Broadband prices take new tumble

The broadband price war that saw BT drive monthly access costs to under £20 has seen fees take a further tumble to £17.99.

Freedom2Surf announced the cut on Friday, touting the new offerings as broadband "a complete package" for dial-up prices - but like rivals' plans, there's a catch: users will have to have a limit on their traffic.

The two new packages, Connect and FamilyConnect have a cap of 1GB and 2GB per month respectively. Both come with 20 email addresses and 50MB of web space. The issue of a data limit has raised questions about exactly how users will know when they've reached their maximum downloads but Freedom2Surf's subscribers will be able to check out how much they've used via a special area on the company's website.

There's also the opportunity for download-happy broadband fans to buy an extra 1GB for £2.99 a month.

Earlier this month, Tiscali announced a broadband product for the same monthly price but at a slower speed – 256Kbps.

Chris Panayis, managing director of Freedom2Surf, said that the company was aiming the product at those wanting to take their first foray into ADSL. "We expect this new package to be particularly attractive to dial-up users looking to upgrade to broadband and enjoy the benefits of an always-on connection and increased connectivity," he said in a statement.