Good news for people thinking of signing up to a mobile broadband deal – the trend of offering a free laptop for new sign-ups seems to be continuing.

Orange are offering free laptops to any new customer signing up to two of their offers. Customers signing up for the £35 USB mobile broadband can help themselves to a free Compaq CQ61 notebook laptop. It has a 15.6″ screen, Windows 7 Home Premium and a massive 250Gb hard drive! For more information click here.

Any customer signing up to Orange’ £25 mobile broadband deal can take home a free Asus 1005HGO laptop, which has built-in mobile broadband, so you don’t even need to worry about remembering your dongle! For more information click here.

You are still able to get a Compaq CQ61 notebook on a cheaper tariff, but this does incur an upfront fee for the laptop. For example, on a 24 month, £25/month contract, the laptop is available for purchase for £130.

Why not take a look at our mobile broadband comparison page, to see which deal might be best for you?

It looks as though the roll out of fibre optic broadband will be hastened if regional businesses are able to unite and commit to support, after the heads of businesses in Dorset announced that they would be backing plans within their area.

A local Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Tourism which encompasses leaders from around Weymouth and Portland has revealed that it will be firmly in favour of speeding along the proposed installation of fibre optic cable broadband, which had been intended to coincide with the London Olympics in 2012.

This new deal will of course allow the fibre optic network to be retained after the Olympics has come and gone and businesses will supply the custom necessary to ensure its continued financial viability.

A local newspaper said that there was still time for businesses and home owners to pledge their support for the plans via a survey, which will be open until the end of the month.

Nigel Reed, who presides over the Chamber of Commerce, said in an interview that the most significant goal they are aiming to achieve is the retention of fibre optic technology that will link local telephone exchanges. However, any lack of demand could mean that telecoms companies would be hesitant about offering high speed broadband after the Olympics conclude in 2012.

Mr Reed also confirmed that he and his fellow businesspeople would be backing the plans in their area, seeing it as one of the key benefits of hosting the Olympic games.

Simple Broadband’s Communications Manager Simon Gerrard added that “businesses can really benefit from fibre optic broadband connections with BT business broadband packages and those of other providers expected to be vastly improved in the wake of the fibre optic broadband roll out.”

Wireless broadband prices are set to drop even further after announcements by both Orange and O2 that they will be reducing the cost of several mobile broadband tariffs in both the pay monthly and pay as you go ranges.

O2 is now going to offer new customers the chance to sign up to a 24 month mobile broadband contract that comes with a 3GB data allowance each month for just £10 for the first 4 months. This deal will also included unlimited access to a huge network of Wi-Fi hotspots around the UK, which means that the data allowance will not be constraining customers of this service.

If you are looking for a mobile broadband deal that does not require the lengthy commitment period of pay monthly contracts, then you will welcome the news that O2 has also cut the price of its standalone USB mobile broadband dongle by a third to just £20. Again unlimited Wi-Fi is included for all pay as you go customers and top-ups cost from as little as £2 a day for half a gigabyte of data allowance.

Orange is also taking to reducing the initial cost of its mobile broadband packages by giving new customers three months at half price. That means a 3GB monthly allowance on an 18 month contract is only £7.50 for the first three months and the 10GB tariff is just £12.50.

All of these contract deals from both O2 and Orange still include a free USB modem, so you really will be able to take advantage of the new lower wireless broadband prices. Simon Gerrard, Communications Manager at Simple Broadband added that “these are both limited time offers aimed at securing new customers before the end of January, so you will need to act fast if you want to take advantage of the savings on offer”.

After acquiring Tiscali in a takeover last summer, TalkTalk has been planning to discontinue the brand name and migrate all current customers over to a TalkTalk price plan. As a result, TalkTalk has now stopped Tiscali from taking on any new customers and the switchover process is about to get underway.

The merger of the two firms has resulted in the creation of the UK’s largest single home broadband provider, which will now serve over 4.1 million customers around the country. TalkTalk’s parent firm The Carphone Warehouse bought Tiscali for a modest £235 million in May 2009 and it joined a group of other subsidiaries that included fellow broadband provider AOL.

The Carphone Warehouse’s CEO Charles Dunstone said in a statement that he hoped the change-over would be more significant for former Tiscali customers than an alteration to the logo. As such, he has assured the new members of the TalkTalk home broadband family that their tariffs are of equal value to those of existing Tiscali plans.

Mr Dunstone also indicated that the change meant that many former Tiscali customers would now be paying less monthly for their broadband service. A minority may pay more, but cheap cable broadband could be a solution.

