My name is Mike Tighe and I'm an Assistant Producer from BBC Radio 4's You and Yours.

I'm currently working on a story about long-term contracts, particularly with regard to mobile phone, television or broadband. I'm particularly interested in speaking to anyone who's been tied into an extensively long contract and is now having trouble getting out - perhaps you've had to move quickly, perhaps you're not getting the service you thought you would, or there's something else which has made you unhappy with your situation. Either way, we want to hear from you. If you're stuck in a long-term contract and you want out, please do get in touch on the email below.

Mike

Mike Tighe
Assistant Producer, BBC Radio 4
Mike.Tighe [at] bbc.co.uk

Most of us gamers have been left feeling massively frustrated while playing online. 

You all understand the pain of a game of Battlefield or Call of Duty ruined by lag. It’s caused most of us to quit in a rage before; the graveyard of shattered keyboards in the corner of my room serves as a grim reminder. 

If, like me, you’re all too familiar with these problems,  then renting a game server may very well be your solution.

What are game servers?

They are server space dedicated to hosting online multiplayer games. They’re run on powerful remote computers, so they’re the ideal platform for big battles. You can rent and host your own server from game server providers (GSPs).

Why do I need one?

Well, there are many ways that they can enhance your gaming experience. Here are just a few: 

• Increased speed and stability of matches. No more troublesome lag or disconnections.
• Have a HUGE match without putting any strain on your server.
• Administrate your server and the players.
• This means the ability to make your server private and play exclusively with people that you know and trust. Wave goodbye to those annoying cheaters!
• Make your own rules and kick out and ban people that are not behaving themselves.
• You can apply mods (modifications) if you want to change things up a bit. This gives you the ability to apply fun cheats and alter the game to your tastes.
• Lastly, you wouldn’t be able to do it yourself. Home broadband connections rarely provide the necessary upstream bandwidth to host game servers.

How do I use game servers?

Well, first off, you’ll need a computer and a legal copy of the game that you wish to play. The same goes for everyone that wants to play on your server. Next, visit a provider, find the game you want to play, choose the amount of slots (players) that you need, choose how long you want to rent it for and you’re pretty much good to go. Simple. There are some well established GSPs that you can trust. Here’s a couple to get you started:

• www.hypernia.com
• www.gameservers.com
• www.clanplanet.co.uk

You pay per slot, so the more people you have the more it will cost. As an example: A 16 slot  Battlefield 3 server from Gameservers.com will set you back £13.76 a month. Prices will vary so it’s best to shop around.

Do I need to rent a game server near me?

You don’t have to, but generally the closer the server is the better the performance will be. Providers will often have servers in multiple locations across the world for your chosen game, so just pick the one nearest to you.

Should I go for it?

The main draw is being able to play regularly with your friends or your clan. Over time you can really build a sense of community around your server, something that can’t easily be replicated any other way. 

However, as a host there are certain factors that you must think about before renting. You need to consider the level of commitment that goes into hosting a server. If you want to keep your members happy then you will have to spend lots of time maintaining it. For example, you must enforce the rules that you set out. On top of that, if something goes wrong you will need to work with the provider to sort it out. The contracts provided are minimum of one month, so you will need to make sure you are committed for the full term of your contract. 

Also, if you’re planning to play with people worldwide rather than locally, you may need to consider that this may negatively impact upon the performance of your server.

Ultimately, casual gamers might be better off sticking to the developers servers. But for those hardcore gamers looking for a premium online gaming experience, server rental might just be for you. 

This technique uses a tool created by Sieempi (he also has a thread about the application on XDA Developers). All it needs is the phone, USB cable, few bits of software and a Windows PC.

It does not require your phone to be rooted and should work on any GSM version of the HTC Desire (do not use this if you have a CDMA phone, however).

The developer says this is "brick-safe" so should not result in any permanent damage but as with anything like this be aware that stuff can go wrong so make sure important data is backed up and remember that we at Broadband Genie cannot be held responsible for any catastrophes which occur as a result...

Unlock the HTC Desire

First ensure you have the driver for your HTC Desire installed. You can check this by going to Control Panel > Programs in Windows 7 and Vista or Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs in XP. If HTC Sync is installed, uninstall that before proceeding.

If you do not have the driver, download and install HTC Sync, then uninstall HTC Sync but leave the drivers alone.

When you connect your phone to the computer make sure it's set to 'Charge Only'. If the driver is installed correctly the phone should be identified without any errors.

