Prepaid broadband

Hi There,

I am trying to find out if there are any pre-paid broadband services in the UK. My dad isn't internet savvy, would like to get broadband, but is put off by the monthly fee.

I'd like to buy him broadband for Christmas - like a top up if possible. Does anyone know of anything like this?

Thanks
C

The closest I can think of is a years subscription to Be at

Take a careful look at Plusnet as its a monthly fee (most important do not commit to more and certainly NOT 18 or 24 months) )with a special 90 day intro but if you terminate they promise to return all. You would be advised to acquire a router tho' and thats best sourced from for instance ebay.

It will at least allow a trial with a get out. and thats most imporant at present.
Anyone that enters more than a few month contract at present should take utrmost care as they is about to commence a great big battle over pricing AND contracts, so GO for the shortest possible term. I would not advise more than one month

Check PostOffice payment methods

When my parents first came on broadband I paid for their subscription. Is there any reason you can't just set the direct debit up from your account and pay it monthly? At the end of the period you can then decide whether you or they continue to pay or if it gets cancelled. I paid for my parents for 18 months and by then they decided that it was so useful that they were happy to pay for it.

We have a number of ADSL customers who are effectively on an annual prepayment plan. I would not consider it particularly suitable for most consumers however as annual charging is too easy to forget and can result in problems if the service is suspended or cancelled due to late payment of the next subscription payment.

It can also be done with us, but would be dependent on the package type you went with.
We do have some customers on the fixed line service that pay anualy in advance.

I'd best say this first, this is no slur on the providers who've posted in this thread.

In the past the service providers causing most problems have been those who base most of their business on pre-payment, e.g. E7Even. So be wary of pre-pay deals that look too cheap to sustain as they often are.

That sounds the best solution for the OP.

Totally agree. Our pre-pay customers are simply paying the equivalent of 12 months service charge in advance.

Still we don't advertise this option or make it generally available for the reasons I pointed out before.