Broadband News

21 October 2008 – London, UK: Free laptops are set to become must-have presents for Christmas 2008, as families look for ways to save money on technology gifts according to Top 10 Broadband, the UK’s leading independent broadband comparison site.

Savvy buyers can get a free laptop when they sign up to mobile broadband packages with providers such as 3 and Vodafone. Customers signing up to these packages are given a USB modem stick (dongle) and a laptop; by plugging the dongle into their laptop, users can connect to the internet on-the-go.

“With broadband and free laptop deals starting at £25 a month, laptops have never been so affordable or attractive to a British public looking to curb their spending in the run up to credit crunch Christmas.” Says Jessica McArdle, a spokesperson for the website.

Parents of school and college students especially are taking advantage of these new deals that facilitate their offspring’s academic development without breaking the bank, according to feedback on Top 10 Broadband.

“On Top 10 Broadband, broadband and free laptop sales accounted for just 4% of total mobile broadband sales in July – they now account for over 27%, suggesting that laptop-bundles will overtake stand-alone mobile broadband sales by the end of the year.” McArdle continues.

The growing popularity of these packages represents a change of focus in the mobile broadband market from dongle to laptop. This shift has seen manufacturers such as Acer, who supply the laptops to T-Mobile and the Carphone Warehouse struggle to meet demand.

Mobile phone operator 3 is currently offering the HP550, HP 2133 and HP DV 6910 laptops with mobile broadband starting at £30 a month with 5 or 15Gb download allowance included. Resellers such as Phones 4U and The Carphone Warehouse are also meeting demand with a range of Acer, Toshiba and Sony laptop-broadband deals from £25 a month.

“Since launching laptop-broadband deals on Phones4u.co.uk, we have seen significant sales growth month-on-month and predict that laptop-broadband deals will be top-sellers this Christmas,” says a Phones 4U Spokesperson.

Notes to Editors:

About Top 10 Broadband:

Top 10 Broadband is the UK’s largest independent dedicated broadband comparison site with over one million unique users a month. The site offers comparison tools to users allowing them to make efficient broadband buying decisions in seconds.

Contact:

For more information or to arrange an interview, call Jessica McArdle at Formula on 020 3170 8042, or email press@formuladigital.co.uk