6 Factors To Consider When Choosing A Broadband Internet Service Provider

In today's times, a good internet speed is as important as any other utilities to most businesses and even homes. Internet access is required for everything from communicating with the customer via email or VOIP, to credit card processing. Without it, businesses simply can't operate in a flow. In addition to businesses, the demand for a good internet is also increasing gradually among the home users, who mostly require it for their personal entertainment, like using social media, watching movies, etc.

So in order to cater to the growing demand, many broadband internet service providers have come forward. While growing competition makes ground for better services, it also increases confusion among the masses, especially for the people who are totally new to the concept. So if you're someone who wants to install a broadband internet service in their home, you're absolutely at the right place!

Factors to consider when choosing a broadband isp

1. Broadband speedThe most important factor to consider when choosing an ISP is the broadband speed. If you're just going to browse the internet, send mails, use social media, or stream Netflix, you don't need a high internet speed. However, if several people are going to use the same network, or you want to play online video games, you should opt for high-speed broadband internet.

2. Data limitIt's important to estimate how much data you consume in a month so that you could adjust your limits and choose a broadband plan that suits you and your requirements the most.

3. Connection typeYou've several connection types for broadband internet to choose from. There is the ADSL broadband that uses landline infrastructure or fiber broadband. Under it, there are two more options to choose from - ADSL 1 and ADSL 2. ADSL 2 has much greater speed than the other one.

Fiber broadband too comes with two options - FTTC and FTTP, where the latter is faster and expensive.

4. Usage purposeFor this factor you've to consider the reason for which you want the internet in the first place. There are four important purposes that you're required to look into - light usage, heavy usage, working from home, and student usage.

• Light usage encompasses the users who simply require the internet for surfing and video-calling purposes. Such users should go for low/limited data packages.
• Heavy usage is considered when people use the internet for playing online games or streaming videos or movies. It also covers the people who provide internet at their workplace or those who've several people using the same network. Such users should go for unlimited data packages.
• People who usually work from home are classified under the 'working from home' category. Such users can subscribe to a home broadband package.
• Finally, the 'student usage' package is geared only towards students. Students can subscribe to this package as it comes with contact periods that fit around term times.

5. Additional benefitsIn order to get the most out of their money, users must select the ISP who offers additional benefits apart from data and speed, like

• Free connection setup
• Free telephone box
• No installation charges
• Free subscription of OTT platforms.

6. Contract lengthSince the majority of the broadband ISPs have contract lengths of 12 or 24 months, if you want to exit early, you may have to pay hefty fees. So before finalizing anything either find out if it's beneficial for you to get into an year long contract, or go for an ISP that has flexible contract lengths or doesn't charge fees.

So before finalizing your broadband ISP, make sure to take into account all the above 6 factors.