Sortapundit

Wireless For Less

Here at the Taylor household we’re upgrading to wireless broadband this week. We’ve always had a fast broadband Internet connection, but I just bought a laptop so I wanted to be able to get online from the comfort of my bed. As I’ve probably mentioned on several occasions I’m a world champion at laziness, so the ability to connect to the Internet while comfortably wrapped in a duvet strikes me as one of the greatest advances of technology in the history of the human race. Besides, I keep strange hours that means I’m usually in bed while normal folks are at work, so wireless broadband access from my bed will allow me to keep in contact with clients while they’re awake – you have to agree that being conscious while clients want to speak to me is a sensible way to run a business.

I was amazed while looking for a decent deal at the number of cheap broadband providers around these days. Last time we changed our ISP it seemed to be a simple choice between AOL, BT and a couple of crappy upstarts. Today there are hundreds of ISPs in the broadband game, and a large portion of those offer wireless broadband.

Anyway. Due to my legendary sloth we’ll be sticking with AOL. Not that the service is anything to write home about, but at least there’ll be no hassle switching to wireless, and they throw in a free broadband modem or router when you connect. I’m far too lazy to try anything else. Those of you who have a little more energy than myself (or just care about finding a decent wireless deal that’ll offer good service at a low price) should take a look around at the options available. If other people followed my example we’d all be being fleeced by monopolies.

Cheap Phone Deals

As well as a wireless upgrade I’m looking into a new phone. Again, I’m surprised at the number of cheap mobile phone deals available nowadays. I’ve been using a Sony Ericsson s700i for the past couple of years, and to be honest it’s seen better days. It’s been a great phone, but I’ve thrown it around so much it barely works any more. There’s a strange rattling noise that I’m sure isn’t part of the design, and it occasionally shuts itself down in the middle of a call (not a good idea when I’m speaking to my motor insurance carrier about why I haven’t paid this month’s premium).

It’s been a couple of years since I went to a mobile phone price comparison site or took a look at mobile phone consumer reviews, so I was surprised to find the sheer number of cracking phones at ridiculously low prices. There are even a few handsets that work out costing only £50 per year once you factor in the rebates you get for mailing in your bills (though, of course, you have to remember to mail them at certain times during the year, and I’ve never been that great at remembering to do so). After a few hours browsing through a few mobile phone sites I’ve got my options down to a few mobile phone best buys, so with a little luck I’ll have a shiny new mobile in the next couple of weeks.

God, I'm Cheap

I’m a big fan of getting things for free. The last couple of weeks have cost me somewhere in the region of two grand, so I’m on a big ‘get stuff for free’ drive. Fortunately, the Internet is perfectly designed for skinflints like me.

For the last few months I’ve been switching around between DVD rental free trials to get a pile of free rentals before settling on an account. As long as you remember to cancel your trial before they start taking money from your bank you can watch a ton of movies for free. Unfortunately, my cheapness is paired with a criminally poor memory, so I forgot to cancel two free trials and ended up paying for services I didn’t use. Bah. Still, as long as you have your head screwed on straight you can get a lot of mileage from a DVD rental trial, allowing you to figure out which is the right service for you before committing for the long term.

As well as DVD rentals there are bags of special offers and freebies to be had from the Internet. Just follow the links and you’ll find a ton of free stuff. While in the past the majority of free trials and special offers have been confined mostly to the US, British retailers have finally caught on to the fact that consumers love special offers and free gifts. Today, there are endless freebies in UK sites for motor insurance, mobile phones, credit cards and a million and one other things. All you have to do is take a look around before buying anything bigger than a chocolate bar and grab all the free samples and discount vouchers that retailers are willing to throw at you for the privilege of shopping with them.

God, I’m turning into such an old man.

Cheap Shopping Through Directories

With all the money I’ve spent in the past few days – on cameras, laptops, plane tickets and hotel rooms – I’m gonna have to do all my shopping from now on through an online shopping directory or two.

As it turns out, I’ve been missing out on cheap deals for years. The way I usually shop online is by randomly picking a site and sticking with it religiously for years, regardless of the price and level of service. I really am that lazy.

Thing is, if you exercise just a little more initiative in your online shopping than I do you can find cracking deals on all sorts of things. F’r’instance, by using a mobile phones directory you can track down not only the best prices on handsets and contract deals, but also a range of technology blogs that offer reviews and advice on which deal to choose.

And it’s not just mobile phones for which you can find bargains. The best shopping sites directory offers categories for computers, gifts, fragrances and much more. By simply spending a few minutes browsing through the sites in the directory you can save a packet on everything you buy online – and if you spend as much as I do shopping on the Internet that can add up to a sizeable portion of your income.

Finally, if you run an online shopping site it might be a good idea to submit your site to something like this search engine friendly directory.