Virgin will now charge £1 more for its large broadband package, which also happens to be the most popular one. If you buy a large Broadband package without line rental, you will need to pay £22.50 per month, up £1.50. In certain cases, it is also going to bump the call charges by 12 percent. It would also be making some changes to its free call provision.

However, Virgin Media is not alone. Companies across the sector are looking to augment their revenue stream and major providers such as O2 and BT have already made some hikes. Virgin Media, “As part of our ongoing review of services, we’re making some changes to our cable pricing from April. On average, customers will see an increase of around £2.68 per month.”

New charges would be applicable from April 1^st and if you are a Virgin subscribers, you can expect to get the informational letter soon.

Virgin Media to Give Price Shock to its Broadband Subscribers is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

The plan offers impressive “up-to” 20 Mbps speed and also provides free evening and weekend calls. Orange has revamped its other plans as well. You can opt for Simply Broadband, which will cost you £12.75 per month if you are an Orange customer, however for Non-Orange customers, the plan will be priced at £22.75.

Alternatively, you can opt for the Broadband and Anytime package at £22.75 per month. This price includes £12.75 as line rental. Additionally, these deals also let you access about 200,000 Wi-Fi hotspots in the UK. However, you need to commit for 12 months for availing these plans. The pricing includes a wireless router, fringe benefits such as Orange Film to Go and a protection software suite from McAfee.

Orange also announced 15 percent reduction in its tariffs for home broadband plans in the rural areas. Orange is widely considered to be a reliable broadband services provider and its new tariffs are making it look even more attractive.

Orange Launches New Home Broadband Plans: Starting at £5 is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

Three UK has announced a new MiFi initiative in order to solve connectivity problems in the rural areas. Three UK has launched this program in collaboration with Countryside Alliance. Under this program, a Rural Broadband Working Group will be formed, which would work towards providing internet access to hitherto uncovered areas. Three UK will take the responsibility of supply Wi-Fi dongles. The first lucky place to be covered under this scheme is Gringley on the Hill in North Nottinghamshire.

Apart from this philanthropic venture, Three UK is also augmenting its portfolio. It recently announced the launch of a new MiFi dongle with HSPA+ technology. This Huawei branded dongle is the first of its kind in the UK and Three UK claims it to be the fastest mobile dongle available. It is capable of providing up to 21.1 Mbps download speed whereas its upload speed can go as high as 5.76 Mbps.

The dongle is able to provide up to 4.5 hours of battery life and features an OLED display for keeping track of the battery and data usage. It also comes with a MicroSD card slot which can support up to 32 GB card.

Three UK Helps You Enjoy Rural Beauty with Fast Speed MiFi is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

Mobile broadband dongles are something every Internet savvy users should own. If you’re caught-out in a place where there is no Internet connection. They are often a god sent – but is there much difference from one dongle to another ? While Huawei E367 doesn’t appear to be much different to any other dongle – looks can often be deceiving.

If you’re not familiar with mobile broadband here’s a little explanation: The dongle looks like your average USB memory stick, but has a slot for a mobile phone sim card. The dongle calls the network and by the power magic you are connected to the Internet. Essentially it’s a 3G mobile phone minus the actual phone part.

Unlike many of it’s competitors the E367 has a couple of clever design tricks. The USB connector is on a right angled hinged allowing you to move the dongle up and down so you can find the best position for the strongest signal possible.

More importantly it’s excellent when you’re on a train or in cramped conditions as you can have it pointing up and it will save a bit of space.

The real selling point for the E367 is it is the first Three Network dongle to come with HSPA+ technology. Without boring you to do death the tech – it allows this dongle to achieve speeds more akin to your home broadband when you’re out and about.  The dongle does this by having multiple antennae, which means it can achieve internet speeds up to the dizzy heights of 21.1Mb.

So how does it perform ? Well depending on network coverage, quite admirably. We tested at several locations across Manchester City centre during on-peak and off-peak times and achieved an average 5.5 Mb – a lot better than another dongle we’ve owned or tried before.

The E367 didn’t skip a beat when we fired up a bit of iPlayer and Spotify whilst sat in Piccadilly Gardens. And Three reckons those speeds will see significant improvements nationwide when they complete their network upgrades.

If you are already a Three user, then you can get an upgrade for your dongle for only £59.99. New users can get the PAYG 1GB Ready To Go for £69.99. The other alternatives are a rolling one month contract for £49.99 upfront and £15.99 per month for 5GB, or with no upfront charge and 15GB for £18.03 per month on a 24 month contract.

David Kerrigan, Three’s head of mobile broadband, said “Huawei has done a great job delivering this superior dongle, in both form and function. Whether browsing the internet, downloading files or streaming video, this dongle delivers an even better internet experience on our 3G network, which is built for mobile internet.”

You won’t find a better mobile broadband dongle on the market at the moment. And for £60 it might not be the cheapest, but if you want to use the internet when you’re out and about at decent speed – we can’t recommend it highly enough.

