Selecting the best mobile broadband provider for you

5 Replies Joe Linford

When it comes to mobile broadband providers then the options are certainly plentiful, but picking the right one can be a little less straightforward, particularly if you’re not all that savvy with current deals.An O2 dongle pluged into a laptop

There are essentially two options open to you, with one route being the pay as you go option, while the other is the contract route. Both are good bets, although it really depends on your circumstances as to which one you’ll ultimately plump for.

Either way, you’ll need a mobile broadband dongle in order to connect to whichever network it is you end up going with. These are the small plastic USB devices that slot into an available port on your laptop or netbook in order to pick up the signal and there are many to choose from.

Some mobile broadband networks give these away with certain deals, while others may make a nominal charge for them. The great thing about going for a pay as you go dongle is that you don’t need to stick too any one deal and after you’ve used up the available credit you can move to a better deal that might have emerged.

Having said that, you’ll probably find that many mobile broadband providers generally offer more flexible deals when it comes to things like data allowances with contract offers. Pay as you go is handy as it doesn’t require a contract and you’re not tied down for any period of time, but if you need beefier download allowances then contract may be the better of the two.

Of course, knowing which network provider is going to be the best relies on a number of factors as well as this, so lookout for the speed offered, although this is often much more optimistic in advertising than it is in reality. Look too for what sort of monthly cost there will be if it’s a contract deal and also if there is any set-up cost initially.

Mobile broadband providers are always coming up with new deals and incentives to try and get you to sign on the dotted line. Lookout for free laptop deals, which get given to you in return for signing up to a longer contract. Other goodies include free dongles, extra airtime, calls for nothing and all manner of other goodies if you shop around.

And that is where the secret to finding the best mobile broadband provider lies. One of the best ways to get the deal to suit your requirement, and also your wallet, is to use the services of a broadband comparison website. This is a free and easy way of locating exactly the right deal and also comparing precise details with all of the other current options.

Read some reviews too and don’t forget to ask around or check with friends and work colleagues as to their own preferences. One thing is for sure, there are plenty of deals and a little bit of homework up front can pay big dividends in the long run.

The future for domain names

8 Replies Christopher Roberts

In the last week, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) have decided to vote in favor of increasing the number of domain name suffixes available.

This is one of the biggest changes to the structure of the internet ever seen. Very soon domain names (the URL/web address) will be able to end in almost any word from any language. For example, in the future, Technology Bloggers could move from TechnologyBloggers.org to TechnologyBloggers.tb (for technology bloggers) or TechnologyBloggers.tech, or . almost anything!
.anythingNext year ICANN will begin taking applications from all sorts of different organisations for their preferences over what new domain name suffixes are to be created.

So what are the benefits and drawbacks of this decision to increase the availability of domain names?

The good…

Many domain names may become cheaper to buy, as if there are many more domain names available, simple supply and demand brings the price down, as there is a more diverse supply of domain names, therefore the price should in theory come down.

It could be easier for people to get hold of a domain name they want, as if .com and .org are taken, (for example) then they may be able to have .site (for example) instead.


Furthermore, people will be able to be able to choose much more topic specific URL’s for their website. This could help improve URL description. For example, if the domain suffix .blog was opened up, you would no longer need to have the domain ‘pastablog.com’ as the .blog domain would give away the fact that the site is a blog, so this particular domain name could be shortened to ‘pasta.blog’ a much simpler and easier to remember system.

The not so good…

If we get loads of new domain names suffixes it could be a nightmare trying to remember URL’s. Currently there is a relatively small (around 20-25 excluding regional variations) finite amount of suffixes it could be, however this may not be the case in future.

To add to this, the availability of many more domain names is likely to dramatically increase the amount of internet spam and potential fraud, as it would be much easier to fool users into giving details to a bogus site, it there were no universally recognised ‘quality’ suffixes i.e. .com and .org.

