Broadband Comparison, News & Reviews

Vodafone announced a new six month contract for mobile broadband to address the needs of customers such as students who may be hesitant to commit to longer terms.

The six month contract operates under the terms that customers receive 3GB of monthly downloads and a connection speed up to 7.2MB in exchange for an upfront £29 dongle fee and a £15 a month payment plan.

Vodafone claims that with 3GB of download users can browse online for about 100 hours and download approximately 100 short videos, 200 tracks, and send 2,000 emails. Those who use more than 3GB will be charged £15 per additional GB.

The dongle offers microSD support to aid those who need to work on the go and allows users to use the card as a USB with a maximum of 4GB of memory.

Vodafone is targeting its six month mobile contract plan at students, but it may be more popular among cash conscious customers who want the ability to shop around for the best contract plan at will.

Marketing director at Top 10 broadband, Alex Buttle, commented that with a decrease in the amount of part time jobs and the high fees of top up purchases, it is harder for students to stay out of debt which may make the new Vodafone plan more appealing to students.

Vodafone also announced last week that they will soon launch a device to strengthen 3G signals within their own home that will go on sale July 1st for £160 upfront or an additional £15 per month for contract plan consumers.

Filed under: Broadband Deals by Alan

Sky has recently announced that it will begin to rework the way it delivers connection speeds to customers who have opted for higher end packages as part of a remodel that will address the current offerings of the entire broadband range.

For beginners, the middle price package known previously as the Mid package will now be known as the Everyday Package and customers can begin to see the average speeds of their downloads increase from 8MB to 10mb with upstream speeds also increasing to 600Kb from 400KB.

The Max deal which is one of the highest offerings will be referred to as the unlimited plan from here on out offering users’ connection speeds that top out at 20Mb instead of the previous speeds of 16Mb and up streaming will increase to 768Kb, a huge jump from 1.3Mb.

Current customers of Sky will see the changes in their subscription services by September, but new customers with Sky will be able to receive the improve versions upon the completion of a new subscription.

Sky released a statement that promised current customers that the initial test trials have proved beneficiary to new customers thus due to the increase in the company’s ability to stabilize the speed increases they will now start to make it available to every Sky customer.

Other changes include a data limit on the everyday deal as customers will now only be able to access 10GB of information instead of 40GB after research showed that most customers do not need such a large limit. Keeping in line with its name, there is no limit to the amount of use that comes with the unlimited package.

Filed under: Broadband Deals by Alan

A new survey from ISPreview.co.uk revealed that currently 58.6% of people in the UK with broadband deals are not satisfied with the speeds they are receiving and over 52.2% of them would be happy to pay a little extra if faster speeds could be promised.

Editor of ISPreview.co.uk stated that with so many new faster broadband services such as BT and Virgin Media offering fast speeds current providers are disappointing customers y failing to meet the standards that they promise which is beginning to make a difference in the way UK customers view ISP’s.

Jackson added that with the new code of practice instituted by Ofcom hopefully customers will rate ISP’s better in the future if they are given adequate information in regards to the speeds they can hope to receive on a regular basis instead of advertising a high speed that comes attached to many variables that makes it hard to actually every receive and experience.

The same study also asked customers to choose what speeds they were supposed to be able to access on their broadband deals with over 52.7% of respondents answering that they were paying for 8Mbps of broadband speeds.

Interestingly enough, only 13.1% of the polling audience answered they paid for service that was 1 to 2Mbps with most answering higher meaning that the Government’s aim to solve customer discontent by mandating all speeds reach 2Mps by the end of the year may not actually be much help in getting the UK society online happily.

Filed under: Broadband News and Reviews by Alan

Nobody likes to be involved in an internet scam, which is why knowing a few tricks that will help you identify an internet scam or identify a legitimate dating website can be well worth your time to review.

First of all, most legitimate websites are also sites that charge small administration fees to use in order to maintain your safety and the website. While this can get confusing there are certain security signs and verified logos and insignia on a website that should be present before you submit your payment to let you know that the website is safe.

Another type of popular online scam involved dating websites since it is easy for people to pretend they are someone they are not with the click of a button or for a website to create fake profiles that appear to be your perfect match until you release your dream date is nothing like you expected.

