Having moved out of my family home into a flat to live by myself, and having been there about 5 months now I've began to shop for a broadband deal most suited for my preferences. The line I have in my flat is currently unused, so connection and set-up processes will apply. The broadband leaflets don't have nearly enough information about all the little things to take into account; so I was glad I found this site and discovered a bit more from the location searches here.

I'd like to ask some of the experienced admins and users here for some of their knowledge and wisdom on some questions I still have so I can make a fully-informed decision. The answers here could provide other users in similar circumstances with some detailed info on things they may not have considered.

We had a broadband deal with TalkTalk under my parents at my original home, so I'm familiar with what to expect from them; though I'm not sure if we were on their Essentials deal or not. Overall it was adequate and pretty reliable, but I'm wondering if I can't find better. I used the internet mainly for searching and forum browsing, along with things like youtube (and their HD vids) with occassional torrent downloads (anywhere from 500 MB to 2GB) and online fighting games on PSN. Sometimes the big fighting game tornaments are streamed live on internet channels too, although that's not too vital, it does give a picture of my kind of useage.

Because fighting games are so frame/reaction/timing intensive; a quick, stable and consistent connection is essential to enjoy them online at all. I'm not really bothered about phone-line bundles, but it's seeming cheaper in all cases to get a phone-inclusive deal than to specificly get broadband alone.

Unfortunately, my new home is a little further away from the local exchange than before. On the location tests here, the old address has a top capacity for around 6 MB and the connection there consistently tests at 5.9 MB. At my new address, it's capped at around 4.5-5 MB; although when I called BT about the line, they hinted it may go as high as 5.5. While the potential for better speeds is disappointing, I suspose it could be worse.

To bring up something about the location searches on the site; when I was searching for my old address, which has an existing TalkTalk line for which I supplied the phone number along with the postcode for the search; the site was only able to search via the postcode info as it said it could not match the number to a BT exchange.

I know the number works and is most definately valid. Would this mean that the search on this site has compatibility issues between the different lines or technologies used by the ISPs and therefore has potentially skewed results?

Hoping to check that all the networks around my area are taken into account.

TalkTalk Essentials is recommended by the site as ideal for my area, and seems to tick all the right boxes at this stage. I have some further questions to ask at this stage:

All the broadband packages are offering wireless routers; though according to what I've heard across the net, wired is the preferred method for connections to ensure speed and stability for gaming. Can I (or should I) press them for a wired router instead, or would I have to take the router and then supply my own wired router independantly?

What significance is there to 'N-rated' routers?

Because of my location, I've found I can wave goodbye to dreams of 20 MB speeds; does it make any difference if I sign up to a 50 MB deal or a 5 MB deal at this point? I wouldn't suspect so, but would a higher speed deal mean I get more out of my lines potential?

(again, it's newbie curiosity into the nature of local net working)

I heard about the unpopular plan of the former Labour government for expanding broadband networks now on hold. None-the-less, is there any hope or prospect of networking in smaller towns like Shrewsbury being upgraded by anyone in the future?

How generous would a 40 GB (or 10 or 20 GB, for that matter) monthly allowance be for the uses I've described? It seems very large to someone like me who has barely filled that much on my comps hard drive in a couple of years, but I think downloads in online gaming eat into that as does loading web pages, HD youtube vids and streaming etc.

Would it be cheaper to try to just get broadband from TalkTalk alone? should I be with Essential or Pro?

Any other subtle things to take into account?

I'd greatly appreciate the feedback on these issues as they have kept me stalled on commiting to a broadband contract thus far.