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Mobile broadband is a relatively new concept, but it’s taken the world by storm. Internet technology is improving all the time – as are smartphones and laptop computers, and with options like mobile broadband pay as you go, you don’t even have to sign up to a long-term contract.

Mobile broadband meets the needs of those who want to access the Internet when they’re out and about, as well as at home or at work. Many people combine fixed-line broadband with mobile broadband pay as you go. With a USB dongle, you can even use it instead of a landline for your desktop PC. This is a convenient, hassle-free way to connect to the Internet outdoors, although it can be costly if you exceed your download allowance.

Modern smartphones aren’t called “the PC in your pocket” for nothing – some are nearly as powerful as a PC. Whereas people once had a mobile and a laptop, today they often have a single smartphone instead. However, mobile broadband isn’t limited to just your mobile phone. It can be linked to any mobile device, including netbooks, PDAs and laptops.

Most mobile broadband providers like to tie customers into contracts of 12 months or more. These often come with incentives like cheap, or free laptops. The alternative is mobile broadband pay as you go. This is a good option if you just want occasional mobile broadband access, prefer the flexibility of non-direct debit payments, or are in temporary accommodation or expecting to move. Remember – mobile broadband only works where you can get a signal.

Over 99% of UK homes and businesses now depend on broadband technology, with fixed-line broadband the most common way to connect to the Internet. However, the recent growth in high-powered mobile devices, and the growing use of laptop computers in preference to desktop PCs, has made mobile broadband a viable alternative.

There are two payment options to mobile broadband: pay as you go or contract. Both have their benefits and drawbacks, and which one you choose will largely depend on what you need broadband for.

If you frequently need to access the Internet away from the home or office, live in an area with low Wi-Fi connectivity, or want an all-in-one payment plan that covers both home and mobile use, then a contract is best. If you mainly use fixed-line broadband and/or Wi-Fi, and just need a mobile connection occasionally, then mobile broadband pay as you go may be best for you.

If you choose contract mobile broadband from a new provider, you can usually expect a free dongle. Most contracts are for 12 months, though many are longer. It’s important that the connectivity and speed you get matches what you pay for, so a mobile broadband pay as you go or short-term rolling contract option might be best to start with.

If you’re satisfied with the speed and signal (remember, your mobile broadband access will only work where you can get a clear mobile phone signal for that network) then you can switch to a long-term contract at a later date.

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The benefits of high speed broadband are numerous. In the early days of dial-up, downloads were relatively simple. However, today’s complex data files and video-linked websites demand a high-speed service – hence the high number of broadband providers. In the UK, dial-up users are in the minority.

With so many broadband deals on the market, it can be confusing finding the right one. However, broadband providers realise that not everyone is Internet aware, and list their menu options so they’re easy to understand. The best way to compare broadband suppliers, though, is to use one of the online comparison engines. These list the different broadband deals on offer, together with the benefits and drawbacks of each. For example, some require that you switch telephone line providers, while others tie you up into long-term contracts, so it’s worth shopping around.

With over 15 million people in the UK already converted to high speed broadband, providers are dropping prices and/or offering other incentives (such as free wireless routers or free installation). However, ideally you need a large to unlimited usage allowance if you intend to download videos, play games etc. Luckily, there’s a lot of competition at this bandwidth – meaning providers are constantly upgrading their network to make things faster for the customer.

Low speed Internet just won’t work with today’s technology. Media files “time out” and streaming videos take forever to buffer. Broadband providers are tripping over themselves to offer customers the best broadband deals, so it pays to give your PC the service it deserves.

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• Failure to shop around and switch means customers are potentially ‘throwing away’ over £350million* on line rental charges annually

• Over half of British home phone customers haven’t switched line rental provider in the last five years

A recent survey by Homephonechoices.co.uk of over 8,000 consumers (1) has revealed that 53% of British home phone customers haven’t switched line rental provider in the last five years (2), indicating that they are likely to be paying over the odds for their home phone packages.

The availability of cheap home phone line rental deals has increased in recent years due to small niche providers competing for business with the big suppliers. The cheapest stand-alone line rental currently available in the UK is from Primus, whose Home Phone Saver package costs only £8.99 per month (3) and includes free evening and weekend calls.

