Posts Tagged mobile broadband news
Vodafone to offer laptops for mobile broadband customers
Posted by Jeremy in Latest Broadband News on February 19, 2012
Mobile operator Vodafone has announced it is to offer laptops and netbooks to customers who sign up to its mobile broadband packages.
When consumers sign up to one of the mobile broadband deals the company provides they will be given the choice of three computers; an Acer Aspire One D257, an Acer TimelineX 4830T or an Acer Aspire 5250.
To be eligable for an Acer Aspire One D257 netbook, consumers must sign up to a minimum 2 year deal, at a cost of £25 per month. The contract will give users access to a 1GB (gigabyte) monthly mobile broadband data allowance. A one-off payment of £29 is also required when consumers sign up to the deal and an option is available to increase the allowance to 2GB with an extra payment of £5 per month. The netbook comes with Windows 7 Starter installed and boasts an Intel Atom N570 dual-core processor, 1GB memory, and a 320GB hard disk.
To get an Acer TimelineX 4830T laptop consumers will have to pay £37.50 per month over a 2 year contract as well as a one-off payment of £69. This deal has a 2GB data allowance attached as standard. The TimelineX 4830T will come with Windows 7 Home Premium, 2GB of memory and a 320GB hard disk.
The most expensive deal will see customers walk away with an Acer Aspire 5250. To get this laptop an initial payment of £49 is required, followed by £35 each month for 2 years. 2GB data allowance comes as standard.
Consumers seeking an Acer Aspire 5250 pay an initial £49, and then £35 each month over a two year contract for 2GB of data. For that they get an inbuilt webcam to enable video calling, a 3GB memory and a large 500GB hard disk.
Consumers should be aware that exceeding the monthly download allowance will incur a penalty charge of £15 per GB.
Mobile broadband speeds are improving all the time and can be a fantastic way for consumers in rural areas to get connected to broadband services. To find honest feedback about mobile broadband providers, such as Vodafone and Orange broadband reviews, visit a price comparison site.
TfL to pick London Tube Wi-Fi provider in the spring
Posted by Jeremy in Latest Broadband News on January 29, 2012
The winner of the bid to provide Wi-Fi services to the London Underground network will be announced in the spring, Transport for London (TfL) has announced. The wireless service should be up and running in time for the Olympic Games, which take place in the capital this summer. The winning bid will have exclusive rights to provide Wi-Fi at 120 stations on the network.
The bid tender document states that the winning supplier will host and maintain a service that will allow travellers to access web content, with travel information, entertainment, news and sport sites available to access for free. Other services may be chargeable, but it is the responsibility of the winning supplier to manage every aspect of the service.
While the service will not be available on trains, it will be available at stations situated deep underground, where mobile signals are currently unavailable.
TfL had stated that they would announce the winning bid by the end of 2011, although the organisation promises that the contract will be awarded and the service in place before the Olympics start. The original contract will run for five years but if it proves successful, could be extended.
BT carried out a trial of Wi-Fi services at Charing Cross station in November 2010 and following a positive response from passengers, TfL opened bidding for the network-wide contract in March 2011.
The plan experienced difficulties and was temporarily shelved after bidding providers were asked to help fund the £150 million proposal, with many expressing disallusionment at being asked to assist financially. Concerns were also raised about whether the installation of the network would be completed in time when it was revealed that engineers could only gain access to the tunnels for a maximum of three hours per night.
The project is part of a wider plan by Mayor Boris Johnson to ensure that London has a comprehensive wireless network in place in the city by the start of the Olympics. The plan orginally intended to include buses but that idea has since been scrapped.
Windows 8 to feature simple mobile broadband connection
Posted by Jeremy in Latest Broadband News on January 24, 2012
In a post on its ‘Building Windows 8′ blog, computer powerhouse Microsoft has released details of how Windows 8 will offer improved wireless broadband connectivity. Devices and networking team program manager Billy Anders wrote about how the company has been improving mobile broadband connectivity management to provide users with comprehensive access to wireless broadband.
Anders wrote: “We looked at the fundamentals of wireless connectivity and re-engineered Windows 8 for a mobile and wireless future, going beyond incremental improvements.”
The company included mobile broadband connectivity functions in Windows 7 but third-party software and drivers for USB broadband devices made connecting a chore. To solve this, Microsoft worked with mobile broadband hardware producers to develop a driver that is compatible with all mobile broadband devices, allowing the company to integrate mobile broadband alongside the more commonplace Wi-Fi. With connectivity to both Wi-Fi and mobile broadband available, Windows 8 customers will be in the enviable position of having almost unlimited broadband access available to them.
Ander also said: “We knew that if we were to give you true mobility, that Wi-Fi alone would not be enough. Therefore, for Windows 8, we fully developed and integrated mobile broadband (MB) as a first-class connectivity experience within Windows – right alongside Wi-Fi,”
A major improvement will be in the managing of mobile broadband connections. Users will be able to easily monitor their data usage, which in turn will help to keep costs down as users will be able to see when they are at risk of exceeding their data allowance.
Windows 8 Task Manager will also allow users to see how much of their mobile data allowance each open application has used. This will help users learn which programs use the most of their data allowance, which will also help user to keep the cost of browsing and downloading as low as possible.