Can I Get Broadband?

So at the moment you are cruising the information superhighway in your mum's 1980 Ford Fiesta. Dial up internet, like your mum's car, can drive ok but even a pensioner finds it offensively slow. It's time to move on, chuck the keys and upgrade to the Jaguar of the internet- Broadband.

If you are new to broadband there are a few things to do first, to check if you have the keys and the budget for that dream car, so to speak.

Is your phone line enabled for ADSL?

First things first you need to check if your phone line is ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line) enabled. In regular English this just means that the telephone exchange in your area has been upgraded to transmit broadband. BT has had to upgrade the entire telephone exchange network and they estimate that 99.8% of houses can receive ADSL broadband but you should still check if yours is one of them. This is pretty easy to do online or you can call BT and they will be able to tell you.

Am I close enough to the telephone exchange?

You will need to be within about 3.5 miles of your local telephone exchange to get ADSL broadband.

Oh no- My phone line is not enabled, how else can I get broadband?

You can also get cable broadband and WIFI broadband. If you get cable TV in your area then you will be able to get broadband through the same cables. This is also often faster than an ADSL connection. Some rural areas are also experimenting with Wireless Local Area Networks where a number of aerials are set up in an area and allow anyone within that area to receive broadband through radio signals. This is really only useful if approached as a whole community, as for instance in the village of Ledbury in South Herefordshire.

Once you know you can get broadband, you can start the hunt for a decent Internet Service Provider. The speed and downloads available will depend on how much you want to pay but you will find that there are easily affordable packages, no matter your budget.

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