Tag Archives: uk

[ENDED] WIN! £15 to spend at Amazon.co.uk

It’s competition time again! We’ve got another £15 Amazon.co.uk voucher up for grabs – ideal for if you’ve been saving up to buy some new tech (although you can spend it on whatever you want!).

To enter, simply fill in the form below and like GEEK! on Facebook – it’s that simple. You’ve got until Friday 18th September to enter – rules are at the bottom of this post as normal!

Hopefully this goes without saying, but you can enter even if you’ve previously entered GEEK! competitions and/or if you already like GEEK! on Facebook.

Competition has now closed – results will be announced soon! Thanks for your entries.

Congratulations to Judith Hamilton who won the £15 Amazon voucher. Your prize has now been sent to you.

[ENDED] WIN! £20 Amazon.co.uk voucher up for grabs

It crossed my mind a few days ago that GEEK! hasn’t run a single competition since the site was launched in 2008. Well – today that’s going to change! This is our first ever competition – and there’s £20 to spend on Amazon.co.uk up for grabs!

To enter, simply like GEEK! on Facebook (go to the page and click ‘Like’ or use the ‘Like’ button below) and then fill in the form underneath.

This competition has now ended. Stay tuned for more throughout 2012.

The competition rules are below. This competition closes at 23:59 on March 16th (Friday!) – entries after then will NOT be counted. Good luck!

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O2 UK drops The Cloud wifi access from February 2012

O2 recently announced that Pay Monthly customers will lose their free access to The Cloud wifi services as of February 2012.

If you’re on a data plan with O2, you may be aware that you currently have free access to both BT Openzone and The Cloud as part of your contract. Handy for making sure you’re not using your limited data allowance when you’re in a public place.

Sadly, as of 1st February 2012, O2 customers won’t be able to use The Cloud for free wifi. O2 say all data customers will still have access to BT Openzone and also to their own wifi networks (but O2 wifi networks are free to anyone, anyway).

This probably has something to do with the sale of The Cloud to BSkyB. Bit of a shame really, as there are The Cloud hotspots at my local train station and at various other public places that I use – but no major loss I guess.

BT further increases landline charges – reminds us that we’re not in control

BT has recently announced that as of December 2011, a number of charges (including line rental) will be increased. This is the second price increase from BT this year.

So, as of 3rd December, line rental will increase from £13.90 per month to £14.60 per month. On top of that, their unlimited anytime call plan is increasing by 20p per month to £4.90 per month – and considering this is BT’s most popular calling plan, this is bound to hit home. If you’re not on the unlimited call plan (or making a chargeable call), your call connection fee is going up to 13.1p per call. And to finish you off, your daytime and evening call rates are going up too. “Terrific!”, I hear you say.

Somewhat strange to remember, though, that BT announced in July that their quaterly profits were up 20% due to increased demand. Does that sound strange to you?

We have to bear in mind that a large majority of people living in out-of-city areas are on market one telephone exchanges. This basically means that you’re stuck with BT wholesale for your telephone and broadband services whether you like it or not, as no other operator can provide a service. What this really means is that there’s no competition – and so BT can charge whatever they like for your telephony services.

If you’re lucky enough to have the availability of cable in your area, perhaps you might want to consider the option of moving to cable broadband and scrapping your landline altogether. We all seem to be on these huge mobile contracts which offer endless minutes – so why do we need a landline? It’s worth a thought – as cable broadband will give you a much faster speed and generally a better service.

It is annoying though – BT are just taking advantage of the fact that they can do whatever they like to charges at the moment – they have control over most of the phone exchanges in the UK and no other operator can do much about it. The only group that can make a difference is Ofcom – but they often seem to cause more trouble than good. And to the average household suffering from money shortages (having already had the warning of increased energy charges), this can only be bad news.

Oh, and if you’ve just joined their supposedly amazing “summer deal” of free service for 4 months, then £16 a month – remember, it’s an 18 month contract.

Giffgaff introduces new £20 plan and extends free internet

Giffgaff, the increasingly popular MVNO (mobile virtual network operator), has recently introduced it’s new £20 goodybag after multiple requests from customers.

The new goodybag now offers 600 minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited internet – with no fair use as per usual.

In addition, giffgaff have increased the allowance on the £10 goodybag from 100 minutes to 150 minutes at no extra charge. This goodybag appears to be the most popular of the 5 goodybags available considering that it also offers unlimited texts and unlimited internet.

Finally, giffgaff have also said that they will continue to offer the free mobile internet until 1st of December 2010. This means that giffgaff will have ran this promotion for over a year when it finally comes to an end.