Be Broadband didn’t waste time in announcing their response to Virgin Media’s 50 Mb/s ultra-fast broadband service launch. 

Be announced initial results of their limited trial of a 48 MB/s service in Paddington West London just before Christmas – ahead of the full announcement early this year (2009).  The results indicated the trial delivered actual speeds of between 30Mb/s to 45Mb/s, which is significantly faster than anything else available via a DSL broadband connection, but unlikely to match the average speeds available from the new Virgin Media broadband 50 Mb/s service.

Felix Geyr, Be Broadband’s Managing Director said “We want to push the limits of high-speed broadband”.  “We already offer the fastest possible broadband on an ADSL line, but we want to take it a step further. If you want broadband around the 50Mb mark but don’t want to go the cable route, Be wants to offer you a real alternative.”

This makes sense as the Virgin Media service will only be available to a maximum of 12 million homes in the UK by June 2009.

But comment on forums such as Digital Spy, have not been universally positive, even though Be Broadband is a very popular provider that tends to enjoy very positive feedback in the forums.

The trial involved the “bonding” of two phone lines into the home, in order to effectively double the speed available from the standard Be Broadband 24 Meg service.  This clearly requires the install of two phone lines into the home (with BT charging up to £125 to install a line) and payment of line rental twice – so a minimum of £20 per month just for the line rental. 

The forum comment therefore focuses around the practicality (both in terms of cost and reliability of service) of this type of bonded line solution. 

In essence ADSL 2+ technology will always struggle to match the inherent advantages of Virgin Media’s FTTC (fibre to the cabinet) technology, when it comes to delivering ultra-fast broadband services and the Be Broadband 48 Mb/s service looks to be an example of this. 

Want to find out more? Give us a call on 0800 1388 388 or use our online smart search at www.simplifydigital.co.uk

But there were many commentators who said that three channels on the TV were more than adequate.  But it’s just not the way the world works - so sure as three became three hundred in the UK TV channel market – the same will be true with broadband speeds.

And Japan is leading the way.  The Land of the Rising Sun is way out in front when it comes to broadband service delivery, making the UK look positively antiquated. 

In Japan over 40% of residential broadband connections are via fibre to the home (FTTH) allowing for broadband speeds of many hundreds of Mbs/sec.  As a result the Japanese cable company KDDI for example, has just launched a fibre-optic broadband and telephony package with upload and download speeds each of up to one gigabit per second, (that’s 1000 Mb/sec!) and this is in a country where speeds of up to 100 mb/sec are the norm.  What’s more the KDDI service (with a free phone line) costs only about £30 per month.

So whilst Virgin Media is to be applauded to have invested in its less expensive FTTC (fibre to the cabinet) service (which relies on copper for the last yards into the home), the up to 50 Mb/sec speeds offered for nearly £50 per month, don’t seem all that sexy – though faster than all the other broadband providers in the UK.

And this is the key – the price of broadband per Mb/sec, as received by the customer.  Data is hard to come by, but the most recent available suggests that Japan leads the world by this measure, offering broadband access at an average price of $0.7 per Mb/s.  The UK consumer is charged about seven and a half times that rate.

So when will things improve for the UK broadband consumer?   Well it’s not just Virgin Media who are investing in improving the broadband infrastructure.  BT also has earmarked a £1.5bn investment project to improve its DSL network and roll out FTTC services.  This could eventually see 40% of the country enjoying speeds of up to 60Mbps.  But don’t hold your breath - there is still a lot of discussion underway as to the cost of the investment and the ability of BT to recoup their investment by selling on the capacity to other broadband providers at fair rates.  

And even if the investment does come it is still very unlikely to provide FTTH services (that the Japanese all but take for granted) to more than a few lucky new-build households.  This in large part reflects the nature of the UK housing stock, which is far lower density than many other countries in the world, making the cost of installing FTTH services extremely expensive.

UK broadband - slow compared to Japan

Joeri Van Bogert, the outspoken President of the Fibre to the Home Council of Europe believes that only the ultra-fast, two-way speed of fibre to the home will really deliver on consumers’ future expectations.

Speaking to the BBC Mr Van Bogert said earlier this week “A lot of DSL and cable modem services can be complementary to Fibre to the Home (FTTH) but they are in no way a substitute for it”. 

He cites the importance of upload speeds as well as download speeds (a key constraint with DSL and FTTC technologies), as so much “web 2.0” activity involves sharing data with other users on the internet.

