| The latest Broadband offers |
In our last show, we looked at TalkTalk's "Free Broadband for Life" offer - telecoms companies have been fighting back. We look at the latest offers, and see how they shape up :
- TalkTalk Free broadband. Speeds up to 8MB. Inclusive and unlimited anytime local and national UK landline calls. Free calls to other TalkTalk customers. Earn Nectar points. Cost £8.99 a month, in addition to the phone line rental of £11 a month. More at www.talktalk.co.uk.
- Virgin Media: From February 2007 cable firms Telewest and NTL merged with Virgin Mobile into Virgin Media, combining forces to offer TV, Internet, landline and mobile services. When our show was recorded, they've also just announced a free-to-view rival to Freeview - 36 free channels over their cable network
- Sky TV: Now offering Free broadband to Sky subscribers. Speeds are up to 2Meg - you can pay £10 a month for a faster connection with no usage cap - speeds up to 16Meg,Given that they offer the largest number of digital TV channels in the UK, their Free Broadband offer is exceptionally good value. www.sky.com
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BT / BT Vision: They plan to launch their TV service, BT Vision, in the autumn, and are already offering phone and Broadband. It looks like Philips will be manufacturing the BT Vision set-top box, which will receive Freeview, will be HD-ready, have a 14 day electronic programme guide, and support Ethernet and USB. It'll need to be connected using the BT Home Hub. Video-on-demand services will be available over broadband.
We understand the service will be subscription-free to BT Total Broadband customers, and the box will be below £140. bt.com/btbroadband
- Orange: Offering free broadband (speeds up to 2 Megs) to users of the Orange mobile phone network spending over £30 a month. Details at orange.co.uk
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| Fuel prices rocket - make a switch |
 In July 2006, British Gas raised prices for a third time in a year. Gas
and Electricity prices are skyrocketting, and if you haven't already - this is the
time to consider switching... A quick visit to Energy Helpline or uSwitch.com could be a good start - both of these sites offer an online calculator to let you know how much you'll have by switching
gas and electricity suppliers. You'll need your most recent Gas / Electricity bill to hand. You could save up
to £200 a year.
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| The latest from the mobile phone operators |
 Top offer on the Sony Ericsson v630i from Vodafone. Half-price line rental for six months, plus a free music centre worth £60 on the Anytime 125 price plan (£10 a month) or above. Until 31st August 2006. www.vodafone.co.uk
- Get up to 1000 free texts a month with www.o2.co.uk
- If you want to connect your laptop to the Internet while away from home or the office, look at T-Mobile Web ' n' Walk offering - Their 3G network covers a reasonable amount of the UK. At the time of writing, their Web 'n' Walk Professional tariff provides high speed mobile Internet access access using a USB modem or a 3G data card. The USB modem is free when you take out a 12 month contract. Speeds of up to 1.8 Meg available.
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| Finance offers |
A look at a few hot offers in the financial world:
 MBNA Points Card - The MBNA Points MasterCard comes with a top rewards programme. Earn at least one
point for every pound you spend.
- If you're a Nectar Point collector, consider the Nectar Credit Card from American Express. You can earn 5000 Nectar points when you first use your card and spend £200 - you also get up to 4 points for each £1 you spend.
- Here's
one not to miss out on. First
Direct will give you £50 to open an
account to open an account with them. First Direct has to be the most recommended
UK bank out there, with an exceptionally high customer satisfaction rate, and some good services such as 24 hour "real-person" phone banking, excellent online banking, and free text message mini-statements. More on our first
direct page.
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| Audible Specials |
At the time of recording, we found this great little offer - a free iPod Shuffle when you sign up for a year to Audible.co.uk - they offer great audio downloads, talking books and podcasts (including the Ricky Gervais Show).
The "free Shuffle" offer is no longer running, but take a look at www.audible.co.uk, and if you think you might find some useful audio to listen to on the move, take advantage of their current offer.
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| Snippets |
A summary of a few other offers worth a look:
- Marks & Spencer has an introductory offer on furniture - equivalent to 20% off
- Save on selected haircare products at Amazon
- Special money-off vouchers from mobile phone retailers The Link. Sadly, shortly after recording our show, The Link withdrew their discount vouchers. Check our Offers Page to see if there are any current offers from The Link
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