Category Archives: Mobile Broadband
Guest Post: Top 5 ways to choose a mobile broadband plan you’re happy with
by James Bower, a tech specialist blogger
It wasn’t so long ago that we had to wait until we got home and connected our computers or laptops up to cables before we could access the internet. However, these days we can access it anywhere and at anytime as long as have the right equipment and a mobile broadband plan. The main problem nowadays is making sure that we get a mobile broadband plan that best suits our needs because there are so many of them on offer. The following is a list of the Top 5 ways to choose a mobile broadband plan you’re happy with, which should give you a helping hand. Continue reading
Guest Post: How broadband works
by Ryan Bauer, a writer who works with iiNet Australia
The internet today is faster than it has ever been. We know that because last century we were willing to wait hours for files (such as those containing music and videos) to download. Now, the latest podcast or the hippest viral video from YouTube can be available in just seconds. Broadband internet is what made this possible. But just what exactly is this magical technology that has helped simultaneously save and waste days of our lives? Glad you asked because it’s time get up to speed on what makes the internet so fast these days. Continue reading
4G bidders may get low cost loans from European bank
Cash boost could improve next week’s auction prospects
Britain’s mobile operators could be in line for cheap loans from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to fund 4G roll-out once successful applicants from the nation’s spectrum auction, starting next week, are selected. The bank has already agreed to lend the country’s biggest operator EE around £350 million to upgrade its mast network and, according to insiders, is similarly interested in backing successful bidders of 4G. Continue reading
Chancellor counts on 4G chickens to ease Britain’s debt
UK could lose AAA rating if debt isn’t brought under control
Credit agencies are circling over Britain following yesterday’s [December 5th 2012] ‘mini budget’ revealing how reducing the nation’s 2012-13 deficit hinges largely on how much the government receives from its forthcoming 4G auction. UK Chancellor, George Osborne, told the House of Commons that he expects to receive £3.5 billion from the auction next month [January 2013] but Brian Potterill, director of PwC’s telecoms strategy team, is among those suggesting that it might generate as little as £2 billion. Continue reading
Virgin leaps ahead with free Wi-fi in Bradford and Leeds
Lampost network requires no subsidies or licensing
Britain’s Virgin Media is to be the first to offer city wide Wi-fi outside London, providing free mobile internet access to 1.2 million people in Bradford and Leeds via small cell transmitters. Though operated by the group’s corporate business arm, the service will be open to the public and is being ushered in under government plans to create a series of ‘super connected’ urban hubs. Earlier this month Virgin Media struck a deal to provide Wi-fi services to the London Underground, although it was beaten by O2 for the rights to equip Westminster with a similar network last year. Continue reading
Pyramid predicts in UK 84% will be smartphones by 2017
Rating: Also 22.2 million 4G users in 2012. Shurley shome mishtake?
Just over half (59 percent) of all handsets sold in the UK 2012 will be smartphones, according to the latest figures from Pyramid Research. Significantly, that number will rise and smartphones will represent 84 percent of all handsets in 2017. Given the growing percentage of the British population being ‘elderly’ and since they are the chief smartphone Refuseniks, that figure makes sense. The Press release also says that the number of 4G subscribers in the UK expected to reach 22.2 million in 2012. That’s obviously a mistake – the company must mean by 2017. GoMobile News wonders how many publications will blithely report that number. Continue reading
Why 4G/LTE will kill fibre-to-the-home in the UK
Rating: We just ain’t going to dig the roads up again
In a blinding flash, the reason why fibre to the home (FTTH) hasn’t taken off in the UK came to GoMobile News. It’s all about shared communal conduits (ducts). The theory doesn’t quite fit every user case but that normally means it’s valid because there are always exceptions to the rule. Fibre to the home is, of course, the arch rival to 4G/LTE. Sneaking behind the lines (metaphorically speaking), GoMobile News attended a briefing from the FTTH Council Europe. The organisation’s communications officer, Nadia Baba, described FTTH as a futureproof technology. So why is is virtually non-existent in the UK, whilst the whole country should be covered by 4G/LTE by about 2017? The answer is easy. In the UK we don’t have ducts so we have to keep on digging up the roads. Continue reading
UK to get first taste of 4G ‘before Christmas’
Ofcom ruling due today could give Everything Everywhere big lead over rivals
UK telecoms regulator Ofcom is expected to give the green light today [21st August 2012] for Everything Everywhere to sell a chunk of its spectrum to the Britain’s smallest operator, Three – giving Britain its first taste of superfast 4G within months.
