The government has created a new broadband tax before the next general election to help fund a next-generation network. Fixed line operators will be charging customers an extra 50p a month, which doesn’t sound a lot, but that small tax will help the government to raise £175 million to help fund the next generation system.

Minister for Digital Britain, Stephen Timms, said -

We want to make high speed networks nationally available. The next-generation fund will help that and we’ll legislate for it this side of a general election.

Speaking at a BCS Chartered Institute for IT debate, MrTimms concluded that the tax would be presented to parliament as part of a Finance Bill. The government points out that due to telecom prices falling dramitically over recent years, the tax will be barely noticeable compared to the rise in prices of other media services and household utilities.

This tax is being questioned by the Internet Service Provider’s Association (ISPA), who feel that the government are penalising broadband customers due to the competitive nature of broadband pricing. Within any market, prices drop due to consumer need and choice, just look at the difference in mobile phone tariffs, which seem to offer better deals by the month. Whether this tax needs to be funded by consumers is questionable, but a government organised next generation  broadband system can only be a good thing for the UK, both for business and pleasure.

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Don’t forget, the free £50 Tesco voucher offer from Sky TV runs out tommorrow, so you’ll have to move quick to make the most of this excellent deal. All new customers who order Sky satellite TV and either the Movies, Sports or Sky + HD packages online before midnight on Wednesday 30th September 2009 will still be able to take advantage  of this great free voucher offer.

With Sky+ HD package you can now save up to 40 hours of television, rewind, fast forward and pause live TV, whilst recording 2 programmes at the same time. Plus with the live Premiership season starting with a flurry of goals, there’s never been a better time to order your Sky Sports package.

With your £50 voucher, you could buy a rake of beers and have the lads round to watch the match, or alternatively pass the free voucher on to the better half for her to buy something she wants (preferably when the games on!)

So get your skates on to take advantage of this great deal from Sky TV, offer ends midnight tommorrow!

> > Click here to order Sky TV

Living TV will for the first time be available in glorious HD from Tuesday 6th October 2009, only with Virgin Media TV. Living, home to the Next Top Model shows, Most Haunted,  Private Practice and the excellent Ghost Whisperer, will be joining Virgin Media’s already impressive line up. Programmes already available in HD include BBC, Channel 4, ESPN, FX, MTV and National Geographic, with more channels in the pipeline soon to been shown in crystal clear high definition.

Chief commercial officer at Virgin Media, Mark Schweitzer, said -

Our customers watch LIVING more than any other digital TV channel, so I’m delighted they will exclusively be the first to watch it in spectacular HD. LIVING has a powerful brand and a breadth of programming that works so well in HD. Our TV service continues to grow as we focus on content that both complements our existing line-up and benefits most from being shown in HD.

Virgin Media also has over 300 hours of HD content available through their on demand TV and BBC iPlayer, alongside over 60 HD films to choose from at any one time aswell as shows such as The Sopranos and Band of Brothers. You can receive this exciting package as part of a Virgin Media bundle, which can include TV, phone line, internet access, or all three if you so desire.

With almost 10 million customers in the UK, Virgin Media is one of the UK’s largest residential broadband providers. Thanks to their nationwide fibre optic cable network, Virgin Media can deliver ultrafast internet access of up to 50Mb, and when added to their amazing HD TV package, it’s easy to see why more and more people are choosing Virgin Media for all their home entertainment needs.

Plus if you order today you will receive the first 2 months absolutely free! As you can see, there’s never been a better time to order a Virgin Media bundle package than today.

> > Click here to order Virgin Media today

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Tiscali TV has a great offer for all new customers who sign up to one of their great home entertainment packages. If you sign up today you will now receive the home installation for just £30 instead of £99, that’s a saving of £69!! You can also receive -

• Free set top box
• 70+ digital TV and radio channels
• Free wireless router
• Unlimited downloads
• Free weekend calls
• Free international calls

Tiscali is consistently in the top 5 of broadband providers in the UK, has 24/7 access to the UK’s biggest On Demand movie service, free 7 day catch up service, plus free weekend and international calls. Add to this a saving of £69 on installation, and it’s easy to see why so many people are turning to Tiscali to provide their all in one home entertainments systems, at prices to suit even the most modest of budgets.

> > Click here to order Tiscali today

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Be Broadband is now offering a free £25 Amazon gift voucher for online customers who choose a 9 month contract before the end of Sunday 18th October 2009. This great offer is perfect for students who are starting the new term and want a contract that will cover their educational year and no longer.

With this deal you will receive -

• 9 month contract
• £25 Amazon voucher
• Free Connection
• Free Wireless Modem
• Unlimited Downloads
• From just £17.50 a month

With Be Broadband’s super fast service and low pricing scheme, the 9 months contract really is tailor made to suit students. Plus with the free gift voucher as an added sweetener, it’s easy to see why more students across the country are making Be Broadband their provider of choice.

