Mobile broadband price wars joined by Vodafone UK

A recent big jump in the number of mobile broadband contracts with dongles has seen the UK setting the pace for the rest of Europe, although more transparency and a reduction in pricing by operators has been the main reason for the high customer volumes.

It is widely believe, however, that although companies like Vodafone are raising the stakes by becoming the first provider to offer dongle deals on pay as you go, that to help keep business coming in during the downturn there needs to be simpler and more consistent pricing structures in the UK market.

Since the mobile broadband networks launched most users have just want easy to follow, predictable pricing for their service and recently the ‘bill shock’ day are starting to end with data rates set at a flat rate. These new profit models are, however, difficult for many operators to support and because of this they are constantly searching for way to bump up customer bills with premium charges.

The recent price wars were sparked when O2 began to see a sudden backlash from customers who received bills that were much larger than expected and since then it has become a constant game of catch up for the other operators. Although originally pioneered by 3, the new pay as you go data plans have been taken to new levels by Vodafone’s latest UK only deal.

Although the original deal from 3 was 1GB at £10 and 3GB for £15, which compared to Vodafone’s £15 for 1GB seems better value the great thing about Vodafone offer that will be great for very occasional users is that the data purchase doesn’t expire after 30 days so users can carry on using it until it runs out.

The new service from Vodafone does, however, have a few negative points and the first is that roaming to other countries, including that of other Vodafone operators, will not be available with this service. Also, the 7.2Mbps dongle that comes with the standard monthly deals has been reduced to a 3.6Mbps dongle with the pay as you go service, although the dongle does have the ability to store up to 4GB worth of data effectively making it a memory stick as well. Costing £39 to buy, the dongle also comes with a £15 first top-up included in the price.