The greatest security threat to any connection is a virus, which identifies a small computer program capable of doing massive damage to your system. These days every Internet user, especially those on broadband, should consider it essential to install a local anti-virus checker on their PC/MAC.

Some ISP’s also provide a server side anti-virus solution for checking your incoming e-mails; this feature is a must for any surfer since most infections come via e-mail. We strongly recommend choosing an ISP that filters out viruses.

Anti-SPAM (junk e-mail) is a more difficult facility, largely due to its habit of removing legitimate mails as well as illegitimate (unwanted marketing etc.) ones. It isn’t essential and wiser management of e-mail should always be tried first (read our ‘Tips For Avoiding SPAM’ article). Client (that's your PC) side filters should also be considered.

We would only consider anti-spam a benefit if the ISP allowed direct control of the filters, otherwise there’s a risk of legitimate messages being erased without your knowledge – this is undesirable, if still ultimately a risk of personal choice.

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To summarise, e-mail (including anti-virus) is by far and away the most essential feature that every package should have, while few would understand or take advantage of the others. The rest are down to personal preference; having more is always good, but not essential.

Contracts, Contention & Hardware

By now you should have some idea of what makes up a broadband ADSL package, yet there are three remaining points to cover:

Contracts

These are fairly self-explanatory, committing you to stay with any given service provider for a set amount of time (e.g. 3 months). Those choosing to leave before the contract is up could find themselves having to pay for the remaining months of their agreement.

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