The Top 10 Broadband Awards are based on ratings of more than 1.5 million customers as well as speed tests carried out during the last year by Top 10 Broadband, the most popular independent site for comparison of broadband prices, thereby making it the most valued customer awards in the industry.

The awards ceremony will be conducted in the 24 Club, a cutting – edge venue located in Soho, Central London in September the 15th. Nominees will lock horns in 11 categories, including fastest service, innovation, best value and customer satisfaction.

The panel which made the nominations observed the detailed speed test as well as the customer rating data, nearly thousands of customer reviews left on the website and put all the packages of broadband providers to the most strict quantitative and qualitative test in order to come up with the nominations.

O2, 3 and Virgin Media are in the front in nominations and have been short – listed in 4 main categories. O2, TalkTalk, T-Mobile, BT and Vodafone have 3 nominations each.

Customers have continued to make their views count in the awards by rating their broadband providers as well as the speed that they get.

The director of Top 10 Broadband, Alex Buttle, said that the Digital Britain report preceded the rolling out of extremely fast home broadband as well as an increase in the number of customers seeking mobile broadband dongles as well as other related devices.

Therefore, he continued, it was pertinent that excellence was recognized and was duly awarded in this highly competitive industry. They, he mentioned, were happy to celebrate the success of companies who’s commitment to excellence and innovation in the industry was helping to make the digital future of the country better.

The recently unveiled gift packs are available with 3-month and 12-month bundles to choose from. They already include a T-Mobile 150 mobile broadband USB dongle. The offer also comes with just a single payment and unlimited browsing anytime, all the time.

For its 3-month gift pack, T-Mobile pegged monthly rates at only £44.03. This should mean savings for other Christmas items to give away as this gift pack allows savings of over 25% as compared to prepaid plans. On the other hand, the 12-month gift pack also offers that 20% savings for subscribers, while the one-year bills cost is only £146.79.

While the gift packs do not include watching videos or downloading files, the better side is that it will allow internet access using your laptop regardless of your location. More importantly, users can then chat with friends and update their social network status whether they are at home, at work or vacationing. Being so, these T-Mobile gift packs sure are a good Christmas present to give to your family and friends because it tells them subtly you want to stay connected with them!

These devices come with exchangeable covers so consumers can pick the look for the one they wish to give as a present. Because it can be purchased at one-off cost right away, this saves the giver and the happy recipient of such Christmas the trouble of being tied down to a subscription fee. Being so, a T-Mobile user will simply enjoy continued connectivity – starting this Christmas and beyond.

For additional information, please visit: pocket-lint.com

The survey was created by YouGoy and questioned more than 2 thousand mobile broadband users a number of questions which had been designed with a high degree of care to measure particular features such as ease of use and installation.
T-Mobile emerged trumps by topping it in four different categories, which included billing and customer satisfaction.
These ratings meant that T-Mobile got the highest score as a whole and enabled T-Mobile to emerge as the winner for the third consecutive quarter.

T-Mobile, in a statement, said that these results were ample proof of the commitment that the network has toward providing its customer with a more affordable and easier to use service.

Source - techwatch.co.uk

The astounding claim of 100,000 illegal downloaders using BT Broadband made by the BPI was rejected by BT, saying the evidence provided by BPI is erroneous. The numbers consists of broadband users within the BT bandwidth suspected of sharing files illegally, but the ISP said that only a small fraction were actually correct IP addresses linked to their customers.

BT was not only taken aback by accusations of inaction, it also claimed that the submitted information was inaccurate and could not be substantiated sufficiently for them to take action against the alleged illegal downloaders. The company also said they have agreed to send out letters to a thousand suspected illegal downloaders at the turn of this year.

But this doesn’t seem enough. The chief executive of BPI, Geoff Taylor, expressed dismay over the lack of action from BT on their noted subscribers involved in piracy. Further, the BPI pointed out that a leader such as BT should do something about having a high traffic of illegal materials. Taylor said, operating a commercial service in the knowledge that is used as an avenue by criminals should not be tolerated, and BT should take steps right away to ensure that such breaking of laws will be corrected within their company. He further highlighted such action should be conducted at the expense of BT’s funds and not imposed on its consumers through higher bills.

Contrary to innuendos that it’s merely protecting its subscribers by saying so, BT clarified it is merely defending its services within the bounds of law, and will not take action just yet as they may be simply caught in a tricky situation with BPI.

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The telecom landscape will change massively during the upcoming years and on Monday, the CFO and CEO – elect, Hans Vestberg, shared the vision he had of the industry for the next couple of years and for as far ahead as 2050.

At the Broadband World Forum Europe in Paris, Vestberg said that they would have nearly 3 billion mobile broadband subscribers. There are currently more than 4 billion users of mobiles in the world and that, in 5 years, the forecasts are for more than 7 billion, also adding that this figure will naturally include people who have more than a SIM.

It is amazing what is ahead of us, he said.

He added that broadband will move from installation phase to the deployment phase, comparing broadband’s development to coal, steam and iron, which brought about steel and heavy engineering and the railways, which lead to steam ships; both of which resulted in new ‘highways’, or chances to explore new avenues.

By 2020, broadband should be deployed to a large extent, Vestberg added, saying that telecom companies have the chance to lead the move into the services and applications which will be operated on these highways. There is a possibility of 50 billion connections by 2020, he said, saying that not all these connections will be operated at the same time and that not all will be used by humans. The non – human connections include installing soft SIM cards in cars which are set to switch on the lights on the motorway during late night when required, thereby reducing power wastage.

In 2050, he added, sustainability will be the main focus and that the industry can reduce CO2 emissions by at least 15% with a bit of investment.

