Internet service provider TalkTalk has today switched on their new porn-filtering system, meaning that all new customers to their service will have to specifically request access to X-rated, adult content.

By default, TalkTalk's HomeSafe filter will automatically block access to any website that features pornography, gambling, violence and drug-use, meaning that any new TalkTalk users who require access to such content will first have to "opt-in" through a highly embarrassing call to customer services.

Customers will also have to reconfirm their opt-in choice once a year, just to rub salt in the wounds.

However, TalkTalk see the move as merely a pre-emptive one, believing that the governments plans to use ISP filters as default will come around sooner rather than later.

Some industry experts see the move as just a few short steps short of censorship.

"We welcome a consultation but default filternets are awful," said Jim Killock of the Open Rights Group.

"They block a wide range of innocent material; and nobody should be advocating broader and simpler censorship."

Via: Metro

Name: Devolo dLAN 500 AVmini - Starter Kit

Type: Powerline networking homeplug kit

Specs: Click here for full specs

Price: £99.99 from Amazon

Devolo's dLAN 500 AVmini powerline networking starter kit boats superfast, reliable internet speeds over your electrical wiring, effectively knocking out wireless blackspots. However, stability and speed come with a fairly high asking price attached. Does Devolo's latest kit perform well enough to justify the cost? Read on to find out!

For all the convenience a wireless internet connection brings, in many cases they also come with a fair helping of frustration too. Whether it's a signal blackspot or significantly reduced speeds, getting the most out of your internet connection over Wi-Fi can be a struggle. Where once the only alternative was to feed unsightly Ethernet cabling around your house to combat the problem, powerline networking kits, like the Devolo dLAN 500 AVmini starter kit reviewed here, are a far more elegant solution.

The powerline kit works by plugging a homeplug adaptor into a wall power socket near your internet router, and linking the two together over an Ethernet cable. A second homeplug adaptor is plugged into the wall near where you want to be able to pick up a stronger internet connection, delivered to your device of choice over a second Ethernet cable. The internet connection is then sent down the electrical wiring of your house, bridging the gap between the router and your internet-accessing device, offering speeds near-identical to those that you'd get from a connection directly wired to your router. Extra cabling is kept to an absolute minimum, while you're left to enjoy a stable, speedy internet connection.

The Devolo dLAN 500 AVmini starter kit is one the best powerline networking solutions we've so far seen. For starters, it supports incredible connection speeds of up to 500Mbps, and while there are few (if any) households in the UK that can boast such broadband speeds, all will enjoy significant improvements when compared to a Wi-Fi connection. On our test home broadband connection (which averages out at around the 19Mbps mark when connected directly to our router) we never saw speeds drop below 18Mbps with the Devolo kit, an improvement of as much as 25% over the speed of our best Wi-Fi connection. Faster connections will easily be able to serve multiple HDTV streams and even 3D movies with the kit.

It's a shame that the 500 AVmini plugs experience a slight drop in performance when plugged into an 4-way extension plug bar. For the best performance, you're going to want to plug the gear directly into a wall socket if possible. Thankfully, the slim build of the homeplugs compared to rival offerings mean that they should be able to slip discretely into some relatively tight spaces regardless.
Set up is incredibly simple too. Though a software installation CD comes included with the set's two homeplugs (as well as two short Ethernet cables), it really is a "plug-in-and-play" product, meaning connecting all the wires up to a PC, smart TV or games console and your router at the other end is all that's needed to get things up and running. If you do opt to install the included software CD, you'll be able to configure the homeplugs to prioritize certain types of traffic, such as VoIP or video streaming, handy if more than one person is using the network at once. It's worth mentioning that if you already own older Devolo 200 AV adapters they'll work alongside this newer kit without a hiccup too.

Setting up security features is just as simple. "Push button security" enables 128-bit AES hardware encryption, making it incredibly easy to protect the information travelling around your network.

Lastly, power consumption is also incredibly low. Keeping in mind that it's likely you'll rarely unplug the adaptors or switch them off, the fact that they draw just 0.5 watts when in standby mode will be a welcome one when it comes time to face your electricity bill.

If there's one issue to be had with the Devolo dLAN 500 AVmini starter kit, it's the price. While the slim design and high potential connection speeds are a bonus, there are cheaper options that will deliver performance that will be more than suitable for the average user. Only those really keeping a close eye on the minute fluctuations of the fastest broadband speeds will see every benefit on offer here.

Verdict

We're big advocates of powerline networking at Tech Digest, and this latest offering from Devolo is among the best we've tried. With a low footprint in terms of both physical size and power consumption, paired with the stability and speed of internet connection that the dLAN 500 AVmini plugs offer, we cant recommend them highly enough.

A 10-month trail to see the viability of using white spaces to carry broadband connectivity to rural parts of Britain has been deemed a success by the TV White Spaces Consortium, which includes companies like the BBC, Microsoft, BT and Virgin Media.

White spaces (the interference found when unused radio spectrums are present) is seen as a superb alternative to expensive fibre optic connections in rural areas. The trials have found that there is "significant television white spaces capacity" for carrying rural broadband, with 20 white spaces channels equal to 160 MHz in total. 13 of the channels use 104MHz.

Speed hit 8Mbps, enough for "passable" Wi-Fi hotspot connectivity, showing that the white spaces are more than useable, if in need of refinement, lagging behind regular broadband connectivty.

