AOL to give free laptops to entice new customers to their broadband service
3 commentsThe latest carrot to be dangled by those reliable old Internet Service Providers (ISPs) is not the usual free connection offer, nor is it free hardware, not even free internet, but free laptops.
AOL UK has teamed up with The Carphone Warehouse and is offering brand new Dell laptops worth up to £500 absolutely free to new customers. All you have to do is sign up for a two year contract this September. The free Dell Inspiron Laptop comes with:
- Windows Home Vista Basic
- 1GB RAM
- 80GB Hard Drive
- 15.4 inch screen
- Intel Celeron Processor
- DVD writer
- Free wireless router, and is
- Wi-fi enabled
It then costs £14.99 to have the laptop delivered and after this a minimum monthly tariff of £19.99. Over two years, that's a total cost of £495, which amounts to just less than the cost of the "free" laptop. Orange is already offering a similar deal. It has joined up with Curry's to tempt new customers with a £300 discount off selected laptops. The minimum deal here is:
- Laptop with Celeron Processor
- 15.4 inch screen
- Wireless enabled
- 256MB memory
- 40GB Hard Drive
- DVD rewriter
Like AOL, there is a minimum contract of 2 years but here the lowest monthly tariff is a bit less at £14.99 a month.The Carphone Warehouse also joined up with Talk Talk, a company which got into deep water a few years ago with its notorious 'broadband for life' offer. This time it is giving away free high-speed internet in exchange for an 18 month contractual commitment.
So why are these huge companies so desperate to lure customers with such lavish presents?With increasing scepticism surrounding almost every single ISP, more and more customers are switching providers on a regular basis. This is costing the ISPs a fortune. The deals are designed to keep you, the consumer, in one place for a substantial length of time. But it is a big risk being tied to one of these companies, as suggested by a recent Which? survey of the best ISPs. It doesn't seem surprising to see that AOL came 4th from bottom overall and Orange 3rd from bottom.An existing Orange broadband customer, who had taken advantage of the deal, said on a Guardian forum page that after receiving no connection at all for weeks he eventually contacted OFCOM and then a solicitor before resolving the problem. It seems sensible to stay fairly sceptical about the current bout of ISP generosity, given the continuing reports of poor service provision. It might seem like a very tempting offer, particularly for pensioners or parents of students, but the actual laptop provided doesn't seem particularly special. Certainly not when bundled in with a long term commitment of 24 months.A Dell spokesman, Ron Garriques, told the Daily Record that "This is part of our commitment to allow as many people as possible to enjoy the benefits of a wireless digital home." But do these benefits include an ISP (in AOL) that is notoriously bad at customer services, and even prevents you from leaving if you are unhappy with its service?
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