LTE Seen as Better Data Access Technology
Industry experts speaking at United Kingdoms’ Wireless 2.0 conference expressed their view that LTE or Long Term Evolution technology will not have problems competing with today’s fixed broadband connections in future markets.
Professor Michael Walker, director of Vodafone UK’s research and development group, said that the new data technology coined Long Term Evolution or LTE will be able to match or even surpass the connection speeds of current hard line regular fixed broadband connections.
The mobility and heightened experience of wireless internet combined with the high speeds of today’s fixed line broadband speeds will results in a richer and higher quality experience, said the professor. By matching land based fixed broadband lines with wireless connections former concerns of data speeds and reliability will be put to rest.
Long Term Evolution, WiMax, and FTTH or Fiber to the Home are now competing technologies vying for market share in the United Kingdom. This competition is key to learning the future of broadband technology in the country. Currently Vodafone’s stance is clear that LTE is their choice for future broadband connections.
Current HSPA networks employed by the United Kingdom’s mobile broadband operators use a lower spectrum that is less efficient in data transmission. Long Term Evolution will use the 20 MHz spectrum which can carry a download speed of 15 Megabits per second. Field trials of the technology has shown 20 Megabits per second transfer speeds at the center of a Long Term Evolution cell and 1.3 Megabits per second transfer rates at the edges.
Learning from its mistakes using 3G technology, Vodafone’s says that it will ensure the viability of Long Term Evolution before purchasing a radio spectrum. "3G was going to give 1Mbit/s but in some places you were lucky to get 300Kbit/s. It's not going to be like that with LTE." said the professor.
Ireland Shifts to Vodafone for Broadband Connections
A new contract between British Telecom and Vodafone led to the transfer of Irelands voice and broadband services to Vodafone. Small businesses and residential consumer broadband customers of British Telecom will now receive their connections from Vodafone. The deal which has been in play for several months know is deemed to beneficial for both companies and consumers.
Vodafone, the mobile phone company, has become the second largest provider of land based broadband in the recent months. It has gained a total over three thousand small businesses and eighty-four thousand residential customers as a result of the transfer from British Telecom. The seven year contract ensures that Vodafone will maintain its major position in the broadband market today. Other than land based broadband connections, Vodafone is also known for mobile broadband connections and other mobile phone based data applications.
British Telecom will now be focusing on wholesale broadband and its underlying infrastructure. Using a technique called Local Loop Unbundling, British Telecom intends to increase the number of corporate customers using previous resources devoted to consumer businesses. One of these new customers is the new consumer broadband provider, which is Vodafone.
The contract is valued around 4.8 million pounds in assets. This latest business transaction make perfect sense for the situation in Ireland where small business and consumer broadband only accounts for about ten percent of the overall customer base of British Telecom in the area. According to British Telecom (Ireland) CEO Chris Clarke ‘Our core focus has been the corporate market. And infrastructure-based competition hasn't happened in Ireland."
The executive also added that they are planning to unbundle fifty-eight more exchanges to add to the twenty two exchanges already unbundled by British Telecom. Using this unbundling technique almost two-thirds of Ireland will have broadband speeds of up to 24Mbps which is a great increase from the previous available broadband speeds in the area.
Vodafone Offers Free Access to Facebook
Vodafone recenty announced a new promotion giving free access to Facebook for subscribers who use their mobile broadband services. This and other premium promotions are part of Vodafone’s renewed effort to increase its mobile broadband subscriber base and extend their market influence.
Coined as the Free Friday series, these promotions were launched last and started with offers of unlimited mobile internet access for a flat rate of 50p per day. Vodafone also included premium access to digital rights management free music on free music Friday. This new campaign involving Facebook, along with their other programs are targeted at today’s youth.
Vodaphone’s new marketing campaign is aimed at creating a youthful mobile internet base to maximize their existing mobile communications network. New technologies acquired by Vodafone has enabled them to offer mobile broadband to most of their coverage areas and in the major population centers.
The free Facebook service is available to subscribers using their laptop or home pc with Vodafone’s mobile broadband service and through Vodafone’s mobile phones. The data counters used by Vodafone will stop moving when visiting the Facebook website and resume counting when moving out of them. The regular pay as you go rates or the standard 50p per day rates will apply when visiting non Facebook websites.
Other than this Facebook access time, Vodafone is also offering a Facebook alert service that will enable users to receive updates on their profile pages. This ranges from wall alerts, status updates, pokebacks and other alerts on facebook. The updates will be sent through SMS or text messaging. Users may also reply to these alerts to and standard text messaging rates apply.
