Donkey God

In what could come as a jolt to government promises in Digital Britain, it has been revealed by a BBC News Online report that up to 3 million homes in the UK lack the promised 2Mb broadband connection and have to make do with much slower broadband speeds. What makes the situation even grimmer is the fact that the situation is unlikely to change anytime soon.

According to research conducted by BT, also referred to in the interim Digital Britain report, only 7 percent of homes in the country were unable get a 2MB connection. However, BBC has reported that this estimate is vastly inaccurate, and the number is as high as 3 million. The homes in question are not only rural ones, which usually battle connectivity problems, but urban ones too. In fact some of the affected areas are even located in London’s commuter belts and in the vicinity of prime cities, and some are a stone’s throw away from high-speed fibre cables.

The reasons cited for the lapse in connectivity vary from ownership disputes over the cables, to lack of profitability in expansion and the detours that cables need to take around landmarks like the M1.

The 3 million homes which have either been left out of the promised connectivity scheme or are trying to reach the 1.5Mb mark show the huge divide in broadband connectivity between those who have been fortunate enough to get a faster than 2Mb connection and those who have not. Not sure you’re getting the best for your area? - click here to compare broadband.

There have been some suggestions that satellite and mobile broadband networks would bridge this gap, but the disparity is too wide to be taken lightly and some serious measures must be taken to solve the issue.

The recently held GSMA Leadership Summit has concluded with a suggestion that the mobile broadband industry can move the global economy forward in a big way.

The annual event, which is attended by CEOs from the mobile industry worldwide, is the highlight of GSMA’s annual industry get-together. Considering the participants involved, the summit is keenly watched and is considered important in setting the industry’s direction for the next one year.

This year, with the global economic turmoil in mind, the industry leaders have come out with the opinion that investments in mobile broadband can play a significant role in reviving the economy. They also stressed on the role of the government as a facilitator for materializing their vision. It was expressed that by building the right kind of regulatory framework, governments can ensure that investments are encouraged. The issue of broadcast spectrum release was also touched upon, with Rob Conway, GSMA CEO saying that different spectrum in different countries is hurting the manufacturers, and more coordination is needed on part of the governments to standardize mobile spectrum across different countries.

Coming from the GSMA, it may seem like the industry’s vision of reviving the economy is perhaps a lofty one, but no one can deny that in the current scenario, any sort of major investments can play a significant role in getting the economy back on track, and worried governments should welcome any help on offer with open arms.

It looks like Vodafone UK have Christmas well and truly wrapped up with offers for all. For contract customers there are a range of phones with free gifts ranging from Nintento Wii, Ipod Nano and Red Letter Day Vouchers; for pay as you talk customers there are prepay Christmas offers and a free digital picture frame with selected pay as you talk phones; and for those looking for mobile internet access there’s the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 netbook with built in mobile broadband.

I’m particularly interested in the latest addition to the range of Vodafone mobile broadband products. The Dell inspiron Mini 9 comes complete with built in mobile broadband connectivity and a choice of a 1GB or 3GB price plan.

The competition between mobile broadband operators to attract the most mobile broadband customers rages on; with offerings other than prices to lure new customers. Offers for this Christmas’ “must have” hardware products are abound. The latest being the Vodafone’s new USB modem with 4GB memory. The new stick, which Vodafone are calling ‘USB Stick Pro’, comes in shiny black with a retractable USB connector and Vodafone branding. In addition to its memory capacity, it has an advertised 7.2Mbit download speed, and it is available free on all 18 and 24 month contracts.

Oh I don’t know, there’s such a choice at the moment… maybe I should wait for the January sales.

Around twelve WiFi VoIP handsets and phones have been put to the test by leading security experts, who say that security problems range from potential DoS attacks to more severe issues that allow “deep access” to the device that lets a hacker get hold of any sensitive information on the phone.

Problems like this inevitable. So where is the onus to prevent such problems? it has been posited that if we see practices like this develop as these devices become more prevalent then the manufacturers will only have themselves to blame when the security backlash comes back to haunt them.

VoIP hacking is the contemporary version of war dialing - a strategy of automatically scanning telephone numbers using a modem, usually dialing all phone number in a local area to find where computers or fax machines are available, then attempting to access them by guessing passwords.

Still there are actions people can take to limit security vulnerablities. Here’s a list of WiFi VOIP security issues, and some useful ways to protect against them:

Many points of attack:
As the VoIP phones get more advanced, so could the points of entry for malicious attacks increase. Email, client Web browsers, Bluetooth, SMS, WiFi, media players, and image viewers could all open back doors for hackers. Though users can use open-source and commercial tools to regularly test their phones and networks, they’ll ultimately have to rely on vendors to also do effective testing on these devices.

Targeting phones in public environments:
One way of doing this is a Bluetooth scanner could be concealed at the entrance to a major airport or train station and be used to grab user data. It may be best to keep Bluetooth and other wireless features swicthed off when not needed.

Rogue access points:
Other than this when at the office or on the road, users will have to always be wary and scan for rogue access points. Hackers will set up access points to target specifically WiFi phones in the corporate space as well as at conferences and other places business people like to congregate. Decent device authentication and encryption can help provide protection here.

Targeted attacks:
Select attacks on specific voice-over-wireless networks can also be an issue, although perhaps one that the victims may try to downplay.

The N90 is not the greatest mobile phone Nokia have ever built, but it remains worth looking at. The N90 is functional, if a little basic for the price. Like other similarly priced models from Nokia the design is quite cutting edge and would appeal to a very broad range of users.

The Nokia N90 weighs in at 173 g, Compared to competing mobile phones currently available the Nokia N90 is pretty average. This handset is bluetooth enabled so it is compatible with the vast majority of mobile phone devices. A Li-Ion (BL-5B) 760 mAh, battery cell is that is shipped with the Nokia N90. The Nokia N90 has a battery duration of 290 hours reserve charge and talk time of 3:00. The Nokia N90 is compatible with 2G GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900 and 3G UMTS 2100. The N90 is fitted with a 2 MP, 1600×1200 pixels, Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus, video, flash camera. For those that need access to the Internet on the move a WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML browser is included.To allow mobile Internet access a WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML browser is included. The display type is TFT, 256K colors. The Nokia N90 is equipped with Polyphonic (64 channels), Monophonic, MP3, True Tones ring tones . This phone has a number of extras such as, MP3/AAC/MPEG4 player, Push to talk, Video calling and download, Voice command/memo, Java MIDP 2.0 and PIM including calendar, to-do list and printing.

If you are looking for a really good buy, buy online where it is easy to find a huge number of competitively priced deals to select from. Shopping online can save you a significant amount of money, it is even possible to get a free mobile phone for 12 months , which, in theory, will not cost you anything.