Finally most of the UK networks (even some MVNOs) now provide 4G as standard on their pay monthly and PAYG plans.
To be honest, they had to; it's a premium service, but one destined to provide mobile data needs as smartphones and smart devices become ubiquitous.
Is 4G worth it, though?
The speeds can be very fast, but I've long argued whether they are worth paying a premium for.
Anyone who has tried Three's network and had a decent signal should appreciate that their 3G beats most other networks' 4G.
Having tried out Vodafone's and Three's HSDPA 3G network speeds, I'm not sold on 4G at all - it's too rare a beast to rely upon due to patchy coverage from every network.
No doubt that many people will have acquired a 4G phone recently, maybe at Christmas or as a Black Friday deal. So many (younger) people also rely upon mobile data very heavily, making access to mobile data essential- But the networks are groaning under this burden and have increased prices (along with reducing data allowances) to stem the flow of excessive data use.
Pricey contracts with minimal data mean that 4G is currently worthless.
Monday, 28 December 2015
Saturday, 12 December 2015
Christmas Safety Tips: Technology
It's that time of year again!
No matter how much you are/aren't looking forward to spending time with your family this Christmas, you will inevitably have to get through several weeks of Christmas shopping and Christmas parties.
One thing that is easily overlooked is the safety/vulnerability of your (often expensive) gadgets, especially at this time of the year.
I've previously mentioned my interest in cybersecurity, but this isn't where I'm heading with this blog entry. I'm talking about your personal security and how your mobile phone is your friend - and your enemy.
This time of year is an absolute bonus for thieves.
Most people are out and about, carrying cash and expensive gifts. Their minds are on all sorts of things, and they typically aren't very aware of their surroundings.
A hasty call on a mobile phone can easily lead to distraction, leaving that person vulnerable to attack, be it passively or aggressively.
Fifteen years ago, there were campaigns to stop people from standing outside the pub on a dark night with their mobile phone illuminating their face as they chatted away. Criminals then selected their target...
Nothing has changed, except that smartphones now have much brighter screens and are worth (frequently) much more money. Oh, and I bet that you use your phone a lot more, and in many more places than you did all those years ago.
Criminals can make very good money from selling stolen phones.
Most people don't register their devices, unless they have taken out insurance, so it's easy to sell on stolen goods with little traceability.
What's worse is that your mobile contains a huge amount of personal data:
The address of yourself, friends and family members.
Bank details - including access to your accounts through banking apps (passcodes are easy enough to crack, if criminals have the right experience).
Your calendar. This will include important dates (your birthdate + your address = identity theft.
Those calendar details are likely to include your holiday dates and other times when you'll be away from home. Maybe your work details are also on your phone. All of these bits of information can be simply pieced together to form a picture of who you are, what you do and where you'll be. If you don't want your house burgled, or to have someone knowing where you are likey to be, then having someone access your phone after it's been stolen is very bad news.
You can and should have some form of security on your phone. Lockscreens are ok, and best used with a code. (Patterns are easily traced from finger grease on the screen, face unlock is too insecure, and fingerprint scanning is much less secure than you would believe: It's a convenient gimmick, rather than a proper security measure.)
The best course of action is to have a remote lock and wipe function/app that you can access easily - should your phone be stolen or go missing.
Prevention is better than a cure, so in the first instance you should be aware of your surroundings and only take your phone out when it's safe to do so.
Nearly 48% of all mobile phone thefts/losses are in the pub, and at this time of year it's easy to drink too much and not pay attention to what you're doing. Certainly leaving your phone in full view on the bar is pretty stupid - You're advertising it to everyone.
You'd be even more stupid to leave it unattended if you go to the toilet, for example, but people do this all of the time.
So you're out on a night out, say, and your phone does go missing. This instantly leaves you without any personal communication, and good luck trying to remember your mate's phone number when you're sober, let alone drunk, tired, confused and possibly in unfamiliar territory.
For this reason alone, consider leaving your fancy phone at home and getting a "burner phone", or at least take sensible steps to avoid "losing" your mobile in the first place.
No matter how much you are/aren't looking forward to spending time with your family this Christmas, you will inevitably have to get through several weeks of Christmas shopping and Christmas parties.
One thing that is easily overlooked is the safety/vulnerability of your (often expensive) gadgets, especially at this time of the year.
