Your Community Needs Your Help!

Once upon a time, people were happy to help. Neighbours were friends, businesses were local and all elements of the community worked together. With progress comes change and whilst these things have changed significantly, for Adodo the story does not end here. [Continue reading]

Local areas are to benefit from super-fast broadband

An extra 51,000 homes and businesses in Nottinghamshire will benefit from faster 'next generation' broadband by the Spring of next year. BT has that announced Hucknall, Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Ruddington, Sandiacre, and Sherwood are among 25 East Midlands communities included in scheme. The investment makes broadband speeds available that are more than double the maximum speeds previously available to the majority of UK homes and businesses.

Grey Matter Challenge...

Pronounced as one letter,
And written with three,
Two letters there are,
And two only in me.
I'm double, I'm single,
I'm black, blue, and gray,
I'm read from both ends,
And the same either way.
What am I?

Answer

In 2008 pricing for mobile broadband was slashed, and since then the market has expanded from purely business to individual consumers. Sales have soared so much, that according to the experts, mobile broadband is set to overtake its fixed line cousin by the end of this year.



There has been speculation that the popularity of mobile broadband could lead to customers ditching their home broadband lines completely, in favour of a mobile wireless broadband connection instead. However, we think that there is a long way to go before mobile broadband becomes the first choice for connecting to the web and here’s why:

Reliability: The networks are still not very reliable


Backhaul: The network backhaul is not good enough. Operators have been too cautious to upgrade their backhaul as it costs good money.


Suitability: Mobile Web will never be stable enough for large and medium business and it does not cater for heavy data use.


Mobile Broadband does however, offer great freedom as you can get online with average advertised speeds of up to 3.2Mb no matter where you are. It is also very easy to use, with devices that you can simply “plug and play” and finally with pricing now on a par with some fixed line deals, it is certainly cost effective.


However, one thing to watch out for is the download limits. If you exceed your limits which are usually much lower than fixed line services, you will have to pay for the excess.


We may still have a while to go in becoming entirely mobile but the shift in trends is as significant as the one we saw in the mid nineties, when consumers began to choose mobile phones over land lines. So watch this space.

Quote of the Week!

"I've learned that everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you're climbing it."


Andy Rooney, b. 1919, American journalist, author and TV correspondent

Predicted 2012 boom for Mobile Application Sales!

New research suggests that the global appetite for mobile applications will erupt over the next two years.

A study done for Getjar, the world's second biggest app store, said the market will grow to £12bn by 2012. They found that the number of app stores rising from just 4 prior to 2008 to 48 today, perhaps challenging Apple’s domination. The study also predicted that downloads would climb from 7bn last year to 50bn by 2012 - a staggering 92% year-on-year increase.

Apple's App Store is still very much regarded as the dominant player in the market place, but there are many more to choose from including those from BlackBerry, Microsoft, Google, Nokia, and Samsung. Google's Android Marketplace, for instance, has more than 30,000 apps made for smartphones running on its mobile operating system.

The lesser hyped ‘Feature phones’ are less powerful than smart phones but can still run some third-party software. The research found that feature phones should not be ignored in the rush to create apps for smartphones.

Of course it is difficult to anticipate a fall from grace for the iPhone, especially with the surge of developer interest following the introduction of the iPad. According to statistics from analytics firm Flurry, developer activity for the iPhone rose 185% in advance of the iPad's April arrival. Applications for the iPhone can be ported over to the new device.

Quote of the Week!

"Your success or happiness does not depend on how the environment adapts to you, but how you adapt to the environment."

Jacoub Nel, Lecturer, Bahrain - 12 Jan 2009

Smallest County - Biggest Broadband

A tiny village in Oakham has raised £37,000 to offer 200 homes the super-fast broadband that neither BT nor Virgin could deliver.

Getting fast broadband to rural areas has recently been an issue for political debate and is back in the spotlight as the government shelves its funding plans. The residents of Lyddington had tried all the big suppliers and had been told that it was not economically viable to provide fast services to the village. In the end they decided they couldn’t wait and have set up their own Telecoms Company.

It is estimated that around 2.5 million homes in the UK cannot get broadband speeds of more than 2Mbps. Award winning Rutland Telecom now offer the residents of Lyddington speeds of up to 40Mbps (megabits per second). The scheme was a joint effort between villagers fed up with slow broadband speeds and a local ICT firm that was reselling BT's broadband.



The process was a slow one but Rutland Telecom, with the help of Ofcom, have had their very own fibre-optic cable put into a street cabinet in the village. After two years of persistence the network is up and running and already has 50 customers.

 

"For the first time in UK telecommunications history the telephone lines of customers are completely cut off from the local BT exchange," said Rutland Telecom director Mark Melluish.

Rutland Telecom has been approached by 40 other rural community groups to see if a similar solution is possible in their area. It is on the verge of launching similar schemes in neighbouring Leicestershire and one in Wales.




Results by independent analyst Speedtest.Net demonstrate Rutland Telecom broadband speeds are over 3x faster than all other ISPs.

10 years of Broadband!

