BE/O2 Service Comparison

[waz101]

Below is a comparison table which pretty fairly reflects the current pricing policies and service structure of BE an O2, I will endeavor to keep it up to date but when changes come they tend to come thick and fast. The prices here are correct as of 28th of February 2008. The guide was created as a result of this post www.beforum.co.uk/forum/default.aspx?f=2&m=19887



Current O2 Offers

£25.00 Quidco cashback www.quidco.com/mobiles-utilities/internet-providers/o2-broadband/

100 Day Money Back Guarantee broadband.o2.co.uk/guarantee.jsp

Free Connection ends 31st March 2008

£5 Reduction for life - reduced price will apply until the customer cancels their O2 Broadband terms www.o2.co.uk/termsconditions/broadband


Current Be* Offers

It is possible to get £40 cashback for signing up to BE* via Quidco


EMAIL

Email is Free for all O2 customers. For Be* customers it is an optional extra at £2.00 per month (£24.00pa).





STATIC IP ADDRESS

Having a Static IP Address changes the price calculation, If you NEED or want one it will cost you an extra £5 a month on all O2 plans. They are not available on the BeValue package and are free on the Be*Unlimited and Be*Pro packages. See comparison chart below.
If you don't know what one is, you don't need one (along with 90% of all internet users).





Websites

O2 O2 Broadband

Be* Be Broadband

Please read the Websites fully and carefully before making your choice, do not rely on any information contained in this guide

Frequently Asked Questions

BE & O2 Share the same network and DSLAMS in your local exchange. It would be pointless to choose one over the other on grounds of equipment or service.

O2 prices are guaranteed to stay the same as long as you remain a customer. Be*s are not and could increase in the future


I am not currently aware of the Fair Usage Policy ever being enforced with either company, Unlimited seems to be precisely what it says, Currently!
O2 T & C's Here
BE* T & C's Here

The 02 Ultimate 1.6mb Upload speed (using Annex M) appears to be a guarantee and not a limit, i have come across a Stats post in the 02 forum where the member has an upload speed of 2.3mb. I would be grateful if O2 members could confirm this.


The Be* contract (excluding Be*Value) is 3 months or £40 express cancellation. The O2 contract at 12 months is more flexible than it appears

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[tomthered]

nice work Waz must have took you ages.

[DLMatthews]

Good summary Waz.

Just spotted a typo - see the 'O2 Ultimate - Up to 20Mbps', in the body you then say 'Up to 16Mb download speed'. - Done
Also, you have * & ** against a couple of items, but I can't see the relevant text for these * & ** items. - Done


A few bits worth adding I think...
1. You mention Quidco for Be* sign-ups - could you ad the Quidco for O2 Broadband? Direct link to Quidco cashback for O2 Broadband. Maybe stick in a direct link for the Be* Quidco link you have too - Quidco cashback for Be*.
2. The O2 Broadband Checker usually only offers the products that are suitable for your line - example, I have a 17.5-18.5Mbps sync with Be*; O2 only offer the 8Mbps or 16Mbps products to me online - the 20Mbps deal isn't listed. However, Be* tend to let you sign-up to any product regardless.
3. Where the 100 day money back deal is mentioned, stick in links to the O2 100 Day Money Back Guarantee page.
4. Where the £50 early cancellation fee & £15 express cancellation fee are mentioned, stick in links to the O2 Charges page.
5. Give people details of the O2 mobile contract deals which mean you can do all this for even cheaper than the PAYG top-ups (more up front cash required, but you get it back via cashback deals). To expand further on my post in the original thread.... There are very cheap O2 mobile contracts available, such as 12 month contract, 99p per month (based on cashback redemption from mobile retailer) - on top of this you can get Quidco cashback, meaning you actually make money from the deal!!! These are only good for people which will remember to submit necessary details to the retailer in order to claim their cashback (usually a cashback form, and copy/original of appropriate bill). These deals are usually based on the O2 200 tariff with 200mins/200txts. Some examples:-
... a) Order an O2 12 month contract 99p per month deal from OneStopPhoneShop (see the Special Deal link at top left of their page). Order via Quidco cashback for OneStopPhoneShop and get £37.50 cashback on top of this. That's an £11.88 12 month deal, less £37.50 extra cashback meaning you are £25.62 in credit.
... b) Order an O2 12 month contract 99p per month deal from e2save (see the Special Deal link at top left of their page). Order via Quidco cashback for e2save and get £36.50 cashback on top of this. That's an £11.88 12 month deal, less £36.50 extra cashback meaning you are £24.62 in credit.
... c) Order an O2 12 month contract handset, such as the Sumsung E250, which works out at £65.00 over the 12 month period after cashback (click the O2 network link on their site, then click 'Effective Monthly Cost' to sort by price to see the cheapest deals). Order via Quidco cashback for Dial-a-Phone and get £60.00 cashback on top of this. That's a £65.00 12 month deal, less £60.00 extra cashback meaning a net cost of £5.00.

Obviously these mobile deals are much more worth the effort of getting and claiming the cashback redemption if you actually use the mobile tariff as your main phone, as you're then making use of the bundled minutes. If you're organised and can remember to post off necessary forms/bills as required, then the savings are really good - it usually varies from 2-6 redemptions over the course of the year, depending on the mobile retailer.


Note - I am not necessarily recommending any of the above, as deals often change, and cashback is not guaranteed - you need

[waz101]

Great thanks, I couldn't improve on your guide so i just copied and pasted.


Thanks

Waz

[thaw]

One thing to add, not sure if i missed it or not, every Be tariff would be subject to a further £24 in yearly fees if you decided to purchase on of Be's own email addresses to the package, which would then make all tariffs cheaper on o2,

[xiao]

what is the £40 paygo about?

[waz101]

Xiao said...
what is the £40 paygo about?

If you are not an O2 Mobile phone customer (contract or PAYG topping up by £10 every 3 months) then you have to pay an extra £5 a month (£60 a year), clearly it's cheaper to become an O2 PAYG customer and top up by £10 every 3 months (£40 a year!).


Hope that clears it up for you.



Waz

[Kyomii]

A good comparison although, it doesn't take into account those who already have 02 contract phone, when it actually works out even cheaper still, since they are paying for the phone regardless of which ISP they are with.

[Spinaltap]

There's another difference between 02 and Be...

With Be, if you pay the additional £2 per month for 5 email addresses you also get 100Mb of webspace per account.

With 02, although you get 10 free email addresses, plus 1Gb of storage for the main account/200Mb for all other accounts, a message from 02 confirms that this storage space does not include any provision for webspace.

[ronime]

Gamers beware! Fastpath option not available on O2.