Compare Broadband Deals in AL8 6UR

AL8 6UR is 50m from the local exchange, Welwyn Garden, which may mean that you experience slower broadband speeds than people living closer to the exchange. Broadband technology is subject to signal attenuation which means that the signal becomes weaker the further that it travels from its source. Interference from other cables and electronic devices can also create noise on the line, which ultimately slows down your broadband connection as packets are lost. Areas similar to AL8 6UR often suffer from contention issues, which means at busy times of day the broadband performance feels much worse than normal due to the number of people using the service. This commonly happens as Openreach, the wholesale network used by most UK broadband providers, estimates the number of people using the service at any time to provide as cost effective service as possible. This means that a compromise is inevitable at peak times when very heavy broadband users are consuming more bandwidth than the average household. This is especially the case as the telephone exchange serving AL8 6UR is amongst the top 10 % most densely populated exchanges in the UK. There are approximately 47,612 residents using the same exchange, Welwyn Garden, as AL8 6UR which supports 19,945 domestic properties. In AL8 6UR the local population is described by the ONS as urban city and town, is that accurate ? Does it help you work out whether your neighbours will be hogging the broadband in your area? Can your broadband performance really be worse ineth Winter months ? Maybe - everyone is in the same boat, at home with fewer daylight hours, so a great opportunity to work on a photography project, catch up on the latest box sets or play an online game with friends. With more people using the internet, there's more competition for the resources so you may see reduced speeds at peak times.

Before switching broadband provider at your existing address your reasons for changing will be either; lower cost, increased speed, reliability issues, better customer service and or a change of package.

Lower cost

Getting a lower monthly price is one of the most common reason for changing broadband provider. In order to take advantage of this option you need to be sure you are not in an existing contract. If you are out of contract, you have two options to try and reduce the monthly cost of your broadband, speak to the retentions department of your current provider or change provider. In order to get any benefit from your current provider you are likely to need to threaten to leave. Once you have threatened to leave the sales or customer care operator you are talking to will put you through to the retentions or churn reduction department. This department is usually empowered to offer better rates than those in the sales department. If they do not offer you a satisfactory deal then consider your other option, changing service provider. Do bear in mind that starting getting a better price will require you to sign a new contract for 12 or more months. This is a relatively straightforward process, simply enter your postcode in the search box above and we will find you the best deal in your area.

Increased speed

This is a tricky reason for changing broadband provider as it is the least good reason as most providers will, such as TalkTalk, BT, Plus.net, etc all use the same ADSL infrastructure, which means you will get the same performance (upload and download speeds) regardless of who you buy your broadband from, although price, level of service and suchlike will vary.

Reliability Issues

Like attempting to increase the speed of your broadband, changing provider due to reliability issues is potentially a complete waste of time without knowing what the cause of the issues are. Before proceeding, have a good read through our Broadband Stability Guide to see if there are any tips and tricks in there to help sort out your broadband reliability issues, avoiding a change of providers, just to end up with the same problem.

Better Customer Service

Notwithstanding the comments in reliability issues, which might be causing you problems because the level of service from your current provider is too poor to find any faults you might have, changing your provider due to poor customer service is generally a good move. Selecting which is the best provider for you, however, is not as easy as that as it very much depends on what you use your broadband for and how technical you are. Some broadband packages are very much aimed at the average consumer and their support teams are trained accordingly. Some, however, are aimed at the tech savvy, the gamers and the developers. We advise choosing the correct one for you.

Upgrade your package

When we say changing your package, we mean changing the services that come with your broadband like TV, mobile, landline, sports package, Sky Atlantic bundle and so on. There are no easy answers about your package as everyone has a different idea of what they want or what is important to them. Of course, the broadband providers want to supply all the services you can, which they like to call Quad Play, which is what we like to call, entanglement. As the name suggests, this is the process of selling you a service you want and charging you for 5 or 8 other services you don't want. Avoid this situation at all costs!!