”Yeah, I’m not with BT anymore…”

Sunday 14th September, 2008 - £7,926.83 in debt…

I think I must have some kind of money-saving psychic ability. No sooner have I switched to 1899 for my UK calls, Martin Lewis’s newsletter tells me that BT is raising its prices by 1p a call. I know that might not sound like much, but it’s my money and I’m keeping hold of it.

The rise will come into effect on Tuesday (the 16th) and will apply to the connection charge - from 6p to 7p - so it’s 1p on every call you make through BT. This means that every call costs you at least 11p, as there’s a 4p minimum for the per-minute charge on top.

The call charge with 1899 is 4p or 5p for connection to a UK landline and that’s it. That’s a saving of at least half on every single UK call you make.

BT is always being accused of behaving like it still has a monopoly on UK customers, and this is another example. Even if you can’t be bothered to switch your line rental to a cheaper alternative, switching your calls to 1899 is so simple there’s no excuse for letting BT get away with it. Do it now.

Telecoms, Devon Style

Sunday 31st August, 2008 - £7,977.79 in debt…

A couple of years ago, I signed up with 1899, a phone service that gave me free calls. A few months later, my phone started doing crazy things and making noises I wasn’t expecting - I cancelled the 1899 subscription and the noises went away. But now that my phone bill is creeping over £20 a month, I’m going to try again.

The problem with phone tariffs is that the cheapest ones give you free evening and weekend calls. Not a problem, you say? I should stop moaning and get on with my life? That’s easy for you to say. But I work day shifts and my boyfriend works night shifts, so we use the phone at all times of the day and night. We should get a tariff with unlimited calls… or use 1899.

1899 is a very cheap secondary phone service. To use it, you just sign up at www.1899.com and set up your payment method. You must already have a landline and pay your monthly line rental fee to BT or whoever - 1899 just charges you for your calls.

All calls to UK fixed lines are free after a 5p connection charge, so you can be on the phone for as long as you like, at any time. You use the service by dialling 1899 before the full number you want to call, so if a particular type of call is cheaper with your fixed line provider, you can just miss out the prefix number and dial as normal.

For instance, daytime calls to 0845 numbers cost 2p per minute with BT but 3.5p per minute with 1899. But most of my calls are to UK landlines: I currently get free weekend calls with BT, but the connection charge is 6p so I’ll be using 1899 for all my UK fixed line calls. That keeps things pretty simple.

So, 1899 gives me a quick and simple sign-up process, free calls day and night, and no registration, subscription or cancellation fees. And, so far, no surprising noises coming from my phone. Touch wood.

 “How many times have I told you?”

In an attempt to cut illegal downloading by eighty per cent, an initiative involving music industry trade body, the BPI, the film industry and the government, has drawn up legislation that will potentially see the UK’s six largest internet service providers (ISPs) send out around 1,000 letters a week as a warning to those who use their bandwidth to illegally download, or worse, upload and share music and films.

The deal, ostensibly labelled as a Memorandum of Understanding, has been drawn up by the Department For Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) and signed by ISPs BT, Virgin, Orange, Tiscali, BSkyB and Carphone Warehouse.

Working alongside the ailing British music industry, which blames illegal downloading as the soul cause of its problems, the ISPs will soon be taking illegal downloading a lot more seriously. As a way of curbing the number of illegal downloaders in the UK, of which there is an estimated guilty 6.5 million, they will be sending threatening letters to the homes of anyone caught downloading or uploading files illegally.

If these warning letters aren’t a big enough deterrent, then naughty internet users could find certain sites blocked by their ISP, or even worse, have their connection speed slowed, making it impossible to download such content. There is also talk of cutting connections altogether if people refuse to stop downloading illegally – the ultimate punishment.

The “carry on doing this and we’ll cut off your broadband” warning letters are expected to have an immediate and long lasting effect, but critiques are sceptical. Consumer groups and music lovers, both legal and illegal, believe the onus is on the industry to modernise and keep pace with the evolving technology.

Even the artist’s themselves are accepting that illegal downloads are the way of the future. Welsh warbler Duffy is currently No 2 on illegal download site MP3 Fiesta’s chart, and she doesn’t seem that bothered. Speaking in ShortList magazine, she asked: “Downloading is amazing. It basically gives people access, where’s the harm in that?”

Continuing, she explains: “Illegal downloading can go two ways. Some people think it creates illegal access, but I think the big wheel is round, y’know?” Well no Duffy, I don’t really know. However, I do know that, according to BMR, the average teenagers iPod will blast out over 800 illegally copied songs, perhaps indicating that free downloading is a cheap alternative for music lovers who don’t want to pay £12 for an album from which they’ll only recognise one song…

The new deal between the ISPs and the government has caused a stir amongst internet users who want to keep their private lives private. The issue of monitoring internet usage is proving to be a controversial one, with many people complaining the UK is rapidly becoming a Big Brother nation, always under the watchful eye of the law.

To all those people who aren’t happy, if you’re not doing anything wrong then you’ll have nothing to worry about. What does it matter that MI6 are keeping tabs on the sites you visit and the links you click?

