What I tell people who ask if it is worth it

The question I get asked most is some version of "is it worth it", and I have stopped answering it directly because it is not answerable without knowing three things about the person asking.

The first is what they currently pay. Someone on eighty pounds a month for a full package with sport is in a completely different position to someone on a basic package for eighteen. The first will save a genuinely life-altering amount over a few years. The second will save perhaps a hundred a year and should probably weigh convenience more heavily.

The second is their broadband. Not the speed on the bill — what it does between eight and ten in the evening. Someone in a village on a struggling line will have a worse experience than they have now, and no amount of me being enthusiastic changes that.

The third, and the one people find surprising, is how many people live in the house and how patient they are. A household of one adult who enjoys fiddling with technology will have this working perfectly within a week. A household of four, two of whom will not tolerate a fortnight of learning a new remote, needs the setup done properly before anyone else touches it.

Get those three right and it is worth it comfortably. Get any of them wrong and it is a source of arguments.

What I do not say any more, because it is unhelpful: "it's brilliant, you should get it". That was my answer for about six months and it produced two people who were happy and one who was not, and the one who was not had a bad line and I should have asked.

The other thing I have learned to say is that the first fortnight will be worse than what they have now, and that this is normal and temporary. Setting that expectation has done more for the success rate of my recommendations than any technical advice.

For anyone at the deciding stage, this rundown covers the same ground with more detail on the connection side, which is the part people skip.

Three questions before an opinion. It has made me much less annoying to talk to.

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