Keith Shirley

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Vodafone Saga

Those of you that have had to put up with me going on about how much I love the Nokia N95 will be glad to hear Vodafone finally have a large data package available so that you can access the internet via the phone without being restricted to the Vodafone Live access. As of posting they now charge 29.99 inc VAT for 5GB.

The Problem: Previously you could access the Internet via Vodafone for 99 cent per day. Great I thought and started using e-mail and all sorts of other tools on the phone. Then a 395 Euro extra appeared on my phone for data. It turns out that this 99 cent deal was only for access via Vodafone Live. Most of the useful tools I use needed proper Internet access and not a crippled account. Luckily Vodafone agreed to refund the money but for months I was stuck with only using WLAN access. They had small packages available but I refused on principle. It really annoyed me that you could get a 3G dongle with a large data bundle but that you couldn’t get that package applied to a normal phone. I was really close to switching providers on numerous occasions – luckily for Vodafone I’m lazy.

Anyway – Special thanks to Pat Phelan for bringing it to my attention. I had given up on checking their website. This also lets me pass on a tip for some software for the phone.

Tool Tip

Traditionally when you’re moving from place to place you have to tell the apps on your phone to use the correct WLAN access point or select the correct 3G settings. Over time this can become quite a long list if you’re travelling a lot. The Psiloc Connect software creates a new “Access Point” in your list that removes the need to scroll through all the other predefined access points.

[caption id="attachment_48" align="alignnone" width="321" caption="Psiloc Connect Screenshot"]
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You tell all you’re apps to use only that connection and once you’ve entered a few settings you can forget about it. The software will automatically look through all your WAN connections for the correct one and (if you’ve enabled it) will then try and connect via 3G. You can even disable the 3G access automatically when roaming – saving you from potentially massive phone bills.

I like this software as it makes life easier and just disappears into the background. The only issue I have with the software is with hotspots where a web login is needed. In this case the WLAN has more bandwidth but the time to login slows the whole process down. In that case I often just want to dip in and pick up a mail. In those situations I set the access point to “always ask”.

Unfortunately – now I find my battery goes flat too quickly. Maybe the thrill of easy Internet access will wear off soon…..maybe

The Psiloc Connect software was originally brought to my attention in the SymbianInMotion blog.

The Irish Business Women’s Forum is having a special Promote Yourself Week on their website. I’ve been a member of the forum for a while now and it’s always a pleasure to check in for updates and see if I can add anything useful. Like most forums – blatant advertising is normally not allowed. This week is the exception where one special area has been setup to allow the members to promote themselves without breaking the rules. For me it was a very strange experience doing a sales pitch for online backups where I normally work so hard at being independent.

The IBW forum is a great example of a supportive and informative online community. It’s certainly one of the discussion forums that I will have in mind when I’m doing work for the IIA Social Media Working Group. I can’t speak highly enough of the forum – and of course the members. There are so many other forums that fade away after a short time because there is not enough interaction or the general attitude turns negative. I get quite annoyed when someone new to the area of online forums or mailing lists makes a mistake and gets pounced on by the other members and berated for “advertising”. Yes – people should read the forum guidelines and get a feel for the style of the site – but I’d rather have a few mistakes with helpful reminders rather than a strict policing by the members. The IBW site seems to work very well in this sense – any transgressions are dealt with in a friendly and instructive way. The result is that they receive articles from people who would never dream of posting elsewhere – and many of them are quite touching stories.

So go and have a look at the IBW site – I hope you find it as useful as I have. There are few other sites where I feel morally obliged to try and post something useful having read so many helpful articles.

The Promote Yourself week seems to be quite successful – and I have no doubt it will reduce the spam for the remainder of the year. It even got me mentioned on Frank Fullard’s Blog.

Let me know if there are other online communities that you think I should be looking at – specifically Irish ones.

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