"I welcome the success to date of the Cambridge White Spaces Trial," said ommunications minister Ed Vaizey.

"Leading innovators from the UK and beyond have demonstrated the potential that television white spaces can have for meeting the UK's broadband needs. Developments such as this endorse the leadership position that the UK can take in enabling more efficient use of spectrum by opening up an array of opportunities for wireless applications for consumers and businesses alike."

The Netflix app is to be rolled out to all 2012 BRAVIA, Blu-ray and Blu-ray Home Theatre models featuring the Sony Entertainment Network.

Netflix will sit alongside other popular third party services on the Sony Entertainment Network including YouTube and BBC News, as well as Music Unlimited and Video Unlimited.

"We're very excited about the addition of Netflix to our SEN portfolio" said Edd Uzzell, Sony category development manager.

"All of our consumer products - whether that is a BRAVIA, VAIO, Tablet or Xperia - are designed to provide the best quality content possible, and having great content providers offers consumers greater choice for their home cinema experience."

"Adding Netflix to the Sony Entertainment Network, gives consumers an even broader choice of devices to instantly watch unlimited TV programmes and films streamed over the Internet," said Greg Peters, vice president of product development at Netflix.

"We're always looking to provide people with new ways to enjoy Netflix."

For more details please visit sony.co.uk or netflix.com/netflixreadydevices

John Lewis have entered the broadband services market, offering a branded broadband service either instore, online or over the phone.

Three separate packages are being offered; Standard, Unlimited and Fibre. Speeds range from (up to) 16MB to (up to) 38MB, with monthly data allowances coming in at 20GB for the standard package, 100GB for Fibre subscribers and no cap to the Unlimited package.

Subscribers will also need to grab a John Lewis telephone line rental (which obviously adds its own charges)

Therefore the Standard package costs £11 as a standalone broadband charge, but £24.50 with line rental. Unlimited packages start at £31.50. Both of these services come with 16MB speeds.

The Fibre plan starts as £38.50 per month, and will hit maximum speeds of 38MB.

"This move complements the range of services and products we offer - over 80 per cent of all our consumer electronics sales are WiFi enabled and we know our customers want the same honest and trustworthy experience from their internet provision as they would expect from any product they buy from us," said John Lewis Telecoms Manager Adam Brown.

"John Lewis broadband gives customers an upfront and transparent price on a range of broadband and phone packages with no hidden terms and conditions, a simple 12 month contract with no hidden catches and the excellent customer service that we are renowned for."

The new John Lewis Broadband replaces the previous Waitrose and Greenbee services. Any customers on those plans are encouraged to jump over to the new deals.

For more info on the John Lewis broadband deals, click here.

Over 9,000 O2 broadband customers caught illegally downloading pornography will have their personal details handed over to a major porn baron pressing for a settlement payout, it has been revealed today.

Ben Dover, the pseudonym for British porn actor, director and producer Lindsay Honey of Golden Eye International and Ben Dover Productions, was awarded the court order that saw O2 required by law to match iP addresses to the personal details of those downloading Honey's films. 9,124 IP addresses in total were matched up, with Honey now expected to push for a settlement sum.

In O2's defence, the ISP at least put up a good fight, trying to defend the privacy of their users. O2 fended off twelve court orders from the porn producers before unlucky number 13 forced their hand. According to the High Court, they eventually felt that "the claimants' interests in enforcing their copyrights outweigh the intended defendants' interest in protecting their privacy and data protection rights".

O2's fight however may have strengthened the rights of pirates in the future however. O2 may have set a new precedent, having fended off so many court orders demanding the personal details of their users. The speculative invoicing of lawyers like ACS :Law will now likely require far greater proof from claimants before users' details are shared.

Via: The Telegraph

Chancellor George Osborne, as part of the UK's 2012 Budget announcements, has revealed that 10 cities will benefit from £100 million worht of investment in super-fast broadband.

Christened as "super-connected cities", Belfast, Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Leeds, London, Manchester and Newcastle will all see improvements made to broadband infrastructure.

By 2015, this will deliver ultrafast broadband coverage to 1.7 million households and 200,000 businesses in high growth areas, as well as high-speed wireless broadband for 3 million residents," said HM Treasury.

"Broadband is moving up the infrastructure ladder, and the 2012 Budget recognises its importance to underpinning business, both those engaged directly in digital content creation, and more traditional businesses," said Andrew Ferguson, editor of Thinkbroadband.

"The level of funding is at a low enough level, that it should not cause distortion to the market, but should allow cities to ensure that commercial operators provide service across all parts of a city, rather than the patchy nature many suffer.

"Whether this will be enough to pull the UK ahead of the pack, and accelerate ahead of the rest of Europe and compete with the Far East with regards to broadband infrastructure, the amounts seem small, but as with the BDUK spending, £100m from Westminster, will be match funded by the local authority and similar funding from private companies, meaning that there may actually be £300m or more to spend in these ten cities."

Super-fast broadband provider Hyperoptic also welcomed the news, though also remained sceptical on the overall impact the investment will make:

"There are big questions to be asked following the Chancellor superfast broadband city proposals. It's clear that there is a need to improve broadband speed and quality for both consumers and businesses, especially in light of recent reports that the UK's economy is evermore relying on eCommerce; the UK currently ranks number one in all G20 nations in terms of the amount the internet contributes to its GDP," said Dana Pressman-Tobak, Managing Director of Hyperoptic.

