New package from BT offers half price broadband and calls for the first six months. But can it be beaten?
BT has launched a new package offering phone and broadband for just £3.50 a month.
The deal
For £3.50 a month for six months (£13 thereafter), you can get broadband speeds of up to 16MB as well as free evening and weekend calls.
The nice people at BT have even thrown in a £25 Sainsbury’s gift card to sweeten the deal! But the promotion is only available for a limited time online and is exclusive to BroadbandChoices.
The broadband data allowance is limited at 10GB a month, so if you do a lot of downloading it may not be the best option for you. However, if you spend a lot of time of the phone, you do have the option to add unlimited anytime calls for an extra £4.50 a month.
What this deal translates into (with the monthly line rental of £14.60 included) is a monthly cost of £18.10 for the first six months, followed by a monthly cost of £27.60 for the remainder of the 18-month contract. So in a year this deal will set you back £274.20.
You can cut that total even further as BT also offers a cheaper line rental, equivalent to £10.75 a month, but to qualify you'll need to pay the full year's line rental in advance. That will take your total cost down to £228.00.
How it compares
It's a hell of a deal from BT, but it is still possible to pay even less for your broadband and calls. Here are the best deals, courtesy of the Broadband Choices comparison site.
|
Package |
The deal |
Actual monthly cost |
Total first year cost |
Speed (up to) |
Usage limits |
Calls package |
Extras? |
|
Six months free broadband |
£12.99 for the first six months then £19.48 |
£194.82 |
16MB |
10GB |
Free Evening and Weekend Calls |
None |
|
|
Broadband and Evening and Weekend Calls for just £2.50 for 12 months |
£16.25 |
£195.00 |
14MB |
Unlimited |
Free Evening and Weekend Calls |
Three Clubcard points for every £1 spent |
|
|
£3.25 (for 12 months) |
£17.75 |
£213.00 |
14MB |
40GB |
Free Evening and Weekend Calls |
£25 Tesco voucher |
|
|
Orange Broadband & off peak calls (Orange mobile customers only) |
Unlimited broadband |
£18.50 |
£222.00 |
14MB |
Unlimited |
Free Evening and Weekend Calls |
-£45 Amazon Voucher - 'Orange Wednesdays' - Get one free movie download from iTunes every Thursday |
|
£5.00 (for nine months) 1/2 Price Broadband |
£17.25 (first nine months), £22.25 thereafter |
£222.00 |
14MB |
Unlimited |
Free Evening and Weekend Calls |
None |
From the table it is clear that Plusnet offers a seriously cheap deal based on yearly costs, but the best unlimited broadband offer comes from Tesco.
However, unlimited broadband may be too much compared to the amount of surfing and downloading you normally do as we discussed here.
It is also worth bearing in mind that the broadband deal you are likely to get and the speed you can enjoy will depend on your area.
To find out what speeds you currently receive on your broadband, use this handy Speed Test Tool on the BroadbandChoices website. After all, there’s no point signing up to a superfast broadband package if you know you’re not capable of getting speeds above 3Mbps!
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