Personally, if the scheme does prove successful I don’t think music industry officials should expect the illegal downloaders to suddenly start forming a queue at HMV. I’m sure there are many other online time-consuming activities they can amuse themselves with. And while I don’t condone illegal file-sharing, and have never downloaded any music myself, I know plenty of people that have. Obviously not naming any names, I certainly wouldn’t want them to have their broadband cut off – who would I chat to on Facebook?

 A scene from the last BT strategy meeting

BT is no longer interested in pimpin’ your broadband; its media boffins have thought of another ingenious way to ‘get down’ with ‘the kids’: appropriate a jaunty Sam Sparro song title into your lastest media campaign.

How do they do it? I wish I possessed merely a fraction of BT’s creative expertise.

So anyway, the BT ‘Black and Gold’ (only joking), the BT ‘21st Century Life’ report dropped into my inbox this morning with a running man and a blur of dayglo MC Hammer pants. Despite the obvious steal in the title, some interesting facts are contained therein.

I will summarise them just for you dear reader:

• In 1998, only 14% of internet users spent between six and ten hours online. In 2008 this figure jumped to 27%, with a further 23% spending between 11 to 30 hours online.

• 19% of internet users now visit more than 20 different sites in a week.

• In 1998, only 2% of internet users shopped online. Over the last ten years, that figure has rocketed to 41%. 48% of that shopping activity is for flights, while 42% is for clothes. Only 19% of us do our weekly grocery shop online.

• 25% of internet users have tried social networking. Unsurprisingly, the uptake is most prominent in 16 -24 year olds (58%). Downloading music is still a more popular net activity than social networking however, as is listening to internet radio.

• Broadband internet is now in 44% of UK households. Only 6% still use dial-up connections.

• Remarkably, there’s more face to face communication going on in 2008 than 1998, with 68% of BT customers engaging in the lost art of verbal conversation (51% in 1998).

• Fixed line telephone use is down to just 12% in 2008, usurped by mobile phone use, email and face to face conversations.

• Workers check their email an average of 4.9 times per hour.

• When asked how people would improve the internet, the top response was to make it faster.

• A major worry in 2008 is fraud, with 27% of internet users citing this as the single most important area for improvement.

 Genuine Pace

Morrissey would of course counter that headline with a dismissive ‘it makes none’, but his best days are behind him and (as far as I’m aware) he knows very little of the telecoms market. In fact, a more accurate response would perhaps be ‘it makes some, but not as much as you think’.

The fibre-optic driven broadband network capable of supporting 100Mbps speeds that BT have declared to deliver by 2012, would bring the UK broadband infrastructure bang into line with those of such broadband powerhouses as Japan and Korea. That means bang into line with download speeds enjoyed by Japan and Korea in 2008 however; by 2012 it’s highly anticipated many parts of the world will be revelling in 1000Mbps connections.

Will the UK be among this heavenly throng? Highly unlikely, although it’s worth noting Japanese broadband users suffer in much the same way UK users do in relation to broadband advertising. Up to 100Mbps broadband speeds in Japanese ads rarely means you’ll get a consistent 100Mbps connection. Speeds usually fluctuate between the 55 and 95Mbps mark.

Fast forward to 2012. The Smiths have reformed with Slash on lead guitar, Animal from the Muppets on drums and a visibly ‘heavier’ Morrissey finding that troublesome middle eight in ‘William, it was really nothing’ even more testing than usual. On a pertinent note, what will your broadband connection enable you to do?

Well, first and foremost, all the online essentials (emails, media downloads, Facebook housekeeping, shopping, paying bills etc.) should take ten times faster to complete in theory. Obviously a 100Mbps broadband connection isn’t going to make you type faster, but it will make data transfer (particularly involving hefty files) tangibly quicker.

The problem is applications such as Facebook, MySpace and YouTube are optimised for 3 to 6Mbps connections, so the actual impact a 100Mbps connection will have on these apps could be negligible or, at worse, destructive. It’s the equivalent of trying to swat a fly with a rocket launcher.

100Mbps connections to the home should see Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) finally become established after years of dithering on the sidelines. Triple-play bundles will be significantly shaken up and redesigned come 2012, with the old phone-TV-broadband model replaced by Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), IPTV and broadband. A 100Mbps connection should be able to support 3 HDTV channels running simultaneously, and still leave enough room for a little messenger action on the side.

The big winner will be video conferencing and holographic video capabilities. 100Mbps connections could allow us communication tools only previously fantasised in 60s sci-fi movies; I’m talking interactive holographic video, handheld high-res devices, streaming HD video and real-time mobile video interaction with pause and rewind functionality.

Although everyone wants faster speeds from their broadband connection, the conversion to fibre and 100Mbps speeds could be a bumpy one. Are UK broadband users ready for 4G capabilities? Can they handle 100Mbps? When will they be able to use super-fast broadband to its full potential?

In the future when all’s well, as a certain bequiffed Mancunian might say.

