Broadband Comparison, News & Reviews

Be Broadband has recently commenced an interesting offer which might well be the ideal broadband internet solution for many, especially for students.

The nine month package comes at a price of ?18 per month. Subscribers will be provided with a bandwidth of around 25MBps with the privilege of unlimited usage.

The consumer end equipment, a wireless router with built-in Wi-Fi access point (AP), will be provided for free, and the 24/7 customer support of Be Broadband will also come free of cost.

To make the offer even more appealing, Be Broadband has announced it is to give away an Amazon voucher worth ?26 to all the new subscribers.

The only downside of the offer could be that the users will not be provided with static IPs, rather IP addresses will be assigned by DHCP. And the student offer also does not encourage users to upload.

For professional use, Be Broadband has the Pro package, where each subscriber will be provided with a static IP address. Subscribers will also enjoy an upload speed of 2.6 MBps.

Among the other alternative broadband internet solutions, there are pre-paid offers available by several ISPs. Pre paid offers are handy in the sense that users can use it as per requirement, and do not have to worry about yearly/half-yearly contracts.

Filed under: Broadband Deals by Alan

EBay customers hoping to get golf clubs, passes for an airline lounges, and accessories were duped by a global network of criminals out of millions of pounds in a scam described at the Snaresbrook Crown Court, that was on a scale that this not comparable to any other scam.

The scammers had a clear idea of what they were doing since as soon as buyers and eBay became suspicious of the purchases and delayed shipments the scam account holders quickly drew up fake invoices to send out to eBay.

Prosecution lawyer Adam Davis said that most of the golf brands out there have already been affected by counterfeit goods that are sold on eBay and that this may be the largest counterfeit conspiracy that has every occurred on eBay that has been discovered to this date.

According to Davis, the scam operated over a period of four years from 2003-2008 and included the sale of millions of counterfeit items both in the UK and abroad through eBay.

Adding to the magnitude of the crime is the fact that the conspirators hid their tracks well distributing the goods from several different continents including locations in Asia, North America, Europe, and Australia.

The goods were originally created in China and then shipped out to various locations including to conspirators that were found in Aberdeen, Birmingham, Wales, and the Republic of Ireland.

Authorities were first clued in to the scam when an elderly woman complained to trading officers that she was not issued a refund even though she had sent in several letters of complaint.

Filed under: Broadband Scam Alerts by Alan

There may be good news on the front for BT customers as the largest phone company in the UK may soon have to reduce how much the company charges its 14 million landline customers for broadband and pay TV due to a watchdog ruling that is aimed at levelling the competitive playing field for telecom companies.

Ofcom, the telecoms regulator watchdog, lifted restrictions that it placed on BT telecoms when it was a private company in the 80?s that prevented the company from creating bundled package deals for broadband and line services at a discounted price.

The new change may mean that in the coming autumn for the first time BT can begin to offer package deals to consumers which rival companies have been able to do for years.

When the news was received, BT stocks immediately saw a jump of 4.4% which left the company as the largest riser reported on the FTSE 100 index.

BSkyB and Virgin Media have been packaging fixed line and broadband bundles which allows the companies to sell both services to customers at a reduced rate versus paying for the two services separately.

Due to the previous ruling which was aimed at preventing BT from getting a monopoly the company could only offer packages to customers that equalled the sum of what the two components would cost separately.

Since BT does not hold the same market power any longer Ofcom believes that it is now ok to create healthy competition among the competitors.

Filed under: Broadband News and Reviews by Alan

Tesco?s Telecoms division reported that this quarter there was a large surge in the pay as you go mobile broadband deals because students were busy preparing for a new year studying at the university.

With a record number of students heading to universities this year Tesco Telecoms was able to report that pay as you go mobile deals increased by about 71% because these flexible deals are usually more popular among students.

Students often go for mobile broadband services because it is affordable and does not need a fixed landline which many students do not have in their new lodgings.

Tesco offers a large variety of the pay as you go mobile broadband deals with the lowest priced options starting at under ?20 for a device although top-ups must be purchased to keep the mobile active as time goes by.

The cheapest deal for students is the T-Mobile dongle which is priced at ?19.56 and gives users 30 days of free service when the mobile is topped up by ?2.

Additionally, students can also go the other way and sign into an Orange contract with the mobile which offers students a ?20 HMV discount.

Filed under: Broadband Deals by Alan

A new campaign starts today that will help educate shoppers about what their consumer rights are.

The campaign is the result of a new study that was released by the Department of Business that showed that people over the age of 35 felt they were more likely to be misled or mischarged while shopping on the high street.

On the other, hand those between the age of 16 and 34 felt the internet was the one shopping location where they were more likely to be mislead.

The study also reported that 58% of all consumers surveyed reported they had asked for a refund or exchange after having a problem with their purchase over the last year at least one time and up to three times on line or in shops.

Kevin Brennan, the Consumer Minister, stated that there are plenty of protections already written into legislation to protect shoppers, but consumers need to be more aware of their rights.

He went on to say that consumers that are knowledgeable are more likely to find good deals and value for their money which is increasingly important with the state of the current economy.

The consumer rights campaign will run into 2010 and is run by the Department of Business with help from the Office of Fair Trading and Consumer Focus as well as the Trading Standards Institute.

The title of the campaign is ?Know Your Consumer Rights? and was developed around the central idea that consumers need to be aware of what rights they have when it comes to shopping.

In particular it will focus on three rights when it comes to goods: that goods are made of satisfactory quality, are suitable for the intended purpose, and fit the description that a store or website details.

Another key right that many people may not be aware of is the fact that if a good is faulty the retailer is responsible for selling it to you and not the manufacturer.