"But in order to compete in a global broadband arena the government needs to take a long term view and focus on encouraging broadband providers to adopt fibre-to-the-building models in cities. Anything less is not ideal. Currently providers are taking their time adopting this approach, because they don't want to cannibalise their customer base and the technology is not compatible with their legacy network."

Rural mobile coverage is also set to be extended, with 60,000 rural homes along at least ten key roads by 2015 seeing improvements to their service. The roads set for updates include the A2 and A29 in Northern Ireland; the A57, A143, A169, A352, A360 and A591 in England; the A82(T) in Scotland; and the A470(T) in Wales, all being dependant upon planning permission, using the £150 million investment revealed in the Autumn Statement 2011.

Virgin Media has announced that they are to be the headline sponsor for this year's Eurogamer Expo 2012, and will be using the event to showcase their own superfast broadband packages.

Offering up to 120MB broadband speeds, Virgin Media will show how their service can benefit gamers who play online. Also, as the games industry moves further away from physical media and into download platforms like Xbox Live, Steam and PlayStation Network, superfast broadband speeds will let gamers grab their games (or stream them over services like OnLive) in double-quick time without even needing to leave the house and visit a shop.

"The Eurogamer Expo is a landmark, annual event for UK gamers, who want sneak previews of brand new games and be able to experience the best that technology can deliver," says Luke Southern, head of sponsorship and partnerships at the service provider.

"Virgin Media makes that happen, with superfast broadband as standard. As the UK's fastest broadband provider we offer the best speeds for downloading games, which makes our partnership with Eurogamer Expo, a perfect one."

Tickets for the Eurogamer Expo 2012 go on sale from February 23rd, available through www.eurogamerexpo.com. Virgin Media custoemrs will also be able to buy tickets through tickle.virginmedia.com on the same day. The virgin Media "Tickles" reward scheme will offer VIP early-access passes, free tickets to the show, and the chance to play exclusive titles at the event.

Virgin Media have announced that they now offer super-fast 100Mb broadband speeds to 10 million UK homes. Originally planning to have the service available to half of the UK by the middle of the year, Virgin Media have now revealed they are well ahead of schedule and are on course to finish the roll-out by the Spring.

Virgin Media are currently pledging to double the broadband speed of all its new and existing customers by 2013, with Olympic gold medallist and world's fastest man used in the advertising campaigns to illustrate the point.

That means that those subscribed to Virgin Media's L and M services will see their speeds jump from 10Mb to 20Mb, XL customers jumping from 30Mb to 60Mb and XXL customers getting a whopping 100Mb up from their existing 50Mb service. Existing 100Mb subscribers will also see the cost of their subscription drop as a result of the nationwide upgrades.

186,000km of cable and 38,000 street cabinets are getting the upgrade treatment, with the double-speed roll-out hitting different areas at different times.

Virgin Media's announcement is a timely one. Just last Friday BT announced that they were trialling FTTP (Fibre to the Premises) technology. While it's quite some way away from being a broadband standard, FTTP offers superb 300Mb speeds.

Having Wi-Fi woes indoors? Then you may be considering getting a Powerline Ethernet connection kit. But before you dive into your pockets for a set-up from NetGear or Devolo, take a look at this new solution from a company called Power Ethernet.

Aimed at offices but available to consumers too, it replaces the standard double-gang wall socket found around your home with one that offers a single plug socket alongside four ports for Powerline Ethernet connectivity.

As anyone who uses Powerline networking will tell you (myself included), it offers a much more stable and faster web connection than Wi-Fi does. Instead of travelling over the air it sends the web data across the electrical wiring of your house.

Some Powerline networking boxes (which usually plug into a spare wall socket around your home) can be a bit chunky, but with the Power Ethernet sockets fitted directly into your wall, they'll fit anywhere that an electrical connection can be found.

The Power Ethernet ports also offer a few other enhanced features, such as better filtering from things like fridges which can disrupt standard Powerline and, as it's closer to the ring main, transfer speeds nearer to the 200MBps maximum often touted but rarely reached.

"The Power Ethernet socket is a true game changer for the electrical industry," said Power Ethernet Managing Director, Daniel Rogoff.

"For the first time, electricians and electrical contractors can start specifying and installing data networks for customers without specialist cabling knowledge. From Connected TVs and games consoles to CCTV and IP phones, there are a rapidly growing number of IP enabled devices in homes and workplaces that need high-speed, physical network connections. I'm very excited to be launching a product that enables the electrical industry to play a big role in satisfying that demand."

Priced at £144 (including VAT) you can find out more by clicking here.

London gets its first 1Gbps broadband service today courtesy of Hyperoptic.

While limited to the small community based in Prices Court in Wandsworth, it's the first time Brits have had access to such a fast web connection.

And it's a bargain too. While BT Infinity costs at least £18 a month (not including line rental) for 40Mbps and Virgin's top package offers 50Mbps for £30 a month, Hyperoptic's super speeds start at just £12.50 a month, going up to £50 a month not including line rental. For around £60 then, you're getting the sort of speeds that even those in fibre-optic rich Asian territories dream of.

"We were struck by Hyperoptic's innovative proposition and could immediately see the benefit a fibre network offers our residents. Firstly, it's about improving quality of life in terms of having access to the best and fastest technologies rather than struggling with the frustrations of slow connectivity," said Zair Berry, Director at Prices Court.

