While many people are chasing ever faster speeds, there are many millions who are attempting to reduce their monthly spending, and for those willing to commit to a 24 month contract, Direct Save Telecom may have the answer, with its £2.49 a month ADSL2+ service.
We are all used to the promotional deals, where the price for the first three months is in big print, and after the three or six month period a figure you need a magnifying glass to read kicks in. The £2.49 service from Direct Save Telecom avoids this by keeping the price the same for the whole 24 months of the contract.
£2.49 a month will not get you an unlimited service, but the 20GB monthly usage allowance, will just about cope with the average UK broadband usage. The catch is that you have to agree to taking the voice line rental service from Direct Save Telecom too, at £12.85 per month. The line rental includes free evening and weekend calls, and there is no large connection fee, as the setup and the wireless router are free.
In terms of broadband speeds, the service will use ADSL2+ where it is available, and they advertise a typical figure of 13 Mbps for those areas (where only ADSL is available speeds will be lower). The small print also reveals that the lowest price does not apply across the complete UK, with the service costing £9.95 outside their low-cost network area.
At the end of the 24 month contract, you switch to a 28 day rolling contract, but do pay heed to the various termination costs. Inside the minimum period it will cost £5 per remaining month of the contract to leave, and if a MAC is not used to leave you will incur a £35 cease charge. Additionally not giving your 28 days notice carries a £19.50 charge, and not returning the wireless router will cost you £35.
The requirement to use a MAC to leave the service, indicates that the service is based around a Wholesale Line Rental service, rather than being fully unbundled. Which should make migrating onto or away from the service easier.
Seems a bit craxy to offer the broadband - a service that people value - for so little, and charge so much just for line rental and a few calls, which is something that very few people value, especially if they are big mobile phone users. Will this ever change?