T-Mobile announces Christmas gift ideas
Joining the bandwagon of early well-wishers for Christmas, T-Mobile has announced its mobile broadband gift packages. T-Mobile claims that giving these bundles as a present is an expression of wanting to be closer, expressing love and stating one’s preference for better technology.
The recently unveiled gift packs are available with 3-month and 12-month bundles to choose from. They already include a T-Mobile 150 mobile broadband USB dongle. The offer also comes with just a single payment and unlimited browsing anytime, all the time.
For its 3-month gift pack, T-Mobile pegged monthly rates at only £44.03. This should mean savings for other Christmas items to give away as this gift pack allows savings of over 25% as compared to prepaid plans. On the other hand, the 12-month gift pack also offers that 20% savings for subscribers, while the one-year bills cost is only £146.79.
While the gift packs do not include watching videos or downloading files, the better side is that it will allow internet access using your laptop regardless of your location. More importantly, users can then chat with friends and update their social network status whether they are at home, at work or vacationing. Being so, these T-Mobile gift packs sure are a good Christmas present to give to your family and friends because it tells them subtly you want to stay connected with them!
These devices come with exchangeable covers so consumers can pick the look for the one they wish to give as a present. Because it can be purchased at one-off cost right away, this saves the giver and the happy recipient of such Christmas the trouble of being tied down to a subscription fee. Being so, a T-Mobile user will simply enjoy continued connectivity – starting this Christmas and beyond.
For additional information, please visit: pocket-lint.com
T-Mobile is the mobile broadband topper
Mobile broadband service provider, T-Mobile, has emerged winner in a poll which had been designed to identify the mobile broadband service provider which was the highest rated in the country.
The survey was created by YouGoy and questioned more than 2 thousand mobile broadband users a number of questions which had been designed with a high degree of care to measure particular features such as ease of use and installation.
T-Mobile emerged trumps by topping it in four different categories, which included billing and customer satisfaction.
These ratings meant that T-Mobile got the highest score as a whole and enabled T-Mobile to emerge as the winner for the third consecutive quarter.
T-Mobile, in a statement, said that these results were ample proof of the commitment that the network has toward providing its customer with a more affordable and easier to use service.
Source - techwatch.co.uk
MiFi launched by 3 – Is the dongle’s end near?
Just as Christmas is about to come, the mobile network 3 has unveiled its newest innovation. It is the Mobile WiFi aka MiFi, which will enable you to make use of the 3G mobile broadband network via a Wi-Fi link.
A wireless router, powered on a small battery, will be included when you have signed on to Mobile WiFi. There is no configuration needed. Just put in your 3 UK SIM and power on the modem in order to activate your porta – WiFi hotspot.
If the question “What’s so special about Mi-Fi?” popped up in your mind, it’s this. Though you can purchase routers which enable you to have a 3G connection via WiFi, there isn’t a solution currently in the market which allows the portability of MiFi or the zero configuration.
This service will be available on purchase of a new subscription. You can avail of 2 packages. One is the ‘Broadband 5GB 1 month’ package, whereby you pay 15 pounds for 5 GB of data. The modem itself will set you back by 69.99 pounds. The other package is ‘Ready to Go’, whereby, for a one – time payment of 99.99 pounds, you get 3 GB of data in addition to the MiFi modem, which could be utilized for 3 months. After this, the modem can be used on a PAYG basis.
MiFi is a great thing for people who would want wireless broadband on the go. A wireless solution is sure to appeal to everyone. Moreover, the number of devices having WiFi is increasing. This includes a number of phones, game consoles and laptops. Though it is an amazing innovation, it is yet to be seen whether customers will be willing to throw in the dongle.
Mobile WiFi will be open for subscriptions from 17th September from 3 and in all 3 stores in the country from the 18th.
Orange Mobile Broadband to provide unlimited overnight downloads
Orange has come up with a variety of packages for mobile broadband which also allow unlimited overnight downloads.
Customers of Orange Mobile Broadband’s new package, which includes the Early Bird tariffs, have a particular download allowance for a month, but also have unlimited downloads during off – peak hours between 12 AM and 9 AM.
This new package will be starting from 12.72 pounds monthly for a free 3GB data bundle, and will go upto 17.62 pounds for 5 GB and 27.4 pounds for a 10 GB data bungle. All pacakges come with a free mobile broadband USB dongle as well as a 1 year contract.
Customers of these packages can also purchase additional data if required in bundles of 1 GB, 3 GB, 5 GB or 10 GB with the price starting at a mere 5 pounds for 1 GB and going upto 20 pounds in order to get a 10 GB additional data bundle.
