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How To Choose A Broadband Internet Plan

So, you're finally ready to make that important switch from a dial-up Internet connection to broadband. But being the non-computer savvy that you are, you're overwhelmed by the different subscription plans offered to you. Worse, they use words and descriptions all foreign to your ears. How do you really choose? Here are the important things you need to know.

1. Bandwidth. Bandwidth is the speed of your Internet access. Right now, the fastest is at 10 Mbps, but only a handful can deliver at that speed. And mostly, it is provided to corporate accounts only. For regular home use, 256 kbps should be enough. Anything higher than that is more than sufficient.

2. Download and Upload limits. Some providers put a cap on the upload and download activities of their subscribers. This is to ensure that there won't be any server overload. It is commonly computed per month and could range from 1 Gigabyte to as much as 20 Gigabytes. One MP3 music file is more than 3 Megabytes. So if your limit is at 1 Gigabyte, you can download up to a maximum of 3,000 songs, provided you don’t surf much. To view regular web page, you'll consume around 200 kilobytes. 1 Gigabyte should be fine for light users. But for your peace of mind, get the one that's unlimited. So you won't end up paying more than what you have signed up for.

3. Hours of Free Usage. Some providers don't put a cap on upload and download activity but instead provide free hours of usage each month. Some providers give as low as 100 hours to unlimited. If you are not a heavy Internet user, meaning you merely use it for browsing your emails and to download stuff occasionally, then you can go for minimum. Else, try to estimate the time you consume online each month. And purchase a plan around that.

4. Charges for excessive usage. If you opted for the service that has a certain cap, it won't mean that you'll have no Internet once you've reached the limit. Instead, you will be billed according to the number of hours or gigabytes in excess of your plan. The higher the plan you choose, the lower the excessive usage charge usually is. So approximate on which plan you'll be saving more.

5. Free Email. Whenever you subscribe to a provider, they will give you an exclusive email address on their mail server. It usually goes like yourname@providersname.com. If you are fine using free email service such as Gmail, Yahoo, or MSN, this should not be a concern for you.

Here are the five common broadband Internet parameters. The price you pay each month is usually dependent on these. So now you know price is not the only factor when choosing. Choose wisely then!