Pipex cuts broadband price

NEWS Pipex is offering a cut-price deal on its broadband services, making it the second UK Internet service provider to make such a move in as many weeks. The company announced on Monday that new customers for its Xtreme Solo2 Go broadband service can join the high-speed Internet revolution for a start-up fee of £14.95 (ex. VAT). This would give them a starter kit containing an ASDL modem and filters, and would also cover the cost of activating their telephone line. Other ISPs can charge a start-up fee of up to £80, although AOL is one company that has ditched it altogether - covering both the activation fee and the equipment cost itself. Pipex is also cutting the cost of signing up for its Pipex Solo broadband product - which is aimed at users who provide their own ADSL hardware - by paying the line activation fee. This will save new customers £35 (ex. VAT). Both offers will run until the end of September, David Rickards, managing director of Pipex, has confirmed. Pipex charges broadband customers a monthly fee of £19.99 (ex. VAT), which it says is the cheapest price available in the UK over a year. Pipex also said that it has invested heavily in its network over the last 18 months, which is currently delivering a total of 500,000GB of data to Pipex's 60,000 ADSL customers each month. "For the past 18 months Pipex have been investing in the future of broadband, building new networks and breaking down price barriers to deliver ADSL at pioneering levels of value for money," said Rickards in a statement. "We are delighted to celebrate our significant part in achieving the UK's one millionth broadband ADSL installation and we are confidently looking forward to the next million and beyond." Broadband take-up in the UK is very buoyant at present, running at over 30,000 new connections per week. There is concern within the industry, though, that this could falter soon if ISPs cannot persuade more casual Internet users that they need a faster connection. Reducing the start-up cost is thought to be one good way of encouraging take-up. Last week, BT announced that customers who signed up to BT Openworld before the end of September would get their first month's line rental for free - a saving of £29.99. Graeme Wearden writes for ZDNet UK