Vodafone extends free broadband deal... what I think they should offer instead.

Vodafone extends free broadband deal... what I think they should offer instead.
I think the free broadband deal has past it's used-by date.

I was hoping for a fresh new offer on 1st August, like part of their other changes at Vodafone.

Just for people who only require plain home phone and broadband, here was what ihug used to offer in 2007 compared to Vodafone's current offer:

	ihug: Bundling		Vodafone: Free Broadband till the end of 2008
Minimum requirements	ihug home phone + calling plan ihug broadband		Vodafone home phone and broadband packs Vodafone talk 1
Offer	Two months free broadband Free connection	Free modem Free connection	Free modem Free connection Free broadband until 31 December 2008
Total spent in a year without offer*	$1000.95		$988.95
Total spent in a year with offer*	$759.95	$852.00	$810.00 - $930.00
Contract term	0 months		12 months

* Some notes:

• Modems used to cost $99.95, but as Vodafone have dropped their prices to $49.95, which is the modem price described here (credits for modems are equivalent to the modem prices at the time of offer)
  
• Home phone for ihug is calculated to the price at the time of the offer ($41.00)
  
• talk plans are not included for total with/without offer on the ihug column, as for this we only want to sign up to home phone and broadband incomparison to the Vodafone offer. The extra expense for talk 1 for one year is $180.
  
• Only the cheapest plans are selected for the offer (ihug home phone + broadband 1 and Easy pack and talk 1)
  

The ihug offer started in December 2006 and changed slightly in February 2007 to include two months free broadband (the whole price of the broadband plan, and not just the $30 credit Vodafone's now offering)

It was at this time that we signed up to ihug, just when Telecom got criticised for their management on Go Large (we were on it for 2 months).

We really thought that this was an excellent deal compared to any other ISP because of one thing - no contract!


I would actually like Vodafone to reinstate an offer of a similar kind. Even if it's just two months with $30 credit rather than the full broadband component price. ihug was in Vodafone ownership back then, so there isn't much of a reason why they can't now.

No contract will definitely stand out in the marketplace, because the requirement to have talk 1 really is excessive (really - $15 a month for national calls only in weekends and weeknights... come on!)

I don't think that free broadband (for 7 months from when it first started) is worth having a 12 month contract along with a calling plan.