It’s harsh, but loneliness is exploited on the web which is why you want to look closer at photos to see if there are any signs of photo shopping and look into the profiles of the person you are thinking about dating. Sometimes easy hints can be saying they are single but still healing or working from abroad which allows them more room for error, or so they think.

Finally, when all else fails learn to rely on your own gut. If someone sounds too perfect to be true they probably are, and remember that someone who is out to scam you will play to your heart strings by responding to everything you say perfectly.

Scammers are born manipulators, but normal dates worthy people are humans who are prone to err at some point. Sometimes, a little disagreement is much better than a supposedly perfect match.

Filed under: Broadband Scam Alerts by Alan

Across the UK there are many disappointed Take That fans who have recently been the victims of an internet scam from a retailer who promised to deliver Take That tickets to the boy band’s reunion concert at Millennium Stadium this coming weekend. Most people are not only angered that they are out quite a few quid, but are also angry that they will now miss the show since the website was not legitimate.

Julie, 42, bought tickets for the show from the internet scam website for her daughter as the perfect birthday present, but after they never came in the mail she returned to the website only to find that it no longer exists.

Many ticket purchasers were faced with the same fate, the website was nonexistent, and so was their tickets and money.
Julie spent a total of £290 on four tickets for the show and commented that the website looked very professional and legitimate which is why she trusted that the tickets would arrive as they would from any ticketing site.

She even commented that she received a confirmation email telling her to contact the company five days before the concert if they had not arrived, but there is no company in existence to contact.

She is not alone as many people across the UK discovered the same thing. To avoid the same fate it may be useful to know that the law requires every company to list the company registration location, address, and its official number clearly on the website.

If you cannot find this information near the bottom of the page, in the about us section, or under contact information this is an excellent sign the website is a fraud.

Filed under: Broadband Scam Alerts by Alan

The final version of Lord Carter’s, the Communications Minister, Digital Britain report was finally made public yesterday but those who are familiar with the content in the interim version of the report will notice that there is not much difference between the uncertainties of the interim report and the final report.

Most of the emphasis is the same in both versions with the primary content based around the goal of connecting the entire country of Britain to broadband but not too many details about how the UK Government will complete its noble goals of offering access to all UK citizens at speeds of at least 2MB.

The report did include recommendations that mobile broadband spectrum be allocated which delighted Vodafone and O2 as they are overly satisfied with the receipt of 900 Mhz spectrum they were allotted but major mobile carriers Orange and T-Mobile out in the cold until more allocations will be given after the switch to digital to analogue TV is completed.

The Digital Britain report also addressed the problem of how to regulate and control copyright infringement and piracy with additional power placed in the hands of Ofcom to regulate broadband issues. It also included new funds that total up to £200 million towards connecting parts of the UK with broadband that current have substandard broadband quality.

For the most part the report looks positive and if correctly enacted will greatly improve the condition of the broadband access in the UK, but the argument remains that the standard that it set the bar at is too low and there is a lack of clear direction.

Filed under: Broadband News and Reviews by Alan

Three offers a new contract that may tie you down for 24 months but has a pretty good value built into it if you are willing to make the commitment.

The contract comes with a ZTE MF627 broadband dongle for free that can download data up to 3.6 Mbps and even has a slot built into it that accommodates a memory stick if you want to add some external storage. The dongle overall is pretty standard although it does have a unique design that is semi-fashionable with a sleek black casing with the green number three painted onto the front.

However, the mobile itself is not really the great value, as the outstanding value comes from the bandwidth offerings, as you receive 15GB of data per month which is a large amount compared to some mobile broadband contracts that fall into the same price range. Thus, the contract may be a great choice for those who use mobile broadband frequently.

The even better news, the contract only costs £25 per month and does not include any extra setup fees. In other words, you only have to pay a pound per GB each month which is not such a bad deal.

This amount of access will allow you to surf the net from your mobile device for at least a few hours each day of the month without going over you data allotment for the month.

For those who want a free laptop with a mobile contract, if you are willing to pay £22.50 and accept the two year contract then you can also get a free laptop plus the 15GB mobile broadband package.

Filed under: Broadband Deals by Alan

An interesting study conducted by Ofcom exposed some surprising results to those who thought that offline people simply stay offline due to the expense of owning a PC and internet bills.