"No one else out there can offer us speeds of 1 Gig. Secondly, we want to future-proof our development for existing and prospective tenants, adding the value fibre brings a property. While fibreoptic standards currently allow for 10Gbps bandwidths, this network can accommodate the Internet as it grows and matures. We're thrilled to be Hyperoptic's first customer."

Hyperoptic, run by founding members of Be Broadband, are planning further roll outs across London in 2012, with regions set to benefit including Battersea, the Docklands, Holborn, Shepherds Bush, Vauxhall and Westminster.

Name: Three MiFi HSPA+ (Huawei E586)

Type: Portable personal Wi-Fi hotspot

Specs: Click here for full specs

Price: £84.99 with 3GB of data/ Free on 18 month tariff at £10.87 per month with 1GB data allowance/ Free on 24 month tariff at £18.99 a month with 15GB data allowance

Three's latest MiFi personal Wi-Fi hotspot certainly is a looker, and with newly-added HSPA+ connectivity, makes some bold claims when it comes to mobile broadband speeds. Can it deliver superfast downloads when out on the road, or will a standard dongle offer similar results? Read on to find out.

If you're even remotely interested in consumer technology (if you aren't, God only know swhat you're doing on this site) chances are that you don't leave the house without several web-enabled devices. From smartphones to games consoles, e-readers to tablets to laptops, if it's got a battery in it, chances are it can connect to the web these days. However, when it comes to mobile broadband, keeping each of these devices connected can be expensive.

Here's where Three's MiFi range comes in. Small, pebble-shaped devices weighing just 90 grams, they're portable, pocketable, battery-powered Wi-Fi hotspots that connect to Three's mobile network and let multiple devices connect to the internet at once, wherever you may be.

On the upside, you're likely to save plenty of dough using a MiFi as you only have to shell out for one tariff every month. In the past, the downside however has been that connection speeds can get a little shoddy when split across multiple devices.

Three's latest MiFi, the E586, more-or-less sidesteps the issue of speed by being the first device to offer a HSPA+ connection. In theory, this gives you download speeds as fast as 21.6Mbps and upload speeds of 5.76Mbps. This, in theory, makes it far more attractive than a regular dongle's 7.2Mbps max download speed.

Great in theory, but how about in practice? Nowhere near as fast, but not too shabby either. In areas of strong signal we regularly topped speeds of 8Mbps, which just wouldn't be possible on a standard dongle, averaging out at 5 or 6Mbps elsewhere. This extra speed boost made connecting multiple devices for simultaneous usage far less of a pain too, making this MiFi kit a real work tool for teams needing reliable web access when out of the office.

Those looking to use the MiFi in a professional capacity will be pleased to hear the many security features built in here too. Though you can easily just pop in the supplied SIM-card and battery, switch on and connect your devices using the SSID/password card, those looking for extra protection can visit http://3.home in their browsers and tweak settings like WPA2-PSK and AES TKIP WPA encryption. You can also use this page to send and receive messages using the MiFi, though the practical application of this feature is limited.

Three still suffer from intermittent coverage blackspots (like, annoyingly, the area of our Central London office specifically where I sit it would seem) but it was very impressive just how often it picked up a HSPA+ connection when out around town. Of course London is likely to have better coverage than more rural spots, so double-check with a coverage tracking site to before a purchase, but even with a standard 3G mobile broadband connection the dongle performed well.

As we alluded to earlier, the new MiFi looks pretty snazzy too. Available in black or white, a small but clear OLED screen shows info on signal strength, connection type, connected devices (as many as five at a time), connection status, messages, battery level, total data usage and roaming state. Charging over USB (or using a supplied cradle) the USB connection can also be used to access the microSD slot on the side of the MiFi (card not included) potentially turning the unit into a portable 32GB drive too. Overall, battery life is excellent too, managing 5.5 hours of heavy usage and as much as 100 hours on standby from a single charge.

Verdict:

Without the HSPA+ capabilities, Three's latest MiFi hotspot would still be a stylish mobile broadband unit capable of reliable, on-the-go connectivity. With HSPA+, and with the flexible tariff system Three have in place, it becomes a genuinely viable alternative to a fixed broadband connection for light internet users. Three still suffer from the odd blackspot, but if you're lucky enough to be within range of a HSPA+ connection here, it's a genuinely excellent bit of kit.

A new government-planned initiative in the UK will see internet service providers blocking access to pornographic websites as a measure to prevent children from accidentally accessing adult material.

New subscribers to BT, Virgin Media, Talk Talk and Sky will have to "opt in" to adult content when they open a new account, which could lead to some of the most hilarious customer service phone calls of all time. "Booty call" may get a whole new meaning if the planned block comes to pass.

Ed Vaizey first suggested the block late last year in December, with Prime Minister David Cameron sealing the move after meetings with Christian charity Mother's Union, who had been asked to look into ways children access explicit content.

Further Monther's Union proposals include introducing a new website called ParentPort, where parents can flag innappropriate imagery on the net, as well as saucy advertising campaigns.

It is not yet known how the sites to be blocked will be chosen, but we imagine "naughty bits" are high on the list of criteria.

If you were looking to settle down in a new home, what would be the top details that would factor into your final choice? A large garden? Good nearby schools for the kids? Strong transport links? Well, for 1 in 10 Britons, one of the top home-buying issues is apparently broadband speed.

