No way! I was checking the Three website and on their business pages they have this bit about how great Three is for porting your phone number and how important they think it is.
Sorry Three but that wasn't my experience with you, and that's from a fan of the Three service!
Three did have an interesting news page about the Mobile Termination Rate or MTR which, in the UK, is currently charged at around 4.7p or more for every minute of the call. There is a campaign page to try to get the rate cut to something more reasonable and that's in all our interests! Check it out?
Monday 15th
June
2009
Interesting to see the American Twitters about how important it is that
people can Twitter (or Tweet I suppose) about the Iranian Election
scandal. The even got Twitter to change their scheduled maintenance
period to ensure Iranians could Tweet through their morning.
Twitter is an amazing phenomenon!
Friday 12th
June
2009
Well the extremely over hyped new iPhone is to be launched by O2 in the
UK next Friday. It has amazing new features like... well like any half
way decent smart phone would have had 3 years ago. Finally Apple have
realised that people with camera phones like to send picture messages -
so Yes (and I know it's SO awesome) the new iPhone will have MMS
capability. Oh and it's fast - it uses this new standard called HSDPA
and you can use your iPhone as a modem for your computer using some new
technology thing called Internet "Tethering". Can you hear the sarcasm
creeping in here? Here Apple haven't done anything more than correct the
glaring deficiencies in their existing model. There is really just
nothing about the new phone that I can get excited about.
The great strength of the iPhone at the moment lies in its wealth of applications. The games look really good an are actually playable. Of course the 32GB model will be a blessing for people who have either a lot of music to carry or who watch a few movies. On the whole I don't think I will be rushing out to exchange my existing iPhone - as almost all the "updates" are purely in the new operating system version 3.0 which you can update your phone to for free.
Wednesday 10th
June
2009
Electronic Arts/Maxis have only just released Sims 3 for the PC and
various consoles so I was really surprised to see it advertised for the
BlackBerry Bold on the Handango website. I used to be a huge fan of
SimCity but never really got into the Sims, but even so my curiosity
piqued I thought I would buy Sims 3 and give it a go.
My first impression was OMG the text is SO small! made for somewhat younger eyes I assume - but there is plenty of space of the BlackBerry screen so I was really surprised it was so difficult to read. The actual graphics, whilst small are quite adequate. This version of the Sims allows you to pick some basic characteristics which go to making up a unique Sim. Apparently the PC version of the game is a Barbie delight of detail.
I have a feeling it might be a curiosity rather than an absorbing game on a BlackBerry. I have yet to find anything nearly as good as Chuzzles!
Tuesday 9th June
2009
I received a curious email from Chris Conwell, a director at
mobiles.co.uk. Apparently Chris "was
searching the web for decent potential partners and came across
kiwiberry.net."
Well how nice I thought reading on. The email said "We would like to have our editorial team research and hand write some content for you to add to a page on kiwiberry.net." Which is all good. I don't mind people submitting reviews etc. So I checked out the Partner Response page and read through what would be involved. As far as I could make out kiwiberry.net would play host to a page of advertising with links back to mobiles.co.uk.
Advertising is usually paid for isn't it? Well not on this occasion. It seems that mobiles.co.uk want to use small webbys like mine free of charge. This is a non-commercial site and I really felt I would be overwhelmed by a page advertising another site. Keep it small and controlled I think. I turned down the generous offer.
Mobiles.co.uk have been running for ages - 13 years according to their site. I have used the site before too... I seem to remember buying a PAYG Nokia from them about a decade ago.
Friday 5th June
2009
Do
you Twitter? I have a page I used for about an hour and after that
rather forgot about it. The idea is that short messages - 140 characters
max - saying what you're up to at various times of the day might be
interesting to your friends, family and ummm stalkers? It's a simpler
and less formal version of Facebook I suppose.
Well a friend suggested that maybe if I tired Twitter from my BlackBerry it might catch my imagination more. After all I am never without my BlackBerry - whereas posting from my PC isn't nearly so spontaneous. So I had a look for a Twitter app and found the simple and elegant TwitterBerry from orangatame.com.
The beauty of this little app is that you can post using your data plan rather than by sending SMS messages - which is the default from Twitter themselves. You can install and run TwitterBerry for free although there is a donate button on the orangatame.com site. It's a lovely bit of software and works seemlessly.
Wednesday 3rd June
2009
I treated myself to a charging pod for my BlackBerry Bold and it arrived
this morning looking shiny and user friendly. The pod from RIM doesn't
come with a cable, but that's a small thing - I have a USB cable
permanently plugged in the back of my HP PC and the pod now has a home
on the rubberised top of my PC.
The charging pod for the Bold has two small copper charging points on the insides, the Bold charges off these without any need to plug the phone in. That's a nice enhancement over the BlackBerry Storm charging pod that I had from RIM.
