Australian women who own small businesses (and that's around 500,000) and consumers attracted by Telstra’s ‘$0 laptop’ promotion as part of its latest broadband package, need to carefully read the fine print before making a decision to sign up.

Under the plan, users can purchase a laptop connected to Telstra’s Next G for no upfront costs. However, they will be contractually bound to an $99 per month agreement for the hardware and broadband connection. This delivers a relatively small 1GB data allowance for a total of 36 months, with an estimated minimum total cost of $3,564 over the life of the contract.

The national carrier has partnered with Harvey Norman and direct distributor Techhead Interactive for its first offering of the package, leaving it up to the retailers to decide exactly what hardware to offer as part of the deal.

It’s expected that Optus, Vodafone, Hutchison and a number of other second-tier operators will soon come up with their own laptop-based offers in response to Telstra's move.

Not necessarily a great deal
However, the $0 price tag isn't an indicator of a great deal.
 
According to the experts, the deal is indicative of Telstra's overall pricing regime, with one analyst describing the package as "fairly consistent with Telstra's land-based broadband offerings".

One anonymous internet blogger had this to say: “At the moment, you can use Flexirent and rent a $2,000 laptop over 3 years for $102 per month or a $1,000 laptop for $52 per month. Add to that the Optus package of $39 a month for 5 Gig (and no upfront cost for the modem). Getting a personal loan would be even cheaper. The specifications of the laptop for the Telstra deal have not been mentioned, but it would have to have a recommended retail price of $1,200 or more to make it even remotely competitive.”