Shopping Incentives for New Vodafone Mobile Broadband Subscribers
With the increase in popularity of mobile broadband services in the United Kingdom, broadband service providers have unleashed a slew of attractive packages and deals that may entice new subscribers into their customer base. Telecommunications giant Vodafone has introduced a new incentive program for their new customers.
Recent announcements have revealed that Vodafone will now include incentives, in the form of thirty pound vouchers from lastminute.com, to their new subscribers. The voucher itself can be used to purchase a multitude of products and features from simple show tickets to holiday retreats and theater breaks.
The voucher is available to new subscribers to selected mobile broadband service packages. Interested customers enter a promotional code on the Vodafone website to qualify for the voucher. Vodafone offers mobile broadband in twenty four month packages priced at fifteen pounds a month. Other than the voucher the package come with a data rate of up to 7.2Mbps, a free usb modem dongle, and a 3GB data allowance. Greater data allowance capacity of 5GB is available with the twenty five pound mobile broadband package.
Mobile broadband services in the United Kingdom are experiencing rapid growth and with that, increased competition. Other than competitive prices, most of the companies now offer promotional discounts, incentives, freebies, among other additional service to encourage new customers. It is wise to check out these great deals before making a decision on which carrier to go with.
Network congestion and customer service has also become a key factor in user carrier preference especially when concerning mobile broadband. Newer technologies such as the mobile broadband ready netbooks, WiMax and instant-on mobile broadband access modems has changed and is continuously influencing the mobile broadband market.
iPhone: An alternative mobile broadband, which can be bought at an exactly same price
It is genuinely true that the expenses that were spent by mobile suppliers to utilize both the Apple iPhone 3G and iPhone 3G S can just be equated with the cost of a piece of a software.
Around the globe, mobile users are shifting from using iPhones to utilizing a wireless broadband modem in their everyday communication. This in-demand modem has 3GB memory storage; yet, users have to pay £14.68 for this kind of gadget.
Interestingly, this small but useful piece of software can be also downloaded from benm.com, which is the site of iPhone buffs.
O2 is the sole mobile network provider in the UK for the iPhone, and at present, it is enjoying the great sales upon the release of the new model of iPhone 3GS.
On the contrary, this release can also bring some conflict to the popular mobile provider. O2 will likely to file legal claims against the administration of iPhone for some of its dues left unpaid.
With this legal actions that likely to impede the operation of this gigantic mobile provider, there are still great chances that iPhone will continue to produce useful and unique applications upon the settlement of this conflict.
iPhone has been known for its good reputation in creating valuable and one-of-a-kind software applications through the years. It may be banned for quite some time; but for sure, this will be fixed in due time accordingly.
The stores that sell various iPhone Apps are strictly regulating the marketing and sales of their products; they guarantee that not a single application will be detrimental to both users and mobile providers.
O2 Recipient of Multiple Awards
During the latest Internet Service Providers Association Awards, O2 garnered several awards. The company is UK's top mobile, fixed line and broadband service provider. Because of its recent success and recognitions, it is now celebrating all its achievements.
Because of this, recent reports professed that O2 has elevated itself to be to be one of the biggest mobile and broadband service provider in the region now that it has received a number of awards under its belt. This has significantly added to the already growing success of the Telefonica-owned company. O2 has been consistent in its continuing promotional strategies. Among the company's campaign is to have more broadband coverage in UK. They have already tied-up with major hotspots to have more Wi-fi coverage and engage more potential users to try out the services available.
Among the awards that O2 received were the Best Consumer Fixed Broadband Award and the Best Consumer Service Award. For the latter, the concession of the majority of the judges is that O2 was over-qualified for the award and has exceeded the expectations. The mobile and broadband service provider giant garnered the recognition because of its continuing excellence in customer service. The company can also pride itself in the fact that it has a small number of complaints from its users. O2 beat out its rivals: Virgin Media, Be Unlimited, Eclipse Internet, and PlusNet.
The other awards were enjoyed by Claranet and Vodafone. Claranet for Best Business Broadband Internet Service Provider award and Vodafone got the Best Consumer Mobile Broadband. The Internet Service Providers Association Awards was held at the Grosvenor Marriott Hotel. However, for the over-all ratings, it was still O2 who out-shined the competition. It has, so far, became to one to beat.
O2 Launches Free Trial Promo for Dongle Exchange
O2, one of UK's leading telecommunications providers announced its latest promotional scheme. The Telefonica-owned network provider announced that anyone can trade-in their existing mobile broadband dongles for a new O2 USB broadband dongle. The users of any of O2's competitors' services will now be given a chance to use O2's latest USB dongle innovations.
This latest campaign will only run until the end of July and available in only 20 selected stores within Manchester area only. The only stipulation for this program is that any user of non-O2 USB dongles will have to trade-in their units for O2's own dongle. New users will then have to get their Pay-As-You-Go O2 E1 60 USB dongle for free. Since this is a limited offer, anyone interested will have to get their new dongles before the end of the month to be eligible for the program.
