Following last week's claims that 'free' laptop deals were still popular with British consumers, we thought we'd dig deep and find out just how much customers are really forking out.
With most networks offering similar dongle-only deals, surely the gulf between bundles couldn't be that excessive, could it?
Based on the best …
The O2 deal for an Asus UL30 looks a bit less of a bargain given that it was recently on sale for - £350 in car phone warehouse, where, although it is still listed on a home page at that price, it now seems to be a dead link. Still, had you bought at that price, the O2 deal would be costing £95 not saving £89. IMHO there is no such thing as a free lunch (or laptop).
You are better off giving your notice on your contract at the end of month 17 or 23 as your contract will then be cancelled at the end of the 18th or 24th month. Cancelling in month 19 or 25 means you have to pay for a further 30 days notice, possibly taking you into yet another month, racking up way more cost than you need to.
I'm not sure everyone expects the bundle cost to be lower, but certainly not as high as you've shown. Some of the attraction is the low up front charge, and paying for it monthly. Although in most cases the hire purchase costs factored in by the operator are more than buying it on a credit card and paying that off over 2 years.
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'Free' laptop deals compared
Following last week's claims that 'free' laptop deals were still popular with British consumers, we thought we'd dig deep and find out just how much customers are really forking out. With most networks offering similar dongle-only deals, surely the gulf between bundles couldn't be that excessive, could it? Based on the best …
This topic is closed for new posts.
Posted Tuesday 17th August 2010 11:07 GMT
Andrew Alan McKenzie
Really a bargain? #
The O2 deal for an Asus UL30 looks a bit less of a bargain given that it was recently on sale for - £350 in car phone warehouse, where, although it is still listed on a home page at that price, it now seems to be a dead link. Still, had you bought at that price, the O2 deal would be costing £95 not saving £89. IMHO there is no such thing as a free lunch (or laptop).
Posted Tuesday 17th August 2010 11:13 GMT
The Original Steve
Forgetting something... #
O2's network sucks ass.
Orange (and soon to include T-Mobile) seems to have the better 3G network out of the bunch. (Coverage and capacity wise).
Looking at it I'd rather outright buy the netbook with SIM slot built in (or generic dongle) and keep a batch of PAYG SIM's with me.
Posted Tuesday 17th August 2010 14:34 GMT
Anonymous Coward
Depends on your area #
In my house I can only get 3G coverage from O2. Everything else is intermittent non-3g signal.
Posted Tuesday 17th August 2010 11:13 GMT
jonathanb
And remember #
to cancel the contract immediately you get to month 19 or 25 as appropriate otherwise you end up paying more money than you need to.
Posted Wednesday 18th August 2010 04:52 GMT
Anonymous Coward
Best time to cancel. #
I disagree.
You are better off giving your notice on your contract at the end of month 17 or 23 as your contract will then be cancelled at the end of the 18th or 24th month. Cancelling in month 19 or 25 means you have to pay for a further 30 days notice, possibly taking you into yet another month, racking up way more cost than you need to.
Posted Tuesday 17th August 2010 11:14 GMT
Mage
p per MByte #
£240 per Gigabyte is how I'd think of 2.4p per MByte,
Posted Tuesday 17th August 2010 14:35 GMT
Rasczak
Or £24 #
If you only take there to be 1000 megabytes in a gigabyte rather than 10000.
24 quid is still on the steep side though when the first 3 gig are a fiver each.
Posted Tuesday 17th August 2010 11:16 GMT
druck
Hire purchase costs #
I'm not sure everyone expects the bundle cost to be lower, but certainly not as high as you've shown. Some of the attraction is the low up front charge, and paying for it monthly. Although in most cases the hire purchase costs factored in by the operator are more than buying it on a credit card and paying that off over 2 years.
This topic is closed for new posts.