“Just take something simple, like photos. Increasingly, people want to upload them to share with friends and have them stored somewhere secure,” said Mr Van Bogaert. “FTTH is much more than a technology, it has the power to change the way we live, work and communicate,” he continued.

And therein lies the key, there are two fundamental trends that will inevitably lead to an ever increasing appetite for broadband speed:

·         The first is the so-called “web 2.0” phenomenon – the fact that so much of the power of the web in the future will be connecting users to each other (to share and interact) – rather than binary connections to individual websites. Such connections require high speed upload and download capability;

·         and the second is that the web is ultimately a visual medium, so video content will continue to augment the written word in almost every activity online – and with it, bring an inexorable appetite for increased speeds and usage limits.

Overall by Q3 2008 there were approximately 400 million broadband subscribers worldwide, up by approximately 16 million subscriptions on the previous quarter.

Western Europe has the largest share of broadband subscribers with 26% of the total, followed by South and East Asia at 23% and North America with 22%.

In terms of broadband penetration (as a % of total population), North America leads with 27% penetration, followed by Western Europe on 26% and Asia Pacific on 10%, but predictably growth rates in less well penetrated markets were far higher.   Western Europe’s broadband growth rate over the period was 2.7%, whilst Latin America for example grew at 8.3%.

By far the largest absolute volume of new broadband subscribers was acquired in South and East Asia, with over 5 million broadband subscribers added in China in the third quarter of 2008 alone which accounted for one third of the total volume of broadband subscribers added globally and almost twice the number added throughout Western Europe over the same time period.

 Within Western Europe 2.7million new subscribers were added, of which over 800,000 were added in Germany; 428,000 in France and 320,000 in the UK.  The 320,000 new broadband subscriptions added in the UK ranked ninth in volume terms worldwide, with Brazil, Mexico, Russia and India all adding more broadband subscribers than the UK, in addition to China, USA, Germany and France.

DSL technologies are by far the most common method of receiving broadband worldwide, accounting for 65% of total worldwide connections.  This is followed by cable modems accounting for 21% of connections; and fibre to the home or the cabinet (FFTx) accounting for just over 12%.

The Western European   market is especially dominated by DSL with a total of 86 million connections, of which 21 million are in Germany, 16 million in France and 13.4 million in the UK.  All three are dwarfed by China which has a staggering 62 million DSL subscribers.

The sheer size of China’s market means that it is now in volume terms the largest broadband market in the world with 80.9 million broadband subscribers, having overtaken the USA (79 million subscribers) in Q3 2008.  The UK is back in 6^th place by volume, after Japan, Germany and France.

There are some interesting differences in the technologies adopted that will profoundly affect each country’s ability to provide ultra-fast broadband connections in future.  DSL connections tend to limit available speeds to approx 40 Mb/sec; whilst “fibre to the cabinet” can offer speeds of nearly 200 Mb/sec; and “fibre to the home” of over 1,000 Mb/sec.  These all can be compared to the UK average broadband speed of approx 3.5 Mb/s.

In Japan for example nearly 60% of their 29 million broadband connections are via FFTx resulting in an average broadband speed of over 90 Mb/sec.  This is in contrast to the UK where nearly 80% of broadband connections are via DSL.  This makes Virgin Media’s decision to invest in FTTC (fibre to the cabinet) broadband services in the UK very timely.  The new service which launched at the end of 2008 offers speeds of up to 50Mb/sec.

When consulted, 55% of households were “unsure if they were on the best deal” or indeed “pretty sure that if they checked they would find a better deal”.  What’s more 60% admitted to feeling under more pressure to look for savings as a result of the credit crunch.

Nevertheless only one third of respondents had bothered to research the digital TV and broadband  market to look for better deals within the last 3 months, and 38% admitted to having not got round to comparing the market for better deals within the last year.

As a result, 79% of respondents claimed not to have switched digital TV, broadband or home phone services in the last 12 months.  The three most commonly cited barriers to switching were:

·         too many conflicting digital TV and broadband deals making choosing an alternative very confusing

·         a lack of impartial advice available to help find a better value alternative broadband or digital TV service

·         a worry about the excessive time and effort required to switch digital services.

Against this background only 26% of respondents felt that comparison sites offered genuinely impartial advice.  52% of respondents were unsure if comparison sites are genuinely impartial and 22% were sure that comparison sites do not offer a genuinely impartial comparison of digital TV, broadband and home phone services.

This is a very poor reflection on comparison site industry which founded itself on a “consumer champion” positioning of the provision of transparent and impartial advice. 

