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September 14, 2009

Vodafone launch MiFi device

Vodafone have followed Threes lead and launched their own mobile WiFi (MiFi) router.

The mobile WiFi router will allow up to 5 WiFi enabled devices to connect to it giving them access to the Internet via the Vodafone mobile broadband network.

To be able to use the WiFi hotspot the devices need to be within 10 meters of the router to be able to connect to the Internet through it.
vodafone mifi 300x204 Vodafone launch MiFi deviceThe device has an internal battery that offers up to 4 hours of active use from a single charge and is able to offer broadband speeds of up to 7.2Mb and upload speeds of 5.7Mb via the mobile broadband network. Users need not worry about the size either, it is a credit card sized device and so makes it small enough to fit into your pocket.

The device is also able to accommodate 16Gb of storage via it’s expandable micro-SD slot which makes sharing documents, music, video and pictures via WiFi easily done.

The Mobile WiFi device is supplied by Novatel Wireless. Rob Hadley the chief marketing officer for Novatel Wireless said:

“With its leading mobile broadband services and a wide global presence, combined with Novatel’s MiFi portfolio of intelligent mobile hotspots, Vodafone customers will have unprecedented opportunities to access the Internet with all their WiFi devices virtually anywhere and anytime they want. We are very excited to work with Vodafone to provide the most advanced wireless data ecosystem available for customers.”

Mobile broadband users in the UK will have to wait to get their hands on the device as initially it is being made available in Germany, Romania and Spain.

These type of devices are likely to help expand the use of mobile broadband further, so devices such as digital cameras, MP3 players and gaming consoles will be able to connect to the Internet while out and about.

Visit www.vodafone.co.uk/mobile-broadband

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September 11, 2009

Pigeon faster than broadband in South Africa

A company in South Africa has found that using a carrier pigeon to send large amounts of data is faster than using the broadband connection they have.

The carrier pigeon called Winston was used after an employee of the IT company based in Durban complained about the broadband speed (broadband speed test) they had and commented that it would be faster by carrier pigeon. With this thought this was how the race between the ADSL and the carrier pigeon started to get wings.

The company attached  the pigeon with a 4GB memory stick and also started the transfer via the broadband connection to their call center which was 60 miles away.

It took Winston around 1 hour 6 minutes to arrive at the call center and then another hour for the data to be transferred into the system,  in total it took 2 hours 7 minutes. By this time the ADSL broadband Internet connection was only on 4% complete meaning that the carrier pigeon won by a huge margin!

The race was hugely popular with live updates of the race appearing on Facebook and Twitter as well as Winstons own website www.pigeonrace2009.co.za

Rules were applied to the race which included “no cats allowed” and “birdseed must not have any performance enhancing seeds within”.

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September 10, 2009

UK broadband connections hit 17.6 million

UK broadband connections for residential and small businesses are at the 17.6 million mark after a 1.6% increase in the last quarter and up 8.4% on the previous year.

This 1.6% equates to around 281,000 new broadband connections with a large part of this growth down to the increased number of LLU connections.

BT broadband have a market share of 26.4% at the end of March 2009 and this equates to around 4.6 million BT broadband customers, 3.7 million broadband connections were from Virgin Media who are a cable provider offering fibre broadband.

Other broadband providers (excluding LLU) have around 3.4 million customers and LLU operators who operate their own broadband have around 5.7 million customers.

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- Filed under: Home Broadband
- Tags: UK broadband, UK broadband lines
Author: Mark @ 11:08 am

Fibre Broadband in Europe is over 2 million

There are now more than 2 million fibre broadband connections in Europe that go direct to the home (Fibre-To-The-Home) according to research by the FTTH Council Europe.

The number of those with FTTH has increased by 18% since 2008 across Europe which shows that the broadband market has continued to grow and develop, however some of the bigger European countries such as the UK, France & Germany didn’t make it onto the top 10 list of countries in Europe with FTTH (based on percentage of customers who have fibre broadband).

The list was dominated mainly with smaller European countries with Sweden topping the list with 10.9% of the country being connected with fibre broadband. Norway and Slovenia were the next 2 countries on the list.

