Sky has extended it digital TV special offer until Nov 30th. You can get Sky TV half price for the first three months and packages from £7.50 per month (£15 thereafter).
To find out more, visit Sky’s website
Dell has a range of special offers available on desktop computers and laptops, including a stellar deal on the Dimension 3100:
Dimension 3100
This deal ends Nov 1st.
Orange has launched a new set of broadband deals. The free broadband offer is continued for customers with an Orange mobile. The mobile monthly line rental must be over £30 per month to qualify. The free broadband is on Orange Broadband Starter and is 2Mb with a 2GB monthly download cap.
The new products are:
Broadband Starter
Broadband Unlimited
The Livebox is a wireless router, allowing you to connect up to 6 computers to your broadband connection and make phone calls over the internet by connecting your normal phone to the Livebox.
NTL:Telewest are planning on selling their triple offering of broadband, home phone, digital television and mobile phones through Virgin stores next year. The merged company of NTL, Telewest and Virgin Mobile will be re-branded under the Virgin name. Part of the deal allows the products to be sold in Virgin’s 120 high street stores.
This will allow NTL:Telewest to really take on the likes of the Carphone Warehouse. It is also seen as a reversal of the trend for businesses to move their sales functions online.
Skype is offering 6 months of free calls to UK landline to users who buy Skype Credit for international or mobile calls before Dec 31st. This includes calls to landlines in Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.
Skype is one of the worlds leading voice of internet (VoIP) providers. Calls are carried over the internet rather than traditional telephone lines.
O2 has dramatically cut the cost of making and receiving calls while roaming overseas. You can now call the UK from Spain on your UK mobile for 25 pence per minute. A “high roamer” service is to be introduced, where incoming calls will be free for a £5 per month fee. This is available on O2 sister network in Spain, Movistar. O2 is going to extend the cut price roaming to 35 international destinations, including the rest of the EU.
The EU has recently been critical of mobile firms across Europe for over charging customer who are roaming outside of their home country. O2 had previously had some of the highest roaming charges.
We hope this move by O2 will be followed the other mobile operators in order to cut the cost of using your mobile while abroad.
The government in Iran has banned broadband and limited the speed of internet access to 128k. Iran has recently clamped down on the use of satellite dishes, which Iranians use to watch western TV.
Iran has five million internet users. The ban seems to be an attempt to make it harder for Iranian internet users from downloading western music, movies and TV shows.
For more information, see the Guardian report on the issue.
There is strong speculation that Apple is in the process of developing an iPod mobile phone and that they have trademarked the name “iPhone”. An Apple insider claims that in the trademark filing, Apple described the iPhone as “handheld and mobile digital electronic device for the sending and receiving of telephone calls, faxes, electronic mail, and other digital data; MP3 and other digital format audio players,”
Watch this space!
A study by Intelecon Research claims that 90% of the world’s population could have mobile coverage by 2010. It is estimated that approximately 80% of the world’s population currently has mobile coverage, but only 40% (2 billion people) actually have a mobile phone.
It is possible for 100% of the world’s population to have mobile coverage, but governments and mobile operators must do more to help extend networks into rural areas, particularly in developing nations. Many governments collect levies from telecom operators, which is used to extend telecommunication coverage into rural areas. However this usually used to extend the fixed-line network rather than mobile network. Fixed-line networks are far more expensive to build.
According to Point Topic’s latest report, customers are still receiving poor customer service from broadband providers. A quarter of UK households are “irritated and frustrated” with their broadband provider’s customer support.
It is not all bad though, with 91% of users happy with the reliability and quality of the service. 82% are satisfied with download speeds.
Telewest received the lowest rating for value for money. Orange and Tiscali were the most dissatisfied with their bills and pricing. AOL and Orange (Wanadoo) were most dissatisfied with download speeds.