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Nonetheless, unrestricted 512Kbps services remain the core broadband product, and it is these we will look at first. Hopefully we will avoid some of the errors made by other websites' ADSL price comparisons, such as not including VAT and ignoring traffic caps or bans on P2P activity.

Many ISPs are now offering attractively cheap 512Kbps services, with 1GB or occasionally 2GB limits on the amount of data you can receive in one month. However these services are often as expensive, at least for the first year, as 'full fat' offerings as they usually do not come with free modems or activation.

Because the vast majority of ISPs are reselling BT's IPStream product in a highly-competitive market (there are more than 100 providers), there is little scope much for price variation. But it is the smaller companies that tend to be the most competitive: Freedom2Surf ADSL Pure IP Wires Only 512k Home £22.50 per month; Pipex Solo 500 at £23.44; and NDO ADSL Broadband Home500 at £23.50, all of which waive BT's £58.75 activation fee.

Add to these PlusNet ADSL Home Self Install at £21.99 and Nildram dslSurf500 at £22.99, though these do charge the one-off activation fee.

Of the big-name ISPs, Virgin.net Broadband

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and Tiscali are the best value at £24.99.

Both BT's offerings, which you would perhaps expect to be releatively cheap given their dominant position in the market, are at the top end of the price range: BT Broadband is £27 while BT Yahoo! (formerly BT Openworld) is £29.99.

The cable providers are also among the more expensive - NTL is £24.99 and Telewest blueyonder is £27.99 though the price drops if you buy other Telewest services. However both will soon increase the speed of these connections to 750Kbit/sec without any change in price.

Finally a mention for the new wireless broadband service, which beams your connection straight into your house, no wires needed. Netvigator has just launched in the UK at an extremely competitive £18.99. Availability is currently restricted to a few towns in the Thames Valley area but is scheduled to grow.

Of course, these prices do not tell the whole story, and before choosing or changing ISP you should consider what you want from your broadband connection, such as how many email accounts and with how much storage, junk mail filtering, parental controls, whether you need a fixed IP address or whether you want access to 'broadband content'.

You should also consider the worth of free modem offers. If you are a Mac user, a USB modem will pose problems as the drivers are notoriously flaky. Even if you are using Windows, you may not want to sacrifice a USB port. In both cases an Ethernet router is the best bet and has the added advantage of letting you easily share your connection amongst several computers.