Some people will welcome the news, as the TalkTalk broadband brand has undergone quite a metamorphosis over the past few years. At first it was not particularly well regarded, but with a turnaround in customer service quality and a competitive pricing strategy it has now become a trusted brand.

Simple Broadband’s Communications Manager Simon Gerrard added that “if ex-Tiscali customers are not keen on staying with TalkTalk after the switchover is complete, they can always migrate their service to an alternative provider with ease. Cheap cable broadband offers an excellent alternative to ADSL for those living in cabled areas and rival ADSL providers will be looking to snap up any customers that may not be enamoured with TalkTalk.”

A new consultation between the government and the public has been initiated in order to find out just what it is that the average citizen wants from their internet connection over the next decade.

There is a one billion pound fund available to help kick start developments and improvements and the debate is certain to centre on the question as to whether high speed broadband should be provided to suburban dwellers first, or whether universal availability of basic broadband is a more pressing issue.

The problems facing the telecoms industry are those of market demand versus profitability. In densely populated areas there is a high likelihood of fibre optic broadband and LTE Mobile Broadband becoming available without government intervention, but rural areas are less attractive because of the high costs of setup compounded by the relatively sparse customer numbers.

Whatever decisions are made over the next few years, the economic impact of broadband technology is going to be significant. The London School of Economics predicts that if public and private sectors invest five billion pounds in the development of next-generation broadband networks, over a quarter of a million new jobs would be created and businesses of all sizes would benefit.

Over the next few years, BT broadband deals are expected to be able to offer fibre optic cable connections to between 50 and 70 per cent of the population and the government has targeted 2017 as the year in which next-gen coverage must reach 90 per cent in order for the work to be deemed a success.

Business secretary Lord Mandelson pointed out that Virgin Media was already offering half the country the chance of connecting at 50Mbps, but that the new consultation, the large public fund at the government’s disposal and higher speed BT broadband deals would help to significantly improve broadband internet coverage.

The popularity of pay as you go mobile broadband deals is likely to increase exponentially over the first few years of the decade, according to a report authored by market analyst firm Tariff Consultancy.

It expects that over 300 million users will choose pay as you go packages globally by 2013, with Asian customers making up the most significant proportion of the total, followed closely by consumers in the USA.

It is believed that pricing strategies will influence how this growth progresses and the UK mobile broadband industry is seen as one of the most advanced when it comes to offering customers a good deal. Data allowances for users on pay as you go mobile broadband contracts in the UK are often parallel to or slightly better than those offered to customers who choose a pay monthly service if the cost of each gigabyte of data is taken into account.

Other networks in different regions are taking longer to alter their pricing strategies, but Tariff Consultancy’s MD suggested that if trends in the UK continued, many network providers would be looking to shift a majority of their mobile broadband business away from pay monthly and towards pay as you go.

Unlike other reports, this latest analysis of the market is focused specifically on mobile broadband for use by PC and laptop owners, rather than including all mobile phones with 3G connectivity in its focus. This allows for a more accurate picture of the future of mobile broadband tariffs and trends.

Simple Broadband’s Simon Gerrard added that “although pay as you go deals are certainly falling in cost, it is a little too early to completely discount the power of the mobile broadband pay monthly deal as yet. With the savings potential of start-up deals such as the Orange mobile broadband free laptop packages around, there is still good reason to consider a fixed term contract.”

Although the government and the major telecommunications networks are pumping money into the future of broadband in the UK, not everyone is relying on support from the public sector or large private organisations. In Dorset and Cumbria, two new schemes are being put in motion with local backing in order to ensure that businesses and residents in these regions can keep up with the rest of the country and get high speed broadband.

In Dorset it was revealed earlier this week that provider South West Internet (SWI) was seeking funding to help initiate new plans that would see an upgrade to its current broadband network, allowing for better coverage and faster speeds. At the moment it mostly offers businesses and consumers broadband via an extensive wireless network, but it hopes to use fibre optic technology to offer even faster speeds of 100Mbps or more.

SWI is calling on local enterprises to help support its plans and most will consider it an investment in the future of their business. A trio of local councils are also adding funding to the project, although input from the local business community will be necessary to ensure that it is a success.

In Cumbria local councillors are pushing for a new fibre optic broadband trial to be carried out. The trial will hopefully use money from the Northwest Regional Development Agency, which currently has the means to support pilot schemes in two different areas of the region.