  1. Sweden – 10.9%
  2. Norway – 10.2%
  3. Slovenia – 8.9%
  4. Andorra – 6.6%
  5. Denmark – 5.7%
  6. Iceland – 5.6%
  7. Lithuania – 3.3%
  8. Netherlands – 2.5%
  9. Slovakia – 2.5%
  10. Finland – 2.4%

The FTTH Council expects that by 2012 there will be around 13 million people who will have fibre broadband across 35 European countries.

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BT Broadband stores to showcase fibre broadband

BT are going to showcase how good their fibre broadband is by opening two BT Broadband stores where potential customers can go in and see how fast the fibre optic broadband is and sign up for the service.

With BT currently installing fibre optic cable in Muswell Hill (North London) and the Whitchurch area of Cardiff these are the locations of the 2 new BT Broadband stores. The one in the Whitchurch area of Cardiff is due to open this week and the one in Muswell Hill next week.

The BT Broadband stores will be able to show how having BT’s fibre broadband (Fibre -To-The-Cabinet) with download speeds of up to 40Mb could improve their use of the Internet including gaming, Internet TV, downloading and using it with CCTV.

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September 1, 2009

Satellite broadband cost reduced

Satellite broadband is becoming slightly more affordable as Avonline has reduced the installation fee of it’s Tooway satellite broadband system by £100.

Installation will now start at £599 which includes the satellite dish, modem, installation and activation of the satellite broadband service.

Avonline’s Tooway service is able to offer broadband speeds of 3.9Mb download and 384Kb upload with 2.4GB monthly usage for £29.99 per month. For those who need greater data transfer there is another deal that offers 12Gb of data transfer for £99 per month.

The Tooway service is able to cover the whole of the UK making broadband accessible for those who live out in remote and rural areas and those in not spots where standard wired and mobile broadband does not cover.

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Three Mobile launch MiFi

3 Mobile have announced the details about it’s new mobile Wi-Fi service that is has named MiFi. It is designed to help make connecting to 3 Mobile broadband easier.

3 mobile mifi Three Mobile launch MiFiThe MiFi is a wireless modem that is battery operated and is able to create a Wi-Fi connection when the modem is able to connect to the 3 Mobile network. All it needs is a 3 Mobile sim card to be inserted and then the modem to be turned on, it will then automatically create your own Wi-Fi connection that can connect multiple devices at the same time and you will be able to connect to with a range of devices such as a laptop, mobile or iPod.

The Three MiFi is available to buy online from Thursday 17th September at www.three.co.uk or in 3 Stores across the country from Friday 18th September and is available to customers in 2 options:

1 month contracts at £15 per month with 5Gb data transfer, the MiFi modem will cost a one off fee of £69.99.

There is another alternative for customers, they can buy the Ready to Go kit that comes with the MiFi modem and 3GB data that is available to be used over a 3 month period, this costs £99.99. After the 3 months is up the MiFi can be used on a pay as you go basis.

To sign up for Three MiFi visit www.three.co.uk and click on the Mobile Broadband link and then the MiFi tab.

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Mobile network bosses called for meeting with Lord Mandelson

Lord Mandelson has asked for a meeting of the bosses of the five UK mobile networks (O2, T-Mobile, Vodafone, Three & Orange) in a meeting where he will try to “bang some heads together” to get the governments plan of accessible broadband for everyone in the UK by 2012 as described in the Digital Britain report.

The mobile operators play a part in this as they can offer mobile broadband to places of the UK where it is unfeasible to install a fixed line broadband connection.

However the problem lies with the 900MHz wireless spectrum which requires all the mobile networks to come to a deal over. Originally back in the 1980s, Vodafone and 02 who were the first mobile operators in the UK were granted the use of this but a deal over sharing it up needs to be done with the other mobile operators.

Once this is cleared up talk is likely to turn to the 800MHz spectrum that will become available in 2012 once the switch off from analogue to Digital TV takes place. The government will be selling off this which the mobile operators will all be very interested in as it will also be ideal for widespread rural mobile coverage.

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