The consumer watchdog, Which?, has recently warned that the free laptop deals offered by many mobile phone giants with mobile broadband deals could be classed as a con in some cases.

With mobile broadband becoming increasingly popular amongst consumers in the UK recently, a rising number of mobile communication giants that offer mobile broadband have been offering free laptops along with certain mobile broadband packages. With competition in the sector hotting up this is one way for the mobile providers to try and increase their customer base, and so far the free laptop deals have proven popular amongst many consumers.

However, whilst the offer of a free laptop with a mobile broadband contract may seem like an attractive offer, officials at the consumer campaign group, Which?, have recently been reviewing these deals, and have warned that in some cases they could prove to be something of a con, leaving the consumer worse off than they would have been if taking out a different package and buying their own laptop.

Researchers from which did some calculations and compared the cost of taking out a mobile broadband contract with free laptop against taking out mobile broadband and then buying a laptop separately. It concluded that in some cases it would actually work out cheaper to go with the latter, given the monthly cost of free laptop mobile broadband deals and the minimum contract periods that mobile providers were putting into place with these deals.

Consumers are urged to do their homework before rushing into a mobile broadband deal that offers a free laptop, otherwise they may discover that the laptop is not free at all, and that they could have enjoyed a better deal and a more high tech system by purchasing the two things separately. The minimum contract period, the monthly contract fee, and the type of laptop being offered are amongst the things that need to be looked at when comparing free laptop deals from mobile providers.