Be Broadband Price Increase

emc

Be have increased the cost of their Be Value 8 meg broadband product to £13.79 per month for a 12 month contract, so this product is no longer worth considering when the similar offering from their parent O2 is still £7.50 for mobile customers, or £12.50 for non mobile customers. O2 also give more cashback, £50 rather than £40.

mk-donald

Correct re Be Value and o2 Standard - the latter is a 100% Superset of all the Be package features and yet costs up to £107.98 less over the one year contract commitment!

HOWEVER you are not being fair on Be as the two "Be Value" subs you are comparing are very DIFFERENT:

Be Value (contracts signed up to from 1/1 to 29/4) @ £7.50/m = "limited" ie capped at 40GB/month usage from 1/7!

Be Value before and after those dates @ £13.79/m = "unlimited" usage like all the other (current) Be and all the o2 LLU subscriptions.

So it's not really just a "price difference". See my comparisons at:
http://cid-99aa6cf1226facfe.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/o2%20Broadband%20-v-%20Be%20There%20Broadband

From another MSE viewpoint remember it's ISNT Be/o2 that give you the cashback, it is ONLY the £back site that you have a relationship with for online signup referrals (though obviously Be/o2 pay them, hopefully).

MKD

emc

mk-donald wrote: »

Correct re Be Value and o2 Standard - the latter is a 100% Superset of all the Be package features and yet costs up to £107.98 less over the one year contract commitment!

HOWEVER you are not being fair on Be as the two "Be Value" subs you are comparing are very DIFFERENT:

Be Value (contracts signed up to from 1/1 to 29/4) @ £7.50/m = "limited" ie capped at 40GB/month usage from 1/7!

Be Value before and after those dates @ £13.79/m = "unlimited" usage like all the other (current) Be and all the o2 LLU subscriptions.

So it's not really just a "price difference". See my comparisons at:
http://cid-99aa6cf1226facfe.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/o2%20Broadband%20-v-%20Be%20There%20Broadband

From another MSE viewpoint remember it's ISNT Be/o2 that give you the cashback, it is ONLY the £back site that you have a relationship with for online signup referrals (though obviously Be/o2 pay them, hopefully).

MKD

I am being ENTIRELY FAIR on Be in pointing out that they have made their Be Value product much more expensive, since they have increased the price by a hefty 84% while merely bringing their product into line with O2 by removing the usage cap that the Be Value product alone had.

The second point I made about O2 giving a larger cashback than Be is also valid, as the Quidco and Topcashback cashback sites say they pass on to the purchaser 100% of what the merchants, O2 or Be, pay them for the referral.

mk-donald

Don't worry about it emc - I wasn't criticising your viewpoint and I agree with your evaluation. It was just that your posting here was not explicitly telling the whole story.

I too think Be are normally SO much more expensive than the VERY similar product on o2 that the answer is nearly always to take the o2 branded product - except for a few specialist and/or rich users who need Static IPs and/or to indulge themselves with FastPath/gaming settings. Indeed with (limited/unlimited) Be Value, o2 Standard is a SUPERSET of its features, ie a no-contest other than on price (or whether you want your support from Bulgaria or the UK).

That's why I have a clear/simple colour coded comparison of the Be & o2 products on my website so that potential subscribers can make an informed choice - see link above.

I was just being clear that saying that Be had put their price up 84% was true BUT not fair as the Subcription they are selling is different as it no longer has a usage cap, and in fact "unlimited Be Value" is now the same price it was last year when it was last available.

I think it was WRONG for Be's brand & customer relations to:
a) Sell a "limited" product when their whole brand is "Be Un Limited"
b) Sell a product with the same name but limited usage & monthly fee = very confusing for everyone.

My second point was from a MSE viewpoint was just to remind readers that £back relationships/responsibility are WITH the £back site - no recourse at all to the vendor, which is why some people don't like/use them and have to miss out.

MKD