Demon Internet Broadband review

This review was updated in July 2011 to reflect the findings of our latest survey.

Most ISPs have increased their bandwidth or data allowances since last year, but not much has changed with Demon’s home broadband packages. You can choose between maximum speeds of 8Mbit/s and 20Mbit/s, and data caps of either 50GB or 60GB per month. There’s no fee for excess use but the service will drop to a paltry 128Kbit/s from 9am to 11pm.

The faster 20Mbit/s packages use Demon’s own ADSL equipment, which limits availability, but they’re competitively priced compared with many other ISPs’. However, at £18.60 a month, Demon’s 60GB broadband deal still can’t match PlusNet’s, which costs £11.49. Demon’s 8Mbit/s packages are more widely available, but they cost more than the faster services. We’re fairly confident that people who only have a limited choice of providers operating in their street will still be able to find better deals than these ones.

There are a few inviting extras on offer, including a static IP address with the HomeOffice packages, but they’re not enough to make up for Demon’s uninspiring performance in our customer satisfaction survey. Despite faring reasonably well in terms of reliability, ease of setup and quality of technical support, Demon scraped a meagre 68% satisfaction rating, with many respondents planning to switch ISPs.

This is a little surprising, given the company’s improved performance in our technical support rankings in particular. However, the 24-month contract means that if you change your mind about the ISP, you’ll have plenty of time to dwell on it before you can act on your inclination. Demon does the job, but these days there are others who do it better, more cheaply or with more bells and whistles and a less oppressive contract period. Try O2 Broadband instead, our current favourite.

See the next page for a full break-down and individual ratings of Demon’s services and the results of our broadband survey.

Broadband survey performance results

These results were compiled from our online survey, where users were asked to rate their broadband supplier. In the case of customer satisfaction, this is an average of whether users would recommend their supplier and if they’re planning on staying with their current supplier.

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