Now do the following:

1. Download either 0.9.4 or 0.9.5 versions of the unlocking tool. For our purposes there are no major differences between the two, I used 0.9.4.
2. Extract the contents of the unlocking tool archive to a convenient location on your computer.
3. Connect the phone to your computer. It should be powered up and set to Charge Only.
4. Run the HTC_Desire_Unlock_v0.9.x executable file.
5. A command prompt window should pop up, confirm detection of your HTC Desire and give its serial number. Wait a few seconds and the phone should go into 'HBOOT'. Just leave it, don't touch either the application or your phone.
6. After it says 'Waiting for hboot!.....' it will again confirm the serial number and and a few seconds later you should get a confirmation message of a successful unlock. The phone will restart and should now be unlock from the network.

I couldn't get this to work on a Windows 7 system, it got stuck at 'Waiting for hboot' and never seemed to detect the phone, however it is compatible and this appears to be a common problem with the tool so may just have been a driver issue on that particular PC. It worked fine on a Windows XP laptop which already had the drivers installed. If it doesn't run first time try uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers, there is also an alternate driver download at the 0.9.4 download page linked above.

As part of its big Christmas push, you could win a trip for four to LA, alongside a host of other prizes including Disney goody bags, HD flip cameras, video cameras, an Apple iPod Touch or free Sky Movies.

You can enter the Sky Movies Big Present Giveaway here: and better still, the more entries you can get your friends to make the more of the top prizes will be opened up to you. So, the more effort you put in the better your chances are of winning.

You'll have to be quick though. The competition is only running for two weeks and a week has gone already, so you'd better get a shift on. Last entries will be accepted at the end of Sunday, December 11. You can only enter once, and each prize will be drawn when enough entries have been received to unlock that particular prize: at the time of writing, all the big stuff is still up for grabs.

All you need to do is click the link above then enter your name, email and postcode (as well as agreeing to getting a bit of spam form Sky Movies in your inbox). Simple.

God luck, and don't forget to take us with you if you win!

Customers I speak to have one thing on their mind these days: how to get faster internet speeds to help grow their business. Superfast fibre broadband seems to be everywhere, right? Wrong.

The bitter truth is, though, that the words “superfast fibre broadband” might be everywhere, the real deal is far from widely available. Even by the end of the UK’s much lauded fibre roll-out programme, only two thirds of users will have in fact received it. 

So where does that leave the 1 in 3 business customers who can’t get this ‘next big thing’ in internet services? At Eclipse Internet, we don’t believe those unlucky enough to lose out in the fibre postcode lottery should have to put up with inferior ADSL connections. 

Earlier this year, we launched a solution for the fibre ‘have-nots’: Bonded DSL. Now one of our most popular products, its success has made us a leading provider. 

What is bonded DSL broadband?

Bonded DSL is a simple concept: by bonding together two or more ADSL lines, you can achieve up to double, triple or quadruple the speeds. Its beauty is that it’s available everywhere standard broadband is, so there are no geographical constraints and, frankly, however bad your basic broadband speed is - bonding is going to make it much faster. And it’s provisioned in just 10 days.

It has been a real success. I guess, as a tech support expert, I’d say this down to two things: it really delivers increased speed, both down and upstream, plus it’s incredibly resilient. 

Businesses I talk to on a daily basis are aware that they’re putting ever-growing demands on their broadband connections. And in a rural area like Devon, we’ve really had to be experts in solving this problem. That’s why Bonded DSL is so welcome – anyone can get it. 

If you’re interested in buying Bonded DSL, a good solution should not only give front-end failover (if one line goes down you should stay connected on the other line(s), albeit at a slower speed), but have back-end backup too. 

Eclipse also uses aggregated servers, stored off-site with mirrored servers as backup. This means if the bonding server fails, you’ll see a mere blip in performance before the back-up server kicks in. For more information, check out the video below.

So when we got the Apple iPhone 4S sent through to us from Three, I was hardly excited by the prospect of reviewing it.

And it's not just an Apple phones thing; what you want is a handset you can use as you would normally to really put it through its paces, and as Apple (in its wisdom, cough) has used its own SIM, I wasn't going to be able to do that.

Luckily, some in our office are slightly more Apple leaning than myself, and our very own Louis Watson was more than happy to step into the breach. An iPhone 4 owner already, he was looking forward to seeing what the new smartphone had to offer.

As you'll see from his review, while being more than happy with what he found, there's something of a contrasting conclusion. It seems that while the mild disappointment carried over from the iPhone 5 no-show is still in evidence, the iPhone 4S is a real improvement on its predecessor.

But while the improved antenna, shiny new iOS 5 and the fun Siri app add value, its far from conclusive whether it's worth the upgrade. The Apple iPhone 4S does get the Genie 'recommended' accolade, but only just. Read Louis' full and in-depth Apple iPhone 4S review here to find out why.

