It has been officially announced that rumours about leading UK mobile network and ADSL2+ providers O2 Broadband would bundling Apple MacBook laptops with their home broadband and mobile broadband products are nothing more than that.
An O2 spokeswoman confirmed that there are “no such plans to launch an Apple MacBook laptop offer,” and that the rumours are “untrue”.
Mobile network and broadband rivals Orange, T-Mobile, Vodafone, and 3 Mobile have all done well out of broadband and laptop bundle deals, and it was thought that O2 would want to get in on the action.
It was announced earlier this month that Carphone ISP TalkTalk would be giving away iPod Touches as part of a September prize draw, and as both O2 and the Carphone Warehouse have the exclusive right to sell the Apple iPhone in stores across the UK, and it was thought that O2 would want to work out a similar deal with regard to Apple products.
Internet rumour mongers put two and two together to make five, and, well, you know how these things happen.
Posted by Tom on September 30th 2008 in 3 Mobile Broadband, Carphone Warehouse, O2 Broadband, Orange Broadband, T-Mobile, TalkTalk, Vodafone
Be Broadband are currently rewarding trigger happy gamers with a months FREE Broadband, should they finish within the Top 3 of two gaming categories over on the Mixes portal, which is run in conjunction with Enemy Down. That’s up to £22 off of your annual subscription, if you were signed up with the Be Pro gaming package.
Be Broadband launched the promotion this week, and will be handing out free broadband for the gamers who make it to the Top 3 in the overall rankings, and the top three insomniacs who rack up the most matches each week.
This offer is exclusively available to Be Broadband subscribers who play online through the Be Mixes portal.
Signing up for Mixes is a simple process; all you need to do is be a Be Broadband subscriber and register over at the Mixes site and away you go… Those helpful chaps at Enemy Down have knocked up this handy tutorial video which explains how you can set up so you can start gunning for a month off of your broadband subscription:
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Posted by Tom on September 30th 2008 in Be Broadband, Broadband
Mobile phone companies, chip makers and laptop manufacturers are joining forces to push built-in support for mobile broadband technology on laptop computers.
The alliance will build wireless chips into the computers which will accelerate current 3G speeds and work with future 4G networks. A service mark will identify laptops with the integrated mobile technology. The branded laptops are expected to be on shop shelves in 91 countries by Christmas.
At their fastest, current mobile internet technologies, which include High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and Long Term Evolution, support web browsing speeds of up to 7 megabits per second. However, such high speeds are currently available only at airports and in parts of central London.
“It’s comparable to fixed broadband services and close to what you get in a Wi-Fi hot spot,” said Mike O’Hara, a spokesman for the GSM Alliance, which brokered the deal to produce the modules and build them into laptops. The GSM Alliance is a trade body that represents 80% of the world’s mobile phone companies.
“You can go to an operator’s store, buy a laptop and it will be already fitted so you can go online instantly,” O’Hara added. “That’s a powerful proposition. There’s a natural evolution such as we saw with Wi-Fi which at first used to need an external card and became embedded.”
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Posted by Ellie on September 30th 2008 in 3 Mobile Broadband, Broadband, Mobile Broadband, Orange Broadband, T-Mobile, Vodafone
Here we go again. Virgin Media have called BS on bitter rivals BSkyB over their recent claims with regard to being the first UK ISP to offer punters truly unlimited broadband.
Sky recently removed their fair usage policy from their premier up to 16Mbps Broadband Max service, which means that punters can actually download however much they want, without fear of running into some sort of phantom usage limit and being forced to pay infinity billion pounds in charges; “We believe that we are now the only major broadband provider to offer truly ‘unlimited’ broadband,” crowed the Sky spokesperson at the time.
It was presumably this statement that got Virgin Media’s hackles up. “Virgin Media has always believed that customers should be able to enjoy their broadband as much as they want,” sulked the Virgin official.
“We were the first ISP to provide unlimited broadband packages to our entire customer base, including both cable and ADSL, and have never imposed any form of ‘fair use’ policy.”
