1. Look at combined deals which offer cheaper deals when combining your broadband, TV, home phone and mobile phone with one provider.

2. Use a price comparison site to compare broadband suppliers and prices for your area simply and easily.

3. The longer the contract length the cheaper it can be. If you’re happy to sign up for 18 or 24 months then you can sometimes get a cheaper deal.

4. Go for a 2 Mbps connection. Unless download loads of videos or music files, speeds of 2 Mbps should be enough and these deals tend to be cheaper than the 8 Mbps packages.

5. Avoid cheap deals with low download limits. If you go over your monthly download limit the additional charges can be steep. Look for a package with unlimited downloads, or check your typical monthly download usage before you sign up to a new package.

6. Consider the true cost. Look at all of the costs involved, such as activation/connection costs & hardware costs.

7. Watch out for hidden extras.

8. Nothing in life is ever ‘free’. Some mobile operators have been offering a free laptop of playstation with their broadband packages. Multiply the monthly subscription cost by the contract length to work out the true cost and compare that to a cheaper deal to find out how much you’re paying for the freebie. Failing that, you could always sell the freebie on eBay to pay for your broadband!