Although the home broadband market is always heavily competitive, it seems as though TalkTalk has just raised the bar in terms of value for money with its announcement that it will start providing a free broadband connection for new customers for the first year of their contract.

TalkTalk has been performing very well over the last year and it seems that its success has emboldened its management team and encouraged a push towards capturing even more of the market. The new package will slightly overshadow O2’s recent announcement that it will begin to offer home phone deals for its customers and could prove to be more attractive than some BT broadband options.

TalkTalk’s free broadband offer requires that you pay line rental, but not only will this allow for unlimited evening and weekend calls to UK landlines, but 8Mbps broadband will not cost you a penny extra for an entire year. You will need to commit for a minimum of 24 months and during the second half you will have to pay £6.99 a month for the broadband connection.

If you do the maths, it turns out that TalkTalk’s bundle will set you back under £200 a year, which is competitive for both home phone and broadband bundled in the same simple deal. But the main question many will ask is ‘Should I commit for 2 years?’

The broadband market it in a state of change and by 2012 a whole host of new technologies will have arrived, including faster fibre to the cabinet and LTE mobile broadband connections. This could leave you feeling left behind with an 8Mbps connection.

That said, there will usually be opportunities for people to upgrade their broadband package with their existing provider at any point during their minimum contracted period. This is particularly easy with TalkTalk or BT Broadband options, although do bear in mind that additional commitments may be required in tandem with the upgrade.