The rise of "free" broadband - connections that cost nothing, if you pay for a number of other services too - came last year when mobile phone companies got involved in buying ISPs. That's where you saw TalkTalk and Orange, for example, trying to make a splash in the online world.
Now Orange is trying to tempt people to sign up for its broadband services by bringing in other freebies - including, thanks to a deal with PC World, free laptops.
From the press release:
Customers who sign up to a two-year broadband connection with Orange at PC World from this Thursday, will be given a new laptop worth over £300. Customers must sign up for the Orange broadband contract at one of over 150 PC World stores nationwide. Tens of thousands of laptops are being made available to support the promotion.
The laptops in question will have a minimum spec: 15.4" widescreen, Celeron processor, 256MB of memory and a 40GB hard drive.
This is taking a model similar to that used by the phone industry - sign up for a contract and we'll give you a free handset. They subsidise the cost of the equipment through the cost of the contract and use it to entice new customers with splashy offers on otherwise expensive gadgets.
It's not clear whether customers will be offered a free laptop upgrade after two years, but would you be tempted by a deal like this?
