Free Computer & Internet Access for Children aged 7-14 of Low Income Families

only_mee

http://kb.netintelligence.com/pages/How_do_I_uninstall_Netintelligence_%28Home_Access%29

mollylou

swwillis wrote: »

My daughter and family recently received this grant - alerted by me via Martin's weekly email - but we've all been horrified (are we naive?) by the rip-off deals being offered by the authorised suppliers of the package.
I was able to buy a 4GB dual processor laptop for less than £400 recently yet a 2GB machine seems to be the best on offer via this deal...
I know all the background to this grant... what its aims are etc. but NEVERTHELESS have to conclude that someone somewhere is making a big profit on these packages at the expense of low-income families...
Can I ask if Martin or anyone else is following this up with the government department that organised this grant? Could the Office of Fair Trading get involved or WHICH or Citizen's Advice?
I'm feel particularly sour about this because years ago my daughter was ripped off in a similar way by a 'deal' offered by the Students' Union at her new university... she ended up with a low spec computer which was outdated very very quickly and didn't last the three years she was at Uni.

I hear what you are saying, but if you think about the logistics of organising a scheme like this on such a huge scale, and all the costs involved. And of course while all this organisation will have been happening, computer specs and prices do not stay the same. But it's not just the cost of the computer, but staff training, website design and maintenance etc that have to be taken into consideration.

I know some people are complaining about the inefficiency of the scheme etc, but I think they have done a marvellous job given the scale of the organisation. And I doubt if we will see any new schemes like this for a while under what ever new government we get.

jetty

swwillis wrote: »

My daughter and family recently received this grant - alerted by me via Martin's weekly email - but we've all been horrified (are we naive?) by the rip-off deals being offered by the authorised suppliers of the package.
I was able to buy a 4GB dual processor laptop for less than £400 recently yet a 2GB machine seems to be the best on offer via this deal...
I know all the background to this grant... what its aims are etc. but NEVERTHELESS have to conclude that someone somewhere is making a big profit on these packages at the expense of low-income families...
Can I ask if Martin or anyone else is following this up with the government department that organised this grant? Could the Office of Fair Trading get involved or WHICH or Citizen's Advice?
I'm feel particularly sour about this because years ago my daughter was ripped off in a similar way by a 'deal' offered by the Students' Union at her new university... she ended up with a low spec computer which was outdated very very quickly and didn't last the three years she was at Uni.

I really don't understand. Who is getting ripped off?? You get a free laptop, free software, free broadband for a year (in some cases), we got a carrybag and a printer with ours as well - free. When you are given a gift that someone overpaid for, you don't say you were ripped off?? The laptops are fine for what they were issued for - mainly to help children at school, hence having to have a child of a certain school age

ETA if you bought a laptop recently, why did you need to apply for another one? The scheme was set up to make sure low income families had access to the internet!!

looby75

swwillis wrote: »

My daughter and family recently received this grant - alerted by me via Martin's weekly email -

jetty wrote: »

ETA if you bought a laptop recently, why did you need to apply for another one? The scheme was set up to make sure low income families had access to the internet!!

It would appear that swwillis is the grandparent of a qualifying child, and that the award went to his/her daughters household that didn't have a computer.

jetty

looby75 wrote: »

It would appear that swwillis is the grandparent of a qualifying child, and that the award went to his/her daughters household that didn't have a computer.

Oh, okay, i read that as her daughter got the computer being the qualifying child, sorry

Enterprise_1701C

Instead of worrying about being "ripped off" getting "only 2GB RAM", how about taking into consideration my mate's little girl who says her friends who get free school meals are getting new laptops and why can't she get one? My mate has a job and marginally does not qualify (so she told me) but they still can't afford to go out and buy a laptop for their 8 year old and cannot afford to pay for the broadband, whilst paying for the mortgage that they struggled to get, and to be honest it is not really necessary at that age anyway!

Taxpayers are paying for this - it is not free. Use of internet and computers in libraries often is free, and I suspect this scheme is more than slightly misguided, especially as so many of these "free" machines will be sold fairly quickly.

jetty

Jane_Blackford wrote: »

Instead of worrying about being "ripped off" getting "only 2GB RAM", how about taking into consideration my mate's little girl who says her friends who get free school meals are getting new laptops and why can't she get one? My mate has a job and marginally does not qualify (so she told me) but they still can't afford to go out and buy a laptop for their 8 year old and cannot afford to pay for the broadband, whilst paying for the mortgage that they struggled to get, and to be honest it is not really necessary at that age anyway!

Taxpayers are paying for this - it is not free. Use of internet and computers in libraries often is free, and I suspect this scheme is more than slightly misguided, especially as so many of these "free" machines will be sold fairly quickly.

In saying they are free, i mean free to the person getting it - in other words, they don't pay for it meaning they get it free. Now i'm sure if your friend did qualify you wouldn't be on this thread saying all this . I have 2 daughters who are 9 and 12, my 9 year old doesn't use it, my 12 year old uses it for school. I agree with you on the age thing, i don't believe children of primary school age need them, but when they hit secondary school where alot of homework is research, it is needed. Our library is useless when it comes to the internet and because so many people use them, you never get time on them. And i do resent you saying these laptops will be sold on, i know a few people who have got them and use them, no one i know has sold any on.

only_mee

There will always be the odd few, or maybe more, abusing any system out there.

Husna

After finding out about this scheme through my weekly email from MSE, I called up and applied for my little brother. He qualified and we have just received the card with the money topped up. Just waiting for the pin now then going to go get a new laptop

Thank you MSE

looby75

Husna wrote: »

After finding out about this scheme through my weekly email from MSE, I called up and applied for my little brother. He qualified and we have just received the card with the money topped up. Just waiting for the pin now then going to go get a new laptop

Thank you MSE

just a little tip if you are planning on using the card to buy a laptop online you don't need the pin just the card.

Also have a look at some of the deals already posted on this thread, you can get a laptop, bag and mouse plus extra memory or a printer from some suppliers.