Fashion Contrast

With the huge rise of mobile communications, many have believed that the problems with connectivity and speed have been driven by the rise of mobile broadband and the seemingly ‘huge amounts of data’ used by such connections. This is about as far from the truth as the moon is from earth : A long way.

The truth is that any bad connection that you are receiving courtesy of your Mobile Broadband dongle is thanks to all these clever smart-phone types swallowing up all of the mobile data allowances on networks, leaving you the dongle user to a substandard connection.

How? I hear you cry! This question has been summed up excellently below.

Broadband Genie editor Chris Marling said, “It seems mobile broadband service providers can’t keep up with the demand for data, which is being fuelled by advances in smartphones alongside the desire for mobile broadband via dongles and embedded in laptops.” Marling said that the devil’s gadgets (our words) including the Iphone are hogging all the bandwidth with their fancy applications, gaming, and email attachments, thereby ruining the “Oh. I’m in a coffee shop writing my novel” experience for dongle users everywhere. “It will be interesting to see how Vodafone and Orange hold up under the extra data strain Apple’s iconic device clearly brings.”

The Original Smart-Phone

Take for example how an Iphone makes a connection:

When the iPhone wants to access the network, it turns on the 3G radio, establishes the connections, download the email or web page it wants, and then drops the connection and turns off the 3G radio. Total time – around 1 or 2 seconds. A few seconds later it will repeat the process for the next data access. This rapid turning on and off of the radio saves the phones batteries but causes the control channels to be clogged and the radius and DHCP servers to be overloaded.

Dongles do not cause problems with signals as they tend to setup a connection and hold that connection for a long time. With more and more people using smart-phones to create a connection to their PC commonly known as ‘tethering’, which cause’s a almost bottleneck type problem with the network. This problem seems to be exacerbated by the plethora of free SIM ads which seem to be omnipresent around the internet, what needs to happen is contract SIM smart phones need to be allocated set data amounts. Doing this will allow everyone to achieve the best connection.

It’s great to think that a person is able to communicate with companies and other persons on the move without having to pick up the phone or send an e-mail. Real time communication is even being transferred into the search results of Google in the form of ‘Tweets’.

With the rise of Social Networking sites like Facebook, Myspace and indeed current big hit Twitter (lol), its probably fair to say that its better to be involved then it is to not be. As the access which these sites give you to either direct members of staff or third party (in the know) agencies is incredible. Brands are finally starting to remember the customer and of course well thought out any strategy should incorporate elements of social media and interaction with the customer: not just treating them as your end of year bonus package.

Of course “Being Connected” comes in many different ways. Some prefer being able to maintain their communication with a company through the medium of the telephone. Others enjoy being able to Tweet the company about the concerns they might have and if you are slightly jaded like myself you probably still like sending long e-mails with long thought out sentences like:

“I’m going to boycott you unless you meet my probably unreasonable demands…”

Alternatively you could use a Netbook using a mobile broadband connection or even WIFI (I’m tempted towards actually being in charge of the connection as opposed to relying on a signal created by say a coffee shop or library). Recently I took part in a consumer panel for a mobile broadband ISP. It was very interesting and my opinions where found thanks in part to a social media/interaction with users strategy.

Others may use contract SIM phones or even pay as you go phones to contact companies to make their complaints or sing praises. As I said earlier I was picked to go to London to communicate directly with the head of product development (this did however involve drinking a little bit too much wine and a stay in a very expensive hotel). All this was possible thanks to the rise of online communication and the willingness of brands to stay in touch with the customers who at the end of the day – pay the wages.

As a consumer its always worth remembering that being in contact will enable to you to maintain an element of ‘closeness’ with a product/brand. Believing a brand wants to hear what you think makes you want to invest your pennies into a company, remember someone somewhere wants to hear what you think…

There was a fairly good post put on Broadband Expert this week on whether ‘The free laptops included in Contract Mobile Broadband are free or not’. The Post is below for convenience’s sake:

Whilst many mobile broadband providers and resellers offer free laptops with a range of mobile broadband deals consumers are being urged to consider whether these laptops really are free in the true sense of the word.

With mobile broadband services having become increasingly popular the market has grown more and more competitive, and rival mobile broadband providers have had to find new and inventive ways to try and attract customers. One of the incentives that many mobile broadband providers offer when it comes to deals is free laptops with certain mobile broadband packages. Often consumers can look forward to a pretty high specification laptop with certain mobile broadband deals and contracts and this is what often sways the customers to go for a particular mobile broadband deal.

However, whilst the offer of a free laptop can certainly be tempting for consumers officials are urging those that are considering opting for a particular deal simply because of the free laptop offer to consider just how free the laptop is in the true sense of the word. Often consumers will simply choose a particular deal because of the thought of getting a free laptop, when in fact they could have enjoyed greater value for money with a different package option.

It is important to remember that often these free laptops are only available with longer contracts, so you need to consider whether being tied into a contract for eighteen or twenty four months is worth the free laptop. Also, often the laptop is only available with the more expensive packages, which means that in effect you are still paying for the laptop over time.

Its worth bearing in mind however just how prevalent mobile broadband has become in the last 2 years.

At the end of the article comes this interesting point.

If you want to save money or enjoy greater flexibility with your mobile broadband then you may find that you are better off with another deal rather than a free laptop package. If you are determined to opt for a free laptop deal then you should make sure that you check on the specification of the laptop that comes with the deal to ensure that you get the best possible laptop as part of the deal.

There you have it?