Which is what I was getting at. Your comment came across as "if you can afford a PS3, you can afford broadband". My reply was basically stating no. The kettle needs water to be useful. The PS3 does not need an internet connection to be of use. Games - yes. Internet - no.


Is that £120 for telephone line rental + broadband, or just broadband? Given most people have mobiles, the landline is becoming defunct. Personally, I don't answer the landline. Anyone who needs to contact me can do so via a mobile.


Again, going back, this isn't about the demo disk. You would get very little if anything for the PS3 unless you sold everything such as games and controllers. But unlike the internet, it's a "one-off" saving. Stopping broadband and landline would save more in the long run.

No - I'm not even talking about the demo disk any more.
This was about your comment of being able to afford a PS3 hence must be able to afford broadband. Even if we do talk about the demo disk, if you can't afford broadband then the demo disk becomes entirely useful. A £40 game is still cheaper than £120 for the year (based on your estimate).


That comment was more about the increase in broadband speed. I'm stuck with 2-meg unless I end the contracts on the phones (all according to orange).

Well fair enough, but are you suggesting people get the games for nothing? A PS3 needs games to be useful. One new-release PS3 game a month costs significantly more than a month's line rental and 'consumer' broadband. OK, you can buy second hand or 'platinum' but even then the cost of a platinum game is roughly equal to the cost of one month's line rental + cheapest possible broadband. I maintain my position - the cost of ownership of a PS3 is by no means less than the cost of broadband.


Broadband only. OK, concrete example - talk talk will give you their basic 'connect' service for £7 a month, plus £10 a month line rental, so £17 a month overall. 17*12 = £204. Near as damnit the same as a PS3 with no broadband and no games which, let's be honest, isn't a whole lot of use. Let's try a more 'back of beermat' but real world example. Let's go over three years, TCO.

PS3 :
200 quid for the PS3, plus say a game every two months, half of which are 'full price' (£40) and half of which are 'platinum/second hand price' (£15). So, 3 of each a year. TCO of a PS3 = 200 + (3((40*3)+(15*3)) = £695.

3 year's broadband - 17*36 = £612

if my arithmatic is correct.

Honestly, unless you very rarely buy a game for that PS3 you own, broadband isn't more expensive than a PS3. It just isn't. In fact, buying the broadband can in fact reduce the TCO of the PS3, since instead of having to buy 'shop' price games, you can buy games from the PSN -which tend to be priced below £10, where there are sale prices on products every month and some of the games are of equal or better quality than 'box' games. So you can offset the cost of broadband into your gaming habit if you like.

[/quote]That comment was more about the increase in broadband speed. I'm stuck with 2-meg unless I end the contracts on the phones (all according to orange).[/quote]
As I said though, I coped perfectly well playing PS3 online when my broadband connection was often 'only' 2mb/s. I didn't upgrade because of the PS3, I did that because it's useful for my job.

I'm sorry, but I stand by my position. If you can afford a PS3, you can afford broadband. It may not seem so, but the maths say it is.

Jon

Depends. You can buy second-hand games for something like £5 in the right places and TBH, apart from COD and B:AA, all of my games are secondhand/very cheap.


That's more than I've spent on games over four years including PS3!


BT actually want £13.60 pcm. Works out to over £700.


The cost comparisons you give show it costs (for sake of arguement) £700 for owning a PS3 over three years, and £700 for broadband over three years. That has to take into consideration that you can afford to spend £1400 in total. If you can't, which one will you cut?

This is why I've argued that your premise (if you can afford a PS3, you can afford broadband) is incorrect. You're assuming you can pay for both. I'm arguing that just because you can pay for one, doesn't mean you can simultaneously afford the other.

[/quote]That comment was more about the increase in broadband speed. I'm stuck with 2-meg unless I end the contracts on the phones (all according to orange).[/quote]
As I said though, I coped perfectly well playing PS3 online when my broadband connection was often 'only' 2mb/s. I didn't upgrade because of the PS3, I did that because it's useful for my job.

I'm sorry, but I stand by my position. If you can afford a PS3, you can afford broadband. It may not seem so, but the maths say it is.

Jon[/quote]

Since when was a PS3 200 quid? And what of those who have to pay BT upfront to install a line, further adding to the cost?

I could be wrong as its early and I've only just read through all this but using your comparable intellectual ability to do the sums proving a PS3 costs the same as broadband is futile. To use the online facility you'd need to afford BOTH.