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Is free broadband really worth it?
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Second time lucky for Orange free broadband?
Garnet Roach garnet@consumerchoices.co.uk
Mobile phone giant Orange has relaunched its ‘free broadband’ offer to any new customers signing up to one of its mobile phone contracts worth at least £30 a month (28-08-08).
The offer means that anyone signing up to an Orange (www.Orange.co.uk) mobile phone package of £30 or more will get the provider’s Home Starter package with a download speed of up to 2Mb and an 8GB allowance at no extra cost.
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"We stopped marketing our home broadband service aggressively so we could focus on improving the basics"
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The offer also includes evening and weekend UK calls to landlines, a free wireless router and McAfee internet security. However, you will have to sign a lengthy 18 month contract.
This is not the first time that Orange - one of the ‘big six’ ISPs - has offered ‘free broadband’. But its previous promotion was plagued by poor customer service and bad connections, and Orange was forced to cut down on its home broadband advertising an work on cutting down complaints.
“We stopped marketing our home broadband service aggressively late last year so we could focus on improving the basics,” a spokesman said. “We can now say that line stability is better, provisioning speeds are faster and there are significantly less service faults reported than before.”
This announcement comes only a week after Orange revealed that it would be giving away a free Asus Eee laptop to any customers willing to sign up to its Internet Everywhere mobile broadband package for £25 a month over two years - an offer that Michael Phillips, BroadbandChoices.co.uk product director pointed out was not the most economical way to get a new laptop - especially one that retails at less than £200.
Despite free laptops and broadband, and an apparent investment in both its network and customer service, Orange has experienced a customer exodus in recent months with 44,000 customers leaving in the last quarter alone.
And to make matters worse, Orange was recently named as a Which? Don’t Buy product - coming second on the list - following a survey of over 18,000 people. Which? said: “Orange’s broadband service scores poorly across the board and it received one of the worst overall satisfaction score of all ISPs.”
Michael Phillips, BroadbandChoices.co.uk product director, said: “You should always be wary when it comes to ‘free’ products as you will often end up paying for them elsewhere - either by paying over the odds for a bundled product or by receiving a poor service.
“However, when TalkTalk (www.TalkTalk.co.uk) first revolutionised the market with its own ‘free broadband’ it was plagued with a string of long-running problems but through investment and hard work, the Carphone Warehouse ISP has managed to turn its reputation around - perhaps Orange can do the same.
“That said, if you’re already an Orange mobile phone customer and are looking to renew your contract, this could be a great way of saving on your broadband bills,” he concluded.
Related article - Free broadband.
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