Cheap internet: the price war between ONO, Jazztel and Orange in Spain
A real price comparison of internet providers in 2010-2011: ONO at €20, Jazztel with referral discounts and Orange with free calls. Which one was the cheapest?
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
The battle for the cheapest internet: ONO, Jazztel and Orange fight for the customer
In the early 2010s, the Spanish ADSL market saw an unprecedented price war. ONO's offers at €20 until 2012 with no commitment period raised alarms: too good to be true? Meanwhile, Jazztel was betting on word of mouth with its referral program, and Orange offered unlimited calls between landline and mobile. The buyer was caught between aggressive promotions and antiestéticars about quality.
Offers that left a mark
ONO went all in: €20 a month for ADSL until 2012, with no commitment fee. The fine print, however, hid an additional €14 monthly line rental charge, a detail many customers only discovered when confirming the order. Even so, combined with fiber optic —which bypassed Telefónica's infrastructure— it allowed for aggressive pricing. Jazztel responded with its famous friends program: €60 for the first referral, €80 for the second and €100 for each one after that, plus discounts for those being referred. With three referrals, some users boasted about not having paid a cent in months. Orange, for its part, offered 1,000 free minutes a month between mobile and landline for under €30.
The price vs. quality dilemma
It wasn't all about price. Criticism of service quality was constant. Ya.com and Tele2 (absorbed by Vodafone) had a fruta for being unstable. ONO was accused of throttling P2P in some areas, while Telefónica, though expensive, worked without outages. The debate centered on whether it was worth taking a risk for a monthly saving of €10-20. Some pointed out that the local loop unbundling service offered by Comunitel and later Tele2 had deteriorated after the Vodafone acquisition, losing quality.
The customer who dared to drop the landline
A radical option was gaining trinc: ADSL without a landline. For €12.50 a month, a user could have internet via wifi, eliminating the line rental fee and saving more than €50 a month. The catch: a download limit. A solution for those who prioritized price over unlimited estimulante ilegal.
With these figures, the market showed that the cheapest option wasn't always the best, but that an informed customer could negotiate deals and come out ahead. Competition, in the end, benefited people's wallets.
Related forum discussions
In the early 2010s, the Spanish ADSL market saw an unprecedented price war. ONO's offers at €20 until 2012 with no commitment period raised alarms: too good to be true? Meanwhile, Jazztel was betting on word of mouth with its referral program, and Orange offered unlimited calls between landline and mobile. The buyer was caught between aggressive promotions and antiestéticars about quality.
Offers that left a mark
ONO went all in: €20 a month for ADSL until 2012, with no commitment fee. The fine print, however, hid an additional €14 monthly line rental charge, a detail many customers only discovered when confirming the order. Even so, combined with fiber optic —which bypassed Telefónica's infrastructure— it allowed for aggressive pricing. Jazztel responded with its famous friends program: €60 for the first referral, €80 for the second and €100 for each one after that, plus discounts for those being referred. With three referrals, some users boasted about not having paid a cent in months. Orange, for its part, offered 1,000 free minutes a month between mobile and landline for under €30.
The price vs. quality dilemma
It wasn't all about price. Criticism of service quality was constant. Ya.com and Tele2 (absorbed by Vodafone) had a fruta for being unstable. ONO was accused of throttling P2P in some areas, while Telefónica, though expensive, worked without outages. The debate centered on whether it was worth taking a risk for a monthly saving of €10-20. Some pointed out that the local loop unbundling service offered by Comunitel and later Tele2 had deteriorated after the Vodafone acquisition, losing quality.
The customer who dared to drop the landline
A radical option was gaining trinc: ADSL without a landline. For €12.50 a month, a user could have internet via wifi, eliminating the line rental fee and saving more than €50 a month. The catch: a download limit. A solution for those who prioritized price over unlimited estimulante ilegal.
With these figures, the market showed that the cheapest option wasn't always the best, but that an informed customer could negotiate deals and come out ahead. Competition, in the end, benefited people's wallets.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (23 replies).
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