O2 broadband sucks

Update: Read my latest post "O2 broadband finally comes through"

Warning: Rant ahead

It's been almost 7 months since I wrote "Moving from Talk Talk to O2 broadband" and we finally got connected via O2 broadband in July last year.Read my O2 broadband review.

I have since then regretted moving from Talk Talk. We were unhappy with Talk Talk's low connection speeds but we later found out that O2 is far worse. Talk Talk's connection did get better in the end but by then we had already decided to jump ship to O2.

We moved to O2 because of the good customer reviews and I have no idea who these idiots were. Now we are paying more for a lousy service.

Download speeds are no where near the promised 8 mps ( though they did mention that it is subject to location). We are still stuck with download speeds of around 4mps and upload speeds lower than 1mps (worse than Talk Talk) and get cut off all the time. I can't even have a decent conversation on Skype anymore.

They boast that their customer service staff are all based in the UK and calls are free.  

Who cares!

I don't mind if the customer staff is somewhere in India or Timbuktu as long as they solve my problems. Called the O2 technical support twice - the latest was last Saturday. After being on line with 2 different guys for nearly 45 minutes they couldn't solve anything and said that they will have the line analyst have a look at our line. They promised to call back within 24 hours and I am still waiting.

So far I have tried 3 broadband service providers in the UK - AOL, Talk Talk and now O2 and none of them have delivered what they promised. Forget about customer satisfaction.

To say I am unhappy with O2's service would be an understatement. Can't wait for our contract to end and jump to another broadband service provider but the question is "which one?" I don't know if the problem is poorly managed servers or just poor management in general, but I cannot wait until this nightmare is over.

FarmVille on Facebook

Games are the main reason that Facebook has become so popular and FarmVille is the most popular game on it by far. When I last checked it's Facebook page had 20,963,762 fans and mentions that it has 81,125,786 monthly active users.

Developed by Zynga, this Flash game allows you to build up your own virtual farm complete with crops, animals, buildings and even aliens cows. It is one of the several game applications I am playing on Facebook but of late, it is the only one I am most active on.

If you thought that online games were only for kids, you are totally wrong. Almost all my friends playing this game are in their 30s, most of them with kids and some in top managerial positions. My wife is hooked on it as well. I have just reached level 33 while top in the ladder is a lady friend who is on level 60. I know of a few of my friends who actually spent money to buy virtual stuff on this game - Yes! Real money.

I can only guess the reasons why this game is so popular. First of all, it may be due to the fact that FarmVille allows room for creativity and growth unlike other games on Facebook. You should see some of the amazing designs that some people have come up with.

Then there is the social networking part, you need to have friends and interact with in order to expand, to get gifts and experience.The game developers keep the interest up by coming up with limited edition decorations and gifts, mystery boxes, upgrades and special themes - for example, it's the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics now and Valentine's day theme a few days ago.

This could be a really interesting topic to research academically - the motivations, the virtual economy, etc. Too bad I am really busy with my own research on attitude towards blogs.

Are you on FarmVille?

Google Buzz review

Two days ago I received an invitation form Google to join something called Google Buzz. Later on found out that it was Google's answer to Twitter after Google wave didn't result in that people waving at each other. The difference is that now, Buzz is fully integrated with the Gmail service and just a click away to millions of Gmail users Worldwide.

Initially I was sceptical but I am beginning to like it. I like the way I can integrate my Flickr, blogs and even Twitter accounts with it. That means that people who follow me on Buzz will see what I am up to on all these places. Users can post music and videos on it. On the downside, some guys who are already overloaded with stuff from all over the net might get annoyed.

You can comment on a Buzz, Like it, or email it. However, unlike Twitter, they don't have a Rebuzz facility.



So are you on Google Buzz yet?

Apple iPad - future of computing?

To be an integral part of the digital world, communication should be fast and convenient. Even though you might not travel much, but it feels like places on the other side of the World is just a click away. The World is definitely becoming smaller and it's all mainly due to two reasons - advances in computing and communication. Computers are shrinking in size every day, while their performance keeps on increasing. The UK is now in a race with the Asian giants, namely Japan and Korea, to digitalize media. However, these Asian countries have so far outpaced the UK in this regards - they have been using digital text books for years, while paper books still rule here.

Gadgets like the palm top and tablet PC’s didn't sell that well despite all the publicity mainly due to limitations, namely, internet speeds and distribution. But it's slowly changing - today cable broadband in the UK are reaching speeds of up to 50Mbps. Mobile broadband speeds are increasing as well - upto 14.4Mbps. That doesn't sound that impressive unless you compare it to the speeds just a couple of years back. And it's just the start - upgrades of the existing 3G networks to 4G is expected to increase mobile broadband speeds up to 100Mbps.

