Mobile operator Orange UK will later today throw the gauntlet down to its rivals by beginning a price war with what could be one of the cheapest Mobile Broadband packages available. The service will cost just £4.89 per month on an 18-month contract, albeit only coming with a meagre 0.5GB (500MB – MegaBytes) of monthly usage allowance; free USB Modem (Dongle) included.

In addition the operator has also capped penalty (excessive/extra use) charges to a limit of £40 for those that go over their initial data usage allowance. The move is designed to help Orange comply with new EU rules on roaming charges and prevent more "bill shocks".

On top of all that customers will also be able to buy a new range of FREE off-peak usage Mobile Broadband services, which will start at under £13 per month for a 1GB usage allowance (only applicable for daytime usage). As the name suggests, all data usage between 12Midnight and 9am will not eat into your usage allowance.

Though the other changes and new packages make sense, we're not entirely convinced that the new 'unlimited off-peak' model is sustainable. Mobile Broadband networks already have complex capacity problems to contend with and promoting an 'all you can eat' style culture before the platform can cope risks damage to service quality.