Exclusive Pre-Launch Information on o2 Broadband

The word on the underground broadband grape vine is that the eagerly awaited o2 Broadband could be launched within a matter of days. We’ve noticed that there are the first signs of an online media campaign with paid search listings appearing in the Google search results offering customers the chance to pre-sign up – this in itself suggests that the launch of o2 Broadband is imminent. According to our sources, the delay in launching their own broadband product following o2’s acquisition of broadband provider BeThere broadband early in 2006 has been caused by several factors.

Firstly, o2 were keen not to go down the same route as rivals Orange whose own broadband product has been poorly received and plagued by problems with customer service. This is especially of concern to o2 given Be Broadband’s excellent reputation for customer service and it’s growing popularity through viral methods. Be Broadband offers customers up to 24 meg speeds and this, coupled with its great customer service and competitive price point, has seen its popularity rocket, particularly now that it is available in far more areas than it has been historically. O2 Broadband are now faced with the tricky decision as to whether to drop the Be Broadband brand or to run with two broadband products simultaneously which are effectively competing with each other!

From what we’ve been told the initial plan is to go with the latter option as the Be Broadband product is just too hot to drop and therefore too risky for o2 who do not want to go the same way as Orange, who haven’t really got traction in a competitive marketplace since their own acquisition of Wanadoo (formerly Freeserve) in 2006. The official line from o2 will be that Be Broadband will not be competing with their o2 Broadband product due to them being a completely different product proposition. O2 Broadband will not be offering ‘free’ broadband to the existing o2 Mobile users but instead will offer a discounted product which we believe will be priced at around £7.50 with non o2 phone users being asked to pay slightly more. This seems like a good idea from a PR perspective, particularly since the concept of ‘free’ broadband has received a lot of negative press following the problems with Orange and the well documented issues with TalkTalk in terms of customers having to wait months for their broadband connection to be activated.

There has also been a lot of negative press following the advertising standards authority (ASA) giving extra scrutiny to broadband providers claiming to give something for ‘free’ when in reality the cost of line rental and other hidden fee’s means that the consumer is still effectively paying the market rate for their broadband. We happen to think that o2 Broadband will be a great product but are also very pleased to hear that the Be brand will not be dropped (at least initially). We suspect that that there will be an inevitable consolidation of o2 Broadband and Be Broadband at some point in the future, but o2 will not risk this until their o2 branded product has won at least the same kudos and respect in the marketplace as its Be Broadband offering currently enjoys.

Once o2 Broadband has officially launched we will be reviewing it ourselves and will offer our users a full analysis of its strengths and weaknesses. Please send us your own reviews of o2 Broadband or any other provider as we will continue to publish them on this site to ensure consumers are getting the best value from their broadband providers.

Please Note - All Prices Quoted Are Correct at Time of Posting

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