There are concerns that the various free laptop offers that are coming alongside many mobile broadband deals may actually end up costing the consumer more money rather than saving them money.

Over recent months the various offers of free laptops and notebooks with a variety of mobile broadband contracts from different providers have become commonplace, and an increasing number of providers are offering these deals in order to be more competitive and to try and keep up with rival providers and firms.

In fact, recent reports have suggested that free laptops with built in Internet connections are set to be top sellers this Christmas, with many firms offering the laptops for ‘free’ with mobile internet contracts costing around £25 a month upwards. The popularity of these deals has already rocketed, spiralling from just four percent of consumers taking up such offers in July of this year to around twenty seven percent in the run up to Christmas.
However, industry officials have warned that consumers need to think carefully with regards to whether they are saving money by taking up this deal, or whether they are actually losing out in the long run. This is because the price of the mobile broadband contract over the two year contract period could add up to more than the value of the laptop, which means that it would work out cheaper to just buy the laptop outright on the open market and not sign up to the contract.

However, an official from Vodafone argued: “We launched in September and there has been a good response. If you haven’t already got a laptop it’s effectively free, because you are paying for the internet anyway and it spreads the payment and gives you a good value alternative to buying a laptop and a dongle.”