The bottom of the charging pod is rubberised and won't slide about too much on your desk. Overall impression of the pod are really positive - BlackBerry accessories from RIM tend to be first class.
Friday 29th May
2009
I got a shiny new PAYG sim card from T-Mobile this morning to hold the
number I previously had on my Three Mobile Broadband sim. What a
difference in approach from the likes of O2 and Vodafone. The support
chap from T-Mobile was efficient, helpful and my number was ported over
to T-Mobile without any fuss. I was looking online to see if its still
possible to buy specific mobile numbers and I was shocked at how
expensive even relatively poor numbers were. Just goes to show what a
brilliant service EasyMobile had offered - when they were around you
could pick your own number, and nice combinations were only around £25.
Thursday 28th May
2009
I've been keeping an eye out for a 32 GB HSDC card to go with my Sony
VAIO P series laptop. The VAIO P is an excellent little machine but the
hard disk is only 60GB and with presentation and document sizes can eat
up that space pretty quickly. A 32GB card will be an additional 50%
storage for my VAIO-P. The problems been that the SanDisk cards were
never in stock. Finally a visit to
MobileFun.co.uk found them in stock! I ordered a card and I'm
looking forward to masses of storage shortly!
Monday 18th May
2009
I
found a seriously cool gadget on the
iMuso.co.uk website that lets you remove the guitar element of a
song so you can play that part yourself. The JamVOX combination features
a micro amp and USB connection to software on your PC or Laptop.
Essentially you upload an mp3 of a track you want to practice and use
the software to remove the guitar part so you can jam along. Another
great feature of the JamVOX software is you can slow a tune to practice
the part until you're to speed.
JamVOX contains software models of 19 guitar amps from
classic vintage amps such as the AC30, rare boutique amps, and modern
high-gain amps. The amp models use Virtual Valve Reactor technology to
simulate every aspect of the guitar amplifier and the software has
dozens of effects removing the need for pedals. The JamVOX software is
pretty much drag and drop - and is really easy to use!
Monday 11th May
2009
I really don't have a lot of luck with PAC codes do I? Having gotten to
the end of an 18 month contract with Three for Mobile Broadband I
decided to shop around. In the last year or so it has been extremely
useful to have Mobile Broadband and I've certainly not had any problems
with the service provided by Three, my work circumstances mean I'm
closer to home at the moment and I haven't used Mobile Broadband for
more than a few minutes in the past three months. So I thought I would
drop the Mobile Broadband contract altogether and just use PAYG if I
need Broadband on the fly for a while. On Three you can get a 3GB topup
for £15 on PAYG and that's exactly what I'm paying monthly on contract.
Now that bit wouldn't be a problem or involve PAC codes etc at all. I can hear you thinking what's he on about Mobile Broadband (MAC code if anything) and PAC which refers to mobile phones. Well a couple of years back when I got started with my Three data service, it wasn't even called "Mobile Broadband" - it was just a 3G sim and I've used it in a number of dongles, phones and USB sticks since then. At the time I had a rather nice mobile number that I wanted to keep and thought it would be one less thing to remember to port the number onto my Three sim since it was on contract.
Today however I tried to get the Three PAC team to give me a code for my number only to be told, politely but firmly, that it could not be done on a "Mobile Broadband" account. Twenty minutes of... "actually you can, I ported my mobile number over and want to port it to another mobile provider" and Three's "I'll check with my manager but he says you can't do that..." and Three finally said "Oh yes... actually you can. Unfortunately our PAC system has been down since Monday and we can't generate a number for you today - please call again in 24 hours."
Oh I am so not having fun with Port codes. If you are experiencing problems (in the UK) where your mobile provider refuses to issue you with a PAC code or any other problem moving your mobile number from one company to another, then you should give OFCOM a call on 020 7981 3040 or 0300 123 3333. After all they regulate telecoms in the UK and it was their regulation in 2003 that makes it a right for consumers to keep their mobile numbers.
Friday 1st May
2009
Ohhhh Three have had a world changing, change of
heart. The already excellent integration of Skype on their phones did
(previously) depend on you making regular top ups - even though it
didn't cost credit. Now Three have scrapped the Top up rule and you can
happily Skype free without having to make top ups! Here's the Three
advert from their website...
Skype on a phone is a little different to Skype on your PC, Skype on 3 doesn’t support Skype video calling (known as SkypeIn), Skype SMS (texting) or Skype voicemail. However making a call is much easier and natural on a mobile and if your friends are on Skype you can simply call them up and chat for free... wherever they are in the world.
Three's data service has always been good - they built their network around 3G data rather than 2G telecoms - and it looks like the huge investment in Mobile Broadband coverage is just getting better and better.
Way to go Three!
I've archived off my old Blogs - check them
out using the links below:
December 2008 November 2008 October 2008
September 2008 August 2008 July 2008
June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008
