Broadband News
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Broadband and phone bundles launch from O2, Be Broadband will follow
05 May 2010 | 10.17 Europe/London
O2 is entering the home phone market today.
The company is offering a nationwide range of bundled broadband and phone line services which come with a £5 monthly discount (on the broadband element) for customers on O2’s mobile phone service.
Be Broadband, owned by O2, yesterday announced that it would also be launching a bundled home phone and broadband service later in the year. It would not be drawn on price or other launch details but confirmed to SamKnows that it is looking for volunteers already on its broadband service to trial the bundled package before it goes live.
Broadband and home phone bundles
O2 is offering four home bundles; three for those within its broadband network (where it offers local loop unbundling) and one, named Access, for the rest of the country.
Those inside O2’s broadband network have a choice of Standard, Premium or Pro with bundled prices for home and broadband starting at £17 and rising to £30 – this includes an assumed £5 discount for O2 mobile phone customers.
In broadband terms the main difference is a rise from 8Mbp/s to 20Mbp/s for Premium and Pro customers. Customers then have a choice of a £9.50 or £12.50 monthly line rental. The more expensive of the two adds any time calls to free weekends and evening calls already provided, as well as 600 minutes of inclusive calls to land lines in more than 20 countries (calls to mobile phones in the USA and Canada are also included).
The Access package, for those outside O2’s broadband network, is priced at the more expensive Pro option yet offers a Standard 8Mbp/s connection, reflecting the fact the customer is not inside an area where O2 can take over the line and so a line rental is still due to BT.
Bolt ons features – but where is cheaper mobile calling?
There are several bolt on services ranging from £1 to £3.50 per month which add extra features such as call barring, voicemail, call waiting and caller ID.
Interestingly, there are no bolt on services to make UK mobile phone calls inclusive each month or to reduce their cost, they remain constant on every package at 9p and 7p for day time and off peak calling, with a 9p connection fee. At the time of launch, there also appears to be no reduced fee for O2 home phone customers calling O2 mobile numbers.
In contrast, TalkTalk has a £2 per month mobile phone ‘Booster’ which reduces the cost of calling mobiles to 6p daytime and 3.5p evenings and so would work out cheaper for anyone spending roughly an hour or more per month calling mobile phones lines from their home phone.
O2's bundles, at a glance:
The company is offering a nationwide range of bundled broadband and phone line services which come with a £5 monthly discount (on the broadband element) for customers on O2’s mobile phone service.
Be Broadband, owned by O2, yesterday announced that it would also be launching a bundled home phone and broadband service later in the year. It would not be drawn on price or other launch details but confirmed to SamKnows that it is looking for volunteers already on its broadband service to trial the bundled package before it goes live.
Broadband and home phone bundles
O2 is offering four home bundles; three for those within its broadband network (where it offers local loop unbundling) and one, named Access, for the rest of the country.
Those inside O2’s broadband network have a choice of Standard, Premium or Pro with bundled prices for home and broadband starting at £17 and rising to £30 – this includes an assumed £5 discount for O2 mobile phone customers.
In broadband terms the main difference is a rise from 8Mbp/s to 20Mbp/s for Premium and Pro customers. Customers then have a choice of a £9.50 or £12.50 monthly line rental. The more expensive of the two adds any time calls to free weekends and evening calls already provided, as well as 600 minutes of inclusive calls to land lines in more than 20 countries (calls to mobile phones in the USA and Canada are also included).
The Access package, for those outside O2’s broadband network, is priced at the more expensive Pro option yet offers a Standard 8Mbp/s connection, reflecting the fact the customer is not inside an area where O2 can take over the line and so a line rental is still due to BT.
Bolt ons features – but where is cheaper mobile calling?
There are several bolt on services ranging from £1 to £3.50 per month which add extra features such as call barring, voicemail, call waiting and caller ID.
Interestingly, there are no bolt on services to make UK mobile phone calls inclusive each month or to reduce their cost, they remain constant on every package at 9p and 7p for day time and off peak calling, with a 9p connection fee. At the time of launch, there also appears to be no reduced fee for O2 home phone customers calling O2 mobile numbers.
In contrast, TalkTalk has a £2 per month mobile phone ‘Booster’ which reduces the cost of calling mobiles to 6p daytime and 3.5p evenings and so would work out cheaper for anyone spending roughly an hour or more per month calling mobile phones lines from their home phone.
O2's bundles, at a glance:
| Broadband | Package | Standard | Premium | Pro | Access | |||||
| Max Speed | 8 Meg | 20 meg | 20 meg | 8 Meg | ||||||
| Download Limit | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | ||||||
| Contract length | 12 months | 12 months | 12 months | 12 months | ||||||
| Connection Fee | None | None | None | None | ||||||
| Price | £7.50 | £10 | £17.50 | £17.50 | ||||||
| Home Phone | Line Rental and calls package | £9.50 | £12.50 | £9.50 | £12.50 | £9.50 | £12.50 | £9.50 | £12.50 | |
| Calls included | Evening & Weekend to UK landlines | Anytime calls to landlines | Evening & Weekend to UK landlines | Anytime calls to landlines | Evening & Weekend to UK landlines | Anytime calls to landlines | Evening & Weekend to UK landlines | Anytime calls to landlines | ||
| International Calls included | None | Over 20 countries included | None | Over 20 countries included | None | Over 20 countries included | None | Over 20 countries included | ||
| Total Bundled Cost | £17 | £20 | £19.50 | £22.50 | £27 | £30 | £27 | £30 | ||