videovarmi's Blog

It’s fair to say that Redten have taken freebies to new level. Last year saw Talk Talk offer free broadband with their home phone service. Sky and Orange followed suite offering free broadband with their TV and mobile services respectively. We investigate if Redten’s offer is as good as it sounds.

You may not have heard of Redten, it’s a new name but they are Part of Watford Electronics an established family run business that has been supplying and designing electronics for over 25 years.

Redten is offering three home internet packages and one business package from £19.99 a month through to £24.99 a month. Redten have partnered with BT to provide Internet, probably a sensible choice given the nations biggest broadband provider covers 99.5% of the UK population.

Like BT’s current offerings Redten’s broadband connection will run at speeds of up to 8Mbs. Redten is offering unlimited downloads, something only available with BT’s premium Option 3 package. This means you won’t have to stop using your broadband half way through the month if you reach your download limit. This is good news for heavy downloader’s of music, video or games.

Redten provide antivirus and antispam software to keep you and your pc safe. There is also 365 day online and phone support plus a three year hardware guarantee for the pc.

So what is the pc like? Surprisingly good, in short. It might not win the hearts of the hard core pc fanatic but for most of the rest of us it should perform more than adequately.

Redten provide the LG RedTen pc with all broadband packages, a machine usually costing around £500. With a 19” LG monitor, Intel Pentium 4 processor 160GB of memory, and 512MB RAM it’s not a bad piece of kit. With a DVD writer, graphics card and stereo speakers it will handle the latest games and software titles and is well suited to playing and sharing photo’s or video clips. The more expensive Redten broadband packages offer colour printers, scanners and wireless internet.

What’s more whilst all packages come with Windows XP there is a free upgrade offered to the new Windows Vista.

The catch, if there is one, is that you are locked into a 3 year contract. If you move house in that period there is a £49.99 reconnection fee.

Is this the best thing since sliced bread? Probably not but it is fair to say that Redten have put together an attractive package that at the very least will have their competitors keeping a close watch.

If you need a new pc and want broadband or to want to switch broadband provider you should certainly add Redten to your short list, at least until broadband and pc’s come free with tokens from your breakfast cereal.

VoIP is growing at an incredibly fast rate thanks to ad campaigns from companies such as Vonage. Voice Over IP allow customers to make calls over the Internet as opposed to using traditional phone lines, and this service boasts free unlimited long distance calls.

This service requires a broadband connection to be effective, which begs the question which type of service would work best? Satellite and wireless services are problematic as they are not all yet compatible, so that leaves DSL and Cable. Here we will look at Cable Internet Service as it pertains to VoIP.

Cable Internet Performance

Cable internet outperforms other broadband connections by a wide margin in relation to VoIP. The main factors that place cable above the competition are:

• No phone service required
• No phone line required
• No additional hardware required
• No additional fees beyond VoIP service
• More bandwidth
• Always on

Cable internet is the clear choice for VoIP users, and it doesn’t look like this is going to change in the near future. The only drawback that can really be found is the lack of 911 service In some areas, and if the consumer uses a cell phone, this isn’t that big an issue, although it should still be resolved from a safety perspective.

The Cable Problem: There isn’t one

From a technological standpoint, it would appear VoIP was developed with cable Internet in mind. This isn’t the case, but the fit is so perfect that consumers will find that the two services are practically made for each other. Since phone lines are not used for Internet access, once the need to make phone calls over them is removed they are no longer needed at all. With the average VoIP price at around $35 per month, there should actually be a saving involved in dropping phone service all together. This also fits well into the trend of cell phones, and further speeds the demise of expensive long distance and copper wires.

It is important to not that in some markets 911 service is not available over VoIP. This is a problem being addressed by providers, but is still a big problem in some area. Be sure to research this before disconnecting your land line. The issue is that 911 services are separate from phone services, but were integrated over the last 25 years. This marriage of services took a long time, and more than a little bit of money, to make happen so it will be a while before 911 services are available in all VoIP markets.

One method Telcos are using to keep customers is to offer VoIP with 911 services. Many providers see this as an unfair business practice and are taking action against it, but as of this writing it is still available. Unfair or not, it’s a great service if the user doesn’t have to maintain a land line to get it (many Telcos require this).

Wi-fi technology is popping up all over the place - literally. From airports to cafes in city centres, you can bet someone will have their laptop, palmtop or mobile with them, surfing the net while sipping at their cappuccinos.

