A new strategy to help protect the most sensitive members of society from the potential threats inherent online has been launched by the Government.

Recent government statistics revealed that 99 per cent of all children aged between 8 and 17 had access to the internet and of that grouping just under a 5th claim to have been exposed to indecent or inappropriate material on the internet.

In order to combat fears of online safety for young broadband users, the UK Council for Child Internet Safety has set down the new guidelines as part of the Green Cross Code for internet protection.

A three-pronged recommendation, called the Digital Code of Zip It, Block It, Flag It, is key to helping parents have confidence that the youngest members of their family will avoid coming to harm whilst online.

This code involves making sure that children do not divulge personal information to strangers, do not open suspicious email messages and if they do come into contact with inappropriate material or relationships online that the children feel able to tell a responsible adult about it.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown spoke about the new scheme, identifying the importance of the internet in the education and entertainment of the younger generation. Mr Brown said that the internet use had to be properly supervised to ensure that the online world is as safe as the real world.

There are many BT broadband options which include parental blocks, preventing children from accessing inappropriate sites and other providers such as TalkTalk offer similar services to help promote and enable youngsters to enjoy broadband internet connections in their own homes whilst staying safe. Adults will now need to learn as much about broadband as their children.

Although the current range of BT business broadband packages has allowed far more businesses to connect to the internet at high speeds and enjoy the various perks of doing business online, experts predict that even bigger improvements will be instigated by further technology developments.

The various functions and applications of existing IT systems used by businesses around the UK will mutate as next-generation broadband networks are rolled out.

The biggest change is going to come when cloud computing services and virtualisation of server environments allow for businesses to move most of their IT services away from on-site solutions to remote, third party systems which are far more cost-effective.

BT’s managing director Bill Murphy spoke out about the benefits of cloud computing for businesses in a recent interview, but also said that IT firms themselves would have to adapt their methods to cope with business broadband technology.

Mr Murphy explained that the cost of the software which facilitates business in many sectors could be set to fall as BT business broadband packages of the future would significantly change the way in which solutions were delivered.

It is fibre optic cabling that most industry experts consider to be the most important development in the future of business broadband. Some networks in the largest UK cities are already offering speeds of up to 100Mbps for early-adopting enterprises and it is these speeds that will increase the viability of cloud computing and virtualisation.

This significant leap in download speeds that most business and home broadband users are expected to experience in the coming years will require many to completely alter their perceptions as to what is possible. Faster internet connections open up a whole host of exciting and profitable possibilities which will only continue to grow in significance as the future broadband technologies become more common.

A recent study by a price comparison site has disclosed new information suggesting that mobile broadband trends are shifting, with more users choosing pay-as-you-go packages over fixed term contract deals.

The survey of market trends in October 2009 found that 53 per cent of people who picked up a mobile broadband contract online chose to go for a package that they could top up. This is the first time that pay monthly contracts have been less popular than the pay-as-you-go alternatives.

It is believed that wireless broadband prices for pay monthly mobile broadband contracts are not necessarily at the heart of the statistics, but rather that the move to pay-as-you-go deals is being influenced by the shorter commitment period offered by the deals.

Broadband expert Rob Webber indicated that the popularity of pay-as-you-go mobile broadband had been steadily increasing for the last 12 months, with a sharp rise occurring in the second half of 2009.

Mr Webber explained that the trend looks set to continue throughout the run up to Christmas as mobile broadband would be picked up by many as a gift for a family member. The flexibility of pay-as-you-go mobile and the one-off up-front price for the services is likely to make it the gift of choice for the foreseeable future.

Mobile broadband is commonly purchased as an addition to an existing home broadband connection, used by those who want to access the internet when they are away from home. For sporadic or occasional use, pay-as-you-go mobile broadband has obvious benefits over fixed term contracts, although the best wireless broadband prices per megabyte are still to be found on pay monthly contracts. The need for correct comparison and careful consideration of individual requirements is highlighted by the market shift.

Millions of pounds are being invested in the broadband infrastructure for Northern Ireland in order to offer much faster connections to home and business broadband customers around the country.

A total of over £48 million will be injected into the industry over the next year and a half, with the promise of improved speeds for both rural and urban customers.