Michael Phillips, product director commented:
“We were very surprised by the results of our recent survey. It is clear that line rental charges are being overlooked by consumers as a means to cut their household bills, yet it’s one of the simplest services to switch and save money on. Consumers now have a wide selection of home phone providers to choose from with some very reasonable packages available. The Primus Home Phone Saver, which is the cheapest in the UK, offers fantastic value for money at only £8.99 per month with no additional call package charges.

“By failing to switch, British home phone customers are effectively throwing millions of pounds down the drain. I would urge anyone who hasn’t switched line rental in over a year to get online and check what deals are available in their area using a price comparison site – the savings will be surprising and will soon mount up!”

Homephonechoices.co.uk offers hints and tips for getting the best line rental deal for you:

1. Pay by direct debit – Nearly all providers discourage payment by any means other than direct debit and impose punitive charges of anything up to £5 per month for dealing with cheques. The Post Office accepts payment by various means with no additional charges.

2. Go for paperless billing – Some providers offer useful savings if you receive your statements online, not by post. You’ll also do your bit for the environment.

3. Check your small print – If you’re tied to a 12 or 18 month contract, you may be faced with exit fees if you want to switch before the contract term ends. Weight up the savings and charges before making your decision as you may find the savings don’t merit the switch.

(1)Homephonechoices.co.uk Customer Satisfaction Survey; Online survey conducted November 2009 – December 2009; 8,418 respondents

(2) 52.8% (4,181 out of 7,925 respondents) indicated that they had never switched line rental provider in the last 5 years

(3) Primus Home Phone Saver £8.99 per month line rental exclusive to Homephonechoices.co.uk (normal cost£9.99)

* Calculation based on number of UK Households – 24,9m (ONS, 2006 estimates) multiplied by those with fixed line telephony – 87% (Ofcom Communications Market report 2009) multiplied by those that indicated they had never switched line rental provider in the last 5 years – 52.8% (Homephonechoices.co.uk) multiplied by the annual difference between the average monthly line rental of those respondents that hadn’t switched in the last 5 years – £11.61 (Homephonechoices.co.uk) and the current cheapest UK fixed line package – £8.99 (Primus Home Phone Saver/Homephonechoices.co.uk) = £359,058,553 .

I’m sure you’ve all been in that situation….sat in the phone store trying to decide on a new mobile phone while the salesperson is blabbing away at you about the amazing specifications on some phone…when all you care about is…that it lets you make and receive calls…and of course how pretty it is! Naturally, you don’t want to come across like a bimbo though…so you nod and smile along with whatever they’re saying…3G, GPRS, etc….well…don’t worry, you no longer need to just go along with it! And do you know what? It’s actually not that bad

We’ve put together a quick and easy to read list to help you out with all that jargon that means nothing to you when it comes to mobile phones. Take a look at the list below, and you’ll no longer find yourself just nodding and smiling, but actually understanding what’s going on!

3G- 3G is the current generation of mobile technology, it supports a higher data rates, full motion video, and allows mobile users to access the internet.

Bluetooth - Technology that allows a wire-free connections between devices.
Dual band – All new UK mobiles are dual band, this term refers to mobiles that can switch between two frequencies.

EMS – Enhanced message service, is an evolution of SMS. An EMS-enabled phone can send and receive messages that include formatted text, pixel pictures, animations, sound effects and ring signals.

Fascias – Interchangeable covers for mobile phones.

GPRS – General Packet Radio Service – This is a way to enhance 2G phones so they can send and receive data more rapidly. A GPRS connection means the phone is “always on” and can transfer data immediately. This is the standard digital service used throughout Europe.

Infrared – Wireless data transfer via an infrared port. For example, between two mobile phones or via other devices such as PC with IrDa port.

IVR – Interactive voice response.

MMS – Multimedia messaging service. With a MMS compatible handset, you can send and receive a combination of text, images, sound and video. It’s a more advanced feature than SMS and EMS.

Pay As You Go (PAYG) – This is a pre-pay mobile phone service. It works by allowing customers to purchase credit in advance to give you talk time on your phone.

PC card – This device allows you to connect your mobile phone to your computer.

Tri-Band – Tri band or Triple band phones can operate across three GSM bands, which means they can work in more than 100 countries.

Voice activated dialing – This is a way of controlling the call function on your mobile phone. You say the name of a contact and it will automatically dial their number. This is a function most commonly used with hands free sets by drivers.

WAP – This means Wireless Application Protocol, WAP enables mobile phones to activate the services that mean we can access the internet on our mobile phone.

