3 Price Hikes in 2 Years for BT Customers

BT’s residential customers are facing their third price rise in the space of two years this December.

Call charges will rise by 5% on the 3^rd December 2011, following a 10% rise one year ago and another 9% rise in April this year.  Customers will find UK landline calls will go up from 7.6p a minute to 7.95p a minute. Line rental prices are also set to rise.  Calls to mobiles will stay the same although there is no guarantee that this will remain the same next year. 

"A report from Ofcom shows the UK has lower prices than the USA, Spain, Germany, France and Italy. The UK market is highly competitive," a BT spokesman said.

However, following the energy price hikes last month, Michael Phillips, product director at price comparison website Homephonechoices.co.uk has responded on behalf of consumers everywhere: "While BT's price increases of 5% or less may be in line with inflation, it will prove very unpopular with households who are already feeling the pinch.”

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Three Mobile, The Robin Hood of Rural Broadband?

The cynics among us may say that it is a shameless attempt to lobby Westminster for the valuable wireless spectrum.  However, but Mobile operators, Three, claim that their 3G giveaway is for the greater good of rural broadband. 

Three are giving away 3G broadband to rural areas struggling to get fixed line services.  First to benefit will be residents of Gringley-on-the-Hill in North Nottinghamshire who will receive 30 dongles and free data access for a year.  It will also get public WIFI hotspots in the local pub and community centre.  They hope to roll similar packages out to 10 communities across the country in the next twelve months.

In their commitment to isolated communities, Three has formed a working group with the Countryside Alliance and Race Online, the government-backed group that is trying to get more people using the net.

The company has made no secret of their desire to purchase the lower-frequency spectrum which can cover a much wider area and offers better indoor coverage than their current high-frequency spectrum.    

Jeremy Green, analyst with research firm Ovum, remains skeptical of Three’s true motivation. "It is not as if Three is concerned about lack of access. It wants to show off how good its network is and lobby for more spectrum."

What do you think?  Does Three’s motivation truly matter if the digital divide becomes less significant?

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Quote of the Week!

"Success has a simple formula: do your best, and people may like it."

Sam Ewing 

TalkTalk have been breaking records, but for all the wrong reasons

Ofcom have issued the largest fine that they have ever enforced on a telecoms provider as TalkTalk and its Tiscali UK subsidiary have been fined £3m for incorrectly billing more than 65,000 customers for services they had not received.

The punishment follows an investigation into the two businesses that started in July 2010 as a result of more than 1,000 complaints.  TalkTalk blamed the billing errors on the amalgamation of the Tiscali UK business following their purchase of Tiscali UK in 2009.

In its ruling, Ofcom said, the telcoms company had wrongly issued bills to 62,000 customers, in particular those who had closed accounts, between 1 January and 1 November 2010. In April this year, Ofcom said that TalkTalk was the most complained about telecoms firm for landline and broadband services.

TalkTalk has since paid more than £2.5m in refunds and goodwill payments to affected customers.

Do you feel the punishment fits the crime?

HTC v Apple, The Battle Continues

Rumbling on in a similar fashion to the Fabregas football transfer, is the HTC v’s Apple patent row.  The latest chapter in this saga see’s HTC turning up the heat.

Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC has now filed a lawsuit in the US against Apple, accusing its American rival of infringing its patents.  They are going as far as trying to stop US imports of iPhones, iPads, iPods and Mac computers. 

In July, HTC was found to infringe two iPhone patents in a case brought by Apple at the US International Trade Commission (ITC).  However HTC, which is one of the world's fastest-growing smartphone makers, has vowed to appeal against the ruling, which threatens its business model of designing products around the Android operating system.

It is widely thought that Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility (MMI) may offer a greater degree of protection to Android handset makers.

Have you considered your Smartphone Security yet?

Google to Buy Motorola Mobility Subject to Shareholders

Google is taking a high-stakes gamble in the global smartphone war by making a move to buy Motorola Mobility.  The internet giant’s have announced a deal worth $12.5bn (£7.7bn).

A joint statement said the boards of both companies had unanimously approved the deal, which should be completed by the end of this year, or early in 2012.

Earlier this year, Motorola split into two separate companies.  The Mobility side of the business is responsible for developing and manufacturing mobile phones, whilst Motorola Solutions covers wider technologies for corporate customers and governments.

Shares in Motorola Mobility jumped 56% by the close of trading in New York on Monday, to $38.13, still below the offer price of $40 per share. Shares in Google fell 1.8%.  Interestingly, shares in Nokia have risen as well, reinforcing speculation that they too are a bidding target, with Microsoft the potential bidder.

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IBM marks 30 years of PC, by saying goodbye?

Dr. Mark Dean, one of the engineers who worked on the original personal computer, believes that PCs are no longer the leading edge of computing. No single device has taken the PC's place, he said, instead it has been replaced by the socially-mediated innovation it has fostered.

He made the claim in a blog post commemorating 30 years since the launch of the first IBM personal computer. They may have not been the first to produce a personal computer, but the 5150 launched on the 12^th August 1981, did set the standard of design around which many desktops have been built.

Dr. Dean, does still believe that PC’s will be “much-used” in the future, but are no longer the force of innovation that they once were.  Revealing that even he has overhauled the use of his PC and his primary computer was now a tablet.  The powerful changes, originally initiated by the PC are just getting started as we work in a more efficient way, driven by changes in society.  These are undoubtedly exciting times in the world of new technology.

Quote For the Week!

"Our only security is our ability to change." 


John Lilly 

Quote for the Week!

"The wheel of change moves on, and those who were down go up and those who were up go down."


Jawaharlal Nehru 

Apple Becomes 'Star Performer'

Apple have overtaken Nokia and Samsung in becoming the biggest Smartphone Vendor worldwide. 

The mobile phone makers shipped 361 million handsets in the second quarter of this year, up 13% on the same period in 2010, according to a new report; Smartphone volumes reached 110 million units.

Nokia continues to be the biggest maker of all types of handsets, but their unexciting touch phone portfolio is weighing down the mobile giant’s market share.  The number two handset maker, Samsung, is certainly breathing down their neck shipping 74 million units and their market share rising to just above 20%.  By comparison, Nokia’s market share dropped to 25%, it’s lowest since 1999.

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Internet Service Providers Continue to Mislead

It is a well known fact that consumers in the past have received much slower broadband speeds than those claimed by the ISP’s, but Ofcom have been clamping down on these instances of rogue trading for some time.  However, it seems they are still not happy with the way the industry advertises.

Ofcom's biannual report into the state of the broadband market is urging changes to advertising guidance "so that consumers are able to make more informed decisions based on the adverts they see" said Ofcom chief executive Ed Richards.

Almost half of broadband users are now on packages with advertised speeds above 10Mbps but few achieve this. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has also stepped in and is currently reviewing broadband advertising. Its report is expected in the next few months.

In accordance with their own advice, Ofcom has introduced a code of practice to help inform the public about their likely speed before signing up to a service.

·         It recommends that broadband customers should be given a speed range rather than a single estimate of the maximum speed on their line.

·         It also suggests that users be allowed to leave their provider without penalty if they receive a maximum speed which is significantly below estimates.

Do you think Ofcom’s code of practice goes far enough to protect consumers?

Quote of the Week!

"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself." 


Leo Tolstoy