Businesses who want to take advantage of high speed connections are in luck, as the plans include the provision of a 10Mbps minimum download speed for urban businesses, whilst a 2Mbps minimum is expected for rural businesses.

Completion of the improvements is targeted for mid-2011 and half of the money is being invested by British Telecom after it won the contract.

The remaining money is being provided from various public sector sources, including some from the European Union.

A spokesperson for the government said on announcing the plans that the money would not only enable faster broadband for all residents of Northern Ireland, regardless as to their location, but would also create up to 1000 new jobs as a result of the improved broadband infrastructure.

Cheap cable broadband using fibre optic technology will be key to the success of the investment scheme, although 166 telephone exchanges are being upgraded and various wireless broadband hotspots are also going to allow for wider coverage.

Many are pleased that the investment will help those in rural areas, where broadband connections are traditionally sluggish or non-existent. The inclusive nature of the plans is being heralded as a step in the right direction that other areas of the UK would do well to follow if growth and productivity are to be improved.

BT Chief Executive Ian Livingston said that cheap cable broadband provided using fibre optic technology would continue to be integral to increased speeds and wider availability of broadband in the future.

When it emerged at the beginning of the week that BT Chairman Sir Michael Rake was the only member of his small village community to have access to a high speed broadband connection, cries of preferential treatment and foul play were heard.

Residents of Hambleden in Oxfordshire were told that Sir Michael was trialling a new service that could be part of the various BT broadband deals in the future and that it was not possible to provide the rest of the properties with a similar service.

One resident said that he had been waiting for broadband to arrive for 5 years, but Sir Michael had been given access to broadband after living in the village for just 12 months. The resident went on to say that BT had told him it would cost nearly £70,000 to connect his own home up to a high speed broadband connection.

This incident is indicative of the wider problems facing those living in isolated communities. The current ADSL technology cannot supply homes that are a long way from their local telephone exchanges and installing fibre optic broadband requires a significant level of investment, which most believe is not met by the demand for broadband in rural areas.

Millions of UK homes are in the same position, although government funding and the broadband tax could help alleviate the situation in the coming years. However, universal broadband availability is still a long way off and the disheartening news received by Hambleden residents was met with a similar sense of helplessness by rural residents around the UK.

BT customers living in urban areas have less to be glum about. The next generation of Broadband Enabling Technology (BET) which Sir Michael is apparently trialling will be set to benefit town and city dwellers first and upcoming BT broadband deals should soon allow far more people to connect at high speeds in these areas.

Virgin Media has released a new mobile broadband service which should allow customers to connect to the internet at speeds of up to 7.2Mbps.

It appears that this is made possible thanks to a brand new USB mobile broadband dongle being included as part of Virgin Media’s various pay monthly contracts, which should help it to compete with the new Orange mobile broadband free laptop deals and regain some lost customers.

Virgin Media does not operate its own networks, but utilises the T-Mobile 3G cellular infrastructure to provide mobile broadband to customers around the UK.

The Head of mobile technology at Virgin Media said in a statement that he hoped the new service would allow even more people to get online when they were away from their homes or out of range of any Wi-Fi hotspots. He also said that the improved capabilities of the new dongle would hopefully make the mobile broadband experience more enjoyable for all customers.

Critics have pointed out that although Virgin Media are advertising the new service as capable of up to 7.2Mbps download speeds, the T-Mobile website states that their networks can provide a maximum speed of 4.5Mbps. It seems that Virgin Media could be falling foul of the same zealous and misleading advertising schemes for which most other mobile broadband providers have been criticised in the recent past.

For the time being the new USB modem is more expensive than its slower counterpart and since the speed gains in the real world could be negligible it is not necessarily going to be the speed that helps the service to sell. It is the Orange mobile broadband free laptop deals rather than the performance of its networks that have allowed it to make significant gains in the market and other providers would do well to follow Orange’s example.

For those looking for broadband, phone and TV bundle package deals the recent offer from BT Broadband whereby the first 3 months of broadband access is free has seen real savings. However, Simple Broadband has been reminded by BT Broadband that the deal comes to an end in just over a week – the last day to sign up is 11 December.

The free broadband deal applies to phone, TV and broadband packages but if you are not interested in the TV element then it is also valid for the phone and broadband only packages too.

