Why use broadband?

Most people in the UK access the Internet using broadbandbroadband: high speed Internet access because it’s much faster than the other methods. Broadband access allows feature rich web pagesweb page: a page designed for, and viewed in, a web browser (ones that have lots of graphicsgraphics: visuals intended to brand, inform, illustrate or entertain, eg photographs, drawings, maps, diagrams etc., videos, sound, animations etc) to downloaddownload: the transfer of a file or files from one computer connected to the Internet to another quickly and it allows users to quickly download large files (like music or video clips). Faster Internet connectionsInternet connection: a computer's or another internet-enabled device's connection to the Internet also mean that the response time between clicking on a link and the new page appearing are reduced.

The download times below are calculated based on each connection's maximum theoretical download speed.

ISPs advertise speeds as 'up to', for example, 'up to 8Mb'. This means that the maximum speed you will achieve is 8Mb but that you're unlikely to achieve 8Mb all the time.