The product director of broadbandchoices.co.uk, Michael Phillips, said that Orange is the first ISP in the country to have provided such an amazing deal. Mobile broadband packages tend to offer much less download allowances when compared to the fixed – line broadband connections and customers have a tendency to go over their limit, thereby incurring a lot of additional costs, added Phillips.
Phillips continued by saying that the new tariffs provided by Orange will be a real boon to mobile broadband users as they will be able to put items to download overnight without eating up into their monthly data bundle allocation, resulting in less costs incurred for these downloads.
Orange, Phillips mentioned, also provide additional bundles at the least cost in the market. They charge, he said, nearly 10 pounds less than what rivals do for 1 GB.
Merger of Orange and T-Mobile to result in the biggest mobile phone company in the UK
Orange and T-Mobile are merging to become the biggest mobile phone operator in the country, with over 28.4 million customers (37% of the market), thereby going over rivals Vodafone and O2.
However, the deal will result in significant lay – offs among the total 19,000 workers as the 2 companies will reduce the number of towers, close high street retail stores and cut down on call center staff in an aim to save nearly 3.5 billion pounds.
The number of mobile phone masts will reduce by at least 5,000.
By 2012, the venture will come under one name with either T-Mobile or Orange resigned to the waste bin. A decision hasn’t been reached on the brand to be dumped until the merger is approved by authorities, which will, most probably, take a number of months. This merger will also result in nearly a million residential broadband customers.
The CFO of France Telecom, owner of Orange, Gervais Pellissier, said that the deal would change both companies’ position in the country and benefit customers in the UK. The CFO of Deutsche Telekom (owner of T-Mobile), Timotheus Hottges, said that this meger was a step in the direction of bringing about a new mobile champion in the country.
However, analysts are reluctant with regard to the structure of the deal, whereby both companies have a 50% share, and get the feeling that tough decisions might be hard to make. Both companies have committed to the agreement for a minimum of 3 years.
This merger solves Deutsche Telekom’s problems in the UK where T-Mobile is 4th in market share and has not performed to its potential. It also enables Orange to up their margins by sharing their wireless network items with T-Mobile.
T-Mobile is currently sharing their 3G network with 3, the 5th biggest mobile operator in the country and this deal will also be part of the JV. Orange already provides coverage for 3’s 2G services. However, a deal is yet to be sealed with Hutchison Whampoa, the owner of 3.
Source - Guardian
Orange’s broadband service has been restored
Broadband services have been restored to all Orange customers after a full outage on Thursday, reported Orange.
Orange said that another incident whereby customers were unable to get access to their emails on the Blackberry phones had been solved as well. They said that this problem was due to some ‘vandalism’ of critical cables’
Orange have not mentioned as to the reason for the problems for their broadband customers, but they said that they had taken care of the problem soon after it was identified.
However, a BBC News website reader, Kieran Casey, said that he had noticed the problem at 0900 BST on Thursday. At about 1400 BST, he mentioned of a conversation with Orange, who said that the repairs would take ‘another few hours’.
Mr Casey said that, considering the size of Orange, the fact that they had this problem for such a long time was quite unbelievable and ridiculous. Orange Broadband, which ran under the name Wanadoo previously, has a customer base of nearly 1 million in the fixed broadband sector in the country.
The firm, with over 15 million mobile customers, had made a recent announcement saying that they would merge their UK mobile operations with T-Mobile.
A spokesperson for Orange said that they were aware of Blackberry customers experiencing problems in accessing their emails. The spokesperson also said that they were aware that it was due to a vandalism of the cabling infrastructure which had been supplied to them by a third party provider in Heathrow, London.
In another incident, said the spokesperson, some broadband customers may have had a problem accessing the internet. They said that they were able to confirm the solving of this problem and that full service had been resumed for all their broadband customers.
Source - BBC News
Vodafone’s Mobile WiFi router signals entry into the MiFi market
Vodafone has recently announced that they will be launching a new mobile broadband device that will allow users to share their own connection with a maximum of 5 Wi-Fi enabled gadgets.
The network operator, Vodafone, has also announced a ‘Vodafone Mobile Broadband Hotspot’ gadget, which is also known as the MiFi 2352, which enables users to connect to a number of gadgets wirelessly from any gadgets within a radius of 10 m in the broadband network of the company.
The device, which is just a size of a credit – card, has been produced by Novatel, will enable users to connect to a number of Wi-Fi enabled gadgets, which include laptops, digital cameras and gaming consoles.
It also has a one – touch power switch as well as an internal battery which provides a maximum of 4 hours of uninterrupted usage with a single charge.
The device is capable of providing download speeds of upto 7.2 Mbps and upload speeds of upto 5.2 Mbps and it depends on the coverage of the network within a particular area. In addition to that, it also provides a large amount of storage space, which is due to the memory card slot which enables you to use a 16 GB microSD card as well, thereby turning it into a flash drive as well.
