Money Saving Tips: Mobile Broadband
With credit crunch Christmas looming, you may feel that mobile broadband is an unnecessary expense, but with some good deals around it may be less hard on the pocket than you’d expect. If you want to be able to connect on the move, take a look at the tips below from consumer advice website Mobile Broadband Genie, on getting the most for your money.
First off, decide what your requirements are, as this will help you determine what kind of mobile broadband deal you go for, and ensure that you don’t end up spending more than you need to. If you’re only going to connect every once in a while, a pay-as-you-go deal could be best for you. These start from as little as £2 per day, but do have the drawback that you have to buy the USB dongle (at the time of writing the cheapest is £29.99). If your usage will be a little more regular, a contract may be better for you, where the dongle is thrown in for free. If you’re going for a contract, try to estimate how much you’re likely to use the connection, as this helps decide what data allowance per month you go for.
Mobile broadband packages start at 3GB of data per month, which is enough for the average user browsing, downloading music and the odd film, so don’t be tempted to go for a larger data allowance unless your usage is considerable.
Secondly, shop around for deals. Spend a bit of time on this, and use a good mobile broadband comparison website, such as Mobile Broadband Genie, where all the information on UK mobile broadband suppliers and their prices is laid out for easy reading. You’ve already got an idea of whether you want to go contract or pay-as-you-go, and you have an idea of what your usage might be, so armed with that information select what looks like the best deal for you.
Thirdly, keep an eye open for freebies. A very popular offer at the moment is free laptops with mobile broadband contracts. You pay a bit more per month, but if you don’t already own a laptop, this is a great way of getting a reduced price on the laptop and also spreading the cost of buying it.
Also, if you’re planning to have both fixed and mobile broadband, consider taking them both as a package: it is possible to get mobile broadband thrown in free with your landline broadband – and you can’t beat that for value.
And lastly, watch your contract length – longer contracts often have more attractive deals or pricing, but remember, being tied in for two years prevents you from shopping around again when some more attractive deals become available.
Posted under Broadband & Mobile Phones
This post is a Blogger on December 6, 2008