I've previously mentioned my interest in cybersecurity, but this isn't where I'm heading with this blog entry. I'm talking about your personal security and how your mobile phone is your friend - and your enemy.
This time of year is an absolute bonus for thieves.
Most people are out and about, carrying cash and expensive gifts. Their minds are on all sorts of things, and they typically aren't very aware of their surroundings.
A hasty call on a mobile phone can easily lead to distraction, leaving that person vulnerable to attack, be it passively or aggressively.
Fifteen years ago, there were campaigns to stop people from standing outside the pub on a dark night with their mobile phone illuminating their face as they chatted away. Criminals then selected their target...
Nothing has changed, except that smartphones now have much brighter screens and are worth (frequently) much more money. Oh, and I bet that you use your phone a lot more, and in many more places than you did all those years ago.
Criminals can make very good money from selling stolen phones.
Most people don't register their devices, unless they have taken out insurance, so it's easy to sell on stolen goods with little traceability.
What's worse is that your mobile contains a huge amount of personal data:
The address of yourself, friends and family members.
Bank details - including access to your accounts through banking apps (passcodes are easy enough to crack, if criminals have the right experience).
Your calendar. This will include important dates (your birthdate + your address = identity theft.
Those calendar details are likely to include your holiday dates and other times when you'll be away from home. Maybe your work details are also on your phone. All of these bits of information can be simply pieced together to form a picture of who you are, what you do and where you'll be. If you don't want your house burgled, or to have someone knowing where you are likey to be, then having someone access your phone after it's been stolen is very bad news.
You can and should have some form of security on your phone. Lockscreens are ok, and best used with a code. (Patterns are easily traced from finger grease on the screen, face unlock is too insecure, and fingerprint scanning is much less secure than you would believe: It's a convenient gimmick, rather than a proper security measure.)
The best course of action is to have a remote lock and wipe function/app that you can access easily - should your phone be stolen or go missing.
Prevention is better than a cure, so in the first instance you should be aware of your surroundings and only take your phone out when it's safe to do so.
Nearly 48% of all mobile phone thefts/losses are in the pub, and at this time of year it's easy to drink too much and not pay attention to what you're doing. Certainly leaving your phone in full view on the bar is pretty stupid - You're advertising it to everyone.
You'd be even more stupid to leave it unattended if you go to the toilet, for example, but people do this all of the time.
So you're out on a night out, say, and your phone does go missing. This instantly leaves you without any personal communication, and good luck trying to remember your mate's phone number when you're sober, let alone drunk, tired, confused and possibly in unfamiliar territory.
For this reason alone, consider leaving your fancy phone at home and getting a "burner phone", or at least take sensible steps to avoid "losing" your mobile in the first place.
Sunday, 6 December 2015
Post Office Mobile - Reduction in Value
My top pick of 30 day bundles on PAYG was shaken up back in July when Post Office Mobile entered the scene.
They offered fantastic value 30 day PAYG bundles, which were far better than any other network.
Unfortunately, this has already ended.
Their bundles have had overall allowances axed by up to 50%!
My PAYG deals website http://mobile-networks-uk.weebly.com/payg-30-day-bundles.html
has just been updated to reflect this drastic change, and whilst the bundles are still ok, they aren't great (and the £7.50 bundle has been axed altogether.
At least Talkmobile offer free calls for a 10p connection charge these days (and are one of the very few Vodafone MVNOs).
They offered fantastic value 30 day PAYG bundles, which were far better than any other network.
Unfortunately, this has already ended.
Their bundles have had overall allowances axed by up to 50%!
My PAYG deals website http://mobile-networks-uk.weebly.com/payg-30-day-bundles.html
has just been updated to reflect this drastic change, and whilst the bundles are still ok, they aren't great (and the £7.50 bundle has been axed altogether.
At least Talkmobile offer free calls for a 10p connection charge these days (and are one of the very few Vodafone MVNOs).
Friday, 4 December 2015
Children + Electronics: How worried as a parent are you?
Given that this week has seen yet another massive hack, cybercrime and cybersecurity are (or should!) be something that every company worries about and takes seriously enough to prevent damage to their business, reputation and customers.
The hack that is foremost in my mind at the moment is the Vtech hack: 6.4 million user details have been accessed. That's huge, and even overshadows the most recent TalkTalk hack.
