Quote for the Week!

"Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can't lose."


Bill Gates


Starting the week with a Telecoms Query?  Simple, Ask Adodo! 
0115 9701471 | solutions@adodo.co.uk 

£2.1m Broadband Pledge from NCC

Nottinghamshire County Council is “chipping in” to the central government funding pledge to improve the county’s broadband access.

In August, the Government provisionally allocated £4.25m to Nottinghamshire County Council to improve broadband infrastructure county wide.  However with 23.7% of properties in Nottinghamshire having no or limited broadband access, the county council has decided to invest a further £2.1m.

Councillor Keith Girling, deputy cabinet member for culture and community, said: "At the moment we are losing businesses to South Yorkshire because broadband is better for them there.

"We've got to look at it sensibly. Rural areas depend on good broadband and it is up to us to make it happen."

But the county council said it needed Nottinghamshire's district and borough councils to match the funding to ensure the "vital" broadband improvements. Furthermore, the county council is seeking £8.5m from whichever telecommunications operator is appointed to carry out the improvements.  Work is not expected to start until 2013.

Got a question about broadband connectivity? Ask the experts, Ask Adodo 

Quote of the Week!

"Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome."

Booker T. Washington 

Are You Ready for an IT Failure?

A total 1,750 IT bosses were questioned in a report by IT group EMC that suggests almost three-quarters of firms and public sector organisations across nine European countries may not fully recover their computer systems or data after an IT failure.

The survey that covered Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg and Russia as well as the UK claimed 74% were "not very confident" they could fully restore their networks.  Furthermore, 54% admitted they had lost data or suffered systems downtime in the past 12 months.

Its report found that the most common cause of data loss and downtime was hardware failure, followed by power outage and software malfunction. 

EMC said firms needed to put more focus on backup and recovery systems.  Adodo wholeheartedly concurs!  Find out more about Adodo's Disaster Recovery Solutions.

Mobile Customer Service is Better

New Ofcom research reveals that consumers are more satisfied with their mobile phone provider than they are with landline or broadband suppliers.

In September the communication regulators interviewed 3,000 people, quizzing them on recent contact from their providers and the levels of service that they received.   The results showed that whilst service ratings for landlines had improved with BT, Sky and Talk Talk since 2009, on average, these satisfaction levels were still below those for mobile services.

It seems broadband speeds are still a major bone of contention and the underlying reason for many customer complaints.  Consumers having to contact their providers to change the deals that they signed up for proved the most common gripe from dissatisfied customers.

The telecommunication industry gets a lot of bad press for poor service, overcomplicated tariffs and for tying customers into long term contracts.  However, there are still some good guys out there that put a strong emphasis on customer service, simple tariffs and 30 days rolling contracts.  If you have a telecoms query then please feel free to Ask Adodo.

Contact Lenses of the future?

It seems Scientists are a step closer to new technology that, if approved, could allow users to read floating texts and emails right in front of their eyes, Terminator-style.

After a series of successful animal trials, these futuristic contact lenses could be a lot closer than we think. Researchers at Washington University who are working on the device say early tests show it is safe and feasible.

There are still wrinkles to iron out, like finding a good power source. As currently, their crude prototype device can only work if it is within centimetres of the wireless battery.

Initial safety tests in rabbits have gone well, with no obvious adverse effects, which has given the researchers renewed faith about the device's possibilities.  They envisage hundreds more pixels could be embedded in the flexible lens to produce complex holographic images.  For example, drivers could wear them to see journey directions or their vehicle's speed projected onto the windscreen.

The researchers in Washington are not the only team working on this kind of technology. Swiss company, Sensimed have already brought to market, a smart contact lens that uses inbuilt computer technology to monitor pressure inside the eye to keep tabs on the eye condition glaucoma.

Adodo are big believers in New Technology but are we ready for this kind of technology? Are we not 'hooked up' to enough technology already? Or is this just what we have been waiting for? Could this improve efficiency across your company?

Quote for the Week!

"The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it is the same problem you had last year."


John Foster Dulles 


Starting the week with a Telecoms Query?  Simple, Ask Adodo! 
0115 9701471 | solutions@adodo.co.uk 

Broadband Speeds Drop by 35% In the Evenings

According to comparison site uSwitch, UK broadband speeds drop by an average of 35% from their off-peak highs during the evenings when most people go online.

The report said that peak surf times were between 7pm and 9pm, meaning that was the slowest time to be online.  It went on to say that the best time to be online was between 2am and 3am.

There were also huge regional variations between evening and early morning surfing times.  Users in Evesham, Worcestershire, fared worst, according to the survey, with a massive 69% drop-off between off-peak morning and evening surfing.

Broadband speed is becoming more important as bandwidth-hungry services such as on-demand TV become more popular.  Telecoms regulator Ofcom recently revealed that British households download an average of 17 gigabytes of data every month over their home broadband connections.

Critics say consumers are being misled by internet service providers who continue to advertise their maximum broadband speeds, even though many users do not get them.

Questions about connectivity or broadband speeds? It's easy, Ask Adodo...

Welsh ‘notspots’ Prevent Competitive Business

Tourism chiefs claim that a lack of fast broadband is preventing companies based in Wales from being able to compete.

The Wales Tourism Alliance said "tech-savvy" visitors expected make to bookings online and then to stay connected during their trip.  One Pembrokeshire hotelier even spent £8,000 putting in wireless broadband to solve the ‘notspot’ problem faced by so many in Wales. 

However, Bristol-based firm, Avonline believe they have a solution.  They claim that their service uses a powerful satellite over Europe launched earlier this year to bring a guaranteed minimum 6mbps service.  Avonline said it was starting its UK promotion in Wales due to Ofcom's assessment of the poor broadband provision.

A spokeswoman said the Welsh government did not promote or endorse any individual company, system or technology within the broadband support scheme.  According to the Welsh government said there were more than 100 active applications from Pembrokeshire for its broadband support scheme, including five community schemes.

Questions about connectivity or broadband speeds? It's easy, Ask Adodo...

Quote for the Week!

“The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live”

                

Flora Whittmore

Starting the week with a Telecoms Query?  Simple, Ask Adodo! 
0115 9701471 | solutions@adodo.co.uk