Please read this post for guidance on receiving a free laptop with your mobile broadband. If you think this mobile broadband offer is for you then please visit PC World.

Post summary: Nothing in life is actually free, but, if you don’t currently have a laptop and would like to have mobile broadband on the go then do try the PC World offer. The deal works out to be just under £1.50 per day (over a 2 year period) for you to have a laptop capable of receiving mobile broadband. On this mobile broadband offer you will be able to surf the web for about 3 hours per day just about anywhere - the local cafe, the park, even on the train or bus.

Somethings aren’t as good as they sound

I read in the news yesterday that the sales of free laptop mobile broadband, or, broadband deals where you get a free laptop when you sign up to mobile broadband. Apparently, the laptop offers are going to be huge sellers on the way up to Christmas. I guess it does make sense if you want to give a loved one a laptop this Christmas (especially during le credit crunch) that you get to give them a gift on Christmas day and then pay for the ongoing costs of the mobile broadband for as long as you want to.

Now - getting a free laptop sounds like a great deal to me. But. And there is a very big BUT. Do you really get free laptop or is this too good to be true?

Free laptop? Too good to be true?

If there is anything to be learned from the credit crunch is is that sometimes things appear to good to be true but so so long as you read the small print you are less likely to get a nasty surprise

Intrigued by the offer of a free laptop I popped into my local PC World today. It took a while to get served but I felt that getting advice from their in-store ‘mobile broadband expert’ should be waited for - else I might miss out on the free deal of the century!

The PC World member of staff was actually pretty helpful. He said that I could get online with a mobile broadband dongle and my existing laptop for £10 per month on 3 broadband, and for £15 per month on T-mobile and Vodafone. If I signed for a contract for 18 or 24 months then I would likely get the mobile broadband dongle for free and I would receive 1 gig of data transfer per month (or according to the technician, “about 3 hours of surfing per day”).

But what about my free laptop?

Aha! There’s nothing free about this free laptop offer. No, in order to get the free laptop with mobile broadband you would need to be on a whopping £45 per month contract. By the time you get up to this level, you will get a “free” laptop if you sign up to a 24 month contract on one of the provider mobile broadband deals.

Is the Free laptop with mobile broadband a good deal?

No - Not when you first think about it.

So for a 24 month mobile broadband contract at £45 - which is a staggered, 2 year outlay of £1,080 - I could have walked out of the shop with a laptop worth £400 and a mobile broadband connection for 2 years - GREAT! But then how much is that mobile broadband costing me? After you take away £400 for the laptop that works out to be £680 over 24 months or £28.33 per month. Now £28 per month sounds pretty expensive to me (I can get broadband at home for around £10 per month).

Yes - its a bargain at £1 per day.

But. When you break it down into a daily cost of £1 to have access to the internet anywhere I can get a mobile reception, and, I get a free laptop! Now when you put it like that, the mobile broadband laptop offer sounds pretty tempting.

What are the mobile broadband alternative options?

If you already have a laptop and want to keep it.

If like me, you already have a laptop, what do you make of this offer? Well assuming your laptop is serviceable, you could just go out, sign a 12-month contract with 3 mobile broadband and pay £15 per month (or £180 for the year). You would have £900 cash still in your pocket and no tie-in to the same mobile broadband provider for the following 12 months.

If you already have a laptop and fancy creating you own ‘free laptop’ offer.

If you laptop is a bit worn out or you just fancy a shiny new one, you could tell your other half that you got a “free laptop with your mobile broadband contract”… but gloss over the true reality.

In reality, you have seen the laptop of your dreams so you either sign-up to PC World’s 24-month mobile broadband offer and accept their £450 off “any laptop you choose”. Or you create your own package.

In my case, I would convince myself that it was going to cost me £1,080 over a 24 month period to have the PC World laptop offer so why don’t I just go out and buy myself a dongle with 12-month contract for £180 and then go and blow £900 on a laptop of my choice. I’d wait until year-2 before I needed to worry my conscience about paying for the 2nd year of the mobile broadband contract.

Free laptop with mobile broadband at PC World

Sales of mobile broadband dongles are soaring. All the major mobile broadband providers in the UK are now offering broadband on the go. Because the costs of mobile broadband are much cheaper, UK customers are leaving their landline based broadband providers in droves.

The estimated migration rate of customers joining the mobile broadband revolution has been put as high as 50,000 new UK mobile broadband users per month. Now that sounds like an over-estimation to us at Go Broadband, but, the mobile broadband providers must be doing something right!