Some of the readers of itproportal.com have told them that the 3G router isn’t exactly much of a big thing as any 3G phone which is WiFi enabled could potentially be made to function as a router. This does make a lot of sense and it would have been quite useful if users are able to change their phones into a fully – fledged router without a hitch.
Source - itproportal.com
August 2009 sees Virgin Media breaking the 7 Mbps barrier
Virgin Media has been awarded the distinction of being the first ever broadband provider in the country to provide speeds of more than 7 Mbps, according to a research conducted recently by a popular broadband news site.
The recent survey has shown that the broadband services which are currently being provided by Virgin Media are at least twice as fast as other broadband providers in terms of the average downlink speed, expect 2 service providers, which are Be Broadband and O2.
Virgin Media’s fibre optic network, according to an industry expert, is the benchmark for top – class broadband in the country. The 7 Mbps barrier being trampled down is yet another first in the list of achievements by Virgin Media.
A large number of broadband speed tests were conducted by the broadband news site with a help of a set of regular broadband users located throughout the country during August 2009 and the results were then calculated.
The industry expert also added that the fibre optic network is clearly providing the edge for Virgin Media. He also urged the government to take seriously plans to bring fibre optic cables to all homes in the UK and not just the urban areas which are being supplied by Virgin. A new digital divide is currently prevailing in the country, with more than 50% of the population unable to get access to fibre optic cable, thereby leaving them behind!
The overall average broadband speed over all broadband network providers for the month of August was about 4.33 Mbps which, though it was higher than the July 2009 results, didn’t actually beat the 4.340 Mbps record set in June. The improvement of the broadband network of Virgin Media was the reason for the increase in the average speed.
The completion recently of the high – speed fibre broadband network of Virgin, along with the new special offers on the 50 Mbps package, is sure to bring about more increases in average speed during September 2009.
Ad scheme of 3 mobile broadband to set a precedent in broadband advertising
Today, 3 became the first ever broadband provider in the country to provide advertising on its software itself. Could this possibly be the tip of the iceberg for something even bigger?
The first company to have partnered 3 on this scheme is Yell.com. Their ads will be present on the dashboard. Users of 3 mobile broadband will be shown the advertisement of Yell.com as well as a search window every time that they go online using their dongle.
So how can we expect customers to respond if this becomes part of a wider – scale advertising on software?
It depends on a number of factors. When you consider the fact that Yell.com is a telephone directory, it is something that is quite useful to have as part of your browser and we can’t really imagine as to the reason that a person could possibly object to this. However, if broadband suppliers started getting adds from more divisive and obstrusive brands, such as Nestle or McDonalds, customers might not be very happy.
What do you think about this? Leave your opinion on this subject in the comments box below.
3 Mobile Broadband
Broadband connectivity for mobile computing needs is offered by 3 Mobile in two modes: Pay Monthly and Pay As You Go. Either way, you get a choice of USB dongles or modems you connect to your laptop or netbook.
HSDPA Network
3’s high speed network revolves around the HSDPA or High Speed Downlink Packet Access network, providing true broadband speeds to your internet access at home office or on the road. While other networks boasts about giving you HSDPA’s theoretical limits of up to 2.8 Mbps, you never can get that. Even if 3’s theoretical network speeds can reach 3.5Mbps, it is candid enough to say that your download speed can be diminished be factors such as (1) your proximity from the mobile masthead or antenna (2) obstruction like trees and buildings between you and its mast, and more importantly, (3) the users sharing the same mast. 3 Mobile subscribers are assured download speeds from 600Kbps to 1.6Mbps.
Coverage, Speed and Connection Reliability
These are the three areas that 3 Mobile promises to excel at for its mobile broadband subscribers. You get to connect to its HSDPA mast anywhere in the country. 3 Mobile boasts of having the widest HSDPA coverage reach in all of Britain at 90%. Compare that to T-Mobile’s 84% and Vodafone’s 81%.
Once you’re online, you are sure to enjoy download speeds in the range from 0.6 Mbps to 1.6 Mbps. A 3-4 minute MP3 file can be download in 30 seconds or less. Once in the network, there’s little or no chance of getting disconnected while moving on the road. That’s called high reliability.
Enhancing the Speed and Coverage
3 is currently upgrading its network to secure twice the download speed at HSUPA maximum of 7.2Mbps from its current 3.6Mbps standard while operating greater capacity and coverage. This network enhancement is expected to start rolling out in October with London, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester as the first UK cities to enjoy its benefits. By the end of 2010, 3 is expected to reach 98.5% broadband coverage in the UK with 30% faster internet speeds over what current subscribers already enjoy with their mobile broadband high speed connection.
