BT has today announced its plans to set up wide-area Wi-Fi networks in 12 cities, giving perambulating folks access to high-speed Internet and telecoms services.
The first phase will see BT installing Wi-Fi hotspots covering large areas in Leeds, Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Liverpool and London’s Westminster area, with services scheduled to be running in all 12 metropolitan areas by February next year.
“We have been thrilled with the overwhelming response of local authorities and businesses wanting to be part of this wireless revolution,” enthused BT’s chief of converged services, Steve Andrews.
“This first phase of 12 cities is just the start. We are already negotiating with many other cities,” he continued.
Lovely, lovely Cardiff was the city chosen for the first roll out of the Wireless City scheme, with BT Openzone hotspots being installed in many locations in the city centre.
Meanwhile, the bustling heart of Westminster has already seen a dedicated high-bandwidth wireless network being installed, now in the process of being extended.
Sadly, the Wi-Fi service won’t be free to Joe Public, but BT says it intends to develop a range of information and public services for the local authorities and split costs and revenues for such services.
BT is also looking to use the service to promote a Wi-Fi version of its BT Fusion mobile phone services which will be launched later this year.
The Fusion phone currently uses Bluetooth but the updated version will allow consumers to switch from a mobile network to a cheaper Internet network when the phone comes within range of a Wi-Fi hotspot.
The space-age wireless house is coming ever-nearer with new figures from Strategy Analytics revealing the growth of Wi-Fi networks amongst the sofas, dining tables and four poster beds of the home.
The Americans were found to be leading the world with 8.4 percent penetration, followed by the nippy Nordic region with 7.9 percent.
“Rich people have more electronic gadgets” shocker!
Mercer added that rising ownership of laptop PCs and other portable Internet devices will soon make Wi-Fi the dominant home networking choice for most broadband subscribers.
The BBC is making its first steps into the super-crisp world of high definition television (HDTV) with transmissions of Planet Earth and Bleak House in the new format at the end of this month.
HD TV broadcasts can also beef up the whole big match experience by incorporating 5.1 surround sound and displaying the (Rooney-less) stadium action in widescreen.
“We really feel that high definition will be the standard definition of the future,” she added.
Broadband giants Telewest have had to bend over and feel the sharp swish of the Advertising Standards Agency’s corrective ruler on their ample rumps after their broadband radio advert was deemed ‘misleading.’
A Telewest customer – clearly already living in a Telewest area – liked the sound of the deal so much they rang up to sign on, only to find that they were clearly in the wrong sort of ‘Telewest area.’
The ASA concluded, “We considered this important restriction should have been explained in the ad and that “Conditions apply” had not been adequate to cover such a significant condition to the offer. The ad breached CAP (Broadcast) Radio Advertising Standards Code section 2, rule 3.”
The Cloud has announced plans to roll out a new flat-fee Wi-Fi tariff in the summer, slashing the current high cost of accessing the Internet on the move.
The extra freedom of the ‘pay as you go’ version comes with a sting though, with your twelve quid giving you just a week’s unlimited access.
The Cloud’s chief executive George Polk said that his company has been working their Internet-enabled socks off to “make the Wi-Fi mobility world real” (whatever that means).
Ever growing hordes of people are using their phones to access the Web according to a study by market research firm Ipsos Insight.
The UK came in at second place, with 29 per cent of Brits using their mobile dog’n’bone in the rub-a-dub, sherbet dab and Colonel Gadaffi to get on the, err, Sportsman’s Bet*.
With the recent introduction of more generous data tariffs in the UK (like T-Mobiles unlimited Web’n’Walk deal), mobile surfing usage is tipped to soar, with operators looking to bolt on revenue-attracting mobile services, like search or map functions.
In the world of online commerce, uptime is money, so it was surprising to see a new report by WatchMouse showing that 57% of the FTSE 100 websites were offering availability below industry standards
With an uptime of 99.9% seen as the industry standard (minimum acceptable level), there were fourteen sites which achieved perfect 100% availability, while the worst two performers couldn’t even muster 91% availability (Scottish Power with 90.78% and United Utilities with a lamentable 81.53%).
If you thought that beardy ham radio operators slurping tea in sheds full of wires and glowing valves had gone the same way as the Sinclair C5 and 8-track cartridges, think again.
It the gentle world of Ham operators’, their sport involves a ‘fox’ of the human kind going into hiding with wireless equipment and an external antenna.
Ham radio signals, on the other hand, could be sent to any part of the world wherever another Ham, operating on the same frequency, was located.
A clever new scheme from WifiTastic makes it pie-easy for home broadband users to turn their connections into revenue-generating wireless hotspots.
Although free shared connections tend to appeal to our right on ideals more, there’s no denying that this smart, simple system looks to benefit both owners and those who need Wi-Fi access and are prepared to pay for it. Other companies like the 
Entertainment behemoths Walt Disney are planning on making hit TV shows like “Desperate Housewives” and “Lost” available as free Internet downloads in an initiative to haul in new advertising revenues.
With digital video recorders like TiVo letting slogan-weary viewers fast-forward past the endless onslaught of adverts seen in the US, TV broadcasters are desperately trying to find ways to keep the advertising revenues rolling in.
Punch ups in Disneyland