Why choose mobile broadband

The reason so many UK internet users are choosing to use mobile broadband over traditional, landine connection appears to be:

The price - mobile broadband contracts are significantly cheaper than landline connection. Mobile broadband prices start from as liitle as £10 per month (3 broadband’s pay-as-you-go service called “broadband on the go”).

The flexibility - most mobile broadband providers offer pay-as-you-go services and billing. This is great for users that don’t want to budget for a 12 month contract.

Mobile broadband - you can use a mobile broadband dongle anywhere you can receive a mobile phone reception. This means you can use the broadband service while you are on the move (even on a train or bus - think how your mobile phone normally remains connected if you are not moving too quickly).

Rural Broadband - Not everyone has the privalege of super-fast urban broadbnd speeds. Those that live out in rural areas or the the wilds of the UK, are often located too far from a BT exchange to get fast broadband connections. Often mobile broadband is the solution.

What is a Mobile dongle?

Very simple. It is a USB dongle that plugs into your computer - just like a USB pen. The broadband dongle has a mobile phone SIM card in it. The dongle allows you to connect to the mobile internet from anywhere you can receive a mobile phone reception.

I have produced a series of guides to help you find our about mobile broadband and whether you should throw in your BT connection. The mini guides will be added to frequently. If there is anything in particular that you would like to read or see then please leave a comment on this post.

Current Mobile broadband guides:

• How does mobile broadband work?
• What do I need to get mobile broadband?
• What is mobile broadband?
• What is the mobile internet?

Wifi broadband guides:

• Wifi broadband guide
  • Finding a wifi hotspot
  • How does wifi work?
  • What is a wifi network?
  • What is wifi?

‘Broadband on the go‘ is one of the new marketing straplines of Three (3). Other versions I have seen advertised for Three (3) include ‘play as you go‘ and Mobile Broadband without a contract ‘Just pay as go‘.

3’s broadband product really appeals to those on the move - mobile workers, students and people renting accomodation. Paying BT £10 per month for a permanent landlind connection can feel like both, a rip-off, and be tie-ing the user to one spot. With 3’s mobile broadband dongle and service you can set yourself free.

Work from where you want to work. Get outdoors and enjoy the sunshine.

A quick post to let you know that we have now secured you the best Madasafish promotion code available on the internet.

£15 OFF Madasafish promotion code

The normally Madasafish promotion codes entitle you to £10 OFF your broadband bill and £5 OFF your telephone bill but we have gone better than that. We have managed to negotiate a deal with the team at Madasafish broadband where if you use our new promotion code 4055529 at sign-up you will receive not £10 but £15 OFF your broadband bill.

Please feel free to use the code and tell your mates about it. Please link to this page or this website because the more links we receive the more people we will be able to get discounts for.

Promotion code notes:

• When promoted at sign-up, use the promotion code 4055529.
• The promotion code can only be used by new customers of Madasafish. Exisitng customers, sorry.
• The promotion code will entitle you to £15 OFF your broadband bill.
• You will receive £7.50 OFF your second broadband bill and £7.50 OFF your third broadband bill.
• The code probably won’t work for the Madasasfish Talk service.
• For Madasafish Talk, use the promotion code 40555529 and you will receive £5 OFF your first telephone bill.
• Use the x2 promotion codes in combination and you should be able to receive £20 OFF your Madasafish bills.
• Enjoy the promotion codes!
• You can also take advantage of this Madasafish discount on Mac Broadband - my other website is also offering a £15 discount.

Madasafish Broadband is one of the best ISPs in the UK. They are open and helpful - one of their aims is to be as “transparent and honest as possible” with Madasafish growing to be a reliable and trusted UK provider.

Great customer service and 24/7 support

Madasafish dedication to customer services is completely refreshing in an industry where customer satisfaction ratings are normally low. If you have any problems with your broadband you can be safe in the knowledge that any problems you do come across will be promptly dealt with; Madasafish provide tech support for both PC and Mac users 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Also, their customer services team aim to respond to all emails within 24 hours.

Good for people new to broadband

Madasafish are devoted to making access to the internet simple, safe and straightforward - they are the perfect broadband choice for someone that is relatively new to broadband and the internet. They even send out their wireless broadband modems pre-configured so that your broadband pretty much works out of the box with very little set up.

People who are new to broadband or feel that they will be in neeg good support really should consider Madasafish.

Great for people who use their broadband a lot

However, Madasafish also support high usage broadband customers that like to send and receive photos and other large files, download movies and play multi-player online games. If you plan to use your broadband a lot the check out the awards that Madasafish have won below.

Awards aren’t always everything but, Madasafish has won their share….