And indeed it is this negative customer perception of the comparison site sector as a whole that has led Simplifydigital to become the first and only digital TV, broadband and home phone comparison service to receive the UK Regulator Ofcom’s PAS (Price Assurance Scheme) accreditation for transparency, accuracy and impartiality. 

The report in the Guardian this week notes that Sky and Tiscali’s Italian parent were unable to agree on price, with Tiscali looking for a price of around £600m and Sky looking to pay closer to £450m. 

The deal would immediately have made Sky Britain’s third-largest broadband provider as Sky currently have over 1.8m customers, and Tiscali have 1.77m UK customers.

Crucially, despite very attractive pricing and heavy promotion, Tiscali are losing customers in the UK.  Their high customer churn has meant that their subscriber numbers actually declined in the last quarter by nearly 40,000 subscribers.   This coupled with the deteriorating economic climate and slumping company valuations, makes Sky’s decision to apparently back out of the negotiations understandable.

But despite these issues, if Sky believe that there is strategic logic in the deal, they may well be playing a longer game.  With a notable absence of competing buyers, Sky may well be walking away, to let Tiscali stew in its own juice for a few further weeks, before returning to negotiations next year. 

One thing that seems clear is that the longer a potential buyer waits, the better terms they are likely to dictate. So don’t count Sky out of the hunt for Tiscali just yet.

The satellite broadcaster has said that it has successfully tested the delivery to a normal household television via their high definition set-top box.

Over the past few months Sky has been filming events using 3D camera technology including a Six Nations rugby union international that was broadcast in 3D to an audience at a theatre in London.

Sky have gone a step further by showing that 3D could be delivered into homes, through its Sky+HD set-top box, without much difficulty at all.

Lawrence Bleach of Simplifydigital says.

“Whilst 3DTV remains, for some, the subject of science fiction films from the 70s, the news from Sky would suggest the reality isn’t far away.  The great news is that it would seem this latest evolution in TV won’t require a new set top box, instead Sky are saying an existing Sky+HD box will do the job.  With other broadcasters yet to make any announcements, it may be another reason to pick Sky as your preferred digital TV provider.  Add the fact that they also have a strong broadband (up to 16Mb) and home phone offering, and Sky continues to be one of the digital service providers pushing the innovations. 

Only 3 years ago Sky launched HD digital TV, and that is fast becoming mainstream with over 600,000 subscribers to the Sky service and other broadcasters and digital TV platforms now also offering high definition services.  You wouldn’t bet against Sky being the first to the UK market with 3D and setting the pace again”

Some things to note about 3DTV is that you will need a 3D ready television set, not yet available in UK stores, and you would need to wear 3D polarising glasses but, 3DTV could be on British shores sooner rather than later - Some channels in Japan are already been broadcast in 3D whilst major TV manufacturers are currently looking at building 3DTV prototypes without the need to wear 3D glasses whilst viewing.

Some of the team at Simplifydigital were lucky enough to test the ultra-fast 50Mb broadband service yesterday and our observations are as follows:

• Overall the service looks impressive
• The service is demonstrably faster than anything else available on the UK market today with web pages loading almost instantaneously
• Watching iPlayer in “high quality” format and in full screen is far less grainy and stilted than on a standard broadband connection
• Downloading content is much quicker with a whole movie downloaded in under 4 minutes

On first test therefore it does look like the service will be attractive to web-centric families with multiple family members spending a lot of time online and deriving a lot of enjoyment from watching content. For gamers, playing games over fibre optic broadband connection improves reaction times (latency) making games more responsive and allowing gamers to get into the action even faster than before. It will also clearly have attractions for home workers assuming that the reliability of the service proves robust.

That being said, the service is clearly a premium product, targeted at high web use families who are willing to pay nearly £50 per month (plus a £50 set-up fee) for the privilege of faster web access. In addition there are clearly questions to address as regards:

• the actual speed that families will receive (though our assumption is that even notwithstanding some degradation of speed due to contention, it still should offer web access far faster than anything else available on the market)
• the usage limit that will be applied to the service. Our understanding having spoken to Virgin Media is that there will be genuinely uncapped usage for early customers, but at some point in the future, “fair usage caps” will be introduced. These caps will need to be very large for families to get the real benefit of the service, as faster speed and use by multiple family members will greatly increase the demand on data use.

