As I come to the end of my mobile broadband package comes the question: How shall I move forward and what is the best advice I can find too help me pick the right package should I want to continue with my contract?

Obviously I have a choice of the top providers in the industry : 3, T-Mobile, Vodafone, Orange and O2. With Virgin Media and BT now both offering a mobile broadband service. Of course its impossible to say how good the service will be, based on the fact that the UK as a whole is not entirely covered by the signal and there are a large proportion of ‘not spots’, making choosing the best package something which should not be taken lightly.

Of course no one wants to take out a product/service where they know the service potentially will be below par i.e signal fluctuation. Unfortunately with contract Mobile Broadband and Pay As You Go Mobile Broadband this is almost something to be taken for granted, should you take out the wrong contract.

Broadband Genie offers this useful informative guide as to how to compare MB packages.

How do I compare mobile broadband packages?
Take the time to think about what you want from your mobile broadband package. Here are some of the main criteria to bear in mind:

1) Usage/download limits? Probably the most important thing to consider is whether you’ll be a heavy or a light user (in the same way as you would judge a mobile phone contract by how much you’re likely to use it). For the vast majority of users a lower limit (perhaps 3GB) will be absolutely fine, but you’ll need more if you plan on file sharing, downloading lots of music, or streaming content such as YouTube or the BBC iPlayer.

2) Speed? Different providers advertise different speeds, but the chances are you’ll get a similar performance from all of them – your location will probably be more of a deciding factor, due to mast locations. We wouldn’t recommend choosing a package purely on the basis of the speed offered.
Monthly contract or pay as you go? Decisions, decisions…

3) Free laptop deals? Many providers offer deals where you pay a bit more and get a ‘free’ laptop as part of the contract. This can be a great way to get online if you need a new computer, but do make sure you add up the total contract cost and check that it’s not cheaper to just go and buy a laptop. Also, are you really getting a laptop that exactly fits your needs?

4) Price versus contract lengths? Generally, you’ll get a cheaper monthly tariff if you’re prepared to commit for a longer contract. But due to the ever improving nature of the mobile broadband market, this can also be a risk.

As a young person I am always swayed by the free laptop deals that several of the companies offer and I never look at perhaps the best deal.

This is what I want!

According to the New York Times, the global recession is sending prices plummeting on airfares, hotels and cruises, but moreover it is having the opposite effect on rental cars.

Take for example this data, from earlier this year in May, where the average rate for a weekly hire car, if booked in advance was $345.99 up approximately 73% compared to the $199.65 for the same month of the previous year. Data Collected by the ABRAMS CONSULTING GROUP, which tracks rental rates.

There is a lot of sticker shock, said Neil Abrams, president of the consulting group. People do not understand. The economy is caving around them, he said, adding, so how is it possible that rates are as high as they are for car rentals?

The basic reason for the increase in price on rentals is relatively simple. Supply and Demand. Although the actual demand for car rentals are down, Rental agencies are cutting their fleets by huge amounts, by doing this they are creating the shortage and ‘jacking’ up the price for the consumer.

The companies method of trimming their fleets is accomplished by selling cars into the already large used car market and flatly refusing to buy new models. Of course people will worry about getting a ‘clunker’ but it is not unusual to see a rental car with 30,000 miles on the clock.

With the current climate of booking a hotel room early to save money, and the same applying to airplane flights, unfortunately this will not work with car rentals.

I have previously written a post dealing with how to rent a car successfully please click to view!

Mary Portas is a retail advisor most famous for bringing the Harvey Nichols brand into the forefront of British fashion and even being included on the guided tours of London.

She has done several television shows which have all dealt with how shops need to move forward in their approach to the consumer spending tactics which have changed so dramatically in the last few years.

Her most recent show entitled Mary Portas:Save our Shops aired on BBC 2 this week.

Having just finished watching the program on the BBC’s great iPlayer I felt I should add my opinion.

What is so great about the program is how the major companies who are going to ride through the recession purely because they are a household name, are not making the needed investments on our local streets, I guess this is mainly due to the amount of profit they potentially might loose. On the flip side, no one wants a huge company which sells mainly poor quality goods dominating the skyline of every street. Unfortunately though I guess in many ways unless the small companies are willing to potentially allow the larger companies to invest in them they will surely die. Whether the major companies are able to support the smaller business to survive through the diminishing consumer spending remains a mystery to me. I would quite like it to all work out.

Video Courtesy of the BBC

A Group of British backpackers who where seriously injured when their 4WD hire vehicle rolled on Fraser Island Australia, this week and launching legal action against a local car hire firm with whom they rented.

Trilby Misso lawyer Renee Zackeresen said the passengers allege Aussie Trax breached its own terms and conditions when renting out the vehicle. But Michael Dwyer, of Aussie Trax, disputes this and claims the fault lay with the tourists.