To apply for a new suffix costs over £100,000, so it looks like it will be a very costly process if such a fund is needed to perform the transition. If it does cost this much,  it is likely that the current global internet giants are likely to ‘mop up’ any new domain names that are relating to their company before others even get chance. This would mean that despite the increase in suffixes, the choice that people have is still relatively small.

Your turn

What’s your opinion? Is this going to be a massive leap forward for a web, or will the idea fall flat on it’s face?

How promoting your blog’s launch is key to an early success

4 Replies Christopher Roberts

This is the second in a series of articles in which I hope to share with you my knowledge of how and why Technology Bloggers has been so successful, so fast. Learn more about this series by reading our Technology Bloggers success article.

They say that if your parents give you a good start in life, you will go far. It is of course possible to go far by yourself, but a good start significantly improves your chances of greatness.

I believe that you can apply this ethos to blogging too. A good start to a blog, usually (with exceptions of bloggers who lie/cheat etc.) helps towards guaranteeing the success of a blog.

For a blog to be given a good start, one key thing is needed: promotion. Promoting the blog can be done in various ways, as I am about to explain.

Social Media

10 years ago, blogging was in it’s infancy, and you could argue that social media didn’t even exist. Now social media is one of the most powerful tools that a blogger can have in his inventory.

I believe that social media played a part, (not a massive one, but a valid one all the same) in the initial success of Technology Bloggers, via helping promote the blog.

Technology Bloggers has a Facebook page. Now this would be a missed opportunity if I didn’t use this article to get a tiny plug for the page in, so here it is. Please like Technology Bloggers for updates straight to your feed. How? Click ‘like’ on our sidebar button, it really is that simple!

Anyway, we also have a Twitter and YouTube account. These all established the blog across the social web before the blog had even started posting.

Twitter's LogoAt the time the number of people following our social media pages was relatively small, but, if just a few people are subscribed and visit the site, see the great content, cool design, dofollow links etc. and tell a few friends or even better, blog about the blog, then that’s a lot of traffic gained from a relatively small number of subscribers.

Social media only played a small part in our promotion though. This technology blog had a lot more than that to get it off the ground!

about.me and Technorati

When the blog launched, I registered Technology Bloggers with Technorati and about.me. These further advanced Technology Blogger out into the world wide web.

Again only a few people are likely to have initially found Technology Bloggers via our about.me profile, or our via searching for technology articles in Technorati and having our blog come up. Hoverer, again these few people all add up.

Friends Sites

The majority of our Technology Bloggers traffic initially came from referrals from sites that I regularly visited and commented on or guest blogged for. The importance of comments is very great.

Comments can help to generate you a lot of positive traffic, and valuable links. The people who’s blogs you comment on are likely to visit your blog, so too are the commenters of that blog, especially if it is one with a ‘tight community’.

Guest blogging is also a great way to get traffic quick. On behalf of Technology Bloggers I have guest blogged in an attempt to raise the blogs profile. Finding high traffic, good quality sites with large reader numbers, which allow guest posts is a gift.


Guest blogging is very very useful as it helps to get you known around the blogosphere to both bloggers and comments. It also helps you to get quality, keyword rich backlinks to your site. Guest blogging can also give you a new perspective on blogging and a sense of direction.

My Other Sites

If you are thinking of setting up a blog, website or forum you would be daft not to use your existing sites to help promote the newbie. I did exactly this for Technology Bloggers at it’s launch. I wrote about it and linked to it from my website (Christopher Roberts Website) my social blog, my philosophy blog and my (now archive) technology blog.

To sum up…

When starting a blog it is really important that you promote it in as many ways as possible. You could look at financial advertising, or simply just use social media, online profiles and links from your own site. Build yourself a reputation up and promote your blog in as many ways as you can think, and you are sure to have a smooth and fairly rapid launch.

If you are looking to start a blog, good luck. Also stay tuned to this series, as you may find some more useful info in next weeks article. Finally if you ever need any help, contact us via our contact page.