Gaj-it Rating 4 out 5

Three Network Huawei E367 Review is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

O2, on the other hand, provides the fastest 3G service. Its average speed ranges between 2.5 Mbps and 3 Mbps. O₂ service also offers fastest web page download. The remaining three major carriers Three, Vodafone and T-Mobile have been placed between O₂ and Orange. T-Mobile barely scraped by Orange to avoid being placed at the bottom of the list. The report also suggested that the condition is not likely to improve much until 4G protocol is implemented in the country. It is rumored that BT is planning to launch a trial 4G service soon.

However, Orange is not all too happy with the assessment. The report results are based on the data collected between September and December 2010. Orange has now openly questioned the methodology behind the report. It claims that the study took into account mobile broadband access via dongles only. The carrier said that dongles are a small part of its overall 3G services. It further said that most of its users access 3G services through their smartphones and this important demography has been excluded from the study. Further, Orange claimed that since the data is more than 6 months old and therefore cannot be taken as the representative of current performance. Oh Orange, you are protesting too much.

As expected, the report has been welcomed by O₂ and it did not waste any time in patting its own back. Epitiro, the company responsible for conducting tests for this report claimed that Orange is crying foul now and that it did not express any concern about the methodology earlier.

Orange Enters Internet Hall of Shame: Gives Poorest Mobile Broadband Performance is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

Fujitsu is planning to lay ‘Fibre to Home’ network, so that you get symmetrical 1 Gbps bandwidth. Fujitsu is not the first company to have 1 Gbps dream, BT is already working on its own 1 Gbps project. BT is launching its project in 40 towns whereas Fujitsu is ambitious enough to target 5 million households. The project is aiming for top speed of 10Gbps or more.

Though, it may seem like both the companies are competing with each other, but in reality, Fujitsu will need BT to play its part for the successful execution of its project. Fujitsu has clearly stated that it would need BT to provide “access to its underground ducts and telegraph poles on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms.” Here we hope that the two companies will be able to work it out for the welfare of the masses.

The government is also doing its bit to ensure that the UK is well connected. It has allocated £530 million for superfast internet connectivity. Fujitsu is also hoping to get a piece of this pie. In the unlikely scenario of the firm not getting the access to the funds, the future of the project would be in the jeopardy. The company is ‘willing’ to commit £1.5 billion to £2 billion of its own funds and would require £500 million in government aid. This would leave only £30 million to be allocated to other companies interested in carrying out similar projects. BT, which is spending £2.5 billion of own funds for its project, has already questioned the Fujitsu’s ‘willingness’ to spend money out of its coffer.

Fujitsu Challenges BT with its 1 Gbps Project is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

Even on the paper, the product was rife with limitations. After all, 4G is still in the development stage and hence does not have very wide coverage. But in practice, the router had even bigger problems. There were several reports about the router not recognizing even the legitimate devices. And that’s what probably led to its ultimate demise. The company has announced that its stores would keep selling the remaining routers in their stock and it would also retain sufficient stock to service any warranties on the products already sold.

Source: Engadget

Clear Pulls the Plug On 4G iSpot is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

BT has used fibre-to-the –home technology for this purpose, in contrast to its earlier practice of using fibre-to- the-cabinet technology, which generally leads to slower speed internet. On Monday, the government is expected to provide details about its plans for aiding broadband expansion in the country. The government is also expected to set up a £830 million for the companies which are willing to set up broadband connections in the rural areas.

In a recent survery, UK has been placed at disappointing 24^th in terms of internet bang for buck. So, if you are the resident of one of the 40 towns to be covered by this plan, then do let us know about your expectations.

Edit: Gb changed to Gbps to avoid confusion between quantity of data and speed.

Source: BBC Image Source: BT

BT May Launch 1Gbps Broadband is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

First, Ofcom want BT to open up their fibre lines so that companies which don’t offer fibre optic broadband (such as Sky and TalkTalk) can provide this option to their customers.

Secondly, they want BT to allow other companies physical access to all their tunnels and telegraph poles.

The intention of these actions is naturally to allow a more competitive broadband market, so hopefully we can get better broadband service across the country, so what can I say? This can only be a good thing right? If you’re more interested in the matter you can view Ofcom’s full statement here. Leave your thoughts on Ofcom’s proposals below.

Via: Electric Pig

Ofcom: BT Must Open Their Fibre Lines for Fair Broadband Competition is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

Clearwire has claimed that the new gizmo provides rich mobile broadband experience and is able to provide an average download speed of 3 to 6 mbps. iSpot requires authentication via a password. The company has clarified that “the device is configured to filter based on MAC address which allows it to ID the Apple mobile devices.” So far, things look good with this personal hot spot, however on the downside, it is capable of transmitting only 4G connectivity. Therefore, for the time being, iSpot’s appeal is going to be limited to the areas with 4G coverage.

iSpot is available via Clearwire website for $99.99 with a monthly service fee of $25 for unlimited 4G data usage. This personal hotspot would be available in stores across the US from August 10. The pricing is attractive and thanks to the spotty service provided by AT&T, iSpot actually stands a good chance to create its own niche market.

Source: Engadget

4G Broadband Hotspot for Apple Devices Launched by Clearwire is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com