Hidden restrictions plague ‘free’ BT broadband
October 29, 2008 at 1:17 pm
British Telecom (BT) has released a new wireless broadband package designed for small businesses. The service is an addendum to its popular business broadband deal and offers free, unlimited mobile internet via a complimentary USB dongle. This device connects to Vodafone’s high-speed uplink packet access (HSUPA) net and provides a maximum download limit of between one and three gigabytes.
The new service is available as a standalone option (the appropriately titled BT Business Mobile Broadband) or as a token gift available with BT’s popular Business Total Broadband package. Existing customers and those hoping to upgrade their broadband are out of luck though, since the service is only available to new customers and those renewing their contracts.
Wireless broadband is a major boon to telecommunications companies and the bandwagon is already full to bursting point with mobile phone companies and moonlighting TV and cable providers. It can be extremely difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff. BT’s new product comes complete with a whole host of annoying restrictions that render it inadequate in the face of the already saturated wireless market.
At £17.50 per month, the standalone package is one of the most expensive mobile broadband packages on the market, exceeding the prices offered by O2, Orange, and T-Mobile by an average of £2.50. The luxury of unmetered broadband would make the extra cost worthwhile but BT’s grasp of the word "unlimited" is questionable at the best of times.
BT Business Mobile Broadband has a 3GB download cap and offers 2,000 minutes of access in BT Openzone Wi-Fi locations. The service is also loaded with image compression software (an extra that makes images ‘murky’) despite the fact that Vodafone uses no such software on its HSUPA network.
The wireless dongle is available as a complimentary item with BT’s Business Total Broadband Options 2 and 3. The packages cost £26.99 and £40.50 respectively. VAT is not included.
The costs of piggy-backing
October 14, 2008 at 1:48 pm
If I were to warn you of the dangers of “piggy-backing”, would you think I was talking about a playground game? Well I’m not. Piggy-backing is the latest hazard associated with the internet and refers to the habit of individuals helping themselves to someone else’s wireless connection.
Whilst we wouldn’t dream of wandering into our neighbour’s home and sitting down at their computer, it seems that all scruples desert many of us when we are sitting in front of our screens. One in eleven of us (some 3.5 million) have piggy-backed at least once in the last twelve months, perhaps hardly surprising when one in six of us do not bother with password protection! It’s not just a quick e-mail session either, with one in eight piggy-backers regularly downloading films and music.
If the idea of your neighbour taking advantage of you is not sufficient incentive to make you use a password, then perhaps you should give thought to the fact that you (or they to be more precise) could well be exceeding your monthly download usage limit, having your bank details stolen or having your computer used for illegal activities.
According to moneysupermarket.com we should all be making sure that we have a WPA encryption device rather than a WPE one and of course it makes sense to take a good look at the bill when it comes in, to check that it is in line with what you were expecting. When setting a password, use a mixture of letters and numbers and think of a word that does not appear in a dictionary. Everyone is trying these days to save money but this is not the way to do it!
Sky broadband now rated very highly
October 8, 2008 at 3:41 pm
It might not be the first name you think of on your list of established and well-regarded Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in the UK, but it’s a name you’ll certainly know in relation to other areas of the media. According to a recent customer survey of ISPs by the independent customer site ISPreview, who collate and review all areas of the service, the fairly new Sky Broadband service has come top of the charts for high-speed internet.
The survey looked at various topics, including connection reliability, customer service help, speed of download, value for money and a few others. Sky has seen off very stiff competition from some of the more established companies such as Talk Talk, who finished in second place, and Virgin Media, who came third. These two have beaten Sky in many polls over the years and must be quite surprised with this result.
The names missing from the top three appear to be the ones that have been around the longest and the ones you may think were the most worthy of being up at the top. Tiscali, AOL, Orange and the tumultuous BT Broadband don’t even make the top five as poor connection and poor customer service phone lines have hampered them throughout the year.
If you’ve already got Sky TV, then you’ll be eligible for free home broadband up to 2Mb. After that, the packages range from just £5 a month for 8Mb to only £10 for 16Mbs. Sky also offers some pretty impressive home security packages to provide a complete service.