 Dangermouse just out of shot…

Slowly but surely, as possessing a mobile phone becomes mandatory, public phone boxes are being phased out. Taking their place, WiFi broadband boxes that are accessible to all.

Or rather, accessible to all who have a WiFi enabled device, and a pocket full of loose change.

Handlink, a UK based communications manufacturer, has designed a new WiFi access point, designed to let you communicate whilst on the go. Like its predecessor, the phone box, it’s also operated on 10 pence pieces.

Boasting the 802.11b/g Wireless standard (which is, for all you who aren’t broadband boffins, pretty damn quick!), the new box, which is linked to a local broadband provider and bears a canny resemblance to a BT public phone, allows you to connect to the World Wide Web without having a mobile broadband account, providing your laptop is within range.

The kiosk, which basically works on the same pay-per-minute principle as a phone box, takes ten pence pieces in exchange for internet access.

After you’ve fed the machine with your loose change, the Handlink device will print you out a temporary internet pass code that you can use to access the web for a limited amount of time on your laptop, mobile or any 3G gadget.

Depending on how much petty cash you’ve parted with, you’ll have X amount of time to get onto the network and do what you need to do. And just like a parking meter, your time will run down, so if you want to stay a bit longer you’ll have to spend a few more pennies.

The ingenious contraption can be placed anywhere, but is currently being sold to hospitals, coffee shops, fast-food restaurants, train stations and airports, where there is money to be made from fee-based WiFi.

Soon enough though, they will be everywhere, giving the phrase ‘spend a penny’ an entirely new meaning.

But will the idea take off?

A handy alternative to cyber cafes for those who don’t want to pay for hours of internet time when they only want to check their emails, as far as I see it, there is only one real major flaw with coin operated WiFi, and that’s the fact that its coin operated.

In a day and age where using plastic is actively encouraged to pay for everything under the kitchen sink, is a ten pence guzzling WiFi kiosk going to work?

 A BT technician yesterday….

Their words, not mine.

It would seem a certain leading communications provider has enlisted the help of a PR firm from 1998. But let’s not dwell on that. I’m hip to this street jive anyway.

So what does this exciting, youth oriented campaign entail exactly?

Is Tim Westwood going to invite himself over and transform your lousy dial-up connection into a chromed out, warp speed broadband line with one hearty ‘big dogs big dogs here comes another banger’?

No.

Is Xzibit likely to pop round, rifle through your bins, let you know (like a ghetto Gillian McKeith) you’re eating too many ready meals, then turn your PC monitor into a gold plated 72 inch plasma screen with additional taser guns?

Negative.

In actuality, BT plan to ‘pimp’ your broadband in the following way (no rappers or fake MCs involved):

“BT’s Home IT Support service has launched BT Broadband Accelerator, a £90 home visit service to help improve the performance of customers’ computers and speed up their broadband connection.”

Perhaps BT chose to lead with the phrase ‘pimp’ on their press release because it’s only pimps who can afford this service?

However, it gets better:

“Customers are refunded if a 0.5Mb improvement on speed is not achieved.”

That’s more like it. Should you pay for this service and not receive an improvement of 0.5Mb on your connection speed, the £90 fee will be winging its way back to you faster than a fully loaded Nissan Micra.

Let’s face it though, 0.5Mb shouldn’t be too demanding an ask of a trained technician, so it’s unlikely any subscribers to this service will ever see a refund.

I’m yet to read anything in the small print suggesting it will be Starsky and Hutch’s faithful informant Huggy Bear carrying out the repairs, but I’ve still a few pages to go, so I’ll let you know.

 Ha ha ha….oh god i’m so in debt

Tuesday May 13th - £9,485.54 in debt…

In a previous life, I worked for a well-known comparison website. On a daily basis, I encouraged hapless consumers that one of the most effective ways to save money on their household bills was to change their suppliers. Or, in a nutshell, “yoooooou gotta SWITCH!”

Regularly changing my own suppliers over the past few years has saved me literally millions of pounds, as you would expect. Well, I haven’t done the sums recently, but I’m led to believe it’s something like that.

However, I’ve been in the same house for the last two years and haven’t bothered changing suppliers in that time. Even after a particularly hideous experience with Toucan’s customer so-called “service”. Now is the time for action.

Energy

I’m currently with Southern Electric, which was the cheapest supplier for me when I moved in. According to Consumer Choices, if I switched to British Gas, I could save £193.90 over the next two years.

Broadband

I pay Toucan £15 a month for this, even though I detest them to the very fibre of my being. As I’ve got a Sky TV package, I could get free (but limited, download-wise) broadband from Sky, saving me £360 over two years. Why haven’t I done this yet? Because I’m a berk.

Home phone

If I switch this to Sky as well, I’ll save £1.75 per month (£42 over two years) on my line rental and get free evening calls as well as the free weekend calls I currently get from my BT Unlimited Weekend Plan.

So, what do you think? Before I start switching away like a lunatic, are there any better deals? Is this a good time to switch suppliers? Any tips…?