I guess this is just the right time for a complete transformation and may be the reason why Apple is launching the 3G version of the iPad, following successful launches of the Mac PC, Mac Books, the iPod and the iPhone. I am eagerly looking forward to the launch here in the UK in March.

Looking at the various reviews on the web, I was surprised to see so many people criticising the product. A lot of people dismiss it as an oversized iPhone. So far I have read less than five positive reviews about the iPad.

Anyway, the Apple iPad is the slimmest multi-touch screen device around (9.56" X 7.47")- a communication and entertainment device designed for convenience and mobility. It will come preloaded with the Safari browser, email client, photo app, video player, Youtube app, iTune and Google map among others. And that's not all - users can download upto 140000 apps from the App Store.

It is powered by a lithium-polymer battery which can last upto 10 hours and comes with a choice of 16, 32 or 64GB internal memory. With Wi-Fi, Bluetooth connectivity, the iPad can also take a 3G SIM card and access the internet at a speed of 7.2Mbps(which is the maximum speed of mobile broadband in UK at present). It has an amazing high resolution LED-backlit IPS 9.7” display.

It remains to be seen whether the launch of this 3G device would increase the number of mobile broadband users in the country. Since there were several providers who have benefited from the launch of the iPhone sold with bundled packages, it won't be surprising if the iPad is offered with bundled mobile broadband packages here in the UK as well. Will definitely be looking to see how the various broadband providers respond to the launch of similar gadgets.

Prices have not been announced as yet, but the 3G iPad will definitely be on the expensive side (as if that has deterred Apple fans in the past). Looking forward to getting my hands on one soon. I believe that ideally it will be best suited for business people, frequent travellers and those want to have internet access always on. Even though the device can be used as a normal reader, the popularity of the iPad will depend on the connectivity - the 3G features and support for various applications similar to the iPhone.

The N97 Mini

Meet the Nokia N97 Mini, the N97's younger brother. Like the Nokia N97, it features a touch tilting screen and slide out slide-out QWERTY keyboard. The screen is only marginally smaller at 3.2". As the name suggest, the N97 mini is smaller at 113x52.5x14.2 mm and weighs only 138g with the battery.

I love the fact that it also has a 5 mp camera (2584 x 1938 pixels), Carl Zeiss lenses, autofocus and 14x digital zoom with LED flash. It also has a secondary camera for video calls (VGA, 640 x 480 pixels). If you like taking a lot of videos and pictures using your camera phone, don't worry as the mini comes with 8GB internal memory, expandable to up to 24 GB with microSD card. Downloading the files is quite easy via the high-speed USB 2.0 connectivity.

Running on the Symbian OS version 9.4, the phone has built-in Assisted-GPS receiver, Wifi, 3.5mm audio connector, etc.

I like the "Green" cred of this phone - Nokia mentions that the mini is up to 80% recyclable.

It is now available unlocked on the Nokia store for £429.00 including VAT.

Another interesting news is that Nokia has now made the Ovi Maps available for download for ten Nokia smartphones, including the N97 Mini. This FREE turn by turn GPS Navigation application offers serious competition to TomTom and other SatNav providers.

Visit the Nokia N97 Mini site for more info.

Everything you wanted to know about the Nexus One

A lot of people are talking about Google's mobile phone - Nexus One. Though manufactured by Taiwan-based HTC, Google was apparently involved in every step on the design process.

The Nexus one is the latest in a series of so called "iPhone Killers" which have fallen by the way while the iPhone goes from strength-to-strength.
Reportedly only 20,500 handsets have been sold in the first week since it's launch.

The sim free set costs $529.00 on the Google site. That translates to roughly £324/ which is not exactly what you call cheap.

Anyway, check out all the technical specs of the Nexus One. They seem to have thought of everything.

How to choose a web development agency

I recently got back in touch with a long lost friend who happens to be doing an MBA in Scotland. Chatting over Skype, we discussed our research and he was quite surprised to learn that my research was on blogging. Apparently, he's quite interested in setting up his own website and we talked about web designer Edinburgh. There are a few companies there but he was unsure what he should look for when choosing a web development agency.

This gave me the idea for this post. Some points to consider while choosing a company to design your website.

1. Track Record of the agency
See their previous projects and designs. A good agency will list a few examples on their site. Nothing worse than a web development company that goes bankrupt and suddenly you find your website has disappeared overnight.

2. Rates
I have also learnt from experience that costly doesn't necessarily mean good designs. Check the various packages.

