Broadband Reviews – Be Broadband

September 18th, 2009 | Broadband, Mobile Broadband, Wireless Devices

Be Broadband was initially developed as an independent Internet service provider (ISP). It began its live operations in August 2005. Almost a year later in June 2006, O2 acquired the company and made it part of the larger Telefonica group. Nevertheless, Be continued to trade separately as an independent entity. Later in February 2009, Be was named the official provider of the UK eSports Association. This title enhanced its popularity as an online gaming provider.

Be Broadband has made a name for itself as the online gamer’s friend. Indeed, Be claims that it offers its customers unchallenged broadband that is unmetered as well as unrestricted. While Be Broadband has a limited geographic coverage around the United Kingdom, it does offer clients access to speeds of up to 24Mbps, as well as unbundled service. Indeed, there is no faster non-cable service available to match Be Broadband’s offerings.

More advanced Be Broadband users can personally change the settings on their routers. This allows them to make use of their connections more efficiently and more fully. In addition, Be has carefully developed its community of online users. Be utilises a message board with its online community to get feedback on new ideas. In terms of the company’s current developments, Be is continuing to undertake experiments with ‘bonding’. This involved joining high-speed connections. The aim of these experiments is to offer clients 50Mbps in the near future. Meanwhile, Be is criticised by its users for its unstable DNS service and a sometimes unintelligible technical team. Nevertheless, consumers also praise them for the efficient access to their services and technical support.

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HTC Magic Overview

September 16th, 2009 | Google Android, HTC, Mobile Phone Reviews, Touchscreen

HTC Magic’s 3.2inch touch-screen is one of the most appealing features of this cell phone, which has an attractive design and finish. The phone’s capacity to display a multitude of colours and provide high-resolution viewing also makes the HTC Magic a popular product on the market.

The Magic has a virtual keyboard, trackball and buttons, which make it user-friendly. It is fully packed with features such as e-mail, mobile browsing, Google maps and many more.

This phone keeps you online and you can use it to navigate and find useful information, because of the built-in GPS receiver and its integration with Google Maps.

Apart from these features, HTC Magic can be synchronised with Outlook and Windows Address Book. It also has a 3.2-megapixel camera, which remains the phone’s weakness, as it does not have flash or zoom functions. It is also includes a video camera, but because of its lack of a front-facing option, video calling is not available.

The phone’s connectivity is superb, as it supports HSDPA at 7.2-Mbps and Wi-Fi that serves as an alternative to 3G when the network is unavailable. The HTC Magic’s music player is also user-friendly, but it does not have an FM radio. However, its memory is quite impressive, with its built-in RAM of 288MB and a microSD memory card.

These features earned the HTC Magic a fair rating in reviews, though its lack of video calling, FM radio, headphone jack, not so impressive camera and incompatibility for synchronising with Apple Mac, have always been users major criticisms.

HTC Magic

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Samsung Jet Review

September 15th, 2009 | Camera Phones, Mobile Phone Reviews, Samsung, Touchscreen

The Samsung Jet “Smarter than a Smartphone” is powered by an 800Mhz processor. What is different with this smartphone is the use of a 3-D six-sided floating cube for its navigation system. The different faces of the cube enable access to entertainment, Internet and communication menus. The feature is capable of enabling highly personalised settings to suit your unique needs.

The Samsung Jet is aesthetically designed and with dimensions of 4.28inches x 2.11inches x by 0.48inches and weighing 3.88ounces, it is slim enough to be held unobtrusively. The sides are designed to ensure the phone looks sleek yet powerful.

In addition, it has a 3.1inch wide display supporting 16 million colours with an 800 x 480 pixel resolution. It uses AMOLED technology, power saving and at the same time, it delivers sharper contrast and vibrant colours.

The camera includes face, smile and blink detection so you are better able to capture the best moments in your photos. It also has Dual LED Flash and auto focus for pin sharp photos.

The video capabilities are wonderful and support popular formats such as H263, H264 and MPEG4. One feature that you should not overlook in the Samsung Jet, is that it can take slow motion shots in QVGA resolution. So now you don’t have to argue whether that ball was out of court or not.

Two novel features are included in the Samsung Jet, the first is a mute feature, which operates when you put the phone down and the second is an automatic speakerphone that switches itself on when it is laid down.

Talk time is a full 8hours and standby time is 17.5days.

Samsung Jet Smartphone

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Recommended Broadband Providers

September 9th, 2009 | Mobile Broadband, Mobile Phone Networks, mobile technology

There is a wide range of broadband providers in the United Kingdom; each year the list continues to grow as new companies pop up offering broadband services. Nevertheless, it is important for consumers to sift through the available options in order to find the broadband package that most suits their needs and budgets. One of the easiest ways to do this is through the Internet. All broadband providers, big or small, should easily be found online. In addition, their offerings will be explained allowing comparison with the other ISP’s.

