If you want broadband that's not now part of Ol' Beardy's empire, nor stupidly expensive, you need a BT line - or one of the services which sell you a differently-branded BT line, like the Post Office phone deal - and ADSL from one of the zillions of competing providers.

I decided I wasn't going to give NTL as-was any of my money on principle, which steered me down the other path - but as I don't make many landline calls, I'm happy enough with the cheapest BT deal.