My Voucher Codes ran a survey of 1,652 people who had rented or purcahsed a new property in the last two years, and found that 11% looked into broadband speed as a major home-buying factor. Of that 11%, 17% of those that said broadband speed was a deciding factor admitted that they had "rejected a property that they would otherwise have liked because of the slow broadband speed".

Obviously some more standard needs top the list (28% wanted to be close to work, 21% were looking for schools nearby), but it's interesting to see how being connected in this internet age is now a major concern in our daily lives.

"Whilst it is important to take into account all factors of a house when considering if you are going to move there, sacrificing your dream home for the sake of a slightly faster internet speed elsewhere seems a bit silly. If it's your dream property, you should really weigh up what's more important to you," said Mark Pearson chairman of My voucher Codes.

"A slow internet connection can be very annoying, but nowadays, when broadband is so readily available in many areas of the UK, it shouldn't be of too much concern to those moving house. If you're unhappy with the service you're getting from your internet provider, it's worth shopping around and finding out if your supplier is the right one for you."

Virgin Media's 100MB broadband service is now available to four million UK residents, with plenty more areas in-line to receive the super-fast broadband upgrade before the year is out.

86 UK areas currently have access to the fibre optic network, with Bromborough, Livingston, Horndean and Stretford getting the super-fast connection by the end of the month too.

"As data consumption rises and consumers grow increasingly reliant on their broadband service, only Virgin Media's unique network is primed to cater for the UK's impending data explosion," said Jon James, executive director of broadband at Virgin Media.

"With four million homes now able to 'get in the fast lane' with our 100Mb service, the UK is racing up the broadband league tables and we're delighted to be playing the leading role in boosting the UK's digital infrastructure."

100MB Virgin Media broadband costs £35 per month when taken with a Virgin phone package, or £45 when taken without the phone package. It's a service 16 times faster than the national average, allowng for the average full HD film to be downloaded in just seven minutes, and an entire album's worth of MP3s in around five seconds.

A 200MB service is also being trialled, while Virgin Media are also installing a 1.5Gb cable trial in East London too.

Click here to check whether or not you can get Virgin's 100MB broadband service in your area, and if not, when you can expect to see it rolled out.

Name: Home Hub 3 (BT)

Type: Wi-Fi Broadband Router

Specs: Click here for full specs

Price: Free with new BT Broadband packages, £46 for existing customers, £92 without a BT contract

BT's Home Hub 3 aims to eliminate Wi-Fi woes by employing a new "Smart Wireless" technology. But does this new channel hopping system do enough to glaze over a few other notably absent features?

Wireless internet has become the standard for so many laptops and mobile devices that it's hard to remember a time when there was no choice but to wire a connection to your PC in order to connect to the net. However ubiquitous Wi-Fi connections have now become, so too have frustratingly frequent drop outs and wireless interference. As the headline feature of the BT Home Hub 3 router, Smart Wireless technology aims to do away with this.

Though the majority of routers these days scan for the most interference-free channel when first setting up your Wi-Fi connection, over time the channel can become flooded with interference from other devices in the vicinity, meaning only a hard reset or manual signal change will do the trick to fix connection issues. BT's Smart Wireless technology consistently scans for interference and dynamically changes the wireless channel to maintain the best possible connection.

And it seems to work too. I live in flats notorious for Wi-Fi drop out thanks to a number of gadget-happy neighbours, and experienced the first consistent wireless connection that I've enjoyed in many years. Even when I placed an analogue video sender near it, the router adapted quickly to the problem and changed channel accordingly. Though we couldn't judge how consistently the router would perform when surrounded by other routers in close proximity, the router should suit most home set ups without a hitch.

It's not just the consistency of the connection that's impressive, but the quality too. Even two floors up through solid walls it managed respectable speeds, with a maximum of 12Mbits/sec clocked outside thirty metres away from the router, using 802.11n wireless. Depending on your connection speed, data rates potentially can max out at 144 Mbit/sec or 300 Mbits/sec using the optional 40 MHz mode.

It's a pretty little device, as far as routers go aswell. A curved black sloping box, it features 3 front-facing indicator lights which change colour according to the power supply and quality of the broadband connectivity and wireless connections.

On the rear you'll find four Ethernet ports (though only one is Gigabit) and two WAN ports (an RJ11 port for the built-in ADSL modem, and another RJ45 port that supports the VDSL2 protocol used to connect to BT's Infinity fibre-optic broadband service). There's also room for a USB port, acting as a network storage space or printer sharer. A pull out tab that slips out of the rear of the device with the WPS pin and password written on it is a nice touch too, meaning you'll always have a portable code to hand as you set up devices around the house.

Those nice looks carry over into the simple set-up of the device too, making it perfect for novice users. A web interface allows you to adjust the hub's settings, such as wireless security protocols and eco-friendly standby scheduling. Though the web interface defaults to only the most basic commands, it opens up when you click the advanced view to carry out more complex tasks such as port forwarding and firewall details.

However, those using older Wi-Fi devices will be frustrated to find that 128-bit WEP isn't supported, leaving you only with 64-bit WEP instead. Though WPA and WPA2 should be sufficiently secure for the majority of devices, users of gadgets making use of older security standards may find this omission a little disquieting. Heavy media streamers and gamers alike may also be frustrated to see that there is also no support for QoS, meaning there's no way of prioritising traffic for smooth web video playback or stutter-free online gaming.