Want to find out if you can sign up to the new Virgin Media ultra fast broadband product? Simply give our experts a call on 0800 988 8148

]]> http://blog.simplifydigital.co.uk/2008/12/simplifydigital-test-out-virgin-media%e2%80%99s-ultra-fast-50-mb-broadband/feed/ http://blog.simplifydigital.co.uk/2008/12/virgin-medias-50-mb-super-fast-xxl-broadband-what-does-it-mean-for-you/ http://blog.simplifydigital.co.uk/2008/12/virgin-medias-50-mb-super-fast-xxl-broadband-what-does-it-mean-for-you/#comments Mon, 15 Dec 2008 09:29:12 +0000 Jonathan http://blog.simplifydigital.co.uk/?p=177

Today Virgin Media announced a new super-fast (XXL) broadband and our CEO Charlie Ponsonby was on BBC Breakfast first thing (see above) sharing his thoughts on it. Here’s a quick summary of his comments along with some background information from us:

“ Seeing really will be believing and we predict the difference will be remarkable. Even standard web surfing will seem a very different experience – with pages loading instantaneously - but the real difference will jump out when you try more data intensive online activities such as streaming high definition TV content, and of course online gaming.”

Virgin Media formally announced the launch of their revolutionary up to 50Mb/s ultra fast broadband service today. The service is over double the speed of the next fastest high speed broadband service available in the UK from Be Broadband and nearly 20 times faster than the average broadband speed achieved by UK households!

Virgin Media have been preparing for the launch for many months having successfully trialed the service in Kent earlier this year. The service uses the existing Virgin Media cable infrastructure (with some modifications) and requires the install of an upgraded broadband modem in the customer’s home.

The launch of the 50 Mb/s service in the UK, follows the trend elsewhere in the world, where fibre-optic cable broadband providers are starting to put clear blue water between themselves and their DSL competitors (who rely on the copper phone line network), by providing broadband speeds that the DSL competitors struggle to match without huge investment in the copper wire network infrastructure.

Kabel Deutschland, Germany’s largest cable operator is a great example – they use a sophisticated fibre-optic cable infrastructure and have successfully tested speeds of over 200 Mb/s. They have taken a conscious decision to aggressively market ultra fast broadband packages offering greater speeds than their DSL competitors, such as a 32 Mb/s service with phone for about £20 per month.

It seems that Virgin Media are adopting a similar strategy in the UK – that of shifting households’ expectations, such that any broadband speed under 20 or 30 Mb/s start to seem second rate. When you consider how quickly users’ expectations are already shifting as regards acceptable broadband speed, this seems a very plausible strategy. Remember that it is not all that long ago when households were perfectly happy with a 56 Kbit/s connection (which is 45 times slower than the average broadband speed now achieved in the UK).

Virgin Media do not have a completely free run at the world of ultra fast broadband in the UK. BT are still formally committed to their delayed “21CN upgrade” and continue to pilot its own fibre optic network – so called “fibre to the cabinet” which can deliver speeds of up to 40Mb/s; and the far more capital intensive “fibre to the home” which can deliver speeds of up to 100Mb/s and beyond. But BT’s plans are a long way from fruition and arguments are still raging as to how their investment will be paid for by on-sale to third party broadband providers.

“2009 will be a very interesting year for the UK broadband market, the launch of ultra fast broadband will really start to change people’s perceptions as to what is an acceptable broadband speed.”

“Indeed as we see an increasing blur between the TV set and the PC, with on-demand content flowing seamlessly between the two, people’s appetite for broadband speed will head rapidly upwards and today’s average of about 2 Mb/s will soon seem as inadequate as a 56 Kbit/s dialup connection already seems to the great majority of web users.”

“The market may well start to diverge in 2009 – with premium ultra fast broadband services commanding higher prices and margins for those able to deliver them, and the opposite end of the broadband market becoming yet more commoditised, with further downward pressure on prices”

When can you get the 50 Mb/s service?

To receive Virgin Media’s fibre optic broadband service you need to live in a Virgin Media cable area. Currently Virgin Media covers approx 12 million UK homes. But the new ultra fast broadband service will not initially be available to all Virgin media customers – indeed it will roll out region by region over the coming months, with Warrington in Cheshire the first up. Warrington was chosen to go first due to the very high proportion of existing Virgin Media high speed broadband customers.

Following the Warrington rollout, the “XXL” Virgin Broadband package will be gradually added to the firm’s 2Mb/s (”M”), 10Mb/s (”L”) and 20Mb/s (”XL”) offerings across the whole cable network.

Remember you can head on over to the Simplifydigital site to find the best broadband package and further information on the Virgin XXL broadband, using our href=”http://www.simplifydigital.co.uk/blog”>free broadband comparison tool . Or just give us a call on 0800 988 8148.