If the sale is approved it would also allow EE, the owner of the T-Mobile and Orange networks, to start using some of its spectrum for 4G before Christmas and well ahead of rivals such as Vodafone and O2 who will have to wait until the forthcoming 4G spectrum auction. Continue reading
Londoners to make calls from Tube for 1st time in 19 yrs
Rating: GoMobile News remembers using a Rabbit (CT2) @ Russell Sq
Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, announced yesterday [March 14th 2012] that Londoners would have access to Wi-fi on the Tube thanks to a new contract awarded to Virgin Media by Tfl [Transport for London]. Boris is quoted as saying that, “Millions of passengers will now be able to connect to their work, friends or access the latest news and travel information whilst on the move.” That’s not technically correct. Luckily, he didn’t use the phrase “for the first time.” Because that would have been completely untrue. GoMobile News recalls making a phone call from Russell Square (one of the deepest Underground stations in Central London) some 19 years ago. That involved using a handset supplied by Hutchison Rabbit using a standard known as CT2. It illustrates just how far behind the rest of the world London is lagging in terms of mobile telephony. Continue reading
Android broadband testing app found
Rating: Thinkbroadband Android Mobile Broadband Speed Tester still in beta
Whilst trying to improve internet speeds on our fixed broadband links, GoMo News accidentally stumbled across a useful Android app from thinkbroadband. It is intended to enable Android handset owners to discover just how fast their wireless connexions are running at. The major attraction is that this app not only tests data speeds over 3G (or slower) but over wi-fi, too. The results were something of an eye-opener because in specific circumstances, a 3G connexion actually appeared to be faster than a link over wi-fi. That’s not something which we had expected. Continue reading
To dongle or not to dongle? That is the question for operators
Rating: Strand examines the pros & cons of chasing mobile broadband
Here at GoMo News, we just love mobile consultancy firms that are prepared it tell it like it is. And Strand Consult fits into that category perfectly. The firm has just published a new report entitled ‘Successful Strategies for the Mobile Broadband Market’. It has a sub-text which is: – small screen versus large screen – which screen size will be most profitable for mobile operators? Strand has grasped completely the apparently no-win situation over mobile broadband in which mobile operators find themselves at present. Do you chase the PC dongle brigade which will inevitably consume more and more of the available data bandwidth or do you try to entice more and more smartphones onto the network? Strand seems to have assessed this situation well by indicating that there are no simple answers to this dilemma. Continue reading
Conference to stress mobile’s role for broadband access in African rural areas
Rating: Mobile operators and equipment manufacturers to speak
The sixth annual ‘Connecting Rural Communities’ forum is taking place in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, on 24th – 26th August 2011. Amongst those speaking at the event are major players in the mobile world including Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Motorola and Vodacom. The vent has been organised by the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) in conjunction with the Tanzanian Ministry of Communications, Science and Technology and the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority. Prominent African ministers, heads of ICT agencies such as regulators and universal service funds, as well as leading ICT solution providers are attending. The whole event will stress the importance of broadband access in rural communities for building economies and attracting inward investment. Continue reading
The Windows 7/3G dongle Saga: – 3 UK to the rescue
Rating: Lateral thinking – use a completely new dongle
GoMo News has utilised these pages before to describe the trials and tribulations it has experienced while attempting to access the Net using a mobile broadband dongle here. None of these problems happened until we ‘upgraded’ to Windows 7 on our Samsung NC10 netbook from Windows XP. Despite our valiant attempts, none of the three different mobile broadband dongles in our possession would work in conjunction with Microsoft’s latest version of Windows (7). We can, however, now report that we’re back in business thanks to our friends at mobile operator, 3 UK. The company has kindly loaned us a (fourth) mobile broadband dongle. And this one actually works Continue reading
Froyo’s built-in 3G Mobile hotspot to the rescue
Rating: Wi-Fi tethering provides Net access from the wilds of Esher
There’s little point in obtaining a news scoop if you can’t publish it immediately on your own news site/blog. GoMo News found itself in a tight spot today whilst covering a mobile cloud event in the wilds of Esher (see here). The venue’s router had decided not to play ball, so we were facing a total lack of internet access. Which is exactly what a mobile broadband dongle is intended to compensate for. The catch is that not one of our dongles presently wants to work. Fortunately, lateral thinking prevailed and we were able to access our site using the built-in Wi-fi hotspot facility which Android 2.2 (Froyo) provides as standard. Here’s how we did it. Continue reading
Mobile tickets: Moshtix gets mobile barcodes
Moshtix is an electronic ticketing provider based in Australia. It’s centered mostly around tickets for music events and festivals, and it explores quite a few channels for tickets including email and smartcards. And, as of today, it also uses mobile barcodes. Continue reading
