Orange dishes out Eee PC on �25 monthly plan

It's not exactly the first company to try to entice customers with the promise of a free or cheap Eee PC (or other netbook), but Orange apparently isn't about to let a bandwagon pass it by, with it now offering an Eee PC 900 16G as part of its "Internet Everywhere" bundle. That includes the Eee PC, a mobile broadband dongle and, of course, mobile broadband service, which apparently tops out at just 3GB of data per month. At £25 (or $46) a month on a two-year contract, it's also far from a free ride. If it sounds alright to you though, you can sign up in the UK starting tomorrow.

[Bleck @ Aug 15th 2008 2:53PM]

OMG NEW commenting system!

[The Beef Machine (lala lala la) @ Aug 15th 2008 3:12PM]

Yes, new commenting system that needs improvements as it totally sucks at the moment with lack of and non-working features. But nevertheless...

[Shadyman @ Aug 15th 2008 3:32PM]

New commenting system, which STILL doesn't auto-ban all the "FIRST" noobs et al.

[deyanimay @ Aug 15th 2008 6:27PM]

Is it just me or does everyone have to keep on entering their e-mail and password every time they want to post, also i have received replies to my comments but i have failed to receive and e-mail notification. I have both boxes "Remember me" and "E-Mail me when someone replies to this comment" checked.

[Phoenix @ Aug 16th 2008 1:55PM]

I get that too

[lukas88 @ Aug 15th 2008 2:56PM]

Bring this deal to America

[AlphaTeam @ Aug 15th 2008 2:58PM]

If AT&T offered this, and had a removable SIM (which means I can move the service to another computer), then I'd gladly get this.

[Phoenix @ Aug 15th 2008 3:33PM]

Of course you can move it to another computer. You just MOVE the USB adapter to a different PC *gasp*

[sockatume @ Aug 15th 2008 4:11PM]

Yep. The MAC address of the adaptor stays the same regardless of the machine, too, so there's no problem with MAC locking.

[Samboini @ Aug 15th 2008 2:59PM]

No free phone? What about minutes and texts? I only ask as this works out at £600 / $1200 dollars over 2 years. Doesn't look so appealing.

[Shadowise @ Aug 15th 2008 3:29PM]

I think people are missing this point, this is a contract for a mobile broadband adapter, no phone involved. No minutes. No texts. Just internet access via a USB adapter.

[Tomheivers @ Aug 15th 2008 3:01PM]

UK isn't US
So converting prices doesn't tell you much more

We pay almost twice as much for our fuel as the Americans for every liter of fuel (1 gallon = roughly 1/4 of a gallon, metric system FTW)

[Wiserun @ Aug 15th 2008 4:49PM]

I'm pretty sure 1 gallon doesn't equal 1/4 of a gallon anywhere in the entire world.

[Agent42 @ Aug 15th 2008 5:22PM]

He means a Litre = 1/4 Gallon (approx.)

And yes, when visiting the UK I noticed the prices there are very high when converted.

Here in Canada it's also pretty bad (albeit not nearly as high as europe).

We pay the equivalent of $5.30 a Gallon up here (based on $1.40 a Litre, which is the current price where I am right now)

[Onouris @ Aug 16th 2008 10:23AM]

@Agent42

By Europe you mean the UK? Since throughout Europe prices of petrol are pretty different...

Wish people would get it. The UK is not Europe, nor is Europe the UK, and nor is Europe a single country. It's a continent.

[J. Baker @ Aug 15th 2008 3:03PM]

Looks like a dodgy way to shift a few Eees.

And a wireless dongle for an Eee with built-in wireless? Oh dear....

[Tomheivers @ Aug 15th 2008 3:07PM]

It's mobile broadband

[The Beef Machine (lala lala la) @ Aug 15th 2008 3:11PM]

This is like Comcast here in the US giving out a Free Nintendo Wii with a 2 year subscription commitment... in the long run, it's way cheaper to just buy the device than to sign up and get it "free." Similar to the cheaper iPhone deal as well.

