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O2 Jumps on "Free" Laptop Bandwagon
11 Feb 2009 | 08.25 Europe/London
O2 is to provide mobile broadband contracts with inclusive "free" laptops as part of a new Pay Monthly deal from the end of this month. Two Samsung models – the NC10 mini-laptop, shown below, and R510 laptop, will be available online and in O2 stores nationwide, from 27 February 2009.
Two different 24 month contracts will be available, one for a shade under £30 with 3 GByte of inclusive mobile data and the other with 10 GB at just under £40/month. The cost of any additional data will be about 20 p/MByte (yes, that's per MByte - £200 per GByte). Potential purchasers should take note of the 24 month minimum contract and the high cost of extra usage over the contracted amount.
The contracts also included "unlimited" use of O2 wi-fi hotspots and are covered by an excessive usage policy. A higher spec "multimedia" laptop can be purchased for an additional £78.29 one-off fee.
Also included is the option to take O2's basic "Home Broadband" service for only £4.89 per month inc VAT. Other flavours of O2 phone line ADSL broadband can be had at a discount of £2.45 per month off their standard price.
The Samsungs are generally nice machines, the NC10 netbook runs Windows XP and has 1 GB of RAM whereas the alternative R510 "performance" laptop runs Vista Home Premium with 2 GB of RAM.
Customers can purchase O2’s new laptop packages at any of the 490 stores across the UK or by visiting the online shop at www.o2.co.uk from 27 February 2009. There is no information on the O2 site about this offer at the time of writing.
Two different 24 month contracts will be available, one for a shade under £30 with 3 GByte of inclusive mobile data and the other with 10 GB at just under £40/month. The cost of any additional data will be about 20 p/MByte (yes, that's per MByte - £200 per GByte). Potential purchasers should take note of the 24 month minimum contract and the high cost of extra usage over the contracted amount.
The contracts also included "unlimited" use of O2 wi-fi hotspots and are covered by an excessive usage policy. A higher spec "multimedia" laptop can be purchased for an additional £78.29 one-off fee.
Also included is the option to take O2's basic "Home Broadband" service for only £4.89 per month inc VAT. Other flavours of O2 phone line ADSL broadband can be had at a discount of £2.45 per month off their standard price.
The Samsungs are generally nice machines, the NC10 netbook runs Windows XP and has 1 GB of RAM whereas the alternative R510 "performance" laptop runs Vista Home Premium with 2 GB of RAM.
Customers can purchase O2’s new laptop packages at any of the 490 stores across the UK or by visiting the online shop at www.o2.co.uk from 27 February 2009. There is no information on the O2 site about this offer at the time of writing.