Cable Broadband deals

Cable broadband differs from ADSL broadband in that a cable broadband connection is supplied over fibre optic cable wheras an ADSL connection is supplied over a copper phone line. Cable broadband connection speeds are more predictable than ADSL. Your maximum ADSL connection speed is determined by a number of factors, normally the distance your house is from the local telephone exchange has the most affect on this maximum speed. With a cable broadband connection you can choose any connection speed on offer and know that that's the speed you're going to get. Some people say that ADSL connection speeds are reaching their limits now because they still use copper phone lines, whereas cable broadband is delivered over modern glass fibre cable. Fibre optic cables have a huge bandwidth which is far in excess of any broadband connections being offered today. In fact they manage to deliver hundreds of TV channels over the cable as well as your broadband connection. This could mean that cable broadband connections get a lot faster than ADSL in the future. It is possible to buy your broadband with a TV and telephone package, but if you want to keep your existing TV or telephone, there's nothing preventing you buying just the cable broadband package. There are currently just two cable broadband providers in the UK, Telewest and NTL and these two companies have now merged to form one company.

Broadband deal		Speed (Max*)	Download limit	Contract length	Cost per month	Provider Link

* Note: Download speeds shown are the maximum achievable. Actual download speeds may vary