According to the results of the study, 42% of (currently not online) adults in the UK would choose to stay offline willingly even if they had a free broadband connection and were given a free PC, meaning that cost is not the reason why some people are not up to the digital age’s expectations.

On the brighter side, the study also showed that 1 in 5 of the UK adults who do not own a broadband connection do plan to go online in the next six months. The poll results were collected to represent the interest of the 17 million Britons who are not currently online, or in other words the 30% who are offline.

The UK government aims to promote people heading online, which make the Ofcom results a little disappointing as they may have more of a challenge than previously thought in completing their plans.
Yet, according to the study although 42% of the offline population claim they do not have an interest for the internet, out of which many must tend to belong to the older generation, 30% of the population simply reported they were offline because they did not know how to use the internet or it was not financially viable.

Peter Phillips, Ofcom’s market development partner, claimed that broadband is very important to society, and that the results of the poll show that a little creativity will be needed to show those who lack interest just how life changing and beneficial joining the online world could be.

The good news, the Communications Consumer Panel also reported after conducting a study, that 73% of those who do use the internet describe it as an utility that is as essential as electricity or water.

Filed under: Broadband News and Reviews by Alan

According to a report published by CIFAS, Britain’s fraud prevention service, online fraud and facility takeover fraud are the two major threats currently faced by businesses. As a result of the economic recession, facility takeover (account takeover) fraud has risen at an alarming rate.

In 2008, CIFAS has recorded growth of over 200% in such frauds as compared to the previous year. Mail order, plastic cards and bank accounts were found to be particularly vulnerable to identity theft. CIFAS has also estimated that in 2008, about 23% of UK internet users were victims of fraud.

According to CIFAS officials, there are a number of ways that fraudsters employed to gain the victim’s bank account particulars.

The survey conducted by CIFAS highlighted three main types on online scams that are usually perpetrated through fraudulent emails.
Phishing was reportedly the most common type of internet scam. In this scam, the victim receives an e-mail purporting to have come from a trusted source, such as a social networking site, a government agency, or a bank with whom the victim has an account.

Links in the email would lead to a fraudulent site which is specially designed in such a way that the victim voluntarily parts with his personal information.

The fake foreign letters scam took second place in the CIFAS survey. Herein, the victim receives an email stating that he or she is the winner of a lottery conducted by a foreign country.

The victim is then asked to pay a certain sum of money to meet administrative charges or foreign taxes. Such an email would also request the victim’s personal information in order to commit identity theft.

The final scam on the CIFAS list is the advance fee scam, in which the victim receives an email from the scammer, requesting his or her assistance in transferring a huge sum of money to the scammer’s (foreign) country. In return for the help, the scammer assures the victim a small but highly attractive share of the amount being transferred.

The scammer will usually send multiple emails in an effort to convince the victim and get his or her bank account details.

Filed under: Broadband Scam Alerts by Alan

Andrew Alden, the 27-year-old conman who duped eBay users out of almost £30,000, has been told that all he will have to pay back is the nominal sum of £1. Last November, Alden admitted to having fleeced 49 people for £28,967. He was able to pull off the scam by posting false advertisements on eBay for tickets to the rugby world cup.

As the fraud happened a year before the actual event, buyers did not realize that they had been scammed until it was too late. The buyer protection program offered by eBay is valid only for 45 days after the purchase.

A specially appointed investigator who looked in to Alden’s personal finances concluded that he had no bank accounts and that he relied mostly on benefits for his expenses.

The investigator also reported that he was unable to find any item that could have been bought using the stolen money. Alden supposedly had debts, but what actually happened to the money remains a mystery.

Alden, who is originally from York, but currently resides in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire, has been on Jobseeker’s allowance since last year. Prior to that he had been a student for a while and had had various part-time jobs.

During the investigation, it was that his bank account was overdrawn and that he had no assets which the authorities could confiscate. However, Judge Ashurst, who presided over the case, mentioned that if it were to emerge that Alden had any hidden assets, they could be confiscated at that time.

With seven previous convictions to his name, Alden is no stranger to the courtroom. He pleaded guilty to all charges of deception that were brought against him and requested that 42 other such offences be taken into account. Investigators not only failed to seize Alden’s ill-gotten gains, but his lack of personal assets even saved him from paying the court costs of £364.

Filed under: Broadband Scam Alerts by Alan