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Posted by Tom on September 29th 2008 in Carphone Warehouse, Free Broadband, Mobile Broadband, Orange Broadband, Sky Broadband, TalkTalk, Virgin Media, Vodafone
The European Commission is looking at ways to make broadband accessible to every person in the EU by 2010. The fast growth of broadband across Europe has led commissioners in Brussels to bring forward a review of the basic telecoms services Europeans can expect.
“High-speed internet is the passport to the information society and an essential condition for economic growth,” said EU telecoms commissioner Viviane Reding in a statement.
“This is why it is this Commission’s policy to make broadband internet for all Europeans happen by 2010.”
It is estimated that 36% of EU households are currently connected to broadband – three times the number of broadband households in 2003 and a year-on-year increase of 20%. In spite of the growth the Commission said there were “striking gaps” in broadband availability among member states.
In Belgium, Luxembourg and Denmark broadband is available to the whole population if they wish to take it up. By contrast, only 40% of Romanians live in areas with broadband access. Even in Germany and Italy which both have a sophisticated broadband infrastructure, 12% of citizens have no access to high-speed internet.
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Posted by Ellie on September 29th 2008 in Broadband
Word on the street says that Apple and O2 are about to launch their own laptop and broadband bundle deal, in a bid to emulate the popular connection-and-computer combos that have been on offer from the likes of Orange, AOL and the Carphone Warehouse for the last year or so.
The two companies are thought to be offering customers who sign up for either of O2’s mobile and home broadband services the choice of purchasing an Apple MacBook or MacBook Pro laptop either free, or for a heavily discounted price.
We presume, given the pricey nature of Apple stuff that the laptops won’t be free, but we can at least expect some form of price subsidy as part of the bargain. Then again, Apple surprised everyone with the release of the new iPhone 3G, which turned out to be significantly cheaper than everyone expected, so we could be in for a similar surprise this time round.
Currently, 3 Mobile are offering punters who sign up for their 5GB Broadband Plus plan for 24 Months a free HP 550 laptop, and Orange are giving away an Asus Eee PC 900 with every 18 Month 3GB contract.
AOL customers who sign up for the Wireless Plus package can currently claim a free Acer Aspire 5315 Laptop to every customer who signs up, and Vodafone are giving away a Sony NR32 with their 24 Month 3GB mobile broadband deal.
Posted by Tom on September 26th 2008 in 3 Mobile Broadband, AOL, Carphone Warehouse, Mobile Broadband, O2 Broadband, Orange Broadband, T-Mobile, Vodafone
A recent TV advert from Carphone Warehouse’s TalkTalk has fallen short of advertising regulations for promising ‘free’ broadband even though this was not available in certain areas of the country.
“At TalkTalk, we believe broadband should be free” said the ad. “When you get your landline from us, we give you broadband that’s free.”
10 viewers made complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority claiming that the advert was misleading because the free broadband only applied to regions where Carphone Warehouse had undertaken local loop unbundling (LLU). TalkTalk Broadband is still available to customers in non-LLU areas but the service is not free.
“The ASA noted the free broadband service was not available in all areas of the UK due to the limited coverage of LLU. We acknowledged that TalkTalk did not have control of LLU but, nevertheless, considered that the ad did not make sufficiently clear that the free broadband service was not available to all TalkTalk customers. We concluded that the ad was likely to mislead,” the advertising watchdog noted in its adjudication.
While TalkTalk’s advertising in newspapers and magazines warned customers that the free broadband service was limited to certain geographical areas, the TV adverts carried no such disclaimer.
TalkTalk told the ASA that their failure to mention the limitations of the free broadband deal on their TV adverts was a mere oversight, promising to take their current advert off air, and include the warning in future advertising.
The ASA has received a number of complaints in recent weeks concerning misleading broadband ads. It is seeking to improve transparency in the industry by introducing a new voluntary ISP code of practice, due to come into force in the new year.
