In the autumn of 2006 the Royal Mail launched a new online service aimed at individuals and small business that would like to print their own postage. The system is easy to use, first you register on their website then pre purchase your postage £3.50 at a time using a switch or credit card.

To send a letter click on the "Print Stamps from your Pc " link  you will then see the image below

Click on the button :

You will then be prompted to enter the name address of the letter, you need only enter the person or business name followed by the building number or name and post code, the system will attempt to locate the full address based on this information.

The full address will be displayed on the next page and will allow you to make corrections and enter any additonal information.

When you have the correct address click continue you will be asked how you wish to pay, select your pre-pay account then click continue. You will then be asked to confirm that you wish to send the letter, click continue again.

Finally a screen will be displayed with a message stating your label is being produced, the system generates a pdf document that you can print directly on to an envelope, piece of paper or sticky label.

Dial360

Dial360 is now offering cheap calls to India Land Lines at only 5p per minute 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

1. Dial the Access Number 0844 552 6138
2. Listen to the recorded message
3. Dial the Indian number including the interational dialing code e.g. 0091332441031

You will be connected to the number and charged only 5p per minute from a BT land line*.

Customers that have a mobile phone with O2 on a pay monthly contract can use their inclusive minutes to access this number with no additional charge.

For more information and access numbers for over 200 other countries see the Dial360 website.

*conditions apply see website for details, please note prices will vary over time but are correct at time of publication.

 

Two coaches of the Samjhauta (Friendship) Express, a biweekly train service connecting Delhi and Lahore that began nearly three decades ago, were set in flames by a crude cocktail of low-intensity explosives and kerosene bombs, say forensic experts.

The bombs went off as the train passed through Mumbai, the number of deaths is being reported in 175-200 range with four times as many casualties. Indians and Pakistanis were killed on the train. The Indian and Pakistan governments have vowed to continue with peace talks stating that they will not let the terrorists halt the peace process.

This is a truly horrific attack which was committed by people who do not value human life, our thoughts go out to all the famillies that have been affected by this terrible tragedy.

At the 2007 Global Mobile awards in Barcelona Samsung and Sony Ericsson picked up the awards. The competition had two categories "Best GSM handset" and "Best 3GSM handset", the SGH-D900 won in the first category whilst the Sony Ericsson K800 Cyber-Shot ™ phone won the latter.

Samsung SHG-D900 - Won Category "Best GSM Handset"

Sony Ericson K800 - Won Category "Best 3GSM Handset"

"T-Mobile has cut by more than half charges for business customers who transmit data over its mobile networks in countries where it operates its own network." (from the reg)

If you are on a T-mobile business tariff and travelling in Austria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia and the UK you will benefit from this price cut, there are a couple of exceptions. "Officelink" customers and customers using BlackBerry or Sidekick devices will not receive the same price cuts. The countries listed above are where T-mobile operates it's own network, Max Miller the head of carrier services at T-Mobile said they are negotiating with other carriers to try and get discounted prices elsewhere.

If the cost of data transmission continues to fall and availability of VOIP enabled handsets improves customers will be able to use their data allowance to place cheaper calls back to the UK and to other countries using technologies like Skype and SIP.

The European Telecommunications Standards Institute has finally approved a new SIM standard based on similartechnology used by the USB connectors in computers.

The standard could eventually lead to rollouts of SIMs supporting Internet and other multimedia applications. The new technology will provide a fast interface between handsets and SIM cards. At present, SIMs and handsets communicate at relatively slow speeds as the communication link is still based on smart card technology introduced 20 years ago. With USB, cards and phones would transfer data at up to 12 megabits per second. This would allow downloads of data such as picture phonebooks and links between SIMs and PCs. It will eventually enable convergence between handsets, PCs and other devices using the SIM as a focal point.

It is expected that USB could take between 18 months and two years to reach the market because handsets will require new chipsets to support a USB-based SIM

Read more on this here and here

China’s Ministry of Information Industry has announced that all handsets sold in China must include a USB interface for battery-charging and data-transmission.

The government hopes that this will help consumers save money as they will not need to purchase a new power adapter each time they purchase a new handset. Also, with USB as the power standard, devices such as notebook PCs can be used to charge phones.