Though it's hard to judge the number of people who made use of the feature, the BT Home Hub 3 also drops Broadband Talk support. Those who make use of the service on previous Home Hubs and BT packages should therefore avoid this latest unit.

Verdict:

Though it may be a hard sell on its own, the BT Home Hub 3 is a consistent and reliable router. Maintaining a solid connection over-the-air at respectable speeds in our notoriously interference-rich testing spot, it's well worth a £46 upgrade for existing BT subscribers, and is a real bargain as a free part of the telecom giant's broadband packages.

Ofcom have compiled a report revealing the most often complained about mobile, landline and broadband network providers. It makes for grim reading for anyone tied to a 3UK or T-Mobile contract, who top the mobile list by a fair margin.

Looking at operators who have a 5% or greater market share ( 3UK, O2, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone) and calculating the number of complaints per 1,000 customers, 3UK was found to have 0.15 complaints per 1,000 customers, and T-Mobile 0.13. Put against fellow operator O2, who had only 0.04 complaints, it looks pretty bad for T-Mobile and 3UK, with billing errors and poor customer service chief among the problems customers faced.

In terms of landlineand broadband networks, Talk Talk was the chief culprit, receiving the most complaints with 1.78 and 1.28 per 1,000 respectively.

"Consumers should have access to as much information as possible to allow them to choose between providers and to take full advantage of the competition in the sector," said Ofcom chief executive, Ed Richards.

"By publishing complaints data, Ofcom aims to provide useful information to consumers, and also to give telecoms providers an incentive to improve their customer service."

Fujitsu are setting in motion plans to bring fibre-optic broadband to 5 million UK homes, through new partnerships with Virgin Media, TalkTalk and Cisco.

The network, set to hit speeds of 1Gbps, will be funded in part by the UK Government's £530 million budget for bringing high-speed broadband to rural areas. Cisco will be offering up their networking technology alongside Fujitsu for the venture, with Virgin Media and TalkTalk looking to tap into the network to expand their own fibre-optic offerings.

In many cases, the plan is to run cabling direct to users homes (FTTH), rather than to a local exchange first, which potentially means the network is scalable up to speeds of 10Gbps.

Communication Minister Ed Vaizey sang the praises of the proposed network plans:

"Superfast broadband is already helping businesses grow and improving the lives of those able to access it. But many rural and hard to reach areas are missing out. The whole of the UK should be able to share in the benefits of broadband and we are determined to make that happen by the end of the Parliament. That is why the Government is investing over £500m in taking superfast broadband to everyone.

"I am delighted that Fujitsu along with Virgin Media, TalkTalk and Cisco share the Government's vision. Creating this superfast broadband network will help improve the economic and social prospects of the homes and businesses where high-speed internet access remains just a dream."

Colin Murray, radio DJ, sports pundit on the airwaves and TV and generally-all-round-nice-bloke has partnered up with BT to help them promote their growing BT Infinity super-fast broadband network. He's created an online guide on how to get the most out of the service, including tips on getting the best from gaming, sports and music on the web. You can view them all by visiting www.btlife.bt.com/infinityhowto.

Colin was kind enough to sit down for the best part of an hour with Tech Digest, and we talked about everything from iTunes to illegal football streams, Super Mario to what best to do with an elephant carcass on a desert island. Read on for a lengthy-but-very interesting chat indeed!

Colin, can you explain to Tech Digest's readers what you've been doing with the BT team?

I've been working with them to launch the superfast BT Infinity broadband. It's a 40Mb connection with 10Mbps download speeds compared to the half a Mb we're used to with standard broadband. BT came to me to talk about sport, music and gaming; I think they expected sport to be the big thing but found out that I'm more about the music and gaming when online! Because I use two or three web-connected gadgets at once like my iPad and Sonos audio gear it turned out I was the perfect person to work with.

So you're a bit of a gadget-head then?

Yeah, but not an extreme one that doesn't have relations with any women! But one enough to be quite savvy with it; I know when a first generation gadget is a good first generation gadget, like the iPad, and likewise when not to buy the iPad 2. That's a ridiculous upgrade! I recently had to transfer a web domain though and that went above my head; I had to re-align something and I couldn't do it so I had to get my mate from a website company to do it.

I'm part of that first generation of tech-savvy kids (I'm 34 now). So I had the first wave of proper computer games consoles you could have in your house, the Commodore, the Spectrum. Then I had one of the first dial-up internet connections. I can't even remember how fast that was. It was absolutely nothing was it?

The first one I had was a 56K dial-up, but it sounds like you're going back before that again then?

Yeah, thanks very much for reminding me I go back further! But yeah, you're right. 12K? I remember it being 12K I think. But then as it upgrades you go "Wow, that's it now, I don't need to go any faster", but then you look at something like Infinity and it blows you away. It'll be interesting to see in four years whether or not even this will have to get faster.

The thing is it's all about the engine that powers your technology, and it's getting to the stage now where it's all advancing so quickly that a product like the superfast broadband needs to have to completely catch up with it. Like here you can have four HD videos streaming at once and (in my experience) they hardly have to re-buffer; you can just watch and watch and watch. I'm a big baseball fan and I watch a lot of it online, but with standard broadband it always has to re-buffer. I get to enjoy the games live, but at times you can miss really important moments, whereas with Infinity I could watch four games at the same time.