Additionally, if a merchant visits your home you have ten days to choose to cancel an order without a reason and are subject to a full refund.

Filed under: Broadband Scam Alerts by Alan

Fiona Taylor, a 25 year old mother from Scunthorpe decided that she would auction her mobile phone online to help her pay the bills, but what she got instead was a failed scam attempt which the police quickly thwarted.

An American responded to her auction asking her to send the mobile phone valued at ?150 to his son in Nigeria. After the first email, an email that resembled PayPal emails was sent to her asking for a tracking number to be sent before the buyer would be allowed to send her funds for the mobile.

Taylor stated that although the request seemed odd, the email had the PayPal logos on it so she had no reason to think that there was anything wrong with the order.

In fact, since the ?American? told her that it was for a birthday present she even decorated the box.

However, when Taylor returned home she attempted to enter the requested tracing number into the email and realized that there was no way to enter an order tracking number which tipped her off to the fact that she had just been scammed.

Taylor called the post office first but was told that without a warrant they would be unable to give her back the package. However, a quick call to the Humberside police and the mobile was safely back in her possession.

Filed under: Broadband Scam Alerts by Alan

Those who have had their eye on the Avonline 3.6MB Tooway satellite broadband service may be pleased to learn that the new cost of installation of the service is now reduced by ?100. The service is a prime choice for those who live in rural areas and will now only cost ?599 to be activated and installed outside of VAT.

Once the service is installed, it will cost users ?29.99 a month for 384Kb for uploads and 3.6Mb of downloads which is apparently pleasing to customers since the interest in the package has been increasing over the last few months according to the company.

Currently, users can choose between four different satellite deals if they choose the Tooway service from Avoline which all offer the same high rate of download and upload speeds but differ in the amount of data usage that they offer their customers.

Manager of Avonline?s broadband services, Craig Roberts, stated that the company has worked hard so that all customers can access broadband in all locations especially those that live in rural areas who do not have reliable or any access to traditional ADSL service.

Roberts also said that over the next few months the company will continue to expand its offerings so that customers who want satellite broadband packages who live in rural areas will have a wider spectrum of choices.

Tooway Broadband was launched by Avonline this past July across Europe and the UK. The unique service allows customers to choose one month plans instead of long term contracts.

Filed under: Broadband Deals by Alan

TalkTalk, Orange, and BT as well as Which? are some of the top telecom companies and consumer watch groups that believe the new proposals from the Government regarding illegal filesharing are not realistic.

Lord Mandelson proposed to the top five telecoms providers in a meeting that in order to reduce and prevent people from illegal downloads it should be the provider?s jobs to cut their internet connection as punishment.

David Geffen and Mandelson came up with the idea while dining together in Corfu. This is not the firs the first disapproval of the idea, as the Digital Britain Review from the Lord Carter earlier in the year rejected the idea as well.

Representatives from the telecoms industry and consumer groups stated in a press release that the move to make broadband operators responsible would threaten the rights of consumers and also would stall new development in terms of service offerings.

The group collectively wrote a statement that stated that punishment measures for illegal downloading should be run by Ofcom and not the service providers.

The statement also addressed the fact that consumers need to be considered innocent until they are found guilty and that taking away the process of due law by cutting internet connections does not allow consumers the right to defence.

The statement by the group also stated that ISPs and consumers should not be given the responsibility of paying for the disciplinary actions since most customers do not engage in illegal file sharing and thus the content industry would face high costs that could prevent further advancement.

The ISP Karoo began cutting off those suspected of illegal downloads in July, but quickly stopped after public outcry followed their move stating that they decided to take a more moderate approach by following a new ?three strikes and you?re out? guideline

Filed under: Broadband News and Reviews by Alan

On Friday it was announced that a man known in across Europe as the ?fraud king? was found and arrested in France after he was able to trick over 500,000 Euro out of tourists via Internet scams.

The ?fraud king? is actually Carlo Rao, 31 who used an elaborate scheme online to trick people into wiring him money for payments towards vacations, tourist apartments, and other similar accommodation that were never delivered according to Diego Acqui who led the Roman police investigation.

Rao was picked up in the French city of Toulon late on Thursday after police were successfully able to track his latest wire transfer at a Western Union Office.

Although the transfer form had a fake name pencilled in, Rao used a correct address which led police to his home.

According to Acqui, Rao had been successfully scamming people over the last five years starting small by offering little items on eBay such as mobiles and jewels. He will be expedited to Italy for his trail.

Not only will Rao face fraud charges in Italy, but he also has an old kidnapping charge from an alleged incident that took place several years back when he forced an ex-girlfriend to remain in his home against her will.

Filed under: Broadband Scam Alerts by Alan

As promised a few weeks ago Virgin Media has gone ahead and reduced the cost of its XXL brand 50mbps package. If the customer takes a regular phone line connection and then combines that with the 50mbps broadband the initial cost will now be just ?18 per month for the first three months of the contract, down from ?35 under the old deal.

After the initial 3 month reduced rate the offer then goes up to ?28 per month for the rest of the contract.

If the customer is not interested in the phone connection part of the deal then they can opt for the XXL standalone product for just ?33 per month, down ?17 pounds from the old ?50 tariff.

In addition whichever of these two deals you select Virgin will provide a free wireless router.

Virgin say they are able to offer these reductions because they have now completed an upgrade that has taken well over a year.

This upgrade has enabled Virgin media to increase its fibre network capacity threefold which in turn will allow them to offer up to 12,000,000 homes the possibility of a 50Mbps connection at a reduced rate

Virgin claim to have already had very positive feedback from their customers with regard to reliability and speed. The full roll out of the new system will be completed in the next few days cementing what the company believes is its insurmountable pole position in the broadband market.

Filed under: Broadband Deals by Alan