Category Archives: In the News

Tech news and opinions

3 (Three UK) customers outraged by upcoming price changes

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Many customers of Hutchison 3G in the UK have expressed their anger at the upcoming changes to pay as you go prices on the company’s blog.

The company recently proposed changes to the price plans starting April 22nd. The changes will include a charge for voicemail and slightly more expensive calls for people on the 3Pay plan.

I am one of the people who complained, and as a result I have now got my PAC code from the company.

I’ve just spotted the network Giffgaff and have ordered a FREE SIM from them. They look brilliant as they are totally community based – just what a phone network needs to be. Anyhow, I’ll review them when I’ve got my SIM.

I’ll be sad to leave 3 as they used to be fantastic. I have been with them for over 18 months on PAYG and loved them up until the price change. However, if they are going to rip us off with unfair charges, I’ll just walk away.

3 should have thought their plans through a bit more carefully. I think they’ll regret making a move like that so quickly.

3 (Three) UK changing PAYG price plans – voicemail will cost

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Yep, sadly from 22nd April (a really bad day to choose for me!) 3 are changing their PAYG price plans and adding a couple of costs.

On all Pay as you Go customers, voicemail will cost and MMS messages will cost more. There’s also a slight increase in the cost of international calls.

From 22nd April:

  • Voicemail, which was previously free, will cost 15p per minute to call.
  • MMS messages will cost 30p each, rather than 25p.
  • Various international costs will increase.

In return for this, 3 are introducing free Twitter and 0.facebook.com access for all PAYG customers, permanently.

I think this is a bit of shame really – I loved the free voicemail. None of the other changes will bother me that much but the free voicemail was a big bonus for me.

In any case, 3 still provide fantastic network coverage and great value plans so I suppose it isn’t all that bad.

Never mind – I’ll just put call divert on and reroute it to my Skype voicemail.

TVCatchup launches new Media Center plugin – full live TV and guide

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I noticed today that one of the developers for TVCatchup has recently launched a newly updated plugin for Windows Media Center. If you haven’t heard of TVCatchup before, read here.

The developer has been working on a plugin for the popular Windows application for quite some time, but finally a very user friendly version has been launched. You can get the plugin here. You’ll need XP Media Center Edition 2005, Vista or 7 with Media Center installed to use it.

The new interface is much better. A long menu with all the features you’d need.

TVCatchup in Media Center

Sadly, the plugin can’t record as yet – but this will hopefully come in an upcoming release.

If you don’t want to install (or can’t access) a TV tuner or aerial, this is for you. Please respect TV Licensing rules – make sure you have one.

Internet Explorer 9 not for Windows XP

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Inevitably, Microsoft has drawn the line from Windows XP and clearly they are attempting to slowly pull people away from XP and onto more recent versions of Windows.

I don’t suppose it concerns many people anyway – who wants Internet Explorer? Firefox is several times better and Chrome is another story altogether.

Nevertheless, it could prompt Mozilla and Google to start deciding when the pull the plug on support for XP for their programs.

If you’re still one of the 65% of us using Windows XP, you really need to consider moving on. Windows 7 is much more practical (despite the pathetic TV commercials by Microsoft). XP has really past it a bit.

iTunes store collapses

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Just a quick heads up to everyone who is concerned – the iTunes Store has collapsed and will not load globally as far as I’m aware.

According to forum results, the store has been offline for some time but Apple (as yet) has not issued any statement regarding the issue.

I suspect Mr Jobs is more concerned about the fortune he’s loosing in digital sales!

Update 5.29pm GMT: I can now access the iTunes Store again from here in the UK.