New Providers and features on the site!

Broadband Finder is increasing and developing it’s portfolio of broadband providers and other resources within the site. Some of the newer members to the site are:

PlusNet
PlusNet have recently undergone a complete overhaul of their site and have introduced a wide range of packages to suit broadband consumers needs. They currently have 4 packages ranging from £9.99 a month for their Option 1 plan through to £29.99 for the, heavy user, Option 4 package. PlusNet also have the flexibility of a monthly contract as standard. They do have charges for connection and equipment but these will be waived if you stay with them for 12 months.

UK Online
UK Online are another company who have given themselves and site a complete overhaul and introduced a wide range of broadband packages. They also offer 4 packages and boast of being able to supply speeds of up to 22MB. Their package prices range from £9.99 a month through to their superfast unlimited £24.99 package.

Also, for a more hands-on approach, Broadband Finder now hosts, not only its up-to-date news feeds, but we also boast an online chat facility for those consumers who wish to talk to someone with any queries regarding choosing their broadband package. Click here to view all the latest broadband packages and access Live Chat.

Industry group warns of future Broadband slump

The Broadband Stakeholders Group, an industry/government advisory group, has stated that Broadband services need to speed up in order to keep up with the growing consumer and business demand for faster online surfing. The economy may suffer if by 2012, UK businesses, especially UK-based online retailers such as Play.com, are unable to process and send information quickly.

“If steps are not taken [by 2009] to prepare for next-generation broadband, then we may well find ourselves in a position where it is too late to catch up,” said BSG chairman Kip Meek in the Financial Times.

Virgin Media has already announced its plan to upgrade its 10Mbps Size: XL Broadband service customers to 20Mbps, while BT have been quietly setting up their 21st Century Network, the digital network that will eventually replace the existing copperwire lines, which will allow for much faster connection speeds.

Last October, a post on Samknows.com – The Broadband Resource – stated that BT’s 21C Network will be up and running in Cardiff before it is rolled out over the rest of the country, with the rest of the UK to be fully connected by the end of 2011.

ISPs such as UK Online and Be have made use of ADSL 2+ technology, which allows them to sell Broadband services with faster than average connections speeds of 22Mbps and 24Mbps.

Smaller ISPs come out on top in industry survey

Eclipse and Be Broadband topped a poll for reliability and speed connection in survey carried out between comparison site Moneysupermarket.com and the market research team YouGov.

The findings of the survey which asked over 4,000 people was released last month and showed that the four overall best ISP were Be Broadband, Eclipse, NamesCo and Madasafish, each receiving scores of nine out of ten. Bigger names such as Orange, Sky, Tiscali and TalkTalk were ranked among the lowest.

Jason Lloyd, head of broadband for Moneysupermarket.com said that the larger companies are losing out by placing too much faith in promotion rather than service. He says that, by contrast; “[the] smaller companies place far greater emphasis on customer retention. Their customers often enjoy the highest service levels within the industry.”

Be Broadband were praised in the ISPA awards tow months ago for introducing record-breaking Broadband speeds to the market, and Eclipse scooped the prestigious Best Consumer Broadband award.

A spokesperson for Sky has this to say in defense: “Sky is one of the UK’s fastest growing broadband providers. On average, our customers save more than £120 a year and enjoy download speeds twice as fast as their previous supplier. In fact, independent tests rank Sky as the second fastest broadband provider in the country.”

Whilst the Sky Max package does indeed boast a top connection speed of 16Mbps, twice as fast as the current average 8Mbps speed, other ISPs including Be, UK Online and Virgin Media can provide speed in excess of this. Hopefully surveys like this will cause the bigger players to examine their services before they commit to length and expensive marketing campaigns.