Ms Zackeresen said the claimants had stated that the accident was caused by a faulty steering wheel which the company had told them was only a minor problem.

“Soon after reporting this problem, my clients were in what could so easily have resulted in a tragic fatal accident,” Ms Zackeresen said.

The backpackers allege the the hire company ‘intimidated’ them by making them pay more excess for the damaged vehicle.

Unfortunately for the driver of the vehicle he has been already convicted of dangerous driving, which unfortunately for them voids and insurance claim.

“He actually owes me about $26,000,” Mr Dwyer said. “I wish they’d appear in court and pay their bills. We have a signed agreement from the driver saying he would pay me the money.”

Its a good job not all car hire companies treat their customers like this!

What happens to this court case remains a mystery to me, but rely on the whole truth to bring well nothing but the whole truth!

comapn

As Broadband Finder stated recently.

Mobile Broadband is rapidly becoming an essential part of many people’s day to day lives…

Mobile Broadband is much more then for the use of the traveling salesman and indeed it is incredibly useful for traveling salesmen.

For me especially and being away from home with my band. Ono Palindromes and for keeping in contact with contacts and indeed using Google Maps to find the places we are playing. With two of us having Wi Fi enabled phones it means that travel has been altered slightly and we can change routes straight away.

All of this is down in part to mobile broadband and the incredible ability it has to make life a whole lot easier. I guess in many ways I personally would struggle, but with the plethora of data available on the internet life has become a lot easier.

If only it could provide us with a room so that this wouldn’t happen that would be even better.

I recently wrote about the cars for scrapping idea which has been now visibly introduced by all the main car manufacturers. It is now all good to scrap your used vans at all of the major dealers.

But remember that the car must be over ten years old and no declared SORN.

Recently I have been following the recent Iranian Elections in complete disbelieve at what has happened. The violence has been incredibly unnerving indeed something that has stemmed from the almost obvious fact that the elections had been rigged in some form.

A Blogger made this recent assertion based on his ‘own knowledge’.

We cannot blame Iran. Britain is much worse than Iran.

Whatever the politics of Iran, Iran is a souvereign country and the choices in Iran are not to be made by the British government, by the American government or by any other foreign government. If Iran is a threat, time will tell, but until that time we must not interfere in Iranian affairs.

As in the case of Iraq, regime changing is banned under International Law. We can hardly blame Iran of interference when we ourselves are involved in two invasions of independent countries.

We only have to look at the history of both Britain and America to find endless examples of interference in other countries. Our colonial history is a very good example of wrongdoing and interference.

The Spaniards wiped out entire ethnic groups in what is today America and the British enslaved people all over the world, cutting their territories like a cake and creating the conflicts of today. Britain is very much responsible for the Rwandan Genocide insofar Britain did not respect the boundaries of African ethnic groups.

When we talked about the tensions between India and Pakistan, who created the environment for the partition of the Sub-Continent? What about the invasion of Suez? We cannot blame Iran. We are much worse than Iran.

To which after several argumentative replies later came this gem of a reply.

Sit at home and continue to state, with your admirable conviction, that those in Iran should expect to pay for freedom with their blood.

State, courageously, as much selective history as you wish (the British also played a fundamental part in the abolition of slavery, actually).
And continue to, bravely, compare your country to a land that is RIGHT NOW shooting and battering to death its own people on the streets.

Then came the real Gem.

Do what you want and be glad that you will be able to blog as much Rubbish(was a rude word) as you wish and that you will never have to stand up and be counted; that you will never have to brave the batons of an unaccountable paramilitary force that wish to silence you through a good bludgeoning; that you will never have to charge lines of heavily armed men firing live ammunition to secure what you want in your life; that you can indeed, carry on your own comfortable existence in a civilized democratic country, making trite comments from the sidelines upon things you have so very little experience of, and that you will come to no harm.

It does seem that hear in Britain with have an apologetic culture which refuses to move forward to combat the very real woes that the world and indeed ourselves face everyday.

The full argument can be read here.ly

The Teenage Belgian girl who had ‘wrongly’ tattoed on her face 56 Stars has admitted in the last couple of days the fact that she asked for 56 stars and had ‘lied’ due to her father being ‘furious’.

Perhaps a kind of Darwin Award is required? With the clean up job required around $10,000, lets hope she has some serious savings.

The Scotsman a UK based paper reported this on the 23/June/2009

Zero dB [Against Music Torture] a worthy cause please click the banner

Its fair to say I like art and I Like illustration.

Susan Keys is one such artist who is pretty damn talented! (Click her name to access her site).

Any suggestions for great local to your area artists?