O2 gets on mobile broadbandwagon for £20

O2 has joined the rest of its operator friends in launching a so-called mobile broadband service – or a 3G USB modem to the rest of us. For £20 a month, O2 customers can get 3GB of data allowance and unlimited wi-fi at The Cloud hotspots with a free modem if they sign up to an 18 month contract. There’s also a £20 rolling month-by-month contract on offer, but users will have to pay the £120 for the modem up front.

To start off with, the maximum downlink available for ‘mobile broadband’ will be 1.8Mbps, going up to 3.6Mbps in June this year.

While every operator needs one of these offers in their portfolio and O2’s pricing is pitched spot on, it doesn’t look like O2 is just copying its rivals and not doing an altogether great job of it: for mobile broadband speed, Vodafone is faster and 3 is cheaper, so how does O2 intend to make its own offering stand out?