2008

Virgin launch 50Mb product

Europe passes US in WiFi use
Bebo acquired by AOL for $850 million

 2009
UK Broadband penetration is 14th highest worldwide
50% of UK households now connected to broadband
One in seven 18-24 year olds now watch no live TV at all, choosing to watch video via the web
2010
Adodo join the Social Networking phenomenon, you can now find us on Linked In, Twitter, YouTube and Blogger.com
By the end of this year, it is thought that mobile broadband will take over from wired broadband.
Adodo now offer competitively priced Broadband options including ADSL, ADSL2, SDSL, Ethernet First Mile better known as EFM and Leased line depending on your business needs.
For the future....watch this space.


See the last ten years of broadband here.

Dancing Dodo!

You must have seen it by now but if you haven't yet, then please check out this video and put a smile on your face...

"I'm alive" Says the Dodo!

Born in Mauritius in 1611, and again in 2010, the dancing Dodo is a rare example of his breed. Like most dodos, he can't fly, but boy can he dance.

Quote of the Week!

"When the Leader gets up and starts walking, the people will get up and start walking with him/her."

Bob Mischler, Engineering Manager, Ottowa - 29 May 2009

Google Pulls Out of China

In March, The World Bank raised its 2010 economic growth forecast for China to 9.5% from 9%. It said consumption by both businesses and households would grow strongly, even though government stimulus measures were being pared back. In 2010 China is expected to replace Japan as the world's second-largest economy, and Germany as the world's biggest exporter. For some foreigners, it may be tempting to think that China is no longer a developing nation, or has even become a superpower.

However, their growing global status has taken a knock recently as one of the world's most prominent corporations is saying it is no longer willing to co-operate in China's censorship of the internet. Google have effectively shut their mainland Chinese search service, google.cn, striking a major blow to China's international image. The US giant is redirecting users in mainland China to its unrestricted Hong Kong site, although Chinese firewalls mean results still come back censored.

Google have actually threatened to leave the Chinese market completely this year after cyber attacks were traced back to China. Whereas China has moved to further limit free speech on the web as Google's own websites and the e-mail accounts of human rights activists have recently come under cyber attack.

China has said Google's move to stop censoring search results is "totally wrong" and accused it of breaking a promise made when it launched in China.

Chen Yafei, a Chinese information technology specialist, told Reuters that Google should have accepted Chinese regulation if it wanted to operate in the country.

"Any company entering China should abide by Chinese laws..." he said.
"Chinese internet users will have no regrets if Google withdraws."

While Google is the world's most popular search engine, it is a distant number two in the Chinese market, which is dominated by Baidu. However, because of the size and growth rate of China's internet population, any loss of business there is likely to harm Google's future growth prospects.

Beijing said the decision should not affect ties with Washington. The White House responded by saying that it was "disappointed" that Google and China had not been able to resolve their differences.

Broadband meets Politics

In a recent speech Gordon Brown has announced that Labour intends to give every home in the UK access to super-fast broadband; Calling high-speed web access "the electricity of the digital age" which "must be for all - not just for some".

The Conservatives say they have made a similar pledge and have attacked a £6-a-year landline levy planned by Labour.

The PM also said Labour planned £30m of funding for a new Institute of Web Science, to be based in Britain and jointly headed by Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the world wide web.

In his speech, Mr Brown set out his plans to make Britain "the world leader in the digital economy" by 2020 - although there was no date set to provide the faster broadband for all homes.

Superfast broadband is generally regarded as speeds of 50Mbps (megabits per second) or above, but recent research suggests the majority of UK users currently get between 3Mbps and 4.5Mbps. (See below here)

The government is planning a 50p-a-month levy on landlines to prevent rural areas missing out on a fast network.

Grey Matter Challenge...

What has a mouth but cannot eat what moves but has no legs and what has a bank but cannot put money in it?

Answer

Quote of the Week!

"Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today; if you enjoy it today you can do it again tomorrow."

John Burgess, Healthcare Management Specialist, Devon - 9 Dec 2008.

Do you have a question?

Hi there,

Welcome to Adodo Live.

Are you currently completely baffled by the telecoms industry? Are you looking for a new phone system and don't know where to start? Is there something puzzling you about your bill? Or perhaps you just want to know which mobile network has the best coverage in your area?

Whatever your question, feel free to ask the experts through our blog. Send the Adodo Live team a quick email and we will get back to you with an answer. Not only that, but we will post both question and answer on the blog for everyone to see.

adodo.blog@googlemail.com

Kind regards,

Adodo Live

Cheaper calls for UK consumers

Telecom regulator Ofcom have today shaken the market up with new proposals that will make it cheaper for us to call mobiles.

It has proposed cutting the cost mobile phone firms can charge for connecting a call from another network from 4.3 pence per minute to 0.5p by 2015. Better still, mobile termination rates are set to be slashed and it is going to be easier to switch networks.

Ofcom research shows that 70% of customers want to keep their mobile number when they change providers. For this you need a PAC code, and up until now that has been known to take weeks. Under the new rules, mobile phone companies will have to issue PAC codes within a maximum two hour period.

There is more choice for consumers in the mobile market than ever before. The proposals will also mean that both landline and mobile operators have more flexibility in designing competitive call packages, promoting competition for the benefit of consumers.

Grey Matter Challenge

Happy April Fool's - don't be a fool though, here is our mid week Grey Matter Challenge! (No joke)

At night they come without being fetched. By day they are lost without being stolen. What are they?

Answer