You've had a lengthy career in radio, which is what most people would recognise you from I suppose?

Yeah, I'm doing alright! Been in the job 11 or 12 years.

How do you feel the rise of the internet has affected radio broadcasting?

Print journalism and broadcast journalism are very different things, and even within broadcast journalism TV and radio again are very different. I think you'll never really break the connection that you're only ever broadcasting to one person with radio, and people will always seek that out. Technology sits alongside people's passion for music and passion for conversation; it doesn't replace it, it never replaces it. Sometimes you hear people saying we're going to get to the stage that we'll never even have to talk to each other any more and that's absolute nonsense, you know? Technology can change how we discover music for the better, and for the worse; it can change how we garner our music. Do we buy it? Do we steal it? And I don't think even the record companies have quite got their heads around those issues yet.

But in direct reference to radio, the internet will never replace it, it'll just expand it and change how we access it. Traditional radio stations might be worried about the loyalty people have with the station brand. I know with Sonos I can listen to any radio station in the world, but a good show is a good show and my favourite presenters are my favourite presenters, and no technology is going to change that. I just might end up consuming more radio and having more favourite presenters, and I think that's great for the industry, not bad.

With the likes of BT Infinity making streaming stuff really consistent, are apps like Spotify a rival to radio?

I think a good presenter will listen to every new record he gets and play the best of that, communicating that with his audience, and he'll do that with maybe a massive 1 million people, or 10 million people, or 10 thousand people, or 5 thousand people. I don't think you can replace that. It all depends on being able to get what you need with the technology that's available. Do I buy less music because of the internet? I buy more music. For example, playing Grand Theft Auto online, of all things, gave me jazz music. I was never interested in jazz music until I was driving down the road in the game and I heard Chet Baker's Let's Get Lost. I've now spent thousands of pounds on jazz music in the last two years; I've travelled to North America just to see Dave Brubeck live. I wouldn't have even known who he was three years ago.

In terms of digital music downloads, is it still a balance for you? Are you still going down the record shop?

Oh absolutely; maybe this is an exception, not enough people do this to be fair, but I still know when I need to buy vinyl records, and know when it's OK to download something aswell. I also do a radio show where I pick the music as I go along, and I use two iPods and an iPad for that; I rarely tap into my vinyl because that's sacred. Never take them out DJ-ing either. People say I'm a philistine for using CDs, but I'm not going to bring my vinyl to a student union, you know?

Let me put it this way; when you were first able to download music, it would take how long to download one track? 8 minutes, 9 minutes, 10 minutes? With Infinity I can download an entire album in 4 minutes. Note even 4 minutes in some cases, given the new Radiohead album is only bloody eight tracks long!

So do you see a return to people buying an entire album and listening to it in one go, as opposed to the recent trend in the digital sphere of just the odd track here and there on shuffle?

I hope so. It is a convenience thing; the faster you can do it, the more chance that sort of thing wont be lost. I think some of the beauty of an album in terms of the ordering of album tracks has been lost a bit. But if you can grab an entire album this quickly perhaps that sort of magic wont be gone forever.

These things always start on the periphery. Take VHS; that was going nowhere till the adult entertainment industry got involved and that's a fact. With music the first things that worked were things like Hype Machine, and I still use that a hell of a lot. You'd go on there for a particular version of a track or a new download. Now people are downloading mainstream music from mainstream sites. Still way too many people stealing and not paying for it though. Again, music being streamed legally is causing me to buy more music. If technology gets better we might see it levelling out with more people buying music again. It's getting there.

So you wouldn't agree with Jon Bon Jovi then, who recently said Apple's Steve Jobs had killed the music industry?

I would not agree with anybody who changed their name from Jon Bongiovi, to Jon Bon Jovi! I've never got that! My question to him is "Why did you drop the 'I' in 'Giovi'?" Why was that so important?! Look; there's absolutely no doubt that bands are making less money, but the industry itself needs to adapt better. Bands like The Futureheads have done much better by going it alone on their own labels and doing it themselves. I'm sorry if the music industry is not making millions and millions of pounds, but they also have an obligation to realise that, in the short term, if you spend £500,000 in Britain alone to market a band that aren't good enough it's going to flop whether the internet is there or not. It's a shame to see so many record stores go down the drain though and that's the big thing. Even when doing this with BT I keep pushing how important it is to support your local independent record store. Independent Record Day is only two weeks away; I'll support it and you should too. I don't agree with Bon Jovi; the music industry is still there. Do I think bands are making less money because people are stealing music? Yes. Who's your favourite band for example?

At the moment I'm listening to British Sea Power a lot.

It's a terrible question to ask, but British Sea Power are a really good example; made good music for quite a while, got an album Mercury Prize shortlisted, sold more records, got to play the mainstage at Leeds Festival. That's a progression of a band who didn't have £500,000 thrown at their first album, just trying to recoup enough money back off it. Would British Sea Power have got beyond one album had they been signed in 2011? I'm not sure they would have. I'm not sure a band like Muse, who are massive now, would have got past their first album as that's hardly a classic and wasn't commercially successful at the beginning. I think you've just got to remember that if you don't buy music by the bands you idolise, they're going to be living on a council estate for the rest of their lives, and we don't want that for our heroes.