Bonus material! Here’s some of the facts from the Virgin Media press office on just how fast 50Mb broadband would be. (Disclaimer - these are based on a lot of assumptions, theirs not ours)

So just how fast is 50Mb?

> Books
A thirst for knowledge? Get the text of the Encyclopaedia Britannica in around 35 seconds
(Based on 30 volumes, 40 million words at 5 letters per word)

Potty about Potter? Download the text of every Harry Potter book in as little as 1 second
(Based on 7 books, 952,000 words at 5 letters per word)

Build a library and get every Penguin Classic (roughly 1300 titles) in as little as 90 seconds
(Based on 1,300 books, 97,500,000 words at 5 letters per word)

> Film
Get The Godfather Trilogy in glorious high definition in around 45 minutes
(Based on three movies at 5GB each)

Use the force of 50Mb and download both Star Wars trilogies in around 19 minutes
(Based on six movies at 1.1GB each)

Get shaken or stirred with the James Bond box set in around 1 hour 10 minutes
(Based on 22 movies at 1.1GB each)

> TV
Share the good times and download all 238 episodes of Friends in as little as 2 hours
(Based on 238 episodes at 175MB each)

Catch up with Carrie in every episode of Sex and the City plus the movie in 1 hour 40 minutes
(Based on 94 episodes at 350MB each and a movie at 1.1GB)

Missed Strictly Come Dancing? Catch up through BBC iPlayer in as little as 1 minute.
(Based on a TV show at 350MB)

> Music
Make Virgin Media 50Mb broadband work a Hard Day’s Night for you and get the entire Beatles back catalogue in as little as 6 minutes 15 seconds
(Based on 35 CDs including various compilations at 60MB each)

Take on Take That’s back catalogue in around 1 minute
(Based on 5 albums at 60MB each)

Get your hands on Girls Aloud in as little as 90 seconds
(Based on 8 albums at 60MB each)

And remember, if you want any straight talking advice on the phone then call us on 0800 988 8148 or head on over to our broadband comparison tool here. 

What sort of speed do you need?

The speed of the service is obviously one of the most important things to consider when looking at broadband for online gaming.This can make all the difference as the overall game performance is largely dependent upon the speed of your connection.  The faster your connection, the lower your latency/ping (connection to the game server), allowing your movement to be fast enough to interact with those of other players. And to stop you feeling all sad and slow. 

To check the speed that you should be able to achieve at your postcode, just enter your details into our broadband comparison tool (or give us a call on 0800 988 8148) and look at the ‘full availability results’ found at the top of the results page. If your predicted speed is less than 2mb,  it’s questionable whether you will be able to achieve the desired connection to the game server to play properly. Ideally speeds of 4mb and above will be ideal for online gaming, especially if you’re using one of the newer high powered consoles such as a Playstation 3 or Xbox 360. If services such as 02 Broadband, Be Broadband, Sky Broadband Max and Virgin Media Broadband are available in your area, you are much more likely to reach and exceed the desired speed requirements as these providers use new technology such as ADSL 2+ and fibre optic broadband which can often double your predicted speed.

What usage allowance do you need?

The other thing to make sure you have covered is your usage allowance. All broadband packages are sold with a usage/download allowance and when it comes to online gaming the higher the allowance, the better. Many games require regular updates which can sometimes be as big as 1GB or more. This alone can end up using a large part of your overall usage allowance, leaving you with an allowance amount that may not be sufficient enough to last your own or your family’s needs for the rest of the month (which could result in an additional fee from your ISP).  

When choosing a broadband provider aim for a package that offers at least 20+ GB per month usage, or even better something that offers “unlimited usage”.  However, it’s important to remember that “unlimited usage” broadband often do actually cap your usage with so called “fair usage policy”. It’s worth checking out the details of this before signing up. A notable exception to this is Sky Broadband.

Which console are you playing games on?

There are now many different gaming platforms that can be connected to a broadband connection for online gaming, the most popular being PC, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and Playstation 3. Most new broadband compatible games consoles and laptops come wireless enabled as standard. The Xbox 360 however does require a wireless adapter if you want to connect that way. For all types of online gaming, be it via a console, PC or laptop we’d always recommend hard wiring your connection (plugging directly into the broadband router) with an Ethernet cable if at all possible. This will help to ensure that you keep as strong a connection as possible to the internet and avoid losing signal strength across a wireless distance. This will also help reduce any in-game lag (causing the game to slow down and sometimes drop your connection to the game server altogether) and offer an overall smoother gaming experience.

