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Broadband speed for student house

Hey everyone

What kind of broadband speed is needed for 5/6 students, average internet use of downloading PDFs, lectures, podcasts etc with the odd iplayer or Netflix session?

We can go for Sky Unlimited, but it's only up to 7.5mbps, £218.75 p/a

The other option is Sky Fibre Unlimited, which is 39mbps, £387 p/a

Or Virgin Media SuperFibre, 50mbps, £402 p/a but with £35 credit, so £367 p/a

Any advice is much appreciated :biggrin:

Reply 1

I am Kira

6 people will definitely need a larger bandwidth if all 6 are using it at the same time
But if most are just using the Internet from a quick search and occasional YouTube video the normal broadband would be fine
But since its students there's going to be alot of netflix, YouTube, iplayer and downloading files and such so u probably should go for fibre optic

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 2

Flux_Dubstep

Superfibre for them gains.

Reply 3

username1022139

If there's going to be six people using it simultaneously, then you'll need to have at least 40 mpbs.

Reply 4

username368993

Thanks for the quick replies. Probably 4/5 at a time is the absolute max, there are only 3 of us who watch netflix etc. Is it safer to go for the super fibre anyways? It's an extra £1.40 a month pp

Reply 5

Lionheartat20

You stated a £35 credit for Virgin. It's actually a £50 credit if you have somebody refer you. Basically anyone with Virgin can. I have Virgin and would recommend it - but see if your housemates already have Virgin at home as they can get a discount too instead of a stranger :smile:

Reply 6

username368993

Original post by Lionheartat20

Thanks! I've just phoned them and managed to get it down to £327 a year for 50mbps, and a £50 amazon voucher on top of that. Does that sound pretty good value?

Reply 7

Lionheartat20

Yeah that's very good for a non-retentions deal. Once you phone to cancel after 12 months, you can get 50mbps for around £20/month so £240 for the year. However, for a new customer deal, that's good :smile:

Things they may try to 'hide' until after you agree to that £327 is:

-Router delivery charge
-"Installation" or "Activation" Fee

You can try to get those waived too if they aren't already :smile:

Make sure you inquire about each of those before agreeing to anything

And - if you told them you are a student - they may put you a 9 month deal which could be good or bad - bad IMHO as most tenancy agreements are 12 months. But they could missell it and turn out to be a 9 month contract.

In summary... Good deal, just double check the above small print.

EDIT: If you were to take the "Refer a friend" deal, you would pay £337 for a year and your referral friend would get £50 cash (applied as credit to their Virgin account). So in effect, £10 more but £50 cash instead of £50 Amazon vouchers. Amazon vouchers are usually pretty good though.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 8

Helloworld_95

Try BT if you can, you get a slightly higher internet speed than Virgin and it's ~£350 per year including the initial fee but you get a £100 debit card back which is great for when you need to buy things as a house as you can just spend from the card and nobody has to worry about paying someone else back or getting the proportions right.