Is BT Broadband Anywhere with BT ToGo any good?

By Helen Storey Staff Writer Monday, 19 May 2008

Is BT ToGo any good? BT Broadband Anywhere with BT ToGo Standard Tariff at a glance: Mobile Broadband £23.99 for the first 3 months, £29.99 thereafter (18 month contract) Free smartphone (or an upgraded version for £29.99) Unlimited BT FON Wi-fi Hotspot minutes 500 free BT Openzone Wi-fi Hotspot minutes per month 50 free texts per month 50 free minutes per month 10MB of GPRS downloads per month Home Broadband BT Total Option 3 home broadband 8MB speed Unlimited downloads BT Home Hub Free UK evening and weekend calls Read our review of BT Anywhere with BT ToGo Sign up for BT Anywhere with BT ToGo Similar 'Any Good' Articles See our other investigations into whether a particular broadband provider is any good: Is Orange Broadband any good? TRAILING last in a recent survey, Orange Broadband has had its fair share of up’s and down’s, so Neil Hawkins aims to put the record straight and asks, is Orange Broadband any good Is TalkTalk any good? THEY may have introduced free broadband to the UK, but did they introduce absymal broadband too? Helen Storey finds out whether TalkTalk is any good. Is Tiscali Broadband any good? Their adverts for cheap broadband are all over the TV, but is Tiscali any good? Julia Kukiewicz unravels the Tiscali packages to find the answer. Is Sky Broadband any good? Is Sky Broadband any good? Julia Kukiewicz rustles through Rupert Murdoch's sock drawer (and his broadband packages) and uncovers some naked truths about Sky Broadband. Is O2 Broadband any good? THEY'RE fast being considered the best broadband provider in the UK. Here, Neil Hawkins looks a little closer at the high speed wonder that is O2 Broadband and answers the question: Is O2 Broadband any good? Is Post Office Broadband any good? CHAMPIONS at selling stamps and putting up little posters with cartoon ants on them, the Post Office is now offering broadband. But is Post Office broadband any good? Lorrie Kelly braves the queues and goes to "Cashier number 6, please" to find out.

BT has recently announced the launch of their Broadband Anywhere Service, which – with the combined BT ToGo smartphone - allows you to take your BT broadband connection with you wherever you go.

But is BT Broadband Anywhere with BT ToGo any good?

Just what is BT ToGo?

In a nutshell, BT Broadband Anywhere with BT ToGo offers a home broadband service, with the additional use of a Blackberry-style smartphone called the BT ToGo.

It can make calls, send texts, listen to voicemails – essentially most things that your mobile phone can do at the moment.

What it does do that your Nokia can’t, however, is connect wirelessly to broadband via Wi-fi hotspots, which is great news if you’re a super-busy business type person, or you’re just a plain internet addict.

Is BT Broadband Anywhere with BT ToGo any good for: Price?

As it stands, to get you started on Broadband Anywhere with BT ToGo, you’ll pay £23.99 for the first 3 months, and £29.99 per month for the rest of the 18 month contract.

This is only a fiver more than their BT Total Broadband Option 3 package, but you get to go mobile with your broadband.

On top of this, they have a number of tariffs, just like with your mobile phone.

The standard tariff gives you 50 free texts and 50 free minutes to any UK network.

150 minutes and 100 texts will cost an extra £10 a month.

250 minutes and 150 texts will cost an extra £15 a month.

600 minutes and 300 texts will cost an extra £30 a month.

Though this all depends on whether you’ll be substituting your current mobile for BT’s smartphone or not.

Is BT Broadband Anywhere with BT ToGo any good for: Connectivity?

The BT ToGo smartphone will connect to any BT Openzone wi-fi hotspot, which are all over the place, and increasing in numbers. This is classed as a wireless connection, and you get 500 free Openzone Wireless minutes each month.

Another nifty ever-growing techy thing that the smartphone takes advantage of is BT FON hotspots.

“What’s a BT FON hotspot?” I hear you cry. Well I’m glad you asked.

Developed by some super-gurus in Spain, it’s a neat little opt-in service that allows BT Total customers to set aside a small part of their wireless broadband service (and turning that area into a secure BT FON hotspot), in return for access to all the other BT FON hotspots.

Think of it like one little happy broadband community, where everyone shares and hugs a lot.

Indeed, the creators of FON encourage you to “Have FON!” (Did you see what they did there?)

Best of all, connecting via a BT FON hotspot means you get unlimited wireless downloads.

Basically, this means that you’ve got a fair few options when connecting wirelessly, which means you can really take advantage of the smartphone.

Of course BT understands that wireless hotspots aren’t available everywhere, so if you find yourself up a mountain and desperate to check your e-mail, you can connect in the traditional WAP phone sense, wherever you have signal, via GPRS.

Here comes the caveat. As connecting via a phone signal isn’t wireless, this isn’t free.

BT offers 10MB free of usage per month, which is about 90 web page views. Go over this limit at your peril, as they charge a gut-wrenching £1.50 per extra MB used.

Is BT Broadband Anywhere with BT ToGo any good for: technological gizmos?

With Broadband Anywhere, you get the BT ToGo smartphone thrown in just for signing up.

This is a fairly standard run-of-the-mill, middle-management-type smartphone that has a QWERTY keyboard on the front and a 1.2MP camera.

Not that it’s rubbish, by any means, but for £29.99 you can upgrade to the whizzy-super-lovely-executive-type smartphone, which offers a slide out keyboard, a 2MP camera and an in-built MP3 player.

All smartphones come with Windows Mobile loaded onto them, so using them is a piece of proverbial cake.

Of course we can’t forget your home broadband package that comes as part of the deal.

You get the BT Total Option 3 deal, which includes 8MB speeds with an unlimited data allowance, (subject to fair use policy), line rental, free UK evening and weekend calls and free 24 hour customer support.

You also get their futuristic looking BT Home Hub box ensures wireless capability for your PC, Laptop, games consoles, and even connects to your phone so you can make calls over the internet.

So... Is BT Broadband Anywhere with BT ToGo any good?

Yes, BT Anywhere with BT ToGo is good. Considering it’s only marginally more expensive than the BT Total Option 3, you get a whole load of juicy broadband morsels to get your chops around.

Whether or not your mates will appreciate you checking on that eBay purchase every 5 minutes when you’re down the pub is another matter.

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