up and running in the UK. EE and Vodafone have both launched their fifth-generation mobile networks, Three will launch theirs in August, and O2 is set to join the party a month later.
Great! But wait - what exactly is 5G, and what will it mean for you? We've got an in-depth guide to 5G, with the full lowdown on the new tech and why it's so important. But if you'd prefer a quick and easy bluffer's guide, here's what you need to know.
1. 5G is fast
Think the 20-25Mb speeds of 4G are already pretty quick? How does 200-250Mb grab you? Typical 5G speeds are ten times faster than 4G right from day one. Find the perfect conditions and it can go way beyond even that, with Three claiming that their network will hit a potential 2Gb.
And it doesn't stop there. Industry experts reckon 5G could eventually deliver speeds up to a mind-blowing 20Gb.
What do the faster speeds mean? It'll improve everything you do online, from simple browsing to sharing huge files, it'll deliver instantaneous app downloads, and even allow you to watch Netflix in 4K on your daily commute.
2. It'll work in crowded places
5G fixes one of the biggest frustrations of 4G, its limited capacity. You'll know the signs: you try to use your phone in a crowded place and have to struggle along with a grindingly slow connection - if you get a connection at all. The network simply isn't equipped to handle the amount of traffic we're throwing at it.
The 5G network will enable two and a half times as many devices to be connected at once, and to download a whole lot more data while they're there. That means no more waiting around when you want to go online.
3. 5G will be great for broadband
The faster speeds and higher capacity are so important. They don't just mean that we'll get faster streaming and sharing on our smartphones, they will also completely revolutionise mobile broadband.
If you need a data connection on your laptop while you're on the road, you can expect more reliable performance, faster speeds, and - best of all - significantly higher data allowances. In time, 5G could even become a decent option for home broadband, especially in more remote areas where the existing fibre network is so poor.
4. You'll need new devices
Here's the bad news: your existing 4G-enabled phones, tablets, laptops, watches and dongles will not work on the 5G network. You'll have to replace them all. That includes your iPhone, iPad, Samsung Galaxy, and everything else.
The good news? There's no rush. There aren't many 5G devices right now, and they carry a price premium. Unless you're an early adopter itching to try it out, you can probably wait a couple of years before 5G gear is a must. And by then, devices will support it as standard anyway. Meanwhile, your 4G kit will continue to work just as well as it always has.
5. The rollout will take some time
So when will you be able to use 5G? It's available right now in major cities like London, Manchester, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast. By the end of the year it'll be available in over 30 locations, from Bournemouth to Birkenhead, and then in over 50 places by the end of next year. Different networks will target different places, so you might need to switch.
But the rollout will take some time. Even areas that do have 5G won't have blanket coverage, and if you're in smaller town it might be two or three years before 5G arrives.
For more information on 5G, including how it works and why it'll be a complete game changer in so many other ways, take a look at our full 5G guide. Or, if you'd prefer, have a look at some of the best mobile broadband deals you can buy today.
