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Beware of the student web deals you'll still be paying for long after graduation

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For today’s students, having fast, reliable internet access is vital. But hundreds of thousands of them face being trapped in long contracts or unable to find a deal to suit their needs.

Take BT’s television adverts, which feature students being shown around a flat which luxuriates in its superfast Infinity broadband: if you believe the hype, BT’s Infinity is the perfect broadband choice for technology-savvy flat-sharers.

In the real world, students — and their parents, who often foot the bill — might find it difficult to fulfil this utopian dream — and that’s because the minimum contract term for Infinity is 18 months.

Internet trouble: Hazel Needham (second from left) with her family

And for unlimited broadband — which is what most student households will need — it is hardly cheap, costing £36.75 a month, including line rental, after the initial three-month discount.

Peter Needham is one parent who has been frustrated in his search for broadband for his elder daughter.

Hazel, 20, starts her second year studying for a Masters in Engineering at Warwick University in October. She’ll be in a shared house with three other students. ‘We want to watch films and use iPlayer as well as make calls on Skype.

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‘Some of my friends are from overseas and my boyfriend, James, will be in Germany, so it’s a cheap way of keeping in touch — and even cheaper for me if dad pays,’ she says.

Peter, 56, who works in the computer industry, says: ‘They’ll need a high-speed broadband with a lot of capacity or it will grind to a halt.

‘What makes me mad is  that BT has its advert showing students using its Infinity broadband but will only supply customers with an 18-month contract. It is completely unrealistic.’

There are 2.5 million students in the UK, many of whom live in private rented accommodation.

Students usually only occupy their shared homes from October to June, so they will generally need the internet for no more than nine months, not the 12 months most firms stipulate as a minimum.

Choosing broadband can be a complex affair. There can be connection fees, telephone-line rental and a charge for the router — the box that sends the internet signal round the house.

And a house full of students will have different demands to the average family home.

They will be gaming, downloading large amounts of music and films, and surfing the internet as well as, hopefully, studying. So they will want both a decent connection speed and no limits on the amount of data they are able to download.

Virgin Media is the only company to offer a nine-month contract specifically aimed at students. It offers unlimited downloads at very fast speeds and there’s no need for a telephone landline.

The faster, 60 megabits (Mb) per second service costs £27.50 a month, the slower (30Mb), £22.50. There’s also a £49.95 connection fee, so the total cost would be £297.45, or £252.45 over nine months.

The problem is that the service covers only 51 per cent of Britain’s  26 million homes, although most major towns and cities are included.

With other providers, internet speed might be out of their control because, while connection should at least be decent in city centres, speeds will slow down for those who live in rural areas.

To get a superfast connection using the latest fibre optic connections will usually involve signing up for 18 months.

While BT might not be student-friendly, its subsidiary Plusnet is. Plusnet offers monthly rolling contracts giving 60 gigabytes  (Gb) of downloads on standard-speed broadband, plus unlimited access between midnight and 8am.

But the costs depend on where you live. In its low-cost areas (basically cities and areas where there are competitors) it would work out at £210.82 for nine months, including line rental and activation fee.

Those who haven’t got their own router would have to pay £40 for one to be installed, pushing the cost to £250.82. But contract length isn’t everything. Sky’s discounts definitely make it worth considering. It offers unlimited broadband free for the first six months — then it’s £10 a month or £7.50 with a Sky TV package. Sky promises not to slow the connection speed at peak times.

Including the £12.25 monthly line rental, total cost for broadband would be only £207 on the 12-month contract — and you get a £25 M&S voucher. It also provides free on-the-go wifi access via The Cloud.

Other packages including phone and TV are available. O2 will be launching a special student deal on September 11. It’s a 12-month contract, but the last three months’ broadband and phone line rental are free.

It includes a free upgrade to its top package The Works, which gives faster, unlimited downloads.

The cost is £25.50 a month for O2 customers and £30.50 for others, including line rental, then £2.50 a month for the last three months. So the total is £237 for O2 customers and £282 for others.

Non-O2 customers also have to pay a £25.52 activation fee.

A BT spokesman admits students are not its core market: ‘Our Plusnet operation is our more flexible, value brand,’ he says.

One other thing. Don’t forget security. This means making sure the internet is locked by a complex password so hackers can’t break in and steal your son or daughter’s personal information.

If you don’t know how to do this, one of your brainy offspring should.

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