Anyone for satellite surfing?

Strange things are happening in Broadband Britain. Super-fast internet services are still only enjoyed by 300,000 people, but they're cheaper and easier to get. Or incredibly expensive and impossible to get, depending on where you live.

To date, most people have signed up via BT's ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line) service, which infuriated many users with awful customer service and long waits for installation. Now, BT is cutting prices and waiting time, but freezing ADSL coverage at 60 per cent of UK households due to "insufficient demand".

There are alternatives for the unlucky 40 per cent. Instead of relying on your phone line for net access, you can log on via cable or get wireless access via satellite, though the price can be frightening and you're at the mercy of a postcode lottery.

Tele2 has a wireless broadband service that provides 512Kbps (around 10 times the speed of your average computer modem) access via a rooftop antenna instead of a phone line. The £43-a-month service is available in central and southern England. Installation costs £175 for a two-storey house, £235 for taller buildings.

The line-of-sight technology means that the antenna has to be installed to point at one of Tele2's land-based transmitters. Don't worry that the antenna will lower the tone: it's just 30cm square and can be painted to blend in with the wall. Check your eligibility at the Tele2 website.

If you can get ADSL, you can get it cheaper. BTopenworld installation is half-price (£75) until Christmas and access costs £30 a month instead of £39.99. BT says the waiting time is two weeks, and you can now live up to 5.5km from an exchange and still get the service, up from 3.5km.

You don't have to go to BTopenworld for your ADSL service. The ADSL Guide compares more than 40 providers including EasyNet and Freeserve. Alternatively, Londoners can pay £20 a month to get 115kps access from HomeChoice.

For those with the moolah, BT's satellite-based broadband service - initially available to businesses in Scotland and Northern Ireland - gives you a dish, a box and a coronary: it costs £1,056 to install and the monthly fee is £82.

NTL and Telewest provide a cable alternative. Sign up for NTL's £14.99-a-month digital TV service and you can surf at more than twice the normal home computer speed (128kbps) for £14.99 a month and 512kbps for £24.99. Telewest is bullish about its £25-a-month Blue Yonder service: "There is plenty of life in the broadband bulldog," it says. As long as its kennel is in the right place, of course.

Tele2: 0800 519 2222 ( tele2.co.uk );
BTopenworld: 0800 169 6922 ( btopenworld.co.uk );
ADSL Guide ( adslguide.org.uk );
HomeChoice ( homechoice.co.uk );
Telewest: 0800 953 5383 ( blueyonder.co.uk );
NTL: 0800 052 2000 ( ntl.co.uk )