O2 my cheapest and best option ?

erb

I noticed in the terms for McAfee with O2 the following which indicates that you could end up paying a subscription fee. Anybody know if you start paying this after a year and if so how much?

Term.

Unless earlier terminated as set forth herein, this Agreement is effective for the term set forth in the Documentation. If no term is agreed, the default term shall be one (1) year from purchase. If you have agreed to permit McAfee to automatically renew your subscription to the Software by charging a valid credit card number which you have provided to McAfee, your subscription will be automatically renewed thirty (30) days prior to the expiration of the term and each anniversary thereafter for a fee no greater than McAfee’s then-current price, excluding promotional and discount pricing.

normanmark

Thats nothing surprising? Most people that bundle McAfee with their service only offer a years subscription to it for free.

erb

Presumably you don't need to install and use the McAfee if you don't want to. Can anybody who has installed O2 confirm this please.

Leopard

The O2 broadband tariffs and the offers were changed on 1 May (2008). The new ones are * HERE *.

Nothing has been "extended" until 30 June, so far as I can see, although free connections will end on that date.

What appears actually to have altered on 1 May 2008 is that O2 lowered the basic (undiscounted) rates for each of its three flavours of LLU broadband by £5 a month and has now launched a fourth service, called "Access", for those on exchanges that haven't been unbundled.

LLU "Standard" (up to 8 mb/s) previously £17.50 a month; now £12.50 a month.
LLU "Premium" (up to 16 mb/s) previously £20 a month; now £15 a month.
LLU "Ultimate" (up to 20 mb/s) previously £25 a month: now £20 a month

New, non-LLU service "Access" (up to 8 mb/s) - available anywhere - for £22.50 a month.

There's an additional fee of £5 a month fee to have a Static (instead of a Dynamic) IP, if you want one.

Anyone with an O2 mobile account (monthly or PAYG) will receive a £5 discount on all the above tariffs.


For those with O2 mobile 'phone contracts, this means that the offered prices remain the same but the discount they represent from the basic rates has thus been halved, from £10 a month to £5 a month.

(Conversely, of course, that means that if your O2 mobile account terminates, your broadband will now rise by only £5 a month instead of £10 a month!)

For those without O2 mobile 'phone contracts, what was previously promoted to them as being an opportunity to obtain the LLU broadband at a £5 discounted rate of £12.50 a month (or £15, or £20, for the higher speed services) provided that they signed up for it by 30 April 2008, seems to have been something of a sham because the basic price was dropped to those figures anyway, on 1 May, when the offer expired.

The new, fourth, O2 service - aimed at those whose local telephone exchanges have not been unbundled and to whom the LLU services are thus unavailable - is substantially pricier than, say, PlusNet for those who don't find their present usage cap restricting and don't suffer unduly from shaping.

If you don't have an O2 mobile 'phone contract it costs £22.50 a month for "up to 8 mb/sec" ADSL Max broadband and (unless you live in the Hull area and are served by Kingston Communications) your fundamental supplier will remain BT.

That is as far as I can divine it, from the information currently available on the O2 website!

I looked at the O2 wireless router (which is supplied free) in my local O2 shop last week. It has four Ethernet ports (10/100-T) and no USB port: the wireless part is 802.11b/g. It's a an elegant piece of kit, white, bearing no brand name except O2. What I did notice was that its label declares only that it is WEP capable; no mention of WPA (1 or 2).

It would be fine, though, if you wanted to use it simply as a modem in wired conjunction with an Apple Airport Extreme (or any other) wireless router running 802.11n and WPA2. The additional Ethernet ports would be handy for networking a printer or any other device that doesn't really need Gigabit Ethernet.

I didn't check on the WPA nor the VOIP capabilities (or otherwise) of the modem because those are things for which I, personally, have no need but if they're important to you it would be wise to establish the situation before you commit yourself or sell your old one!


Erb,

It says in the T&C's that, when you run the installation CD, you reach a stage at which you are asked whether or not you wish to install the McAfee anti-virus software. Presumably if you opt not to, you do not become obligated towards McAfee in any way but if you do opt for it you enter into a continuing and binding agreement with McAfee which you would have to terminate actively within the first 11 months if you don't want it to continue (and become payable) beyond the first (free) year.

I was assured that there would be no problems with O2 if you decide not to install it.

If you've got a Mac, you'd probably ignore the CD entirely and just let the Apple wizard set it up for you automatically.

Remember, there's a £25 rebate to be had if you sign up via Quidco and you could sell your existing modem/router on eBay!

It's probably best to go to an O2 shop if you're unclear about anything. All the staff in my local one were very friendly, knowledgeable and helpful. :cheesy: :cheesy: :cheesy:

M4RKM

wizards? cd?
it is so simple to set up o2 broadband, or any broadband where you're sent a preconfigured router... just plug in the box, connect your computer to it....

windows - you must be set up to "never dial a connection" but other than that.. it is just ON!

IMO, regardless what platform you are on the cd is a waste of space, and installs pointless software on your hard drive

this is just my opinion

erb

Thanks for the replies. I asked O2 about the McAfee and they said it was free for the first year but could not tell me how much it would cost to continue the subscription after that.

In view of above posts if I go to O2 I will not install the McAfee but keep my current AVG and Zonealarm tha are free.

DatabaseError

I wouldn't swap avg for mcafee even if O2 paid me!

Leopard

One other appealing thing about it, which I forgot to mention, is that I like having a (friendly) high street O2 shop to which I can go for help if I should encounter any problem. Beats having to send emails or wait for somebody to answer a 'phone 6,000 miles away, on a scratchy line, with an accent I can't understand!

Anyway, let's all just hope that O2 can maintain its currently superb standard of service...

Good luck, my fellow early(ish) adopters: nice to know we aren't alone! :beer:

stamford

Leopard wrote: »

One other appealing thing about it, which I forgot to mention, is that I like having a (friendly) high street O2 shop to which I can go for help if I should encounter any problem. Beats having to send emails or wait for somebody to answer a 'phone 6,000 miles away, on a scratchy line, with an accent I can't understand!

Anyway, let's all just hope that O2 can maintain its currently superb standard of service...

Good luck, my fellow early(ish) adopters: nice to know we aren't alone! :beer:

If I need help whilst sat by the computer I call their freephone number to the support people in Glasgow , they usually answer in 30 secs or so. Admittedly some of them do have a bit of an accent

Leopard

Apologies, Stanford; didn't mean to confuse - please forgive my ambiguity.

The comparison I was drawing was with the Customer "Support" offered by some other ISPs. :mad:

Am hoping not to need much support from O2 at all but I did find the staff at my local O2 shop reassuringly friendly and helpful. By all accounts the telephone support from O2 is superb; that's one of the main reasons I'm switching to O2!

The shop is where I'd go for help in the event of a problem involving the entire telephone/broadband connection. (The O2 mobile 'phone signal at my home is poor - which can have its advantages if one is expected never to switch it off...:cool: ). My private mobile is on another network.

It's nice to have the additional lifeline of a local O2 shop.

Hope that clarifies my remark.