The mobile phone and home broadband provider officially launched its new HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) Mobile Broadband package today, with the new service initially only available to existing O2 (www.O2.co.uk) customers.
Customers can choose from one of two contract lengths, the first costing £20 a month for an 18 month contract with a free USB modem and a 3GB download allowance and the second costing £20 a month, plus £119.99 for a modem on a rolling month by month option instead.
However, the £20 a month charge is subject to a minimum quarterly top up for O2 Pay & Go customers, and if current O2 services are cancelled, or the £30 per quarter top up isn’t met, mobile broadband monthly costs will increase to £30.
O2 conceded that its new tariff isn’t the cheapest on the market. Jonathan Earle, head of customer acquisitions in O2's broadband division, said: “We're not going to be the cheapest, but we hope to bring a fantastic customer experience.”
Customers who exceed their monthly allowance will be charged 20p per MB and users will also get unlimited wireless internet access via The Cloud’s 7,500 WiFi hotspots.
However, O2 said that it was the “customer experience” that was most important.
O2 launched its home broadband service in October 2007 with the aim of being a “breath of fresh air” to a market plagued with poor customer service and misleading advertisements, and with “9 out of 10 O2 Broadband customers saying they would recommend it to friends or family, O2 has delivered on this commitment,” said the provider.
“Getting the customer experience right is crucial,” said Sally Cowdry, Marketing Director, O2 UK. “We are confident our broadband services complete a great communication experience for our customers however they want to connect to the internet, whether that be at home, on their mobile phone or laptop.”
Top speeds on the network are currently 1.8Mb and O2 will begin increasing this to 3.6Mb from June this year.
Michael Phillips, BroadbandChoices.co.uk product director, said: “O2’s offer won’t compete easily with Three (www.Three.co.uk) or Vodafone (www.Vodafone.co.uk) both of which offer 3GB packages for £15 a month - Three also offers a 1GB option for £10 a month, while Vodafone offers speeds on up to 7.2Mb on its network - and both are available to non-customers.
“However, it’s likely that O2 will eventually offer a package to non-customers and will also reduce costs as its network capacity is increased and data costs come down. And if O2 brings the same kind of commitment to its mobile broadband that it did to its fixed line service, this will no doubt become a popular add-on.”
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