UK government offers PC with a year's broadband for £159

A new scheme has been launched to help get more Britons online by offering them heavily subsidised computers and an affordable broadband connection.

The Get Online @ Home scheme is part of Martha Lane Fox's Go ON UK initiative and is backed by TalkTalk, Microsoft and Simplify Digital.

For just £149, customers can receive a refurbished Windows 7 desktop PC with a 15-inch monitor, keyboard, mouse, CD drive and USB ports. If they choose to go for broadband with TalkTalk, then the ISP offers a 1-year broadband contract for £10 on top of the computer cost, that comes with a monthly 40GB usage allowance and a telephone line with free evening and weekend calls to UK landlines.

Customers can also choose to get a refurbished Windows 7 laptop and broadband instead for £199.

The desktop deal is available at £99 for charities and people on certain benefits including Jobseeker's allowance, Disability living allowance and Housing Benefit, while the laptop deal will cost £169.

The scheme providing discounted hardware has been in existence since March 2011 but the new partnership with TalkTalk offers an improved deal.

While PC specs might vary, customers are assured of being able to get at least a Pentium 4 2GHz processor and 1GB of RAM for the desktop and a Celeron processor with 1GB of RAM, webcam and 1 hour battery life on the laptop.

TalkTalk recently failed mystery shopper broadband tests conducted by the communications regulator Ofcom.

In addition, in March 2012 Ofcom released Q4 results regarding customer satisfaction of telecoms providers, which showed that TalkTalk still generates the highest number of complaints focusing on billing and customer service issues in fixed line telephone, as well as line faults and other service issues in fixed broadband.