If you enjoy watching digital TV as much as you
enjoy using broadband, then you should consider a
broadband and TV bundle. Broadband and TV bundles are great and
they can also save you money in the long run.
Many broadband providers now offer broadband and TV bundles
including Sky, Virgin Media and Tiscali (now part
of TalkTalk).
If you love your digital TV then you probably already have
either Freeview digital TV or a subscription
digital TV service from the likes of Sky. You may
or may not have considered combining digital TV with your broadband
before and perhaps you keep the two things separate, getting them
from two different providers. But bundling broadband and digital TV
can both enhance your digital TV offering and allow you to access
ultra-fast broadband as well - all for a reasonable price.
You need to consider what type of broadband you want and then
what type of TV you want to watch. Don't just go for the top
broadband and TV bundle, make sure you are getting everything you
want and you're not ending up with a load of digital TV channels
that you won't watch just because you are getting ultra-fast
broadband.
Broadband providers like Sky and Virgin Media offer a whole
range of broadband and TV bundles, each of them have individual
options to suit most consumer's needs.
Let's take a look at some of the current broadband
and TV bundles on offer:
Sky
Many of us see Sky as just a digital TV provider. But Sky can
offer some great broadband packages & broadband and TV bundles
as well.
Sky offers a great way of bundling your digital TV and broadband
package. On the Sky website you can create your own Sky broadband
and digital TV combination with a handy tick box tool. You can
choose which Sky digital TV package you want, add in movies or
sport and then choose a broadband package with a choice of
broadband speeds from 2Mbps to 20Mbps.
The broadband and TV bundle we selected included the Sky Variety
Pack with Sky1 and many more channels, the Sky Knowledge Pack with
the National Geographic Channel and the History Channel, Sky
Broadband Base with 2Mb download speed and a Sky+ recorder box.
Sky+ will enable you to pause, rewind and record live TV, as well
as series linking your favourite shows to make sure you don't miss
a thing. The total monthly cost of the package is £23.50. There is
also a line rental fee to pay to BT or Sky and a one off fee of £79
for set-up and the Sky+ box.
If you want faster broadband and more digital TV choice, then
you could add movies and sport to your broadband and TV bundle and
include 20Mbps broadband with Sky Broadband Unlimited. Basically
you need to select all the options you really need and work out the
overall cost of the broadband and TV bundle - including the BT or
Sky landline rental and the one off fees from Sky.
If you want to enjoy these broadband and TV bundles from Sky,
you need to have a BT landline installed. Sky Broadband uses ADSL
to deliver broadband with a landline.
Other bundles from Sky include options to add home
phone as well as digital TV and
broadband to your bundle.
Virgin Media
Virgin Media offers some of the best broadband and TV bundles.
Virgin Media has the fastest home broadband speeds of up to
100Mbps; now that is ultra-fast broadband!
The broadband service is delivered on fibre optic cables that can
carry huge amounts of data.
Virgin Media offers a broadband and TV bundle for £31 a month or
£34 a month if you want to add in a Virgin Media V+ HD box. It has
to be said that for on-demand digital TV Virgin Media are the kings
at the moment. Sky offers more HD channels, but on-demand TV from
sources like the BBC iPlayer are very popular.
This broadband and TV bundle includes 10Mbps fibre optic
broadband (you could download a music track in under 10 seconds!),
a free wireless router, free PC Guard security pack, loads of
digital TV channels including Sky1 & Virgin1, 500 movies
on-demand, 1000's of digital TV shows on-demand, a free catch up
service and on-demand digital TV from BBC iPlayer.
The package also gives you the option of adding in a Virgin
Media V+ HD box. A Virgin Media V+ HD box will allow you to record
an entire series of your favourite TV show, watch 2 digital TV
shows while you record another, and if you have a HD ready TV you
can view high-definition movies on-demand as well - brilliant!
Just like Sky, Virgin Media allows you to build your own
broadband and TV bundle.
You can choose broadband and TV bundles from Virgin Media that
include Sky Sports or Sky Movies and add ultra-fast broadband from
Virgin with a broadband speed of up to 100Mbps.
All these broadband and TV bundles are only available if you
live in a Virgin Media cabled area. You can check if you live in a
Virgin Media cabled area on the Virgin Media website.
BT Vision
BT
Vision is BT's digital television service. It comes with all of
the Freeview channels, plus access to thousands of hours of on
demand content. You can pick from several 'packs' (channel bundles)
including the TV Pack, the Sports Pack, the Music Video Pack and
the Kids Pack.
Alternatively, you can pay for individual viewings. Films are
priced from £2 and TV shows from £1.