A Unique Formula To Calculate The Real Costs Of Broadband
When comparing broadband packages, consumers tend to look at the 'Monthly Fee' as an indication of the price, but this may not always be wise since there are other factors to consider such as whether the company charges a setup fee and how long the contract is. Here is a breakdown of the various costs and discounts we factor into our equations before providing you with the 'Effective Monthly Cost'.
- Introductory Offers - "Broadband for only £4.95" may sound tempting but don't overlook the small print which states it's only for the first 3 months and £15.99 a month thereafter on a 18 month contract. We factor this into our formula and show you that it works out to £14.15 a month over the contract term, which doesn't quite sound the same when you put it like that.
- Setup Costs - Some companies may have a slightly lower monthly fee but require a mandatory one-off charge for setup or an activation fee. We account for this before providing the effective monthly cost.
- Special One Off Discounts - Promotions include discounts for joining online, voucher codes and similar one time price reductions.
- Miscellaneous Charges - Some broadband packages require you to pay telephone line rental to the ISP, others may provide you with free routers and modems but charge you for postage and packing. We thoroughly research all providers and their offers to ensure you get as fair a comparison as possible.
- Contract Lengths - Some providers have minimum 12 month and 18 month contracts and it would not be accurate to judge them both based on '1st Year Cost', especially after you consider the availability of introductory offers. Therefore, we work out the full costs of the package and divide it by the contract term which gives us the average monthly cost - a sensible way to measure the real price of each package on a like for like basis after taking all variables into account.
We devised the formula to help users filter through all the numerous offers quickly and easily on the metric of cost. The next step is to decide how much you are willing to pay and then see what speeds and data transfer allowances are available within your desired budget. We also include any relevant package information alongside each offer that may be important when deciding between similar products.