Awards Madasafish have won

• “Best Heavy Consumer Broadband” at the 2006 UK Internet Industry Award
• “Best Consumer email” at the 2007 ISPAwards

Awards Madasafish were Highly Commended for…

• “Best Broadband ISP” category at the PC Pro Awards
• “Customer Satisfaction” at the PC Advisor Broadband Awards
• “Best Buy” at the PC Advisor Broadband Awards

Sign-up today …

If you think that madasafish broadband is the one for you, then follow the link to the Madasafish Broadband website and get a £10 off your first broadband bill.

UPDATE: You can now receive £15 OFF your Madasafish broadband. Just click the Go Broadband - Madasafish discount link and you will get £15 OFF. Alternatively, visit our sister site at Mac broadband on this link Madasafish and use their discount deal.

You can now get £5 OFF your talk plan with Madasafish broadband. Just use the promotion code 4055529 when you are prompted to at registration on the Madasafish website and, you will receive £5 OFF your first telephone bill.*

For just £9.99 a month you can now receive unlimited FREE evening and weekend telephone calls.

Madasafish Talk

With telephone line rental at just £9.99 a month, Madasafish Talk provides you with a simple and easy way to save money and get free phone calls. Select one of two Madasafish Talk packages and you could make great savings on your telephone bill. It’s easy to switch to Madasafish and you get to keep your existing telephone line and phone number. When you sign up for Madasafish Talk you’ll also get your line rental, call charges and broadband (if applicable) all on one bill.

Madasafish Talk - Option 1 - “Talk Free”

• Price: FREE
• Ideal if you make calls mainly on evenings and weekends.
• Unlimited free evening and weekend calls to UK landlines (numbers starting in 01 and 02).
• Free calls to all other Madasafish Talk users at anytime.
• Inclusive calls to UK landlines and calls to other Madasafish Talk users up to an hour are completely free. Redial before 60 minutes to avoid call charges.
• Cheap international calls and competitive rates to mobile phones.
• 5% off calls made to 5 numbers of your choice including international and mobile phone numbers with Favourite Five.
• Sign-up to Madasafish Talk Free now

Madasfish Talk - Option 2 - “Talk Anytime”

• Price: £5.99 a month
• Ideal if you make calls during the day.
• Unlimited calls to UK landlines at any time (numbers starting in 01 and 02).
• Free calls to all other Madasafish Talk users at anytime.
• All calls to UK landlines and to other Madasafish Talk users up to an hour are completely free. Redial before 60 minutes to avoid call charges.
• Cheap international calls and competitive rates to mobile phones.5% off calls made to 5 numbers of your choice including international and mobile phone numbers with Favourite Five.
• Sign-up to Madasafish Talk Anytime now

Notes: *The Madasafish talk promotion code can only be used by new customers of Madasafish. Existing Madasafish customers - you could try the code but it is unlikely to work.

We have been in talks with Madasafish Broadband and hopefully we will soon be able to reveal a special new offer to users of the Go Broadband and Mac Broadband websites.

We’ve been trying to come up with a way to offer the best new customers* deal available on the web. We currently have the 4055529 promotional code from Madasafish. Use this promo code and you’ll get £10 OFF your Madasafish broadband connection. However, we are in talks with Madasafish to try and find a new exclusive deal to the Go Broadband and Mac Broadband websites - Madasafish are a great broadband provider and we want to share this with user of both PC and Apple Mac computers.

If you are thinking of subscribing or changing to the Madasafish broadband service then keep popping back and we should soon have a new code for you to use.

If you need to get cracking with Madasafish Broadband then use the promotion code 4055529 when you are prompted and you will get £10 OFF your first Madasafish broadband bill, £5 OFF you first Madasafish telephone bill or £15 OFF your combined telephone and broadband bill.

* Only new Madasafish customers will receive a discount off their first broadband, telephone or broadband & telephone bill.

If you are looking for a Madasafish proadband promotion code or referral code then try using “4055529″ - when you are prompted.

Hey presto!

Use the 4055529 madasafish promotion code and you will receive £10 OFF your Madasafish broadband bill, £5 OFF you Madasafish talk bill, or £15 OFF your combined bill.

BTW - Madasafish broadband might be small but they are beautifully formed

* Offer only works for new customers & you will be asked to commit to a 12-month contract. If you are looking for a no-commitment broadband connection - try Virgin - they used to offer one.

Appologies for the lack of blog posts recently. I have been working on a new website. It is about getting broadband for your mac computer. I noticed how difficult it was to find information about how to select a broadband isp for macs - it seems that lots of the UK providers are useless at helping mac users.

So here it is. Or at least here it will be - Looking to find mac compatible broadband then visit - Mac Broadband.