Blink and you've missed a few, it seems, with 2011 seeing on less than 1,567 different models coming off of the production line (Ok, maybe not quite that many).

We've already looked at some fantastic budget Samsung smartphone bargains this year, with particular credit going to the Samsung Galaxy Mini and the Samsung Galaxy Europa.

Both of those handsets we were happy to recommend, and the fact there are a few to choose between at each price range, even from the same manufacturer, is admirable - it's something Apple prides itself on not doing, which we frankly find bizarre here - especially when you look at its range of MP3 players.

But on the flip side, you take 'choice' a little too far. Consumers want options, but when you get to the point where handsets have price points as close as £20 (in fact you can find the Mini and Fit at the same price with some online retailers); that is, if there really isn't much between them.

Sure, if you have one handset with a keyboard, one a flip etc, that's fine. Or if one is very much going in one direction at the detriment of all others (say an amazing camera but little else), then that's OK too, as long as it's well signposted. Sadly, Samsung isn't doing that here.

To get an in-depth review of what the Fit has to offer, head to our dedicated Samsung Galaxy Fit S5670 page. You'll also find full specs and deals for the handset too.

This guest post was written by Hannah Smith of SimplyBusiness.co.uk, a specialist broker who offer

It’s all going swimmingly. You’re on schedule, it’s Friday and you’re just about to hit “send” when a red light comes on on your router. You’re offline. You restart the router, but no dice. You pick up the phone and call a helpline costing 80p a minute and spend seventeen minutes discovering they can’t help until Monday.

Not too helpful if you regularly work from home and internet access is integral to the running of your business. Sounds familiar?

Always have a Plan B

Whilst broadband services are more reliable now than previously, it never hurts to have a backup strategy. If you need to send or receive anything up to 50mb a mobile phone with one of those all-you-can-eat data packages is ideal. Just make sure you have the software to connect it to your PC and are on the right data plan. It won’t be fast, but you’ll breathe a sigh of relief when your work uploads, and at least you won’t have missed your deadline.

Alternatively, make sure you’ve a hitlist of local venues which offer WiFi - you can always go and work in a coffee shop for the afternoon. Want fries with that? Even McDonalds has WiFi these days.

Back up plans aside, what are the key things to think about when looking for a broadband package? Check out our tips for freelancers and home workers below:

Check Coverage

There are numerous places to check for broadband coverage and it pays to check now - rather than finding out after you’ve signed up to a lengthy contract. It’s also worth speaking to your neighbours - which providers do they use - would they recommend them? Nothing beats a personal recommendation, right?

The Need for Speed

Clearly speed is important, but there’s little point in spending a fortune on a package which by far exceeds your usage. If you’ll mainly be using email and doing a little web browsing then you’ll probably be fine with a regular package, however if your usage is likely to be more heavy then make sure the package you pick reflects that.

Shop Around

Once you’ve decided on the sort of package you need and have established which providers offer coverage in your area it always pays to shop around. Read the small print, compare prices and check what offers are available.

Also make sure you understand what’s included as part of the deal - for example, all the hardware and software you need should be included in the price.

Going Mobile

Finally, if you are frequently on the road it may be worth looking at a mobile broadband package. Right now mobile broadband is likely to be pretty shaky with both reception and speeds fluctuating wildly depending upon whereabouts you are, but these types of packages normally offer sufficient coverage for you to keep on top of things whilst you’re out and about.

Guest blogger Armand David is CTO and Associate Director at Tech PR agency Brands2Life and longtime tech and media blogger at division6.co.uk. He lives in Hampshire, slightly further away from the DSL exchange than comfortable. You can tweet him @division6

Many of you, like me, struggle from countryside speed and quality limited broadband connections. You're just too far from the DSL exchange or out of range of Fibre optic or other high speed broadband services to have much more than a trickle coming through your broadband pipe. If you need to check if you have poor performance, try a speed test here - anything less than about 4mbp/s down and 0.75 mbp/s up and you'll likely be struggling with Internet TV and other rich Internet services at the moment (the UK average is more than 6 down , these days).

Short of moving, there are a few things you can do to improve the situation, whether you're suffering from dropped connections or slow performance.

1. Check the line with your ISP. They can run diagnostic tests and ensure there isn't anything that can be switched on from their end to address the situation.

2. Ensure your micro filter is correctly installed and there's as little else on the line as possible. You never know what's causing the interference. You may need to fiddle around with the wall sockets (which sometimes serve as line splitters) to plug into the 'primary' connection.