Posted by Ellie on September 26th 2008 in Broadband, Carphone Warehouse, TalkTalk
Vodafone have recently attracted a number of complaints over a recent promotional poster campaign that ran with the tagline; “Don’t get left in the dark. Unlimited Facebook on Vodafone. Make the most of now.” The ad, which also appeared in print, also states, in a noticeably smaller font size, that the service comes with a 500MB monthly data allowance, and that an FUP was in place.
Customers complained to the Advertising Standards Agency on the grounds that the advert was contradictory and misleading, but a report this week shows that the complaints have not been upheld.
“We noted the information provided by Vodafone demonstrated that only a very small proportion of their customers had exceeded the fair-use policy limited and that action was likely to be a request to moderate their usage in the first instance,” said ASA on their website. “We acknowledged that the vast majority of customers used only a small amount of the available allowance and concluded that the existence of a fair-use policy did not contradict the claim ‘unlimited mobile internet’.”
The official standpoint on what constitutes ‘unlimited’ is a little unhelpful; an ASA spokesperson was quoted telling PC Pro last Wednesday that: “[the] way it works at the moment is that it is unlimited for the majority of users. It’s only a tiny minority of users that would receive a warning. We think that while it’s a tiny minority it’s okay.”
Posted by Tom on September 25th 2008 in Vodafone
From the 10th of November, online customers will be able to sign up for a 12 month AOL Wireless Broadband contract which includes a top download speed of 8Mbps, a 10GB usage cap a choice of either free evening and weekend calls or unlimited anytime calls (local and national 01, 02 and 03 numbers), and pay their line rental directly to AOL, rather than having to pay BT. This means there’s just one convenient monthly bill for broadband, calls and line rental – all your communications costs covered by one neat monthly payment.
Whilst there is no difference in terms of price – the line rental is billed at £10.50 a month (that same as you’d pay BT) the total cost of the services (broadband and voice calls) plus line rental will appear as one sum on your bank statement, allowing you to quantify your costs with greater ease. Existing customers should see the change in their statement from November onwards.
The only thing required from BT is the installation of a phone line. There are no additional charges for connection or any set-up fees from AOL, or installation of the free Netgear Wireless Router (RRP £50). In addition to up to 8Mbps broadband and a choice of free call packages, all AOL Broadband customers get free technical support assistance over the phone (lines open from 8am to midnight), and allow you to switch your existing phone number over to the new service.
This AOL package will be available to customers who order online from the 10th of November, or if you can’t wait that long, give AOL a call on 0800 049 4402.
Posted by Tom on September 25th 2008 in AOL, BT Broadband, Switching
Gordon Brown, in a key conference speech, will today unveil a scheme to fund internet access for families who cannot afford it, in an attempt to take control of his ailing premiership.
The prime minister is due to announce a £300 million programme to deliver broadband to 1.4 million low-income families where pupils are in danger of slipping behind because they cannot access online resources vital to their schoolwork. Families will be able to claim vouchers worth up to £700 to pay for a computer, broadband access, software and technical support. The initiative is designed to make plain that only the Labour Party will “give everyone a chance”.
Mr Brown will tell delegates: “To ensure we are prepared for the times to come, the Government will fund one million more households to get online, enabling parents to link with teachers and their children’s schools to help young people with homework and coursework.”
Schools and local authorities will be asked to identify pupils whose families need financial help in getting online. They will then receive vouchers to the tune of between £100 and £700 depending on their circumstances. The initiative will be trialled in two as yet unidentified areas next year and rolled out throughout England in 2011
Ministers say that getting families online will give them access to discounts that could save them hundreds of pounds a year – more than enough to pay for a broadband subscription.
The Internet also forms an essential part in children’s education today, with many teachers posting learning material online and emailing school reports. What is more, studies have shown that computer literate youngsters find jobs which pay 20% higher than those with little IT savvy. 90% of new jobs are now advertised online.
Education minister Jim Knight said the scheme would help to “reduce inequality and improve life chances for millions of children.”
Posted by Ellie on September 23rd 2008 in Broadband