Alternatively, if you are unsure of what is out there, there are online sites that do the comparisons for you. These sites analyse the range of broadband providers and their products, helping you to choose the best product and service for your requirements.

Broadband Finder is one such site. Its reviewers summarise the best options available from a range of broadband providers. Its latest ratings place Virgin Media’s Virgin Size L broadband at the top of this list. This package offers speeds of up to 10Mbs and unlimited downloads, for a 12-month contract. It costs £14 pounds per month and includes free installation.

The next best broadband provider is listed as O2 Standard. This is a 12-month contract that offers up to 8Mbs of speed and unlimited downloads. It costs just over £12 pounds per month, but the first two months of the contract are given without charge.

Broadband Finder also recommends Plusnet Value. Plusnet offers an 18-month contract, for just £5 pounds a month. This includes speeds of up to 8Mbs and up to 10GB of downloads a month.

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What is broadband?

September 6th, 2009 | Mobile Broadband, mobile technology

Broadband is one of those Internet terms that has several meanings, depending on the context. Probably the most popular understanding of broadband has to do with its formal title: broadband Internet access. Simply referred to as broadband, this is the high rate of data access to the Internet. This is opposed to dial-up access, or access via the telephone line, which is an older technology and limited to a 56kbps modem (only some 10% of Internet users in the United States are still using it).

Broadband, on the other hand, usually means high-speed Internet, because its rate of data transmission is 256kbits. This bit rate is referred to as broadband throughout the world. As Internet use continues to expand, however, current broadband data rates will have to be expanded in order to meet the growing demand for video services, such as video conferencing, videophones and newsgroups. This means upgrading from the standard DSL (digital subscriber line) technology to very high speed DSL (VDSL) and fibre-optic connections, from the current much slower ADSL (asymmetric DSL) technology.

A more immediate challenge for broadband use is to provide service to customers on the rural periphery of large cities, whose high population density makes broadband technology profitable for providers. In some rural areas, satellite Internet access is an expensive broadband alternative. Third-generation cellphone networks are also capable of providing broadband Internet access. In addition, the term broadband is less popularly used to describe a range of frequencies used in telecommunications, data communications, communications over power lines, and cable television.

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Selecting a Mobile Network

September 3rd, 2009 | Mobile Phone Networks, Mobile Phones

Selecting a suitable mobile network depends on the individual needs of the customer. Often, factors such as location, particular services, and value for money come into play when selecting a network. In the UK there is fierce competition among mobile networks that offer 3G options and different service packages for the consumers. Choosing the best network may require some research.

Among the top mobile networks in the UK is Hutchison 3. The network is popular for its capacity to deliver media content, including television, broadband Internet and sports. It has more than 10 million customers in eight countries. Another leading mobile network is O2. This network supports the majority of popular mobile phones and has coverage in the UK, Ireland, and Germany.

The first mobile network established in the UK was Vodafone. It has more than 16 million subscribers in the Country and is the largest of its kind in the world.

The mobile network called Orange is part of the France Telecom Group and serves 220 nations. In the UK, it is among the top three networks. Another big network is T-Mobile, which is under the Deutsche Telekom AG. It has more than nine million customers in the UK and its network is also used by other companies.

In the UK, there are also virtual mobile networks, which use the infrastructures of other companies. An example is Virgin Mobile, the first virtual network operator, which is popular for its customer service, and serves seven countries. Another is Tesco Mobile, which uses the O2 network.

Choosing a mobile network can be a tough decision. It is important to know one’s needs and to choose a network accordingly.

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Facts about mobile broadband

August 30th, 2009 | Mobile Broadband, mobile technology, Wireless Devices

The freedom of internet access offered by mobile broadband is revolutionary. Mobile broadband allows wireless access to the internet, from anywhere, using a dongle that plugs into the USB socket of a laptop or PC. The mobile broadband connection works in the same way as mobile phone connection. As long as the area you are in is serviced by your chosen mobile provider, you should be able to connect to the internet using your mobile broadband dongle.

When you choose your mobile broadband service provider, the will provide you with a USB stick called a mobile dongle which works as a wireless modem. This is all that you require to connect to the internet. If you are signing a pay monthly contract, this dongle will often be free of charge. Many providers are now also offering free laptops as part of their mobile broadband deals. These laptops often have in-built data cards which do the same job as a dongle. Mobile broadband is also available on pay as you go deals but the dongle would have to be paid for separately.