3. Try to work out if your modem needs replacing. Often the ones provided by ISPs are… sub-par, and you can sometimes get a 30% boost by replacing it with almost anything you can buy at retail.

4. Upgrade your broadband package. Not all ISPs offer a 'premium' service but some do, and if its a matter of a few extra quid a month for improved video calling or download speeds, you can take a call as to the value of that for you… Don't expect much, though, as the principle improvement you'll see here is increased upload speeds (download speeds are 'uncapped' on up to 20/24 mbp/s internet connections).

5. If you're a light Internet user, consider a mobile dongle or mobile access point. Whilst you tend not to get as consistent throughput with a dongle, if you're in a really dire area for fixed-line connectivity and can negotiate a decent package with someone that has a nearby mobile mast, you may see some improvement.

There may be alternative high speed broadband options in your area, but these are too diverse to give practical advice on. No one ISP that uses DSL (and buys its lines from BT Wholesale) is likely to be better than another. Even 'unbundled' ISPs that have their own equipment use BT exchanges, so will suffer from similar issues if you're out of range of BT.

It's a broadband divide that will take a while to bridge, but there are investments going into fixed line connectivity and wireless broadband, and hopefully one or other will step up to the challenge in the years ahead.

The stunt features a series of comic encounters between motorists returning to their parked cars, and teams of fake traffic wardens. 

The traffic wardens have been placing reverse fines on car windscreens across the UK, the yellow parking tickets  containing cash instead of a fine.  

Hidden cameras have been used to record the encounters - I imagine lots of comedy footage of upset and then astonished motorists, and a few hugs for the traffic wardens.

The advert campaign is all about promoting T-Mobile's new 'You Fix' tariff, which allows mobile phone customers to control the amount of their monthly bills by setting a fixed monthly allowance and paying for additional calls on a PAYG basis.

See a taster of the advert below and on T-Mobile's website.

Things you should avoid when choosing a password:

1. Don't add a number or symbol before or after a word. e.g. "router1"
2. Don't double up a single word. e.g. "routerrouter"
3. Don't reverse a common dictionary word. e.g. "retuor"
4. Don't choose a dictionary word and remove the vowels
5. Don't use key sequences that can be repeated easily e.g. "qwerty","wasd" etc.
5. Don't garble your letters, e.g. substituting an L for a 1 or an O for a zero eg: "z3r0-10v3"

To save yourself some time here is a list of websites that allow you to generate secure passwords. Safepasswd.com is my personal favourite because it allows you to create passwords that are 40 or 50 characters long.

http://www.safepasswd.com
http://strongpasswordgenerator.com
http://www.onlinepasswordgenerator.net
 

How would a hacker get hold of my password anyway?

Steal it – Someone could look over your shoulder when typing your password. They could look to see if you've written the password down on paper – This is a big no no! These two examples are probably the most common way passwords are compromised, so it's very important you don't write your password down, and remember not to type in your password when somebody could be watching. The best idea is to store the password in KeePas or a similar application.

A brute force or dictionary attack – Hackers often have access to tools that allow them to try every possible combination of letters, numbers and symbols in an attempt to guess the password. A dictionary attack is where the brute-force attack used words available in a dictionary (English or Foreign)
 

Ways you can protect yourself:

1. Use strong passwords as mentioned above and use mac address filtering on your router.

2. MAC Address filtering:

On your router you can secure your network by using MAC address filtering. This tells your router to allow only thedevices you trust to connect to your network / internet connection.

A MAC (Media Access Control) address is a unique ID (identifier) that is assigned to every networked device (Cellphones, smartphones, computers, laptops, iPads etc). They are assigned by the manufacturer of your device and are encodeded with the manufacturer's registered identification number. The MAC address of a device cannot be changed so setting up your router to only allow devices you trust is a sensible idea.

Setting up MAC Address filtering will vary from router to router, but I will show you how to get the MAC address of common devices.

Find MAC address on your PC (Windows 7):

1. Click the windows button in the bottom left
2. Click in the 'search programs and files'
3. Type, 'cmd'
4. Under 'Programs' click on 'cmd.exe'
5. This is the windows command line.
6. Type ipconfig /all
7. Look for the “Physical Address”. The numbers / letters shown on the right is your MAC address.

Every router is different so you will need to search online for instructions on how to enable Mac address filtering on your specific router. You would need to get the mac addresses of all the devices you want to allow to connect to your home or business network.

Once you have the list of your mac addresses you can enter them into the mac address
filtering section of your router's configuration page (accessed by opening your web browser and typing either: http://192.168.1.1/ or http://192.168.0.1/) This will mean that only those devices you allow can access your network and internet connection.