What makes the Vtech hack even more outrageous is the sheer number of children's accounts which have been hacked and accessed - This includes photos taken by (and of) children, as well as the audio recordings that they have made.
This should make parents very worried. From reports that I've read, paedophiles don't just want to look at despicable child pornography - simple photographs of children are sufficient enough to satisfy their perverse needs.
That fact alone should make anyone think twice about putting photos of their kids up on Facebook for all to see, but when it's innocent children's snapshots that they have taken themselves, this hack seems even more sinister.
Vtech have understandably created a FAQ page (available here) which breaks down the numbers of accounts and type of accounts affected by country, and it makes shocking reading.
Nearly 2.9 million children's accounts have been accessed in the USA, and over 727,000 child accounts in the UK have also been accessed.
In comparison, over 2.2 million parent accounts have been compromised in the USA, with 560,487 parent accounts accessed in the UK.
Just what has been accessed and/or passed on to third parties is still to be discovered, but I would be incredibly worried if my children had been using Vtech's products.
When I was a child, my parents generally didn't encourage me to go for battery operated (or electronic) toys, as they typically didn't do very much, weren't particularly educational and they ate batteries. I loved Lego, anyway.
But, with electronic devices finding their way into every aspect of our lives, children increasingly want and expect a similar life to their parents - and this includes access to smartphone and tablet style devices.
During the Black Friday sale week, I Tweeted about a recent campaign by the NSPCC which shocked me and would certainly make me think twice before buying a cheap smartphone for any child.
The video is almost too much to take in, and it left my wife and I sitting in stunned silence after we saw it - We then both agreed that we would never give our kids a smartphone!
The NSPCC video is titled "I saw your willy", and if you haven't seen it, you should. You too, will think twice before letting your kids have a smartphone or tablet.
No amount of parental controls on your ISP or home broadband will stop determined or accidental use of anything connected to the internet, so you really do need to ask yourself "Is it ok for my children to have access to modern consumer electronics in this day and age?"
It's a very unpleasant world that we live in, and we should protect ourselves online - because companies might not be doing enough to protect us.
The hack that is foremost in my mind at the moment is the Vtech hack: 6.4 million user details have been accessed. That's huge, and even overshadows the most recent TalkTalk hack.
What makes the Vtech hack even more outrageous is the sheer number of children's accounts which have been hacked and accessed - This includes photos taken by (and of) children, as well as the audio recordings that they have made.
This should make parents very worried. From reports that I've read, paedophiles don't just want to look at despicable child pornography - simple photographs of children are sufficient enough to satisfy their perverse needs.
That fact alone should make anyone think twice about putting photos of their kids up on Facebook for all to see, but when it's innocent children's snapshots that they have taken themselves, this hack seems even more sinister.
Vtech have understandably created a FAQ page (available here) which breaks down the numbers of accounts and type of accounts affected by country, and it makes shocking reading.
Nearly 2.9 million children's accounts have been accessed in the USA, and over 727,000 child accounts in the UK have also been accessed.
In comparison, over 2.2 million parent accounts have been compromised in the USA, with 560,487 parent accounts accessed in the UK.
Just what has been accessed and/or passed on to third parties is still to be discovered, but I would be incredibly worried if my children had been using Vtech's products.
When I was a child, my parents generally didn't encourage me to go for battery operated (or electronic) toys, as they typically didn't do very much, weren't particularly educational and they ate batteries. I loved Lego, anyway.
But, with electronic devices finding their way into every aspect of our lives, children increasingly want and expect a similar life to their parents - and this includes access to smartphone and tablet style devices.
During the Black Friday sale week, I Tweeted about a recent campaign by the NSPCC which shocked me and would certainly make me think twice before buying a cheap smartphone for any child.
The video is almost too much to take in, and it left my wife and I sitting in stunned silence after we saw it - We then both agreed that we would never give our kids a smartphone!
The NSPCC video is titled "I saw your willy", and if you haven't seen it, you should. You too, will think twice before letting your kids have a smartphone or tablet.
No amount of parental controls on your ISP or home broadband will stop determined or accidental use of anything connected to the internet, so you really do need to ask yourself "Is it ok for my children to have access to modern consumer electronics in this day and age?"
It's a very unpleasant world that we live in, and we should protect ourselves online - because companies might not be doing enough to protect us.
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