However, mobile connection is not infallible and neither is mobile broadband connection. Just as you can experience weak signals during a mobile phone call which causes the line to break up or the call to disconnect, this can also happen with a mobile broadband connection. Despite the temperamental service, technology is constantly improving. Across many built up areas, mobile broadband can connect to 3G networks which can  provide sufficient internet connection speeds to allow the user to use internet facilities such as watching videos or downloading music.

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Is it worth upgrading to the new iPhone 3GS?

August 28th, 2009 | Apple iPhone, iPhone, Mobile Phone Reviews, Mobile Phones

Apple just recently introduced its third generation of the iPhone, the 3GS.  If you already own the second generation iPhone, the 3G, does it make sense to upgrade?  Are there truly enough new features to make the 3GS worth the additional cost?

The iPhone is an incredible feature packed mobile device.  With built in access to Apple’s famed app store, there are numerous programs right at your fingertips just waiting to be downloaded.  Many of these useful features can be found on all versions of the iPhone.

One of the most noticeable upgrades that can be found on the iPhone 3GS is a 3 megapixel camera.  To make the camera more useful, Apple has included an autofocus feature.  The new camera is also capable of capturing video clips. The older 3G only has a 2 megapixel camera and it does not include any bells and whistles.  For those who are desperate for video, upgrading to the new 3GS may be fairly appealing.

When Apple released the iPhone 3G, users were delighted they would be able to surf the internet much quicker than they previously could on the original iPhone.  With the 3GS, Apple has once again improved its performance and users will be able to browse the internet and check their email at much faster speeds.

If you find that you have run out of storage space on your iPhone 3G, the 3GS could look appealing.  The largest model includes 32 gigabytes of storage.  This will allow you to store plenty of apps, music, movies, and photographs on your iPhone 3GS.

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Mobile broadband newest packages

August 25th, 2009 | Mobile Broadband, Mobile News, mobile technology, Wireless Devices

Prices, speeds and download limits vary across the mobile broadband networks. Mobile broadband contracts are available for 12, 18 or 24 months and they cost between £10 and £30. Mobile broadband dongles can also be purchased separately for use on a pay as you go price plan. These usually cost in the region of £60 and Top up credit is purchased in the same manner as pay as you go mobile airtime. Specific plans are available for business mobile customers. Most service providers operate a fair use policy in terms of download limits.

Vodafone offer several contract options to suit every budget. The Vodafone USB Stick Pro is available on a 24-month contract. This dongle can achieve speeds of up to 7.2Mb with a download limit of 3Gb and costs £15 per month with the first three months completely free. 

Orange are offering a special online mobile broadband deal for £9.79 per month over 18 months. This provides the user with connection speeds of up to 3.6Mb and a download limit of 1Gb. They also offer the same speeds with a 3Gb download limit on a pink dongle which costs £14.68 per month on an 18-month contract.

The 3 Mobile Max Stick costs £15 per month over 18 months. Speeds of up to 3.6Mb can be achieved with a whopping 15Gb download limit.

T-Mobile plans vary from a 24 month which costs £10 for the first three months and £15 thereafter to free laptop deals which cost between £25 and £30 on a 24 month contract depending on the download limit requirement.

The 18-month contract offered by O2 for their 3.6Mb dongle costs £14.69 per month. They also offer a free mini laptop deal for £29.38 on a 24-month contract.

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Reports Say T-Mobile UK to Offer iPhone

August 21st, 2009 | Apple iPhone, Mobile Phone Networks, Mobile Phones, TMobile

A number of sources have reported that the T-Mobile UK network will be concluding an agreement with Apple to bring the iPhone 3G into its mobile service. The said agreement would take away the exclusive rights of its rival network, O2, to the sole distribution rights of the iPhone.

It was mentioned in reports from the websites Register Hardware and guardian.co.uk that British T-Mobile will offer the 2008 version of the iPhone 3G in the next few months.

The Register also reported that the exclusive agreement of O2 and Apple remains intact and that they would also carry the iPhone 3G in their line of mobile phones. The website maintains that the current agreement shows that Apple is undergoing a major shift in marketing the iPhone by relying on network exclusive deals to get hold of a stable subsidy. It also shows how the company perceived O2’s latest priced-up offering.

On the other hand, the press are saying that other mobile networks, such as Orange and Vodafone, are also interested in offering the iPhone if Apple changes its policy. This means that all the major mobile phone carriers in the UK would provide some version of the iPhone, if it pushes through.

The new development for T-Mobile UK can aid the network to improve its standing against the country’s other major mobile phone providers, including Vodafone, O2, and Orange, by providing the best handset selections.

T-Mobile is a German-based company that has subsidiaries around the world, including the US and the UK.

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