A recent report states that UK internet service providers will find it difficult to match the prices offered by BT for its broadband. Andrew Saunders, Head of Product Development at Zen Internet, BT has surprised other companies by offering high-speed connections at such low costs, saying that “BT has been very aggressive with its retail prices. It will be difficult for us to be as aggressive on pricing.”

You may be asking ‘how low?’ Well, the 40Mb download speeds and 2Mb upload speeds of BT Infinity Option 1, with 20GB usage permitted, is a staggering £19.99 a month, on an 18-month contract. For those wanting unlimited wi-fi minutes with 10Mb uploads and advanced security with a free connection charge, Infinity Option 2 is just £5 more at £24.99 monthly.

Those are certainly great deals at low prices, and it seems BT is trying anything it can to not lose out in this recession. But, it isn’t the only one; ISPreview reckon that BT may have been encouraged to offer such low prices because of pressure from Virgin Media also offering low prices. If this is the case, things could develop even further as a result of Virgin’s ‘cheeky’ message to BT. They rounded up 13 models to stand outside BT Tower in central London with “BT? Fast Broadband? My arse!” painted on their bare cheeks.

The prompt for this came after Virgin Media was named the fastest broadband provider in the UK for seventeen consecutive months, with executive director of broadband for the company Jon James stating:
“This cheeky stunt was simply a humorous way to get across a serious message – that customers should demand what they are being promised”.

by Rich White