Think of your broadband Internet package as being a series of specific options or "settings" that you can add. The more options you choose, and the greater volume of those options you want, the more the monthly price will be.

You can either figure out a broadband budget per month and find the options that work for you within that budget, or you can determine how you use the web and then choose from among the broadband packages that include those options.

Typical Broadband Internet Options

• The Broadband Services Speed

Broadband internet speed is measured in Megabytes per second or Gigabytes per second and the faster you want your Internet connection to be, the higher this number you want. You should be aware that download speeds are faster than upload speeds with ADSL and usually the number given is the download speed. For most people, this is the number that is most important, but if you think you'll do a lot of uploading, be aware that it could be less.

• The Broadband Services Download Cap

Every time you pull information from the web, you are downloading something. Even if this is relatively minimal for you, it does add up over time. Limits are usually measured in Gigabytes. Some providers still charge a flat fee but many are moving away from this model and charging a flat fee up to a limit. In the future, it's predicted that companies will charge based entirely on usage.

• The Base Price

this is usually a pre-tax figure set as the base amount; any additional charges will be added and could include fees for going above your download limit as well as other surcharges, taxes and, if the bill is unpaid, interest.