This makes a lot of sense hopefully this will be introduced in the UK as well.

You can read the full article with technical details here.

Skype have just announced a new 'Connection Fee' for SkypeOut customers, every call made regardless of how long it is will attract a 3.3 pence connection fee. Previously a very short call would cost UK skyper's around 1 pence. Businesses that are using Skype to make outbound marketing calls will feel this price rise quite sharply. We could find no explanation why the fee has been added on the Skype website.

Stuart Henshall who writes for the Skype Journal is not happy and believes this may turn potential and existing customers off using SkypeOut.

A company you have probably never heard of; Omnifone has just launched a new service that allows unlimited music downloads to a mobile phone for £1.99 a week. They believe that subscription is the future of music downloads and have signed up the major record labels and done a deal with the mobile phone operators.

The new Sony W900 Walkman Phone!

There will be no additional charge for downloading songs all you pay is the ~£9 a month fee. If you have a 3G phone and are in an area with good coverage then you should be able to download a 3 minute song in just over a minute. If you only have a GPRS phone then it will take just over three minutes.

This service will surely be attractive to music lovers who are on the move, commute to work and have one of the new MP3 mobile phones like the Sony W900. The price seems fair if you make good use of the service, anyone downloading more than one album a month on iTunes will save money using the Music Station service.

You can read more on the Omnifone website and at the Register.

The register has just posted this story about two new Nokia communicator phones that will be launched in the Uk. What is interesting about these phones is that they come with WiFi and VOIP functionality built in. This is not going to please the Uk network operators as it allows users to bypass their network and make calls for free or place international calls using their data tariffs. The E90 will replace the Series 80-based 9000 range offering a full keyboard and wide display.

Nokia's E61i due for a facelift

This is definitely good news for consumers, with one of these new Nokia phones and a coffee shop that offer's WiFi access you could make a Skype to Skype call to India for free. Or you could use your data plan to make a SIP call via a VOIP provider like VOIPTALK.

The nokia 2610 is a great phone if you just want a phone that makes calls and are not very good at remembering to charge your mobile as it has a claimed battery life of 12 days standby or 3 hours talk time.

For the Nokia technical specs click here

It doesn't have a camera or bluetooth and it's cheap, £60 buys the version that can be used with all the major networks in the UK, and Orange do a version tied to their network for £40 pay as you go. The screen is clear but difficult to see in direct sunlight. It has a Built-in hands-free speaker which is important when driving in the UK.

At last a phone that is cheap and good at one thing.. making phone calls!
 

The Good Stuff:

Battery Life - 7days making / recieving 45 mins of calls.

Easy to read display

Asthetically pleasing

small and lightweight

Menu easy to navigate

The Bad Stuff:

Buttons are shiny so fingernails can slide off

Button press not very sure

Annoyances:

When Scrolling quickly through contacts the display doesn't keep up so it is easy to overshoot and dial the wrong number

Menu navigation is bit laggy

 How can we offer you such low-rate calls to India?

 

Dial360 allows you to cheap call India because we buy up any spare capacity on the phone networks at very low prices. Then we keep our overheads low so we can pass the savings on to you.

 

That means domestic or business customers can cheap call India from any landline, mobile or payphone - at any time of day - and make huge savings on their phone bill.

 

How does our cheap international call service to India work?

 

• Our cheap international call service requires no subscription
• There is no account to open
• You can cheap call India without changing phone provider
• You don’t need a credit card to make low-cost international calls with us
• There are no extra bills to pay – your cheap calls to India will appear on your usual phone bill
• There are no other hidden costs or charges

 

To cheap call India all you need to do is use our unique access number and you will pay one, flat rate all day, every day.

 

Here’s how you make low cost calls to India with us:

 

1. Dial our unique access number for India
2. At the prompt, dial the country code followed by the number in India you want to call
3. That’s it! You’re connected and you’re starting to save money on your international calls

 

It really is that simple to make cheap international calls to India with Dial360. Whether you want to keep in touch with friends and family or contact business colleagues – you can start making immediate savings. Because we charge the same cheap international call rate all day, every day, you’ll find you can talk for longer and still have cheaper bills compared to BT rates!

We will be posting regular articles designed to inform our customers of developments in landline and mobile calling in the UK.