My Uncle lives in Canada but spends a lot of time travelling round the world for business and the last time I saw him he sat me down (over a few beers) and told me the next big thing that would hit the UK - VoIP. My reaction was ‘er what’s that’. Well VoIP stands for Voice Over Internet Protocol and basically means using your broadband connection to make phone calls.

“Well,” I told my uncle “I’ve been making phone calls over my broadband connection for a year or so using Skype”. Skype for the uninitiated is a software programme that enables FREE calls (including video if you have a camera) to other Skype users by plugging a headset into your computer. You can also call landlines including internationally at pretty cheap rates. Skype actually works quite well, but the call quality is very hit and miss depending on how many Skype users are online.  It can be very annoying when you’re shouting “what, I can’t hear you, I’ll turn you up! I can’t turn you up. I’ll call you later!!!!” or listening to your fellow caller sounding like Cher singing “Do you believe in life after love” (I must stop using that joke when talking about Skype but it’s true!).

Anyway, my uncle says to me “that’s not true VoIP, you should try Vonage” before whispering mystically “it’s the future! You don’t need to even have your computer turned on to make calls. All you need to do is plug a regular phone into the Vonage adapter and plug that into your router and you’re good to go. It’s not VoIP in a Skype sense, it’s broadband telephony”

So I went away and did a bit of searching and took a quick look at the Vonage website, £5.99 a month for unlimited UK calls, er no thanks! Why would I want to pay a monthly fee for a service I already get for free? Cheap International landline calls - that’s why. (more…)

Virgin Media TV have announced that by signing up for their M package which comes FREE with an £11 a month phone line and subscribing to Sentanta Sports you will save over £130 per year compared to Sky Customers. This is going to be an interesting year for footy fans as you can now see more live matches than ever spread across more channels. There is no more pay per view games and you can now view live games on Sky, Virgin Media, Sentanta Sports (a subscriptions channel) and BT Vision.

Virgin Media are also offering you the chance to watch every game on their XL TV package by offering FREE Sentanta as part of the deal. This year across Sky Sports and Sentanta at least 46 Barclays Premier League games and 60 SPL games will be shown live, and you can save at least £113 over a year with Virgin Media compared to Sky customers.

If you are an existing Virgin Media XL customer you now have access to six great Setanta channels - you don’t need to do anything as this is now included as part of the standard XL package. If you have one of Virgin Media’s other TV packages you can sign up for just £8 and enjoy all the Setanta Sports Pack has to offer at a price cheaper than is available on satellite or Freeview.

The summer (if you can call it that!) months have seen broadband providers slashing prices to try and entice new customers and also switchers. Most offers feature a low start up price such as Orange’s 2MB Broadband for £7.49 a month for three months followed by £14.99 in the hope they can attract casual users who may be put off by higher prices for bigger packages. However for the initial low cost you are often tied into an 18 month - 2 year contract which means you pay about the same as you would with a slightly more expensive competitor over the length of the contract. (more…)

Virgin Media have stepped up their battle for total broadband market share by offering 8MB Unlimited ADSL broadband including FREE Evening and Weekend calls for just £10 a month - that’s right just £120 for a year of 8MB Unlimited Broadband!

The offer is only open to switchers who have their MAC Code (see our switching guide for more details).

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