Bonded ADSL Part 2 - Sharedband Packages

Following on from my last post (part 1) you'll know that I intend to give Sharedband bonded ADSL a go for my home broadband. There are a few options available out there though and it's offered by some resellers as well as through Sharedband themselves. Below are some examples I've found.

Direct from Sharedband
The Professional Package has the following key points:

• £10 per line per month
• Static IP
• Max of 250GB data transfer (if you go Business, it's 2000GB, but £20 per line p/m)
• 14 day set-up assistance
• 30 day money back promise
• Initial set-up cost of £49
• Cost per router £49 - £299 depending on model. For a home package they offer a Netgear DGN1000 at £49.
• Shipping £10
• 1 month rolling contract; all prices excl VAT

Eclipse

This is a well respected company, but from the prices it looks to be more aimed at business.

• £50 per line per month
• Static IP
• £120 per month for unlimited data transfer (you can pay less for less data)
• 1 month rolling contract; all prices excl VAT

BroadbandBuyer

Again another well known company, though I've only used them previously for hardware.

• For a package that includes 2 lines for 1 year on a business quality service (up to 20Mbps) is £332.00.
• Unlimited data transfer
• Static IP
• 14 day set-up assistance
• 30 day money back promise
• No set-up cost
• Annual contract, pay up front.
• Cost for 2 lines is £120 per year thereafter.
• Add another line for £199 for the first year

So an interesting range of prices. As you can imagine I won't be going for Eclipse as that's well out of my budget. Broadbandbuyer is certainly the best value over a 12 month period (saving £75 over the year), but I'll need to be certain that the system works well for me within my 30 day period otherwise I'll lose a bit of cash. Direct to Sharedband needs the least initial outlay (£177) and has the added benefit that it's only a 1 month rolling contract, but the package is restricted to 250GB per month data transfer - something that's unlimited with the BBB deal. I've spoken with both companies and they are certainly very approachable in terms of getting help, which is always a plus.

Anyway I'll think on this a bit further over the next few weeks. The next milestone is getting the second line installed by BT OpenReach - this is planned for 10th March and is my second attempt to get the engineer out to do the work. Once the line is up and running I'm going to let it settle out for a couple of weeks before trying Sharedband out. All going well I should be giving it a go by the beginning of April.