Latest Broadband Deals
Orange Mobile Broadband Ranked No.1 Again
Orange (orange.co.uk/topdongle) has been ranked the UK’s number one mobile broadband provider for a second time following January’s YouGov Dongle Tracker survey.
UK mobile broadband users ranked Orange top in nine out of fifteen categories, including reliability, customer service, ease of use and upload speeds.
Other winning categories included Installation, Getting connected, Staying connected, Reliability during the day, Reliability in the evening and Billing.
The Director of Broadband and Home at Orange UK, Asif Aziz, said: “Retaining our position as the top mobile broadband provider in the UK is a great accomplishment which we’re really proud of”.
Aziz continued: “This win is recognition of our strong focus on network quality and brilliant customer service and its our aim to build on these, as well as the products and services we offer, to ensure our customers continue to benefit from a high quality user experience”.
Orange operates the UK’s largest mobile broadband network covering 93% of the population.
Providing mobile broadband speeds up to 3.6Mbps with a range of data usage allowances to choose from, package prices start from just £5 a month.
Free laptops, including the Compaq Presario CQ61 and the Asus 1005H GO (both installed with Windows 7) are also available with Orange mobile broadband deals starting from £25 a month.
Interested readers can find out more at the orange.co.uk website or our Orange Mobile Broadband package review.
Apple iPad & Mobile Broadband Deals Could Be Next
Bundle deals involving 3G mobile broadband access and the newly launched Apple iPad could be on their way to the UK later this year.
Following the sucess of mobile broadband and laptop packages, speculation is mounting that the UK’s mobile broadband providers like Vodafone, Orange and O2, together with 3rd party retailers like the Carphone Warehouse are eying similar deals involving the Apple iPad.
Talking to the Guardian, the UK Chief Executive of the Carphone Warehouse, Andrew Harrison welcomed the launch of the Apple iPad, saying: “To me, the really interesting thing is what we are seeing is devices designed with how the consumer uses the internet very much in mind, rather than just a computer that was made for business use trying to fit the consumer”.
Harrison continued: “Our perspective is we play in the world of connectivity and particularly mobile connectivity and this device fits well within that; we think there will be a whole range of them. This is an extension of a smartphone perhaps even more than it being a smaller PC. It is much more in the territory that we operate in.”
One of the new Apple iPad models features both Wi-Fi and 3G mobile phone network connectivity which will enable future UK iPad users to access the Internet pretty much anywhere in the UK.
Amongst many exciting functions, Apple iPad users will be able download and use apps, music and videos from the iTunes store, aswell as playing games and storing photos.
Apple iPad prices will start from £307 for the 16GB model. It is expected to be available to buy by the end of March 2009.
3 Mobile Broadband Network Coverage Extended
Mobile operator 3 (three.co.uk) has activated its 10,000th 3G site as part of plans to boost its mobile broadband network coverage and capacity across the UK.
The 10,000th site as Shooters Hill in South East London forms part of the company’s network improvement programme that aims to have 13,000 3G sites in operation, which will provide mobile broadband coverage to nearly 93% of the UK population.
Graham Baxter, Chief Technology Officer at 3 UK said: “Over the past two years the continued growth of internet communications, smartphone use and mobile broadband uptake have brought the need for good 3G network coverage into sharp focus for millions of consumers”.
Baxter continued: “Our network is already the biggest 3G network in the UK. Now we’re adding new coverage and capacity across the country to meet demand and bring the benefits of 3G to people who’ve never had access in their area before”.
3 currently provide mobile broadband download speeds up to 7.2Mpbs with upload speeds up to 2Mbps. Prices start from just £7.50 a month with the new Huawei E1750 dongle included for free.
Readers can find out more on the current range 3 mobile broadband deals at the three.co.uk website or our 3 Mobile Broadband review page.
BT Winter Deals Offer Savings Of £386 On BT Broadband & TV
BT has launched its 2023 BT Winter Deals, offering new customers choosing BT Fibre & BT TV at BT.com/winter with savings of up to £386 over the contract period. Available until the 1st of February 2023, there’s also a FREE BT Reward Card (up to the value of £100) to go shopping with.
BT Fibre prices now start from just £14.49 a month for BT Fibre Essential, while BT TV packages can be added from £9 a month extra and include Netflix.
O2 Mobile Broadband Free Laptop Set Up Fee Cut
O2 (www.o2.co.uk) has removed the £50 set up fee that applied to its two mobile broadband and free laptop packages available on a 24 month contract.
This means the Asus Eee PC 1005H netbook together with O2 Mobile Broadband speeds up to 3.6Mbps and a 3GB data usage allowance can now be ordered online as a bundle for just £25 a month.
O2’s other free laptop, the high specification Samsung R519, has a bundle price of £35 a month for a 3GB usage cap.
Customers requiring a higher 10GB monthly data usage allowance can opt to pay an additional £10 a month on either package.
An O2 dongle, technically known as the O2 USB modem E169, is also supplied free of charge.
The Asus 1005H netbook is a lightweight Wi-Fi enabled mini-laptop with a long battery life of up to three hours. It has a 10.2″ display, 1.6Ghz Intel processor, 160Gb hard drive and 1Gb RAM. Windows XP Home Edition is also installed.
The full size, high spec, Samsung R519 laptop is the perfect desktop PC replacement, coming with a Intel Pentium dual core processor, 250Gb hard drive and 2Gb of RAM.
This Wi-Fi enabled laptop also includes a webcam and has Windows Vista Home Premium installed.
Both free laptops have a 2 year warranty, unlimited Wi-Fi access using Wi-Fi hotspots across the UK (500MB for the Asus) and free O2 laptop support for 30 days.
Further information on these packages can be found at the www.o2.co.uk website or our O2 mobile broadband free laptop review.
40Mb BT Infinity Broadband Launches At £19.99
BT (BT.com) has announced the launch of BT Infinity Broadband, BT’s new up to 40Mb broadband service with prices starting from just £19.99 a month.
Powered by the latest fibre optic technology, BT Infinity Broadband provides lightening fast download speeds of up to 40Mbps and upload speeds up to a market leading 10Mbps – all of which promises to transform peoples’ experience of the Internet.
From Monday, new and existing BT customers living in enabled areas will be able to order one of two BT Infinity packages online at the BT.com website.
BT Infinity Option 1, at £19.99 a month, provides download speeds up to 40Mbps with a 20GB data usage allowance.
Up to 2Mb upload speeds are offered together with the BT Infinity Home Hub, free engineer installation and basic PC security. A one-off £50 connection charge applies.
At £24.99 per month, BT Infinity Option 2 offers download speeds up to 40Mbps with an unlimited data usage allowance (a fair usage policy applies).
Up to 10Mb upload speeds are provided, together with the BT Infinity Home Hub, advanced McAfee PC security and free installation.
Commenting on the launch, Gavin Patterson, BT Retail’s Chief Executive Officer said: “The internet is essential to our customers’ lives and they are demanding more and more as richer and even more compelling services become available. BT Infinity gives customers the capacity and reliability they need in an instant and at a great value price they can afford”.
Patterson continued: “We want to give our customers the best possible online experience and are committed to rolling out super-fast speeds across the UK”.
Today’s announcement from BT forms part of the company’s longer term plan to provide super-fast fibre optic broadband to 40% of the UK (circa 10 million homes and businesses) by the summer of 2012.
Around 4 million homes will have access to BT Infinity’s faster speeds by December 2010.
Readers can check whether they can get BT Infinity Broadband in their area at the BT.com website.
