As widely predicted, Carphone Warehouse does a Freeserve and offers “Free Broadband Forever”. 8Mbps, 40GB monthly usage limit, £29.99 connection fee and no monthly cost if you pay line rental to Carphone Warehouse instead of BT and sign up for the £9.99 per month international calling plan.
It’ll be interesting to see if they can cope with the demand and if other firms make half-arsed attempts to copy the deal. Remember the chaos over free dial-up and then flat-rate Internet access?
Comments
0 responses to “Free broadband forever”
I have to say I’m rather tempted. It looks like a hell of a good deal. Think there’ll be a price war?
I’m not so sure as it depends on the provider having their equipment installed in BT exchanges, so not everyone can offer this sort of deal. I wouldn’t be surprised to see more combined packages, though — phone/broadband/content. My guess is that the next major announcement in this area will be from Sky, which owns Easynet.
Squander, I’d also wait and see what the first lot of people to sign up for it say as it’s an 18-month contract. Keep an eye on this board: http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=talktalk
> I’m not so sure as it depends on the provider having their equipment installed in BT exchanges, so not everyone can offer this sort of deal.
True, but I think BT will cut the wholesale prices. CW’s going to lose money on every customer until it can get ’em off BT equipment and onto LLU, and I think the ISPs that depend on BT will scream blue murder about the price difference between BT kit and LLU.
> I wouldn’t be surprised to see more combined packages, though — phone/broadband/content.
Do you think the market’s ready for that? It’s been tried quite a few times over the years.
> My guess is that the next major announcement in this area will be from Sky, which owns Easynet.
Yeah, I think you’re right. I can see them offering cheap/free broadband to telly subscribers.
> I’d also wait and see what the first lot of people to sign up for it say as it’s an 18-month contract.
Oh yeah. The problems I had with Bulldog last year are still fresh in my mind….
True, but I think BT will cut the wholesale prices.
Are they allowed to do that? I thought that they were prohibited from selling it at less than its real cost to ensure fair competition.
Do you think the market’s ready for that? It’s been tried quite a few times over the years.
I do with a Sky or NTL/Telewest deal with includes TV, perhaps not so much with a phone/broadband-only deal.
There’s a magic number BT needs to hit before it can cut prices. Can’t remember what it is :)
Is it 42?