Broadband bundle deals are more popular than ever this
Christmas according to new figures from
Broadband Expert. Deals which include a
free laptop are up by 115 per cent during the first week of December compared to the first week of November, and accounted for 70 per cent of the company’s total
mobile broadband sales during this week.
Network providers such as
3 and
T-Mobile are offering large numbers of
mobile broadband deals with ‘free’
notebooks and
netbooks this Christmas, though
Vodafone has reduced the number of products it is offering. Although popular with consumers, the deals are more risky for providers than other products as there is a greater risk of
fraud or of customers defaulting on payments.
Commercial Director of Broadband Expert, Rob Webber, cited the absence of an upfront cost as one of the reasons for the popularity of the deals, though he warned customers to be wary of the term ‘free laptop’. The free
laptops are only available on lengthy deals to ensure the provider recovers the price of the hardware while making a profit, and the cost of the
laptop typically works out at about 20 per cent more than it would cost from the shelf.