How to Set Up Broadband in a Rented Home

When hunting for a new home, one aspect you shouldn’t overlook is the internet. Broadband in a rented home is absolutely essential, especially as everything from TV, meetings and lectures are now online. Where broadband in a rented home is concerned, there are a few crucial things to bear in mind; including broadband speeds, contract length/types and cost. In a shared home, further considerations arise, such as tenants moving out mid-contract and deciding who will be named as the account holder.

Whose Job is it to Set Up (and Pay for) Broadband in a Rented Home?

It’s important to realise that landlords don’t have a legal requirement to set up broadband, TV licenses or any kind of telephone landline. That isn’t to say that broadband in a rented home is never provided, with some landlords opting to provide these, in order to make their property a more appealing prospect to potential tenants.

If your landlord is paying for broadband, then you should check in your tenancy agreement whether you’ll have the freedom to change provider. You may wish to do this if the provided broadband happens to be unbearably slow. 

Setting Up Broadband in a Rented Home

When setting up broadband in a rented home, particularly when living with others, there are a few things to consider before actually choosing a specific broadband provider. 

• Choose your broadband deal – You can either go for broadband in a rented home by itself, or an all inclusive plan which ties in TV and similar services. When it comes to the exact broadband type, the two most popular options are fixed-price and rolling contract broadband. Fixed-price deals are best for tenants who plan on staying in the same property for at least 12 months, as discounted rates with no setup/installation fees are often available. Rolling contracts are better for short-term tenants. They’re usually more expensive, but can be quickly cancelled as they renew month on month.
• Set a budget that everyone is happy with – If living with others, then you’ll likely be evenly splitting the broadband costs amongst yourselves. So, you should make sure everybody is comfortable with the agreed amount that you’re collectively willing to pay.

• Pick an account holder – The best option for an account holder is somebody with an excellent credit score, as this’ll make getting accepted for your preferred plan a more likely scenario. The potential pitfalls of being a named account holder often puts people off, so the other tenants need to provide assurances of quick payments when necessary.
• Use a broadband comparison tool to find the best deals – There are plenty of sites and tools aimed at finding you the best possible broadband deal, such as Uswitch. 

Choosing the Right Broadband Provider

Resooma Bills

An altogether simpler option which eliminates much of the struggle we’ve already alluded to is that of Resooma Bills. Resooma Bills is able to set up, and then bundle together all sorts of costs that come with renting a home, including utilities, WiFi, TV and council tax. This cost is then automatically split amongst yourself and your housemates. It’s an incredibly convenient solution with the potential to remove all sorts of hassle, including people not paying each other and having multiple fees exiting your bank account each month.

Virgin Broadband

The benefits of choosing Virgin as your broadband provider are numerous. For one, they come very close to covering the entire UK, missing just a few postcodes here and there. Despite being the fastest widely available broadband provider in the UK (with download speeds that can well exceed 500 Mbps), Virgin’s prices still remain some of the lowest, and this includes deals for broadband in a rented home. This convenient combination has allowed Virgin to position themselves as the broadband provider with the fastest speed for the lowest price.

Best For: Fastest available broadband speeds

Highest Speed: 1130 Mbps

Installation Fees: £30

Installation Waiting Time: 14 days

Customer Service Rating: 3*

Cuckoo

Meanwhile, Cuckoo Broadband covers the postcodes which Virgin don’t. We’re a big fan of their flexible contracts which can be paid for on a 30-day rolling basis with no cancellation fees. For many, this can be an attractive alternative to being tied into a long-term contract. Cuckoo Broadband also provides a really helpful onboarding service and regular updates. What’s more, when you sign up to Cuckoo through Resooma, their £60 installation fee is totally waived!

Best For: Short-term contracts

Highest Speed: 1000 Mbps

Installation Fees: £60

Installation Waiting Time: 14 days

Customer Service Rating: 4.5*

Zen Internet

Zen Internet pride themselves on excellent customer service. At this year’s Best Broadband Awards, Zen outscored every other provider on the number of very satisfied customers. This satisfaction comes from dedicated support teams and the reliability of their service. However, some of Zen Internet’s premium services definitely reflect this in their prices, so they struggle to compete on value-for-money compared to slightly larger brands.

Best For: Customer Satisfaction

Highest Speed: 900 Mbps

Installation Fees: £20-£30

Installation Waiting Time: 14 days

Customer Service Rating: 4.2*

EE Broadband

Users have noted that the high speeds which EE Broadband offers, along with excellent reliability, help make their service one of the most attractive options currently on the market. With EE being one of the more expensive providers, yet offering a great range of superfast/ultrafast fibre packages, they can be thought of as the sweet spot between value and quality.

Best For: Price, without compromising on performance

Highest Speed: 900 Mbps

Installation Fees: £50

Installation Waiting Time: 14 days

Customer Service Rating: 3.2*

Other Things to Consider When Setting Up Broadband in a Rented Home

Which Broadband Providers May Cause Issues?

There are a couple of broadband providers who your landlord may not be very comfortable with switching to.

• Sky Broadband – As far as broadband only options are concerned, Sky shouldn’t be an issue. However, when you start to add in deals that include phone and TV as well, it’s pretty unlikely that your landlord will approve, given that a satellite dish will probably need to be installed. 
• Hyperoptic – Much like with Sky, Hyperoptic customers often require a similarly property-altering installation, such as a satellite dish.

Testing Your Broadband Speed

It isn’t uncommon for the download and upload internet speeds you’ve been quoted to end up being off the mark. If it feels as though your broadband speed just isn’t up to scratch, then you can quickly run a speed check to see how well your internet is performing. Websites such as Broadband Speed Checker are able to use your IP address (a series of numbers that relate to your location) to assess your broadband speed, along with some of the best deals that are currently available.

To make things a little clearer, download speed refers to the speed at which your internet connection can retrieve data from the internet. Whereas, upload speed refers to the speed that your internet connection can send data of its own from your devices to the internet.

What Broadband Speed Do You Need?

The internet speed that you require depends on a couple of things. Firstly, how many people will be using it at any given time. The more users which may need to be supported at once, the faster the internet you’ll require. The table below shows that an internet speed of 100 Mbps (megabits per second) is more than enough to support a family of four. The other aspect to bear in mind are the types of devices you’ll be using, and what you’ll be using them for. If like most people, the extent of your internet usage revolves around surfing the web, along with some streaming, then there’s no need to go overboard with internet speed.

To put it simply, the UK’s average broadband speed for downloads is currently 51 Mbp, so you should be looking for a number above this and avoiding figures below it. This broadband speed should be enough for most, provided you aren’t living in a packed household and don’t have heavy-duty gaming/uploading requirements.

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