internet access
Virgin Media Broadband Internet Review
February 26, 2010
Virgin Media has been around for a while now and I am sure that you have all seen their adverts boasting about on fibre-optic broadband services. The problem I had with this was that it left me begging the question “how good is it compared to say, BT or Sky Broadband’s phone line based ADSL services? (Let’s not even get into mobile broadband)”.
Well now you are in luck as I switched to Virgin Media’s fibre-optic broadband and have given it a full testing in my own “special way”. On the surface things stack up pretty well. My old service offered “up to 8MB speeds”.
Using a download speed test, what this actually equated to was me receiving around 1 MB/s – Virgin offers 10MB, as standard! The difference is though what this actually equates to speeds on average of around 9 MB/s. That put into perspective means that I can now download a typical MP3 in about 5 seconds or a typical film (800 MB) in 12 mins. This is a huge boost in performance and put an even huger (I know that is not an actual word but it is very fitting) smile on my face.
Continue reading »O2 Testing 4G Mobile Broadband Network (UK)
February 7, 2010
The massive UK mobile phone and broadband network of O2, along with telecommunications provider Huawei, have uploaded a video onto YouTube showing the next generation of mobile broadband, which is commonly known as 4G.
The video showed a test of the connection involving activities such as streaming high definition video over the web. The test showed speed results of just 8Mbps, much less than the potential 150Mbps that was earlier forecast.
However, this is of course a step in the right direction. At this 8Mb speed we can compare these mobile networks to the average-Joe’s home broadband speed. Other possibilities in the video are real time gaming made available through the 4G networks low latency.
Continue reading »Tories Promise 100Mbps Fibre Optic Broadband For Your UK Election Vote
February 4, 2010
I think I would be right in assuming no political party has ever before used broadband speeds in the run up to a general election in a bid to boost votes. Not in the UK anyway. Well now they have. The Conservatives have vowed to lay out 100Mbps fibre optic cables providing wickedly fast connection speeds.
This news comes only a short time after the current government laid out plans to offer 2Mbps speeds to homes in need of internet. Connection to the web has been deemed a basic human right which is arguably a right load of old….. None the less, we as a nation are set to benefit.
Continue reading »Nokia Booklet 3G Review (Mobile Internet Netbook)
January 3, 2010
You may have seen my article not so long ago regarding the latest best netbooks (Winter 2009/2010) available on the market. Within that list I included the new Nokia Booklet 3G; a netbook aimed at the higher, more luxurious end of the market. Now it has been released and consumers have had their chance to get their mitts on one, does it justify its somewhat extortionate price tag? Or is it just over priced and overrated?
The netbook retails for anything between about £600 and £800 which does seem ludicrously expensive when compared to other netbooks on the market today, of which there are an ever increasing amount.
Continue reading »Dell Mini Inspiron 10 Netbook (Atom N450) Announced
December 31, 2009
In the crowded world of netbooks, Dell have always been a major contender, with their Mini series and we’ve written two reviews here on Zath for the Dell Mini 9 netbook.
With a new year, comes a new netbook from Dell. The new Dell Mini Inspiron 10 netbook will be released early this month and Dell are offering a variety of options as always.
In terms of performance, it is the same as always, 1.6Ghz N450 Atom processor, 1Gb DDR2 RAM and the option of either 160Gb or 250Gb hard drives. Not much improvement since the last model there, however they also give you the choice between 3 and 6 cell batteries with the latter providing up to 9.5 hours of battery life. This puts it right up there with its greatest competitors in terms of endurance.
Continue reading »UK ‘Broadband Tax’ Given The Green Light
December 9, 2009
Earlier this year as part of the extensive Digital Britain report lead by Lord Carter (the Communications Minister) the proposal for a ‘broadband tax’ was put forward as a means to raise money to fund the implementation of his plan to raise the internet connection speeds across the UK to a minimum of 2Mbps (for 90% of us anyway).
Well up until now this was merely an idea in the pipeline, admittedly quite away down the pipeline, but in today’s pre-budget report by the UK Treasurer (Alistair Darling for those of you less politically aware) it was announced that the plans for this tax would go ahead.
Continue reading »Swindon To Get UK’s First Free Wi-Fi Mesh Network
November 18, 2009
One of the problems with Wi-Fi is that it doesn’t have that great a range – yes its easily enough for your house, and maybe for your cheapskate neighbour as well but there is only really two ways to link up a large area using wireless networking: WiMax or loads of Wi-Fi access points, and it may not surprise you to know that here in Britain we’ve generally opted for the brute force option when it comes to this problem.
This example is one that is set to continue, but it is not that which is interesting in this example. No, it’s that Britain is set to have its first “Wi-Fi town”, and for a reason not yet disclosed it will be the 160,000 strong town of Swindon.
Continue reading »Dell Mini 9 Netbook Review
July 29, 2009
You may have read The Average Windows Nerd’s recent review of the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 netbook, however I thought I’d write-up a quick review of my opinion of this while I could and to outline what I’m planning on doing with it!
Of the netbooks that I’ve had the chance to look at and use in the past, I would say the first thing that strikes you is the build quality of Dell’s offering – it’s certainly a sturdy piece of hardware which has been designed quite well…at least externally, when it features a rounded corners and a cool looking shiny finish – although as with anything like this, it’s an absolute fingerprint magnet.
Continue reading »Virgin Media Unveil Illegal-Download Busting Subscription Service
June 15, 2009
Easily the biggest problem that the music industry over the last decade has been the exponential growth in the illegal downloading and sharing of music which attracts millions of eager internet users with the offer of free music and practically no chance of being caught/prosecuted.
Not that the music industry hasn’t tried – the corpses of dead attempts litter the musical history books for the last five years – through methods as diverse as tying tracks to credit cards and unpopular as digital rights management (DRM) but as of yet they have been unsuccessful. So step up Virgin Media with their attempt to solve the conundrum.
Continue reading »Carphone Warehouse Buy Tiscali To Become Broadband Leader
May 10, 2009
As you can imagine the broadband industry is a big market – one that currently has around 15 million ‘users’ and that is a number that is rapidly expanding, so when two of the top five providers come together it is definitely worth looking at.
Carphone Warehouse (or more specifically ‘Talk Talk’, the telecommunications part of the company) is set to be the biggest provider of Broadband access in the UK after a £236 million buy-out of Tiscali’s UK arm, assuming EU competition regulators give it the green light.
Continue reading »