Mr. Jonathan Earle, O2's head of Pay Monthly further stated “We know that our company provides the best mobile and broadband service in the region. However, it is not enough saying this fact. We want all users and potential users to try out our services to prove that we can exceed their expectations. The best thing about this is that there is no long-term commitment required from anyone interested.”
Another telecommunications expert added: “This will benefit users of other competing service providers who are not happy with their existing packaged bundles. However, those who have contracts with other service providers may not join the Amnesty campaign as those who have Pay-As-You-Go benefits the most.
Those who are lucky enough to join the campaign should be able to have unlimited access if they are in the BT Openzone Wi-Fi areas in the country.
Major Telecommunications Company Explains Exorbitant Fees
The region's top mobile communications giant has recently been accused of charging extra added fees for going beyond the set data downloaded via mobile devices. The giant mobile company defends itself by saying that the expensive charges are there to limit the abuse of data transfers.
While all mobile communication service providers have packages with provisions for data downloading, they make sure that there will be capping system. Most consumers believe that their fixed line broadband service have unlimited downloading features.
The users of packages for mobile and broadband use should be aware that their set rates only include a certain amount of downloading time and data. If one goes beyond the inclusion in the package, the excess from the set limit will have to be charged accordingly. The company in question is said to have the highest charges for excess data downloads. The rate that they are charging for the excess is being criticized by the public as users have been complaining that their bills have gone up unexpectedly just because they have exceeded the limit in their bundled packaged plans. One will find an unpleasant surprise when he sees that downloading more than the set provision is costing him so much.
O2 further explained that the excess charges are just to serve as a deterrent and as a way to impose stricter provisions to ensure that the users are aware that there are policies to be followed for data downloading. O2 professes that they send an SMS or a text message to the users when they reach the 50% usage limit and another one upon reaching 90% usage levels. Lastly, an official company representative added that “We are always at the fore-front of reminding our clients about our pricing structures, service bundle inclusions, and changes in the rates.”
Vodafone’s goal: To provide its rural users a much better reception
Just recently, an announcement was made that Vodafone have planned to sell a broadband device that aims to enhance their mobile phone signal strength. This will be done through the use of broadband connection at home to route calls.
Access Gateway is a fresh new product, which costs £160, with a monthly charge of £5 per month. This is planned to be released by the end of June. Ian Shephard, consumer director of Vodafone UK, stated his positive beliefs on the usefulness of this device. This device is ideal for users, who are based in rural areas in the country. There is limited access; and several experts have made criticisms regarding this new signal-enhancing device. Vodafone is one cheap means to increase its network coverage.
"The Vodafone Access Gateway will boost indoor mobile phone coverage for customers who today find they need to move around the rooms in their home to get consistent signal strength." Shephard mentioned.
This size of this new device is the same as that of a broadband router, which connects over a standard broadband line. Also included in its features is its ability to permit users to access the device with the use of any mobile phone, which can connect over a 3G network.
Some experts say that the benefits that were brought by this new device are also proven to be useful for mobile broadband users, who are using a USB modem.
By 2012, the government has an objective to provide universal broadband access at a speed of at least 2Mbps. They will do it with the help of this new device.
However, the objective of this new device to provide the added coverage needed to give broadband users in the more rural areas access is presently considered to be unachievable.
Virgin Media formed a new partnership
Just recently, Virgin Media announced its new offering to their customers which will come in this exciting package: an extensive variety of reliable sets of mobile broadband, which comes in a very fast and reliable broadband connection in the UK and the newest offering, which is the mobile portal.
More recognized as RoundU, this new portal is specifically designed for mobile broadband users from the United Kingdom using Virgin Media's newest broadband service. It aims to offer information regarding the subscriber’s physical location.
Mobile commerce is a location-based specialist, which provides important information to their subscribers.
Through the use of RoundU service, people will have the ability to search for their precise location and be furnished with vast information regarding the location they are currently in. The information they can find include the following: the most accessible amenities, and Thompson listings, for personal and business purposes respectively.
In addition, they can also find some other information regarding amusement sites from various associations and society. There are also certain guides and other useful information that an individual can make use of to know more about a specific location.
Steve Page, Mobile Commerce’s head manager expressed his gratitude and pleasure to be partnered with Virgin Media. He said that he was truly gratified when Virgin Media agreed to work with his company. He assured the people who are supporting them that they will continue to provide them with quality products and services.
Almost two million business listings, and up to 11 000 location sites in the UK will be provided to its users by RoundU. This will cater to their various needs like where to dine in and where to stay and enjoy while they are in the country.