Simple Broadband’s Communications Manager, Simon Gerrard said: “BT Broadband’s 3 months free offer is a great opportunity ahead of Christmas and those looking to switch their supplier will need to move quickly.”

A broadband expert has revealed that it is likely the next generation of broadband will allow for vast improvements to the infrastructure of UK businesses, with internet solutions replacing current practices to allow for growth and future prosperity.

However, Roger Darlington of the Communications Consumer Panel told the audience of a seminar on the future of broadband internet that he was unsure how home and business broadband customers would actually drive the uptake of the next-generation technologies.

Darlington noted that detailed analysis was needed in order to assess just how the networking technologies, which will allow faster connections for a wider spectrum of businesses, will be used once they are established.

Darlington was speaking at the Westminster eForum last week. The forum brought into question the contentious issues of the government subsidy of high speed broadband networks, asking why so much money was being pumped in when little was known about the actual use of such an infrastructure.

It was made clear that although development of broadband in the future was necessary, the fact that only three quarters of UK properties were eligible for an internet connection of any kind should be considered to be the most important issue to address with current Government funding.

More controversy surrounding key broadband providers arose last week after it emerged that the BT chairman had been supplied with a high speed connection in his home village whilst every other resident and local business had been unable to access even the most basic broadband service.

Despite the fact that new BT business broadband packages offer faster speeds and wider availability, many isolated business owners feel that they are being left behind as most of the new developments first occur in heavily populated areas.

The Digital Britain report and the Digital Economy Bill are still the cause of significant debate within the mobile broadband industry. Although some discussion focuses as to whether wireless broadband prices will fall as mobile broadband becomes more popular, it is the policy of disconnection as punishment for those who download files illegally and breach copyright legislation which has stirred up the greatest public interest.

Petitions, protests and political showdowns have surrounded the plans to cut off repeat file sharing offenders, but it seems that in practice, enforcing these measures against mobile broadband customers could be much more difficult than anticipated.

It has emerged that industry experts recognise the threat posed to home broadband users, whose online activities are easily traceable back to their own property thanks to the process by which IP addresses are assigned. However, since mobile broadband users all access the web via a single public IP address, targeting anyone individually for downloading copyrighted material would be completely impossible.

It is weaknesses and loopholes like this that have virtually destroyed public confidence in the viability of the Digital Economy Bill. It seems that wireless broadband prices are set to continue their downward trend as many more people sign up for mobile broadband and mobile data use becomes far more common for mobile phone owners as well.

Although protests currently surrounding the bill are aimed to protect the rights of households with multiple users, with the misdemeanours of a single member possibly resulting in a suspension of broadband service affecting everyone under the same roof, there is a possibility that the anonymity offered by mobile broadband could result in a file sharing exodus to the wireless platform. In the past, file sharing over mobile broadband was infeasible because of stringent data limits, but with providers such as Orange offering uncapped services between 12pm-6pm the chance of increased file sharing activity is growing.

New plans have been unveiled by Virgin Media to offer the next generation of set top box technology. Virgin currently provides high speed fibre optic broadband and digital TV services for close to 10 million households in the UK.

It emerged that Virgin Media would be partnering with US firm TiVo, a name that has become synonymous with digital personal video recording in the United States, in order to provide a set top box which could record live television as well as offering broadband internet on customers’ televisions.

There are currently Virgin Media and BT Broadband options which allow for the combination of a digital TV package with a high speed connection, although no provider has yet managed to offer full internet access via a set top box.

Users will be able to take advantage of the high speed broadband connection to access a much wider variety of on-demand video content from various sources, expanding on the current Virgin Media offerings.

Virgin Media Chief Exec Neil Berkett said that his company was aiming to push ahead with the development of the technology in order to gain an early advantage in the next generation of subscription TV.

Although there has been no official release date for the new set top box and its associated services, a source at Virgin Media has confirmed that these will both become available some time in 2010.

Virgin Media is not the only home broadband provider to be partnering in anticipation of a more integrated future for television and the internet. It is likely that BT Broadband options which may include on-demand video services from the BBC, currently codenamed Project Canvas, could also be emerging with support from a new set top box in the near future.