Light User: If all you want to do is browse the web and use email then any standard service will suit your requirements.

Medium to Heavy User: If you want to download music, films or play online gaming then you should use a more expensive package and watch out for the small print as explained below.

Fair Usage Policies: Most ISP's (Internet Service Providers) have a fair usage policy. This means that if you download over a certain amount of data your provider will limit your bandwidth or speed. This is most commonly experienced by online gamers and those who download lots of movies. Some ISP's are more restrictive than others and some will only block you during peak times. Ask the service provider your thinking of signing up with what their limits are. Ask for the advisors name and if the call is being recorded as they have been known to tell a few porky's in the past! You don't want to be in an 18 month contract with a broadband service that doesn't suit your needs.

Port Blocking: Some ISP's block certain ports that will kill download speeds. The most common ports that are blocked are those used by peer to peer software such as Limewire and torrent applications that are used for downloading media. So even if you have got a phone line that can support an 8Mb+ connection speed you will still only download at a snails pace! Ask the service provider your thinking of signing up with if they block any ports. The worst known for this at present is BT Broadband. In Dorchester town centre, within 500 yards of the exchange on a BT telephone line supporting 6Mb+ it takes over 5 minutes to download one 5mb music track using peer to peer or bit torrent software.

Slow Downloading: Bit torrents and peer to peer software work by pulling small 'packets' of data from many sources (or seeds) and then rejoining the files. This is a long and tedious process that can take hours or even days to complete just an 800Mb movie file while all the time killing your bandwidth. While your file/s are downloading, using the internet just to surf the web will become slow or in some cases, plain impossible. This method however is free, or should be. Don't be fooled by applications such as Limewire or Bearshare offering a high speed service for a fee. The difference will be minimal.

Fast Downloading: The best way to download with the internet is in binary format from another computer that contains the whole file or files you want. There are many companies offering these services and they are known as 'News Servers' and run on the 'Usenet'. A News Server will have what is known as a 'Server Farm' which is masses of computers with terabytes of data storage. For a small monthly fee (about £5 - £15) a News Server will allow you to connect to their service and download at your full broadband line speed. A 4.7Gb DVD movie file on a 5+Mb enabled phone line takes around just 2 hours to complete! This process takes a little learning though but has been the best way to download since the first computer communication was sent over a telephone line. Below is some advice and our recommendation on where to start.

Our Best Rated News Server is

 

Our Best Rated News Client is

 

Our Best Rated Usenet Search is

Our Best Rated ISP is