Free laptop broadband is taking the UK by storm – just look at the Google trend data for the UK (chart created Oct 2009.

The uptake of mobile broadband is growing rapidly and ever since Autumn 2007 the mobile operator and high street stores have been ramping up their marketing campaigns to push free laptop broadband deals.

Does a free laptop broadband deal make sense?

The great thing with a free laptop deal is you get a brand spanking new laptop and an internet dongle and a mobile broadband connection straight-away. You get the products up front and you get to play with them from day 1. This is really great if cash is tight.

There is of course a reason why the laptop is “free” – it is because you sign a 18-month or 24-month contract with a mobile operator. The chance for a mobile operator to tie-in a customer for 2 years with a single up-front freebie is their idea of heaven; they do the equivallent of giving you a free mobile phone but unlike a mobile phone contract they don’t need to keep offering to replace the handset.

With a free laptop deal you will pay the same money to the mobile broadband operator as going out and buying a laptop and then buying into a mobile broadband deal. The major difference is you pay off the contract slowly over a 2 year period.

You need decide if you are the sort of person who can save their money up before buying something or prefer to get it up-front and pay monthly installments.

Good news for free laptops

The good thing with free laptops is they are sold on a 0% APR basis (or an interest free loan). The positives of a free laptop stand-up to the potential negatives but you will be tied to a mobile broadband provider for 2 years. This ‘could’ cause you trouble if their mobile service is poor and you want out.

Free laptop broadband pay as you go

Unfortunately, a free laptop pay as you go service is unlikely to ever come to market; the deal simply does stand-up for the mobile phone operator (think pay as you go mobile phones – you have to pay for handset and the pay as you go SIM card). If you are looking for a pay as you mobile broadband deal then visit the web-page on that topic.

If you are looking to purchase a free laptop broadband deal then follow the links below;

Mobile broadband providers -

• Orange (visit Orange website or visit the Orange product page for more information)
• O2 (visit O2 website or visit the O2 product page for more information)
• T-mobile (visit T-mobile website or visit the T-mobile product page for more information)
• Three (3) (visit Three website or visit the Three product page for more information)
• Vodafone (visit Vodafone website or visit the Vodafone product page for more information)
• Virgin Media (visit Virgin Media website)

Other online retailers -

• PC world ( visit the PC World website)
• Currys ( visit the Currys website)
• Tesco Direct ( visit the Tesco Direct website)
• CarphoneWarehouse ( visit the  Carphone warehouse website)