For many years now there have been talks of being able to use your mobile phone to make payments, or even having your Oyster Card synced up to your phone…the latest news is that this has been tested already and will go live within the next year! And according to research..by late 2011, the use of phone payments will cut off the use of credit cards, travel cards and loyalty cards all together.

Can you imagine…soon, all you will need to make sure you have on you when your going out is your mobile phone – and everything else will come installed within that. Us girls will no longer need to carry huge handbags with us everywhere we go, it literally will be a huge weight off all our shoulder! However, like everything else, this too will have a positive and negative.

The main and probably most obvious downfall is – how safe will we feel about having all these valuable details stored in one place? I mean, think about it…losing your mobile phone wouldn’t just mean losing your mobile phone anymore…It would mean losing your credit card, loyalty cards and oyster card too. Would you be willing to take that risk? And if you’re not, will you slowly be losing out?

It seems that potentially, our handsets could be running our lives, with more and more information being stored on them with the passing of time. Make sure you’ve got the right handset for you, because as we’ve seen, a handset is about to become so much more than just a phone!

The latest news on the government’s Digital Economy Bill is that it could breach human rights. The Joint Select Committee has said measures to tackle problems like persistent piracy were only vaguely outlined, while the over-heavy approach threatened to breach the rights of innocent web users.

Chair of the Committee, Andrew Dismore, agreed that the 21st century evolution of new technologies was creating problems, but that this alone could not justify restricting freedom of expression.

The Committee concentrated solely on the areas concerned with illegal file-sharing and new copyright legislation; even so, Mr Dismore said it had been difficult to get a clear intention of what the government’s intentions were. He is particularly concerned over new powers giving Ofcom the right to slow down or disconnect internet pirates, using 21st century technology. He wants to know how these new technologies would be applied.

One of the points the Committee raised was whether entire households would lose their connection if just one member was file-sharing. They are also concerned over Clause 17, which gives the government the right to amend copyright law without passing primary legislation. This has been condemned by web groups, who see it as an infringement of liberties, saying it would give the government sweeping and unprecedented powers over copyright. The latest news is that the Open Rights Group has joined the fight, calling the Bill draconian and damaging.

The government denies it is breaching the rights of the public to access new technologies, and say disconnection would only occur after several clear warnings. They have, however, admitted there are several areas requiring clarification.

For those interested in science news, the new pictures captured by the Herschel space telescope will be extremely exciting. The telescope represents one of the best new technologies in space exploration, as it is the most powerful telescope to have ever been launched into space.

Pictures from the Herschel space telescope were recently released by the European Space Agency (Esa), pictures that are believed to have captured the birth of stars. The images from this powerful telescope have been described as the most important photos that have been taken in outer space for decades.

The latest news relating to these photographs is that astronomers believe they will be able to better understand how galaxies are created after they have studied and analysed the pictures.

The Herschel space telescope is so powerful that it has even captured photographs of stardust, something that was previously invisible to the most powerful telescopes. Scientists hope that buy studying the pictures, and the stardust, that they will be able to understand how the lifecycle of the cosmos works.

The Herschel space telescope space has three ‘eyes’ that allow it to see far into space. One of the eyes is its ‘Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver’, known as Spire, which allows Herschel to see through gas and dust clouds in order to see how stars are actually born.

Herschel is able to see far into space and look at galaxies that were thriving when the Universe was much younger than it is now, giving scientists an unparalleled view into the lifecycle of galaxies.

The Internet age has made many changes in our daily lives, but one notable change has been to the way we consume information and news. The days of reading the morning papers over breakfast are fast becoming a distant memory as websites and digital publications take their place as the primary sources of information for information hungry consumers.

The same can be said for magazines. Due to the instant nature of the Internet, rather than wait for magazine subscriptions to be printed and delivered through our door, we’re turning to digital editions of magazines to get our fix of entertainment immediately. Digital magazines offer instant gratification with digital editions of the magazines becoming available immediately, whereas with print copies you would have to wait longer.

We live in an information age and we demand our information immediately. Printed newspapers are no longer sufficient as they contain yesterday’s news, whereas online media such as digital publications can be up to date to the very minute meaning we read almost everything online nowadays.

Digital magazines, digital newspapers and even digital comics are all available online and can be purchased and available for reading within seconds of their publication. The digital revolution could spell the end for the printed medium.