> > Click here to order Be Broadband today

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Be Broadband has now launched it’s own twitter account to keep members up to date with all their latest offers and network updates. This live feed will allow Be broadband to update members of any network problems (outages) within a certain area at a certain time to ensure users receive no surprise changes to their internet connection.

You can join the Be Broadband twitter group here -

http://twitter.com/BEStatus

Head of Marketing at BE Broadband, Oli White, said -

We’re constantly looking for innovative new ways of communicating with our members using tools that are currently available. Twitter is perfect for sending out short messages to people that want to subscribe to them, so it was a natural fit for us to offer this service to customers. Hopefully it should add to the numerous other channels we use to communicate with our members and should help to prevent any surprise from outages.

This innovative new method of keeping customers up to date with all the latest Be Broadband news is no doubt one of the many reasons Be has been nominated for ‘Best Consumer Customer Service’ at this year’s ISPA Awards. This nomination, along with a ‘Recommended’ accolade in the PC Advisor Awards, shows that Be Broadband are now being recognised for their excellent customer care, as well as their superfast broadband speeds.

> > Click here to order Be Broadband today

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There’s a great new bargain deal available for prospective new Virgin Media broadband customers, as you can now pick up your internet, TV and phone absolutely free for the first two months!

So, if you sign up before the end of Wednesday 30th September 2009 you can now receive -

• £20 Off Your First Bill
• Free Installation
• Free Wireless Router and Modem
• 10Mb Fibre Optic Broadband
• Over 65 Digital TV Channels
• Unlimited weekend UK Landline calls

That’s right, all of the above is absolutely free for the first 2 months when you order a phone line for £11 a month. After this time has expired the total entertainment package is only £19.50 a month, the same price as some providers charge just for internet connection! Not only that, but you will also receive unlimited downloads, 5GB of online storage, plus 25 free photo prints per month.

So get your skates on and take advantage of this brilliant deal from Virgin Media bundles, a fantastic way to enjoy a complete home entertainment package at a price that’s right for you.

> > Click here to order Virgin Media today

Be Broadband is introducing a new self service application which will provide fast, accurate answers to questions whilst using their website. The system, which is powered by Transversal, has seen over 21,400 people asking 58,585 questions in the first 4 weeks alone!

This is a big part of the Be Broadband major rebrand, which has had mixed reviews from consumers about the graphics used. The site is now far brighter and blockier than the previous incarnation, ang looks a bit like it was created on a ZX81, but the site is obviously tickling some people’s fancy as Be Broadband’s figures are on the way up. A few eyebrows were certainly raised in our office, but you cannot argue with the figures.

Be broadband now offer the ability to chat online and ask support questions , which in turn are answered quickly and efficiently by a human representative with in depth knowledge. This online support now allows the contact centre to focus on answering more telephone queries, therefore speeding up everyone’s experience.

Head of Member Services at Be Broadband, Louise Kirlew, said -

Proactive customer service is central to BE’s success. Implementing web self-service provides another channel for customer communication that is immediate, accurate and designed to meet our customer’s needs. In less than a month the combination of Transversal’s ease of use and close integration with other channels such as chat has already delivered major benefits and positive feedback from our customers.

Be broadbands customer service system now has the answers to over 200 frequently asked questions, offering unparalleled information and insight to better meet changing customer needs.

> > Click here to order Be Broadband

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Orange mobile broadband is offering students the chance to pick up a free £20 HMV voucher when they choose either a mobile broadband dongle or laptop package before Saturday 31st October 2009.

Orange Mobile broadband packages start at just £4.89 for a dongle on an 18 month contract, and free laptop and mobile broadband deals starting at £24.47 a month. So if you’re looking for a new set up for this coming term time, why not grab yourself a deal with Orange and receive a £20 HMV voucher, absolutely free?

> > Click here to order Orange Mobile Broadband

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Be Broadband has just introduced a new ’student friendly’ 9 month contract on their superb Pro and Unlimited tariffs. The 9 month contract is perfect for students who require the use of superfast broadband during term time but don’t want to pay for the summer months when school is out.

The 9 month tariffs feature up to -

• 24Meg download speeds
• 2.5Meg uploads
• Unlimited usage
• Free Connection
• Free Wireless Modem

These packages offer the compete student set up required for a whole term, plus with the free wireless modem you could share the cost of the monthly bill (as well your cheese and beer!) with your housemates. The unlimited usage will also make sure that numerous users can be online at the same time without any dreaded lag.

The 9 month tariff from Be Broadband – A students dream.

> > Click here to order Be Broadband today

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