We recently put out a press release announcing our pick of the very best digital TV, broadband and home phone deals, just in time for Christmas. Here it is in its full blown glory, with our top tips up front and the tables at the end.  It’s packed full of stuff, so this time round we’ve decided to include the whole press release. 

And remember, we’re here to help. Just give us a call on 0800 988 8148 or head on over to the main Simplifydigital site and see what the best package is for you.

- - - 

Make the most of digital TV, broadband and home phone deals this Christmas with Santa’s Little Helper, Simplifydigital

With Christmas just around the corner, time is running out to find the best digital package for your family. There are over 15,000 different digital package deals on the market, catering for every conceivable taste. If you choose wisely, there are some great deals to be had on your digital services this festive season.

However, with last minute preparations, finding a new digital package is probably the last thing on your mind. That’s where Santa’s Little Helper, Simpifydigital, can help. It offers impartial advice via its UK-based experts over the phone (0800 1388 388) or online at http://www.simplifydigital.co.uk to help you find the best deal in minutes. Its specially designed website allows you to define your exact requirements and see the package options, which you can then order online, or let one of its experts place the order for you. It is the only retailer of digital TV, broadband and home phone services in the UK to be accredited by Ofcom as impartial.  The added advantage of Simplifydigital is that it has some exclusive deals and guarantee to be on hand to ensure that the installation goes smoothly.

Here are Simplifydigital’s top Christmas tips for digital TV, broadband and phone:

1.     Save by bundling your services. One of the best ways to take advantage of the great savings to be had is by buying your digital TV, broadband and home phone from one supplier. According to a recent T-poll survey, commissioned by Simplifydigital, an average family can save over £360 per year by bundling all three services.  So before subscribing to digital TV, it’s worth working out what you are paying for broadband and home phone services and whether you are in contract. Then when considering the different digital TV services, check out the deals offered to take all three services.

2.     Make the most of Christmas entertainment with a great movie package. There are many movie premieres such as Transformers, Shrek the Third and Stardust airing over the holidays so it’s a great time to invest in a movie package. Sky in particular has a great entertainment offering. Their movies package gives you more than 850 movies to choose from per month from Hollywood blockbusters to world-cinema gems. This will, however, add around £17 per month to your package but if you sign up before 25^th December, you’ll receive a £50 M&S voucher. If you don’t want to pay monthly for a movie package, both Sky and Virgin Media give you access to a huge range of Box Office movies for around £3.99 per film.

3.     Get cinema quality movies. If you are planning on having a movie-filled Christmas, you may also like to consider High Definition TV. HD TV gives you cinema quality movies in high definition and surround sound. For anyone who is serious about watching HD, Sky offers by far the largest selection of HD channels and programming in the UK, covering the whole spectrum of content – from all the premium sporting action, to a large range of movies and documentaries.  The Sky+HD box also has all the features of a Sky+ box so that you can pause and record live TV. It usually costs a bit extra though, and you’ll need to have an HD-ready set-top box and TV to watch it.

4.     Don’t miss those Christmas classics. If you don’t want to miss any festive TV, then a ‘PVR’ (personal video recorder) can be a great investment. This allows you to pause, record and rewind live TV and you can even record a whole series at the touch of a button. In the spirit of Christmas, there are also some great special offers available during the festive period. Via Simplifydigital, you can get a Sky+ box for £49 with free installation from Sky or a half-price V+ installation for £75 from Virgin Media. The V+ box also gives you access to BBC HD letting you view your favourite BBC programmes this Christmas in HD.

5.     Catch up with your friends and family for free. If you’re away from friends and family this Christmas and want to catch up on the phone, then certain providers will offer free calls to national and international telephone numbers. For example, depending on your package, TalkTalk offers free calls to 36 international destinations, Tiscali offer free calls to 10 international destinations and Sky to 20. Many packages also include free calls to mobile phones in the USA and Canada.

6.     If you’re buying games, make sure you’ve got the right broadband package. Make sure the kids (and adults) aren’t disappointed by ensuring that you’ve got the right broadband package to allow them to get stuck into a whole world of “online play” (multi-player) games. As a general guide, if you’re predicted speed is less than 2mb it is questionable whether you will be able to achieve the desired connection to the game server to play properly. Ideally speeds of 4mb and above will be ideal for online gaming, especially if you’re using one of the newer high powered consoles such as a Playstation 3 or Xbox 360.