Carphone Warehouse’s recently introduced ‘free broadband for life’; a package which aims to grab a major chunk of the phone and broadband markets.

Behind the headlines is a very competitive package. ‘Free broadband,’ is really marketing jargon, this is a bundled package, which costs £11/month for line rental (same as BT) plus £10/month for its combined Talk 3 International Option and broadband. It could have equally marketed ‘free landline calls with broadband’.

Price-wise it can't be beaten, it includes:

 

All UK landline calls included. Actually after talking for 70 minutes you’re charged 3p/min, yet defeat this by putting the phone down and redialing before that point.

 

All calls to 28 countries’ landlines. All calls to EU, North American and Australasian landlines are included, but again the 70 minute rule applies.

 

Broadband. This is the clincher as broadband alone usually costs £12-£25/month, and this is for up to 8Mb speed (roughly 160 times dial-up internet speed).

New and existing TalkTalk customers have to pay a £30 connection/transfer fee though. Carphone Warehouse guarantees it won’t increase prices for customers signing up for at least 18 months (of course, it may offer newer customers a better deal though!).

 

Whats the Catch?

The new product isn’t without drawbacks:

Not everyone can get it. It’s only available to 70% of the UK population (mainly urban areas) where TalkTalk currently has, or plans to have, it’s own equipment in the telephone exchange. So ensure you check* before signing up. Those outside this area need to pay an additional £10/month.

An 18 month contract. This is longer than the usual 12 month broadband contract (some have no lock-in) and you’re fined up to £70 for leaving, so if a cheaper tariff is launched elsewhere or you’re unhappy with the service, hard luck. Yet this needs to be balanced against TalkTalk’s cheaper service now.

Customer service. Feedback is mixed, yet that’s common for all telecoms and broadband companies. Name almost any provider and someone has a bad story. As paying more doesn’t guarantee an improvement, you may as well plump for the cheapest.

Possible over demand. Massive publicity will test TalkTalk. The 30-day queue for its broadband is growing, yet you’ll start paying £10/month when the phone’s connected, which takes only a fortnight. Currently it’s worth moving, before the queue builds, but check the length of the broadband delay.

 

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