Source - totaltele.com

In an effort to get everyone, including people who didn’t read this letter, protected, they decided to update the password automatically for all its subscribers. The password will be unique to each subscriber and will be the individual serial number which is found at the bottom of the BE Box. A guide is available for changing the password subsequently at their website.

Be wanted to emphasise that the wireless key was not being modified, but it was the administrator web interface’s password that was being changed.

The script was automatically run on the 7th of September. For subscribers who didn’t want Be to do this, they were allowed to stop it by downloading and running the tool from their website.

For their more tech – savvy customers, a detailed explanation was given with regard to the problem. They said that the BE Box was under threat from an XSS which was working in tandem with a CRSF and enabled a remote attacker to carry out actions on the Web UI by using a JavaScript without the knowledge of the subscriber.

The short term would see the halting of this occurrence by setting the password as the serial number of the customer’s BE Box.

After this had been done, if any unauthorized person attempted to hack your router, you will be asked to enter your Admin password. Do not enter it or else the attack will become successful. Do not enter your password when it randomly asks for it.

Be said that they would be working with Thomson in the long run in order to make the firmware’s resistance to these attacks better.

This report has been compiled by telco and broadcasting watchdog Ofcom. The document has been designed at making sure that youngsters get a proper deal from their service provider and suggested asking particular questions before they make a proper decision.

A particular factor that they will have to consider is to whether to go for a mobile or fixed broadband option because an inclusive landline wouldn’t be required and could possibly cause more issues when the issue of paying bills in shared property comes about.

However, having fixed broadband means that you can make use of the more reliable and faster choice as well as bringing about more better download limits if you are considering to use your broadband connections for more than emails and browsing the internet.

Once this decision has been arrived at, the report recommends that you check the property in which you are residing for a phone socket. You should then contact your potential service provider to see whether the line is working or whether it has to be re – connected.

The report says that there are a variety of factors that students have to take into consideration when moving away from their home for the first time. However, the report asks whether the student has thought about the ways in which you will keep in touch with family and friends or how you will send in that email when you have a deadline.

During the last month, Ofcom made the announcement that there are over 6 million unbundled broadband lines present in the country, meaning that consumers have a larger choice when it comes to making a choice on selecting a wired web connection.

Stephane Teral, the main analyst for FMC and mobile infrastructure at Infonetics Research, says that there isn’t a doubt that mobile broadband is the next big revenue provide for all mobile operators. However, he said, don’t think that the revenue from voice service will decline. Rather, he said, voice service will continue to account for a larger proportion of the revenue for operators, even as all mobile operators look to diversify their operations.

While the revenue for mobile service providers from SMS/MMS services and mobile broadband is fast increasing, the revenue from voice services continues to be a large proportion of the revenue of most mobile service providers. These revenues are set to increase slowly in 2013 and will be driven by the increase in mobile subscribers in developing countries and the gradual change from fixed lines to mobile phones in developed countries.

The revenue from LTE services has been predicted to increase at a high rate, possibly reaching $41.7 billion in 201, with most of the income coming from North America due to the LTE deployments by AT&T. By the end of 2013, the revenue from W-CDMA/HSDPA service will be 500% more than that from CDMA 1xEV-DO as most of the mobile subscribers continue to be on GSM networks.

The number of subscribers to mobile broadband is should hit 1 billion, according to Infonetics, in 2013.

Source - cellular-news.com

New customers enrolling in the UK with Virgin Media will only be charged a mere £18 per month for the first 3 months of their subscription in order to access the high speed XXL 50 Mbps package, though users will have to pay through Direct Debit or eBilling.

Access to this top speed internet broadband package will also entail users having to subscribe for the £11 per month virgin phone line service and, after the promotional 3 month period, the cost of the package will increase to a nominal 28 pounds monthly.

If new customers do not require the Virgin phone line, then they can choose not to take up the offer and can still be up for the 50 Mbps service. However, the promotional price of the service for the first 3 months increases to 33 pounds monthly and then 38 pounds after the expiration of the promotional period.

All broadband packages being offered by Virgin Media also come with a free modem as well as a Wireless N router, free PCGuard Total, free installation, 100 free photo prints every month, unlimited storage space on their network and automatic backup. Virgin Media also offers the best downlink and uplink speed currently available in the UK regardless of the chosen package.

This promotional deal from Virgin, according to an industry expert, provide amazing value for money with the best speed possible. For people who download a lot or stream TV or music through iPlayer or Spotify, this deal should be hard to resist!

Virgin Media is currently working on launching a new broadband service which should enables its users to have downlink speeds of about 200 Mbps and is putting in a lot of effort to ensure that a lot of subscribers get onto their 50 Mbps package before they roll the 200 Mbps package out.

O2 is also set to purchase Be Broadband and operate it in addition to O2, though the branding of Be Broadband will be kept as it is because of the high popularity of their brand.

The marketing of the products will be brought into the SME, broadband, consumer and corporate mobile teams by way of the mobile network operator. The creation of this customer service team, which will bring about ‘amazing O2 experiences’ will be created and O2 will be seeking a new division head.

The existing staff in O2 will be filling most of the main roles with Felix Geyr set to be the head of the broadband division, Shadi Halliwell to be brand activity’s head, head of strategy planning to be Simon Groves and SME marketing’s head to be Simon Devonshire.

Sally Cowdry, the marketing director, said that, though O2 is gaining in the broadband market, the market is still a challenging one. Change is one of the only few constants and they have to evolve, said Cowdry. Cowdry added that they have moved into offering multi – products and that the changes that they are making are such that they will align themselves to these multi – products.

As far as the mobile phone part is considered, the PAYG and contract marketing teams will be brought in as a single division during restructuring and, rather than focusing on the package that the customers purchase, the focus of marketing will be on particular segments of the market.

They have set November as the month for completing their restructuring and Cowdry said that the staff affected by the restructuring can apply for the newly created roles.