Out of the box

Inside the standard square cardboard packaging you'll find the usual MiFi bits and pieces - the MiFi, two USB cables (one super short), a USB plug to attach, battery and SIM.

But in addition, Three has taken the welcome step of adding a cradle you can store the device in when at home and when charging. 

In a less welcome step, however, you'll still find a ridiculous array of little booklets (see image below) and other printed paraphernalia. It's enough to make you weep to see what must amount to half a tree crammed in to the box. It's been the same with all three iterations of Three's MiFi device and it beggar's belief - you don't get the same from, say, Voda's mobile Wi-Fi unit.

Initial thoughts

Of course we don't expect anyone to listen to us over in the Three design studios, let alone take any notice if they did, but please, we beseech you - if you can get a message to them, tell them to STOP with all the terrible, mind boggling paper junk they throw into the box.

It may sound like we're joking, but really - just look at this lot. You should be able to count eight different booklets, cards and folded pieces of paper there. Not only is it dumb, but it's completely confusing. We're used to using these kinds of devices too - can you imagine a mobile broadband beginner being faced with this lot?

What makes it worse is that some of it is generic, not device specific, meaning it's even more confusing. There's no excuse for not spending a few extra shekels and putting most of this into one handy, simple to understand instruction and information book.

Beyond this, things improve dramatically though. The MiFi unit itself looks fantastic with its shiny clear front and black plastic back, while the matching cradle is really nicely designed to be all curved and reassuringly chubby. It's nice and small too, so it won't get in the way on your desk. Paper mountain aside, this is the nicest looking, and most practical, mobile Wi-Fi device on the market.

Usage

As we've already hinted at, hopefully you won't need to try and find anything in the instructions - and to be honest, if you've had experience of smartphones, MP3 players and the like, you shouldn't have to.

Popping the SIM and battery in are a doddle, while charging the device (either using the cradle or without) is a simple process of plugging USB shaped pegs into USB shaped holes.

When you plug it into a laptop or PC the MiFi's software installs directly from the device (as it does with a dongle) - no need for CDs and the like. For us, all this went without a hitch.

The cradle is a really nice, as well as practical, addition. Beyond that, in terms of usability the E586 is very similar to its predecessor, the E585. Battery life is still under five hours, but this should be all you need between chages.

The small digital display really does show you all you need to know: connection strength bars, connection type/status, messages and battery level across the top; mobile provider name in the middle and data usage total/time online and roaming status across the bottom. This really is an advantage over a standard dongle, especially the usage data. However, the digital display really is small - if you've got sight issues, you could struggle to be able to read it.

Once set up and powered up, getting online is as simple as finding the 3 MiFi in your Wi-Fi connections list on your device and away you go. One of the eight bits of paper in the box is a 'keepsake card' with the name of the device and its password - handy, but a little pointless when you can press a button on the side of the MiFi to have them both displayed on screen. This however raises some interesting issues around security of the device, which we'll try and look into further at a later date. 

Speed and coverage

If you've checked out our last Dongle on the Move Awards (if not, you should) you'll know that Three's most recent dongle, the E367, won by a comfortable margin. If you're someone who has previously had issues with the provider, it may be worth you taking another look - it has made big improvements to its network in recent times.

However, it must be said that the dongle was the best of a pretty average bunch. With the promise of 4G mobile broadband in the wings, things in 3G - both in terms of speed and quality of coverage - have hardly been moving forward at a great pace. You need to accept the fact that, for many of us, mobile broadband will continue to be a somewhat slow and frustrating experience for some time.

On the plus side this unit is somewhat future proofed, allowing for speeds of up to 21.1Mb when Three improves its network (whenever that may be).

If you're willing to take that on board (or have to), you can't really get much better than a 3 MiFi unit in terms of mobile broadband. Just be sure to check out its coverage checker before you take the plunge, as you're not going to get a 3G signal everywhere.

Data

Even though you'll have the freedom to connect several devices at once, this should be done with caution.

First, you have the possible issue of poor connection quality and speeds - this is only going to be highlighted further by trying to get more than one device online with your MiFi.

Second, remember your data restrictions. Luckily, Three has the most generous packages on the market right now with up to 15GB of data per month on some deals right now (September 2011). Just be careful to keep an eye on that, especially if you're sharing the data.

Conclusion

If all this sounds a bit negative, you should instead see it more as cautionary. We don't want to pretend that mobile broadband in the UK is without its problems, but if you take that on board and are happy to go along with it then a Three MiFi unit is one of the best ways to get online.

If you are convinced that this is for you, check out our 3 MiFi deals by following the link.