Many web designers want to show off their skills (and also increase their rates) by filling up the pages with amazing graphics and fantastic Flash animations. Keep in mind that they design using the latest computers (usually Macs) with massive screens and enhanced graphics. I always have to remind people that not everybody has superfast broadband connections or even the latest fastest machines.

3. Flexibility
The Company should be willing to listen to your ideas and concepts. Don’t let them push their ready-made templates unless of course you are on a tight budget. I strongly believe that each website should be customised.

4. SEO
You might have the best looking website but that doesn’t mean that you will have visitors flooding your site. Make sure the company is able to implement some basic SEO techniques for your site and help get your site listed on major search engines. For example, if you are a web development company based in Edinburgh, your site should be at least in the first page of Google  for the keywords “web design Edinburgh”.

5. Extra features
See whether they can help with ability to accept payments (in case you are selling something on the site) – not just using credit cards but also using other payment options, especially Paypal. And also look at the possibility of integrating with a blog to make the site more interactive.

Advanced features include enhancing each user's experience by customizing Web pages to individual customers preferences. This is possible by using interactive web sites requiring customers to log in resulting in personalised web pages once they log in.

These are a few points to consider before choosing a web development company.

Survey Closed and preliminary findings

My online survey collection is now officially closed and right now I am in the process of cleaning and arranging the data.

Here are some preliminary findings:

A total of 491 respondents started the survey. However, only 427 actually completed it. My target was 500 respondents but I guess it will have to do. I am sure the number will go down further as I go through the data to clean it up. For example, one respondent put eBay as his favourite blog.

It is kind of interesting because out of all the respondents, 306 of the respondents or 71.3% were actually ladies. I have to find out why this was the case, though I have some theories why.

Watch this space for more results and also the announcement of the various prize winners.

INQ Chat Vs Nokia E63

A few of my friends commented that the INQ Chat looks like the Nokia E71 and I totally agree. The E71 is one of my all time favourite phones and I had seriously considered buying it. However it would be wrong to compare the two side by side as the INQ Chat is way cheaper. A better comparison would be the Nokia E63, which costs approximately the same.

Extra feature present in the E63 (not present in the INQ chat) includes Wifi connectivity, FM radio, 3.5 mm audio jack and LED camera flash. On the other hand the most exciting feature on the Chat are the home screen widgets that offer instant links to the social network sites. It also has a 3.2MP camera whereas it is only 2MP on the Nokia. The Chat also has a built in GPS receiver and built in plug n play HSDPA modem and on the basis of those extra features the INQ Chat just edges over the E63.

The new INQ Chat 3G

This is the third model from INQ Mobile – the fully-owned subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa and thus directly related to the 3 mobile network.

Looking at the features, I won't be surprised if the INQ Chat 3G becomes more popular than the first model - the INQ1. It's not a touch screen phone but it comes with a full QWERTY keyboard, HSDPA and 3G connectivity and a 3.2 camera. What makes this phone different from other offerings out there is the fact that it comes integrated with push email, Facebook, Twitter, Skype and instant messaging.

The phone is obviously targeted at the younger, so called Facebook generation. I am sure they will also love the changeable battery covers - which comes in shiny red, yellow, green, pink or black.

Like the other previous INQ models, you can connect your laptop to the Chat via USB and use it as a wireless modem.

All of this comes at only £99.99 on PAYG or £15 on a 18 months contract with the 3 mobile network.

Data collection woes and unsolicited mails

Like a lot of other people out there, I hate receiving unsolicited emails. unfortunately, this time I am the one that has to send them. This was due to the fact that I still have not reached my targeted number of respondents even after an extension on the deadline (Now's it's the 31st of December 2009. I guess, sometimes in life, you have to do things you hate to achieve your goals or targets.

So for the past week I have been sending out emails to bloggers and blog readers all over the UK via email addresses gleaned form their blogs and elsewhere while cringing every time I press the send button. It was quite risky as well considering that some bloggers can be quite nasty to people and stuff they don't like. I am quite surprised that I have so far received only one email asking me to remove them from the mailing list.

However, I have no choice as my entire PhD research is at stake and I am just hoping that these people would look kindly at this poor PhD student and the fact that this is purely an academic research. Hopefully the holiday spirit will help as well.

Of course there is the fact that a 50p donation will be made to Cancer Research UK for every completed questionnaire plus there's a prize draw for all participants who provide their contact details - an opportunity for you to suggest a donation of £100.00 to a charity of your choice or take the cash prize for yourself (your choice) and 10 other respondents will win Amazon vouchers worth £10 each.

Please feel free to distribute this information to anyone you think may be interested - an email or a mention in your blog would be really appreciated. You can access my online survey here: http://www.surveymk.com//blogs

Thanks and Merry Christmas