You're a big sports fan and football fan too with Liverpool your club of choice. What are your favourite football sites and why?

I think when it's your country's main sport, as it is with football and rugby for me, I don't have much need to go very far online as every single news show covers it. It's much more important when it comes to sports that aren't so big here, then you feel like you're getting the very best coverage online, especially with live streaming. For me it's baseball. So online I download Sports Illustrated every week. I watch games online too which is a bit of a nightmare with normal broadband as it has to buffer all the time and you miss all the action. For that ESPN is amazing so probably of every sport site I'd go with that one. Also because they've got my fantasy team on there!

Do you get involved with the community side of things? Forums, Twitter and the like?

Not really, though funnily enough I'm probably a member of every best forum for every single Premier League club online, but I don't post. I go on them for good honest information on what fans are thinking, be it abut a signing or a manager. With clubs like Manchester City it really helps, when you look at it from a monetary point of view; what they spent and where they are in the League. If you're a Man City fan you know how long you've spent without even being in contention for the League. With the forums you get their genuine points of view. It's brilliant from a professional stance.

How about the more shady side of sports streaming, with the live Premier League matches that the likes of Sky can't, or choose not to, broadcast?

I've never done it. It sounds wrong that I haven't done it. There's never been a sporting event that I've wanted to see that I haven't been able to get easier some other way than looking for some obscure stream from abroad. The issue for me with watching sport online has been the speed of the download, not the availability. But maybe that's a bit privileged of me to say that; I'm signed up to MLB.com and spending $30 a month to get that. People who don't have the money probably do go to illegal sites.

Premier League match attendances haven't been quite as high this year. Do you think football streaming sites factor into that?

It's different in each league. I think research shows that for certain teams being on television or online doesn't affect them at all. Other teams it really does affect it. I think it depends on the the area of each club, and that area's micro-economy. It's more of an issue with the price of the tickets rather than some middle-eastern website streaming them. If you're spending £300 to take 6 people to a game of football that's probably more of a reason why attendances will be down. Especially now that superfast broadband is only taking off now; you know the quality you're going to get online at the moment so I can't see it having a huge influence.

So you're an online gamer too we hear?

Unfortunately I'm not very good though!

The age-old question then! Which do you prefer: FIFA or Pro Evolution Soccer?

I've been a Pro Evolution boy all the way! Even when they've been terrible! You knew Pro Evolution was losing the plot when they skipped one to be on the same number as FIFA, that was such a sign of weakness! I still go back and play the earlier ones that you can't take online too like Pro Evo 2 and 3. Online play is great though; being from Northern Ireland I only get to see my mates back home once every couple of months but can play with them online every week. I'm a huge Mario Kart fan too, even though I know it's for kids!

There's nothing wrong with Mario Kart!

I love it to death! Mario's like the Beatles of gaming; you just have to like them. It might be unintuitive to say he's the best character ever but it's true! You have to live with that! I go completely into solitary confinement for some of my favourite games like Red Dead Redemption; I couldn't imagine playing something like Red Dead online, why would you want to? I want to ride out on me own! I'm a very anti-social social person! It's a world of difference with BT Infinity playing that sort of thing online though. I con only get 30 or 40% into a shoot-em up game though and then I have to let my nephew finish them! Always sports games though online; Pro Evo, NBA, even Tiger Woods.

New Tiger Woods game out this week. Will you be picking that up then?

I dunno, he's kinda lost his sheen, Tiger recently. He was The Man before! The unlockable "Sunday Tiger" character doesn't mean the same thing now. In the game he shoots a better round, but Sunday Tiger at the moment in real life swears and spits. Not very reflective of the real Sunday Tiger, eh?!

OK, to round things up then Colin; you're stuck on a desert island. You can only save one of the following items; a football, a baseball set (complete with mitt, ball and glove), a radio or an Xbox 360. The last two items have a miraculous unlimited power supply. Which do you choose?

Does the Xbox have unlimited games?

Err...just your top three favourites!

Ahh, you've moved the goalposts now. Not the computer games, wouldn't take that, there'd be no connection there. It's gotta be radio first. That'd give you every bit of sport, every bit of music and every bit of news. That needs to be first, a clear first! Xbox would be a clear last, especially being a PlayStation boy! I'd take the football over the baseball stuff, because you'd lose the baseball. Can't lose a football; I was on holiday recently and I can't swim, so I was kicking the ball into the water and had the waves pushing it back, so that'd be quite a good game! Actually, it'd be the saddest thing in the world to be trapped on a desert island with an Xbox; you can build your own home, learn how to grow your own food, learn how to fish, and you're just sat there hunched over a controller playing GTA! You'd make your own games, carving chess pieces out of a dead elephant and stuff!

Great! Thanks for your time Colin!

Think your Virgin Meda or BT fibre optic connection was fast? Think again; Google have officially confirmed Kansas City as the first town to get their 1GB/sec Google Fiber network.

"After a careful review, today we're happy to announce that we will build our ultra high-speed network in Kansas City, Kansas," Milo Medin, Google's VP of Access Services, wrote on the Official Google Blog.

"We've signed a development agreement with the city, and we'll be working closely with local organisations, businesses, and universities to bring a next-generation web experience to the community."

Kansas City residents will be able to use the network from early next year, with the service spreading out to other US cities after the trial run.

There truly is no place like home if you live in Kansas City.