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Free broadband
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Free broadband
TalkTalk launched their “free broadband for all” offer in April 2006 and where they went, others followed. Orange, O2 and Sky have all unveiled similar, popular packages - but although they're cheap, are they good value for money?
And today, it’s not just broadband that comes for free; line rental, laptops and even PlayStation 3’s have all been given away to customers who are willing to commit to ever longer broadband contracts.
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Is it really free broadband?
Of course nothing is really free. But since most households are already paying around £10.50 a month for their line rental, as well as the cost of digital TV or home phone calls - which BT (www.BT.com) customers will find are not the most competitive - “free” broadband offers are almost guaranteed to save you money, simply by cutting out the additional £14 or so a month you would have to fork out for your internet connection.
But money isn’t the only thing that you need to take into account. Free broadband got off to a poor start and a subsequent bad rap - TalkTalk (www.TalkTalk.co.uk) was so inundated with subscriptions that it was unable to connect many people for weeks at a time, and connection speeds for both TalkTalk and Orange (www.Orange.co.uk) were poor.
However, Sky (www.Sky.com) was more successful in its free broadband launch, having learnt from TalkTalk's previous mistakes, and across the board, free broadband is now better value than ever.
O2 (www.O2.co.uk), which has become very popular and received much acclaim since launching its home broadband in October 2007, became the first ISP to offer a combined home and mobile broadband package in August 2008. Customers signing up to its 18 month mobile broadband package for £20 a month will get a free USB modem stick and free Standard home broadband for a year - with speeds of up to 8Mb and “unlimited” downloads (fair usage applies).
What’s available?
Any catches?
Although it’s important to remember that when you get a free add-on, you might not always get the highest quality service, TalkTalk has injected more than £15 million into improving its once poor customer services, and both Sky and O2 have won a number of awards for their reliable broadband service - Sky’s free broadband won the bronze medal in the BroadbandChoices.co.uk welter weight ISP of the year award and O2 got a special mention in BroadbandChoices.co.uk customer satisfaction survey with Point Topic.
Free broadband experienced some serious teething problems, but as the offers have become more established, the services they offer have stabilised and massively improved.
Michael Phillips, BroadbandChoices.co.uk product director, said: “Free broadband has come a long way since TalkTalk first launched the revolutionary product.
“But remember that it’s not just about cheap broadband. People need to think about how they will use their broadband. If they only need it for very light-weight activities like checking emails and online banking, Sky’s free broadband, with its 2GB limit, would be fine. However, if they want to download movies and music, they’ll need a higher download limit like the 40GB offered by TalkTalk or the “unlimited” downloads on O2’s reliable Standard package.
“But free broadband isn’t the only way to save these days, so anyone wanting to cut their costs should also check out the “free line rental” and hardware offers on the market, which might come with a more suitable broadband package,” he advised.
Are there any other freebies available?
TalkTalk’s free broadband revolutionised the market, spurring competitors to offer not only free broadband, but also free line rental from Tiscali (www.Tiscali.co.uk), laptops and more recently, computer consoles too from AOL (www.AOL.co.uk) and 3 (www.Three.co.uk). Mobile phone operators like Orange and O2 who have branched out into the broadband market have also taken advantage of their considerable customer bases by offering discounts to mobile customers who sign up to their broadband packages, as well as the more traditional “free broadband” offers.
“When choosing your new broadband package, compare prices and then weigh this against the kind of service that you want. There’s no point saving on a service that you can’t use in the way you need,” concluded Mr Phillips.
You can compare over 100 broadband deals on BroadbandChoices. Or Contact us if you’re still unsure.
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