Cheap o2 Broadband: 20 Mbps Unlimited package for £5.17/month

What's the deal?

It's possible for anyone with a BT line, living near an o2-laden exchange, to get unlimited download broadband for £5.17 a month, or even less if you are an existing o2 customer.

O2's now undercut its own cheapest unlimited broadband deal, by offering 3 months free on its premium package, bringing the price down to an effective £11/month (its standard package is £12.23/month). It's even cheaper for existing customers, at an effective £7.34/month (standard package also £7.34/month).

The premium package offers download speeds of up to 20Mbps (expect far less, but it should still be very fast), a free wireless router, and quite impressively, a full McAfee security package with a license for use on up to 3 computers. Customer feedback is also positive.

Get it uber-cheap with a cashback offer.

A special cashback site's offering £70 back to anybody that signs up for any O2 home broadband package, which over the year's contract effectively reduces the cost to just £5.17 a month, or £1.50 a month for existing customers.

How the cashback works

Specialist cashback sites list retailers and product providers and get paid by the retailers if you click through to them, but importantly, if you're registered the then give some or all of this cash to you. For a full explanation read the Top Cashback Sites guide.

How to get the cash

• Step one. Get a cashback account
  
  Lots of sites offer cashback, but only Quidco is offering the full £70 (always check that's the amount you get, it can change). If you don't already then its free, but Quidco takes the first £5 you earn each year as its admin charge. So if this is the only cashback you earn all year, the total will be £65.

• Step two. Sign up for an o2 broadband contract
  
  Next, sign up clicking through Quidco for the unlimited download contract. You'll be asked for your BT phone number so a quick check can be made to see if O2's broadband service is available in your area - if not you may be only be offered O2's 'access' package, which runs to just over £17/mth, making this an easily beatable deal even with cashback. If that's the case, read the full Cheap Broadband article for other options.
  
  Plus, don't forget to add your o2 mobile number when asked, if you have one, to get the extra discount.

• Step three. Check the transaction has tracked, then wait
  
  Once you're all signed up, leave it a couple of days, and then log in and check that the cashback has 'tracked' - that is, that the transaction appears on the cashback site.
  
  One of the conditions of this offer is that you'll wait 60 days (so you don't try and cancel early to nab the cash) before you receive any payment, but you should nonetheless be able to see the transaction.
  
  If there's no sign of it you may need to get in touch with the cashback site, but read the full Cashback Sites article first.

As cashback sites rely on the retailers paying them, its never a sure thing until it's in your bank account. And occassionally there are tracking problems too.

Yet Quidco knows we're including this deal in the weekly email so there's nothing to suggest it won't work for the vast majority of people. And as it is the cheapest of its breed anyway, the downside risk is small.

If you're a first time cashback site user, please do read the full Best Cashback Sites article for a full explanation of the pros and cons. Plus to see how the different sites' payouts compare use the Cashback Sites Maximiser.

What does 'unlimited downloads' mean?

Most broadband packages have a monthly download limit c. 1Gb or 2Gb, which means you're only allowed to use a certain amount of data. For most e-mailers or web surfers this is fine, yet if you watch web TV (e.g. BBC iplayer), download music or play online games, you can use it up pretty quickly.

The O2 deal is unlimited, but like almost all other domestic packages, applies a 'fair usage' policy. The vast majority of people won't ever breach that but really heavy downloaders, and especially those using BitTorrents and other file sharing services may have their speeds throttled at peak times, or even receive a warning for excessive downloading.

Non-o2 customers can get the customer offer with some legwork.

You can save by simply getting a Free o2 Sim and crediting it before taking up the broadband package, even without using any calls as then you count as an o2 customer.

Yet you have to top it up every 3 months with £10 so the overall savings if you don't use the calls would be an extra £20/year (£1.66/month).

Note: Thanks to all MoneySavers who spotted various incarnations of this deal. This post has been started to provide detailed explanation and focus on this specific version of the deal.


[threadbanner]box[/threadbanner]