Beware the £10 music track download
Cellular-news
reports today:
Consumers may be facing data charges of up to £10 to download a single song, according to new research from mBlox on European data pricing. The research conducted in five countries illustrates that data pricing varies so considerably between operators that it is virtually impossible for consumers to understand the charges that apply.
Although some operators may charge as little as 75p to download a track, the small print outlining 'fair usage' within the Terms and Conditions effectively means that operators could charge much higher costs.
£10 - The most expensive cost to download an average music track of 2 MB on a Pay As You Go (PAYG) tariff in the UKOn a Pay As You Go tariff, it can cost as much as £5 per MB of data in the UK, or €5 in FranceGermany is an exception, with several major service providers offering data trafficking at a reasonable €0.24 per MBIn France, access to a single megabyte of content can result in charges of anywhere between 1 and €5Downloading a short video, a few minutes long at 3 - 4MB will cost between £1 on the cheapest tariff and £9 - £20 on the most expensive tariffs in the UK"2009 could be a pivotal year for rich mobile content, but for this to happen, consumers need a transparent pricing mechanism to purchase rich content. Content providers need to be sure that their consumers are treated fairly," said Andrew Bud, executive chairman, mBlox. "Ultimately we believe the price consumers see should be the price they pay. The current system of data pricing is severely restricting the growth of the mobile content market as consumers fear facing frightening bills."
Use our easy
broadband usage calculator to estimate your data allowance requirement before purchasing your mobile broadband deal.
Labels: industry insight, mobile broadband, PAYG
O2 launches best value PAYG mobile broadband
O2 today launches the UK's leading priced mobile broadband Pay & Go service as it continues to re-instate consumer confidence in mobile broadband.
By launching its USB modem at £29.99, O2 is following up its commitment to offer its customers great products with clear pricing and no strings attached.
Pay & Go mobile broadband customers will also benefit from O2's new coverage checker and 50-day Happiness Guarantee. Since these new customer-focused measures were launched in November, O2 has seen a considerable drop in the number of returned USB modems, showing that simple, honest advice has led to consumers being better informed at the time of purchase.
O2 Mobile Broadband Pay & Go offers users a fast and easy way to access the internet at home and on the move, without the need for long-term contracts. Customers will be able to access download speeds of up to 3.6Mbps and will have unlimited access to over 6,000 Wi-Fi hotspots across the UK, through our partners at The Cloud.
O2 Mobile Broadband Pay & Go is available in a range of options starting at just £2 a day for 500MB, £7.50 a week for 1GB or £15 a month for 3GB depending on their needs, all with unlimited Wi-Fi access.
Peter Rampling, O2 Marketing Director said: "Last month we stated our intention to clean up the mobile broadband market and give consumers the fairest and most honest deals. Our O2 Mobile Broadband Pay & Go will appeal to those customers who want to snack on the internet without the need to commit to a long term contract. Our younger customers want to live online and can do so with Pay & Go at affordable prices"
Getting O2 Mobile Broadband Pay & Go started couldn't be simpler; simply slot the small USB memory stick into the USB port of a computer and it sets up automatically on a PC or Mac in just a few minutes.
You can purchase this great O2 PAYG offer
online or instore.
Labels: mobile broadband, o2, offers, PAYG
Mobile broadband sales triple in 2008
GfK Group has issued its latest statistics for Mobile Broadband USB Modem (Dongle) sales. The data shows that 149,000 such devices were sold during September 2008, compared with just 55,000 in January 2008.
However this isn't the peak; that occurred in July when 163,000 units were sold. 76% of Mobile Broadband users are on contract based services with the remaining 24% on 'pay as you go' (PAYG) deals.
However it's worth pointing out that the uptake of true PAYG has only recently taken off after
T-Mobile and
3 Mobile launched a range of better priced options with fewer constraints, causing a significant rise in uptake.
3 Mobile is believed to hold 50% of all sales.
Labels: 3-Mobile, mobile broadband, PAYG, quick-news, T-Mobile
PAYG Mobile Broadband - the perfect Christmas gift!
Well, we've seen Christmas decorations in the shops already...
Every year we see a new 'must have' Christmas gift emerge; previous hits have ranged from iPods to Goats!
Well, this Christmas, there's little doubt that Pay As You Go 3G Mobile Broadband dongles will be up there as one of the most popular - and best value - gifts of the Christmas season. We confidently predict that PAYG Mobile Broadband will be particularly popular with parents who have teenage kids. A Chritmas gift of a mobile broadband pay as you go dongle is the ideal stocking filler for your kids. If they've been lucky enough to get a laptop, netbook or notebook PC, then a PAYG mobile broadband dongle is a great add-on.
In the same way as mobile phones gave teenagers communication independance, so mobile broadband dongles will give them broadband independance. You may not have landline broadband at home and your children have been pesterring you to get it, or you may simply want to separate their broadband consumption from yours; well a pay as you go mobile broadband package is the definitely the answer for you.
View the best Pay As You Go Mobile Broadband deals here.
Labels: christmas, mobile broadband, PAYG
