TalkTalk broadband review

TalkTalk deals review

In this review

• TalkTalk broadband deals
• TalkTalk broadband summary
• TalkTalk features
• Types of TalkTalk broadband explained
• TalkTalk broadband speeds
• TalkTalk TV and broadband
• TalkTalk TV channels
• TalkTalk router
• Positive reasons to buy TalkTalk broadband
• Potential negatives with using TalkTalk broadband
• TalkTalk broadband rating

TalkTalk summary

TalkTalk are one of the most popular broadband providers in the UK largely due to their great value prices and options which allow you to bundle broadband, phone and TV services as one contract.

If you’re on a budget and want to get all of your TV and broadband from one place then TalkTalk could be a good option for you, but are TalkTalk any good I hear you ask?

Carry on reading our definitive TalkTalk broadband review so you can make the decision yourself and compare against other providers.

Talktalk features

The broadband options are fairly straightforward at TalkTalk in that you have the choice between the slower ADSL or the faster fibre broadband.

A benefit of taking out broadband with TalkTalk is that you can bundle TV services with your broadband and landline.

Often TalkTalk will run price promotions so keep an eye on these as they can be specific to each TalkTalk broadband tariff.

Types of TalkTalk broadband explained

The two popular types of broadband on offer at TalkTalk are known as TalkTalk Fibre 35 and TalkTalk Fibre 65 broadband.

By creating a TalkTalk TV and broadband bundle you could get both services from the same provider to cut out the complication of getting bills from multiple companies.

Check out the latest TalkTalk broadband and TV bundles below.

Broadband speeds

TalkTalk offers ADSL and fibre broadband contracts. TalkTalk markets the fibre tariffs as TalkTalk (followed with a number based on download speed). So examples include TalkTalk Fibre 35, TalkTalk Fibre 65 and TalkTalk Fibre 150. The ADSL products are referred to as TalkTalk Fast broadband.

As a TalkTalk Fast Broadband customer you should expect to receive average download speeds of 11Mbps whereas if you take the Fibre option you will have a choice of the 35Mbps, 63Mbps or 145Mbps average download speed options.

Your decision on whether to take out an ADSL or Fibre broadband contract will be determined by cost and how much you think the broadband will be used at home. If you have a larger household with a number of wireless gadgets that will be connecting to the Internet at the same time, we would recommend that Fibre Broadband option from TalkTalk as you will be much less likely to receive slower or intermittent speeds with a fibre broadband option.

TalkTalk TV and broadband

TalkTalk allow you to bundle standard a standard broadband contract or fibre broadband contract with their TalkTalk TV service which includes a set top box that will allow you to record, pause and rewind live TV as well as streaming content and viewing programming from over 80 channels.

There are two different types of set top box that you can choose from:

You will be viewing Sky TV channels via a satellite connection but there are a range of catch-up TV services that will require the use of your broadband to download the programming onto your Sky Q box so when choosing your broadband option bear in mind the Sky broadband speed you would ideally need to stream content and the number of devices that might be sharing the connection. The more devices that are accessing the broadband connection at the same time, the more chance that there could be decreased speeds across the network.

If you intend to make use of catch up TV and streaming content you may want to look at the TalkTalk Fibre broadband option known as Faster Fibre Broadband which runs at an average speed of 35Mb which should easily cope with streaming digital content to a variety of devices such as televisions, laptops, games consoles, tablets, phones, etc.

What TalkTalk TV channels can I get?

Catch Up TV

The beauty of pairing your TV with your broadband connection is that you can take advantage of on-demand catch up TV. TalkTalk TV allows access to the following catch up TV services:
BBC iPlayer
ITV
Channel 4
Channel 5
Netflix (extra subscription)
Now TV (extra subscription)
Milkshake!
UKTV Play
BBC News
BBC Sport
Tiny Pop
S4C

TalkTalk TV Premium Extra Channels

An excellent feature of TalkTalk TV is that you can add and remove premium TV channels using one of the TalkTalk TV Boosts one month at a time. This means you could take out Sky Sports for example but not be tied into a lengthy 18 month contract.

Examples of TV channels you can add via a TV Boost:

Sky Sports channels
Sky Cinema channels
Sky One
Sky Living
Fox Gold
National Geographic
Nick Jr
Disney Channel
Boomerang

TalkTalk WiFi router

Previously broadband users at TalkTalk were provided with the “Super Router” which was a slightly lacklustre piece of kit that was reported to how a lower range that routers from competitors. However, now customers will receive a much better router called the TalkTalk Wi-Fi Hub.

The TalkTalk Wi-Fi Hub is a much improved piece of kit when compared to the previous router. The introduction of 4 Gigabit Ethernet ports on the back of the device is a massive improvement when compared with the previous routers’ 100Mbps ports and you can plug the router directly into your phone line without the need for an additional box.

The Hub is dual band (2.4GHz or 5GHz) and uses 802.11ac technology which supports Wave 2 so the specification is right up there with the best. There are fewer backend settings that other routers such as the BT Smart Hub have but if you are just looking for a simple Hub which is a plug and play affair then the TalkTalk Wi-Fi Hub is a good solid option.

TalkTalk broadband positives and negatives

Positive reasons to buy TalkTalk broadband

• TalkTalk are a large established provider of broadband services with just over 4 million subscribers and are part of the “big 4” broadband providers in the UK.
• TalkTalk currently offer the cheapest fixed line broadband available on the market.
• They offer a fixed price guarantee meaning that the price you agree for your broadband contract will not be increased whilst you are within the duration of the fixed contract.
• All the TalkTalk broadband contracts offer totally unlimited usage levels with no usage caps or traffic management in place.
• When you sign up for a TalkTalk broadband deal you will receive one of their latest wi-fi 802.11ac router hubs for free.
• TalkTalk broadband comes with free online security features via SuperSafe boost powered by F-Secure which will help to protect you from phishing, viruses and online banking fraud.
• As part of your landline you will get free call privacy from CallSafe which will help to prevent unwanted pest calls along with caller display, reject anonymous calls feature, barring last caller and voicemail free of charge as standard.
• Switching broadband from another provider is made easy by TalkTalk. They will let you know if and when to cancel your old broadband contract.
• TalkTalk Faster Fibre is the UK’s lowest cost fixed price fibre broadband with average download speeds of 35Mb.
• The TalkTalk TV and broadband bundle provides a low cost alternative to Sky or Virgin with the facility to record, pause and rewind live tv, use catch up on-demand services and watch 80 channels including HD channels.

Potential negatives with using TalkTalk broadband

• TalkTalk broadband can only be taken out in areas covered by their network infrastructure (they use the BT Openreach network so coverage levels will be very high). Use our postcode coverage checker for more details.
• Although TalkTalk broadband would be an excellent choice for many, their broadband is not the fastest on the market. So if you are an online gamer or heavily stream online programming you may want to consider how many devices will be on your network concurrently and whether there will be sufficient bandwidth for your needs.
• Ofcom complaint figures for TalkTalk are higher than the industry average.

TalkTalk broadband rating

By Michael Forrester – 3.5 out of 5.