A spokesperson for the county council voiced some concern that without action it was possible that Cumbria could become overlooked during the implementation of new broadband technologies. It was also suggested that with high speed connections available, the region would be far more attractive to businesses, which would cause faster growth in the local economy and help to drive new BT business broadband packages and those from other providers.

A new report by research firm ABI has predicted that between 2010 and 2014 the yearly sales figures for products compatible with mobile broadband will jump significantly. It believes that in four years time over 58 million portable products will be sold with built-in mobile broadband connectivity, which is 55 times the number of equivalent devices sold back in 2008.

The leap in sales will be driven by various factors, including falling wireless broadband prices, but will largely occur as ever more manufacturers integrate mobile broadband connectivity into a wider number of devices.

ABI expects to see producers of eBook Readers, handheld gaming devices, laptops and portable media players begin to add in mobile broadband connectivity where before they would have used Wi-Fi instead. Mobile broadband has obvious benefits over Wi-Fi as you do not have to find an unsecured wireless network to start using the internet and mobile broadband covers a significantly wider area than all the Wi-Fi hot spots in the UK.

At the moment any mobile broadband connection requires that a device is tethered to a certain network, so when you buy a dongle you will need to then commit yourself to a major provider. However, ABI believes that in the future there could be far more freedom in this area and that monthly wireless broadband prices could be ditched in favour of products which have the cost of the connection built into the one-off price, leaving consumers free to use it without worrying about minimum contracts or data allowances.

ABI’s Jeff Orr commented that network providers would have to adapt their business models and payment schemes to fit in with the changes that are coming in the mobile broadband market place. Simon Gerrard of Simple Broadband agreed, concluding that “the popularity and performance of mobile broadband can only improve, so things are looking very good for consumers.”

The Government has been presented with a set of plans by the Local Government Association which are aimed at improving the universal availability of broadband and ensuring that speeds received by all UK citizens are guaranteed by legislation.

The suggestion that home broadband speeds should be defined within the law, giving the average customer certain powers to complain if their broadband connection is unreasonably slow or not as advertised, will be welcomed by most UK customers.

The LGA also said that it was unhappy with the current target of providing at least 2Mbps connections for every home in the UK in time for the 2012 Olympics, telling the Daily Telegraph that the current promise did not show that the government was adequately committed to the continued evolution of home broadband in the UK.

A spokesperson for the group said that broadband had become an important part of daily life for millions of customers around the UK and that support from public and private bodies was necessary to ensure that consumers would not be getting a raw deal in the future when it comes to connection speed and broadband availability.

Broadband has undoubtedly changed society, with benefits such as online banking, video streaming, social networking, blogging and photo sharing allowing communities to develop, relationships to grow, friendships to be maintained and businesses to expand. The spokesperson continued, suggesting that for many, a broadband connection would be life changing, particularly to those living in isolated rural areas where contact with the outside world can sometimes be difficult. With BT broadband options expanding in less densely populated areas of the UK, improvements should continue.

Simon Gerrard, Communication Manager at Simple Broadband added “we are optimistic that home broadband speeds in the UK will continue to rise and should exceed government targets by a significant margin for most customers thanks to new BT broadband options.”

2010 is set to be a good year for businesses around Wales after news that BT is planning to roll out two high-speed broadband technologies across the country emerged. BT Business MD Nigel Stagg said that the availability of ADSL connections capable of up to 24Mbps download speeds should become widespread next year and added that the 40Mbps fibre optic connections that BT is installing as part of its 21st Century Network upgrades are also going to benefit business users.

24Mbps ADSL connections are already available in Bangor and Caernarfon and Mr Stagg indicated that business customers in other towns such as Wrexam should also be eligible for a faster connection for their enterprises.

The most important of the new broadband technologies that BT has promised to offer Welsh business customers is fibre optic connectivity. BT is using Fibre-To-The-Cabinet (FTTC), which will allow customers to continue to use their existing copper land line telephone connections to provide the last mile of connectivity whilst the rest of the work is performed by a fibre optic network.

In the first instance, business broadband customers in Wales should expect download speeds of up to 40Mbps and upload speeds of 2-15Mbps if they sign up for a fibre optic broadband package from BT. The download speeds are set to increase as time passes, with a target of up to 60Mbps for FTTC customers in the near future.

In the first half of 2010 BT plans to roll out FTTC at 100 different telephone exchanges around the UK, with a small proportion allocated to Wales.

Simple Broadband`s Communications Manager Simon Gerrard commented that BT’s plans to improve the availability of high-speed broadband for businesses everywhere was “an exciting prospect and one that should significantly drive recovery and growth over the next decade.”