But it’s not only in public places that wi-fi comes in handy, some users set up wireless networks in their own home, using broadband providers on the host computer. Wi-fi technology has allowed for computers to connect and communicate whilst eliminating the need for tangle-prone cables.

All this is based on wireless networking, which allows two or more computers to become connected using a wireless router. This transmits a signal that is then picked up by other computers within a certain range of the host computer.

There are now a wide range of broadband deals that come with wireless routers, and the majority of laptops on the market come with built-in wireless transmitter, which allow for wi-fi signals to be received and for an internet connection to be established.

As we become more dependant on broadband technology, both for business and personal use, wireless connection has become more widespread – allowing for connection to the internet through a variety of devices.

If you have an older laptop, you can purchase wireless adapters which allow for connection to happen – these devices fit into your USB port or PC Card, detecting and receiving wi-fi signals and allowing connection to the network.

In an age where everybody and anybody can access an internet connection, sometimes for a small fee, from every corner of the planet – even the frozen Arctic - security over wi-fi networks is one of the issues we commonly see in the news and on technology forums.

So while our connection is freely available, if we are not careful our personal details can be easily plucked from the wi-fi waves while we surf away. The potential for identity theft and wireless hacking is a worrying threat to those who utilise wireless broadband on a regular basis.

However, there are measures you can take in order to ensure that your details are safe while you surf wirelessly:

Make use of security settings in your web browser. Broadband providers usually offer
some form of security as part of their deals
Check if a secure network key is needed for access. These are usually available for a
small fee and depend on the type of outlet where wireless is present
Try to avoid accessing sites which require personal information to access – including
online banking and email accounts – if you’re unsure of the security of the wireless
network
If you need to access your email while on the move, try to use clients whose addresses
begin with ‘https’ rather than ‘http’

Internet marketing business individuals and companies are always looking for ways to create new products and services. Streaming video has become one of the most popular ways of communicating to customers to communicate details about your products and services and to build a targeted customer list using online video. If you've been on the list of any major internet marketing company for any length of time, there will be a strong chance that you have been invited to sign-up to listen to listen to a teleseminar or take some particular type of action and was communicated to by the use of streaming video.

Aside from the obvious reasons that people think about, there are various reasons why using video on a webpage has a particular appeal to the end user customer. Streaming video has really become a 'tool of choice' for internet marketing entrepreneurs when considering new product creation.

Of course the streaming video itself can be classified as a product, but that is not exactly what is being referred to here. Instead of looking at the online video as a product in itself, many internet marketing individuals think of it as a 'starting point' for creating new products and promoting services. It could be the re-packaging of a particular message by translating that into video format and the associated derivative products from it, the use of streaming video and the having video on a webpage is indeed a great way to start a whole new product line.

First of all there is the basic information itself which you will use as a basis for the streaming video. Most of the top internet marketing experts use a transcript of maybe a teleseminar with a particular client as a basis for creating online video. This will be used to promote the product or service and in turn the streaming video becomes a new product that can be sold on its own or as an added value to any other product or service.

That same streaming video could also become the outline for a free report that is used to pre sell any other product or service or simply generate interest via the video on a webpage. The streaming video could also be broken up into smaller segments to be used as a basis for an autoresponder series or a mini course to traing prospective customers. Also the streaming audio and video broadcasting content could be enhanced to create an ebook about the subject of the product or service.

The audio version of the streaming video could be segmented as well, with the introduction of the call being used as a free sample. This could be uploaded as a sample to draw prospects to a sales page to purchase the complete audio, video on a webpage, transcript or both. By compiling both the streaming audio and video broadcasting and transcript on a compact disc, you can then create yet another product with even higher perceived value.

Still another way to use the initial streaming video to create new products is to conduct teleseminars on specific topics relating to your core products and services. Using these as a core component of your internet marketing strategy could well take your business to the next level. These extra products could be combined to create completely new products and services.

Another thing to consider when making the use of streaming video, you could choose to use various pieces of information to create product lines and services which fit in line with your overall company's strategy. In closing, it is important to bear in mind that we are really in fact near the beginning of the internet age and it is my firm belief that all business are leaving money and revenue on the table if they fail to take advantage of the use of the internet and the online world, which of course means the use of technologies such as streaming video in order to more effectively connect with and communicate with end user customers.