A friend wants to move to broadband and has asked me for advice on which one to go for.

Relevant details are:

Lives in Loxley
Has BT phone
Doesn't require lightening speeds or huge downloads
Currently has Tesco dial-up
Would like a wireless router, but her PC is not currently wireless ready, I don't think
Has Windows XP

Can anyone suggest which provider would give a decent service at a good price? Or at least can you suggest how to chose between the bewildering range of options and providers?

Why do people buy the routers and modems on sale everywhere, when most ISPs provide that anyway?

Many thanks

If she only has a pc there is not much point going wireless as she is on dial up i would imagine the pc is near a phone point anyway.I think most people ,well we do, have a main pc wired into my router and 2 wireless laptops.That seems to be a common set up.depending on how much she wants to pay a month, I would (I am biased now) go with zen,I think tesco do broadband too but I am not sure how good they are.

You might want to have a look on Uswitch (http://www.uswitch.com/Broadband/Index.aspx) to see if that helps you decide.

If you want a more biased opinion, I'd say go for Plusnet! :cool:

I'd go for plusnet every time - they're even a Sheffield-based company.

there are a bunch of product choices from 9.99 to 29.99 just for broadband, or you can go with telephone line rental as well for a bit extra - but cheaper than most others when combined. you'll get free hardware with any of the products but if you want wireless then you're looking at at least the 14.99 broadband product. but as pointed out, if you're only using a pc that is next to the phone point then you don't need wireless - in fact, i'd advise against it in those circumstances.

hth

dan

oh, and http://www.plus.net/residential/broadband/

Wow - 2 people praising Plusnet in the same evening... I'm going for a lie-down :roll:

if you can get cable id get that ,,,hate BT would never have a landline ever ever again