[matt @ Aug 15th 2008 3:13PM]

That isn't that bad value, on a normal data tarriff 3GB/month costs £15/month, so the EEE winds up costing £240 over the 2 years. The 900 is approx £270 to buy retail.

[Jesse Dula @ Aug 15th 2008 3:13PM]

It sounds alright to me. But then again, I'm a little behind the times in the techie world scheme of things.

[LondonConsultant @ Aug 15th 2008 3:15PM]

Or buy an Eee 900A and then sign up for a £15 per month Vodafone mobile broadband dongle - you get 7.2 Mbps in London...

[broli @ Aug 15th 2008 3:18PM]

Am I the only one that thinks 3gb a month is a joke. You have to be my grandpa to not exceed that.

[LondonConsultant @ Aug 15th 2008 3:36PM]

My broadband at home and work is unlimited, so a further 100MB per day for a netbook while out-and-about is more than enough. And, no, this isn't your grandpa replying.

[Juxtah @ Aug 15th 2008 3:24PM]

Sounds nice, but I'd rather get an MSI Wind or something then an EEE and a 3GB limit? Pfft I could exhaust that in less then a day.

[av2606 @ Aug 15th 2008 3:52PM]

OMG!

[BigD145 @ Aug 15th 2008 4:04PM]

It just shows how much you're getting reamed by the month.

[Jason @ Aug 15th 2008 4:20PM]

Seriously, 3G per month? This is a friggin NETbook!!! with friggin mobile broadband!!

"Eee PC and Orange - you can look; but don't touch."

[BOGRASH @ Aug 15th 2008 4:41PM]

way to shift the 900 overstock mountain

[Evangelion @ Aug 15th 2008 4:47PM]

lol

[jd @ Aug 15th 2008 5:07PM]

OHHH MY GOD. bring it to canada.

[The Beef Machine (lala lala la) @ Aug 15th 2008 5:49PM]

Yes, please send to Canada, not the US... They'll buy anything!

[Jason @ Aug 15th 2008 5:57PM]

or to the US so TSA gets to keep it for an indefinite period.

[imz @ Aug 16th 2008 12:26AM]

RBC in Canada is giving away Eee PC...

http://www.rbcroyalbank.com/products/deposits/nolimit/index.html?ProspectID=EF6A1295402348A8B17781AB392162B4

[rodman @ Aug 16th 2008 4:16AM]

too expensive

[Mitchel Moriarty @ Aug 16th 2008 6:33AM]

Carphone Warehouse have been doing the same thing for about a month now with their own WebBook. They also do it on T-Mobile who offer "Unlimited" data. Their fair use is 3GB but if you go over they only seem to slow your speed down rather than cut you off or charge you

[Raimo @ Aug 16th 2008 6:35AM]

In Finland you can get a similar deal with EEE 900, USB HSDPA dongle and unlimited data but with speed limited to 384kbps for 22.30€/month (~$32.30/~£17.30) with a 24-month contract. If the speed's not enough you can also up the limit to 1Mbps for 10€ more.

[avester @ Aug 16th 2008 9:39AM]

If you go with Saunalahti, you also get a second simcard for free with the unlimited data and all for your cellphone.

Weird, I get 2mb/s even though I paid for the 384k, but I'm not complaining ;)

[MattBD @ Aug 16th 2008 7:13AM]

The combination of an Eee PC and a mobile broadband connection could be seriously cool - the Eee is a perfect fit for it as it's so portable. Mobile broadband really does have the potential to be a killer app for the Eee, so I'm glad to see providers supporting it, so Orange actually bundling them together is a great idea.
That said, coverage is crap where I live in Norfolk. I tried Vodafone's mobile broadband and there's hardly any 3G coverage, so it's therefore excruciatingly slow to use.