When I found out our exchange was to be enabled
for adsl, I spent a long time doing research as to what ISP I felt
would be best for me.
I read up as much as I could and I also rang round a few
ISPs and asked lots of questions about their packages.
By this time I had a shortlist of several ISPs that I was
thinking of going with.
Now was the time to start looking at the "total cost
of ownership."
~ This figure is how much it would cost me to be with an ISP
for my 1st year of broadband and included the cost of equipment,
monthly ISP fees and also the cost of enabling my line for
adsl.
Its important to remember that BTw charge the ISP £47
for each new adsl connection, so the ISP will be looking at
recovering this cost some where along the line.
There were a few ISPs that seemed to be offering good deals
by giving a free usb modem and discounted connection fees. Some
of these offers looked very tempting, but its surprising how
much more you may be paying in monthly fees, making the total
cost more.
This part can be very confusing, and there is no easy way
of doing things apart from trawling through ISP websites with
pen, paper and a calculator.
Next I started looking at the extras that some ISPs offered
such as the amount of webspace, and one that allows scripting.
I was also looking for an ISP that would provide a static
IP.
I now had to balance cost against services, and although it
would be nice to get a free usb modem, I wasn't too concerned
as purchasing a router to support the network without the
gateway machine to be would be good.
In the end I decided for my own particular circumstances
I would prefer to pay the BTw connection fee up front and
purchase my own router, and opt for a 1 month contract.. although I very much appreciate that
others people would prefer to go along with what deals ISPs
may be offering.