There is an interesting article in the Times about the dilemma facing AOL customers. The Carphone Warehouse has recently purchased AOL UK. AOL customers are likely to be tempted by TalkTalk’s (part of the Carphone Warehouse) free broadband offer. However, TalkTalk has is suffering from the widely publicised problems with connecting people to the broadband service, and its own customer service call centres. The purchase of AOL may actually help TalkTalk, as AOL has more call centres around the UK and a better reputation for customer support.

AOL customers will not be automatically transferred to TalkTalk. Our advice to AOL customers nearing the end of their contract is to look around, because there are plenty of good deals out there besides the TalkTalk one.

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Carphone Warehouse will not longer be able to sell Vodafone monthly contract phones. Vodafone has signed an exclusive deal with Phones4u. This places a fundamental aspect of the Carphone Warehouse model in jeopardy. Carphone Warehouse will no longer be able to offer a comprehensive range of mobile deals.

Charles Dunstone, Chief Executive of Carphone Warehouse, claims that Vodafone had approached them about signing an exclusive deal, but they refused it: “”We are surprised and disappointed by this decision,” he said. “But we have to protect the impartiality of the advice we give customers and we just could not sign this type of contract.”

This move means that customers are going to ensure that they shop around, as it is no longer possible to compare mobile deals in one retail store.

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The Carphone Warehouse has bought the UK arm of AOL for £370 million. This makes Carphone Warehouse, with its TalkTalk brand, the third biggest internet provider in the UK behind NTL and BT. AOL UK has nearly 2 million customers, with 1.4 million of them on broadband. TalkTalk already has 412,000 active customers, most of which have come on board because of its massively popular free broadband offer.

This purchase will make Carphone Warehouse a serious threat to all other players in the market. Both Carphone Warehouse and AOL UK have invested heavily in local loop unbundling, the process where internet providers take ownership of part of the broadband network. The combined outfit will lead to serious cost savings.

It looks like TalkTalk and AOL UK will be run as separate brands for the foreseeable future.

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The number of households with digital TV continues to grow. According to offical Ofcom figures, the percentage of households with digital TV has increased from 69.7% to 70.2% between the end of March and the end of June.

The increase is, in part at least, due to the digital switchover. The analogue signal will be turned off from 2008 and people must switch to digital TV to be able to receive television.

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TalkTalk’s head, Charles Dunstone has admitted that they got it wrong when launching the UK’s first free broadband service. TalkTalk has been slammed by the BBC’s Watchdog programme. A staggering half a million people have signed up to TalkTalk’s free broadband service. However thousands have been left with long delays and have been unable to get any joy out of TalkTalk’s customer service lines.

Charles Dunstone said that they were overhelmed by the number of people signing up to the free broadband service and their call centers could not cope with the call volumes. “I got it wrong. I didn’t realise that free broadband was going to have the effect on people it has,” Charles Dunstone said.

“It’s been a bruising experience for everyone at Carphone Warehouse (TalkTalk’s parent company); we are used to being ‘the good guys’ and it’s tough when things don’t go as well as we’d hoped. As things start to improve, I hope people will appreciate that what we did was for the best for all consumers, and whilst giving birth to free broadband was painful, it is now turning out to be a beautiful child.”

TalkTalk and its parent company, the Carphone Warehouse, has been hiring more staff to cope with the demand. It is also allowing customers to break their 18 month contract if TalkTalk has been unable to uphold its end of the bargin.

TalkTalk was the first UK broadband provider to offer free broadband in April of this year. Since then Sky and Orange have followed suit.

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Save £405 on a Nokia 6111 with Orange. The Phonespot are offering this stellar deal which includes the following:

• Free Nokia 6111
• 800 inclusive minutes per month
• 400 inclusive texts per month
• 18 month contract
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According to an EU survey, virtually all European schools have internet access and nearly two thirds are connected via broadband. “Europe is starting to reap the benefits of broadband at schools where the foundations are laid for a knowledge-based society,” Viviane Reding, the EU Information Society Commissioner said in a statement.

Europe is behind the US in terms of broadband access though. 95% of public schools in the US have broadband access.

Broadband access in schools is not consistent across European member states. 90% of schools in Scandinavia and the Netherlands have broadband access, the figure is less than 35% in Greece, Poland, Cyprus, and Lithuania.

An average of 10 students share a computer across Europe, compared with only 4 in the US. The UK leads Europe for the number of schools using computers in class for teaching, with 96% doing so.

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