From the above number, an estimated 70-80% of users focus more on organic search results than on paid adverts. Additionally, approximately 75% of individuals only look for information on the first search engine result page (SERP). Furthermore, a study has discovered that most websites receive around 41% of their traffic through search and only 11% from some social media platforms.

What do all these statistics mean to you then? These figures indicate that if you want to build a credible and strong marketing campaign, you can combine your traditional methods (e.g. print adverts, TV commercial, etc.) with modern strategies (e.g. pay-per-click, online advertising, SEO, etc.). Now, there is a huge importance in establishing both a storefront and eCommerce website.

When you have the latter, you can cater to your customers’ needs any time of the day. Plus, you can promote your business without spending a big budget. When you have the former, you can take advantage of the fact that Google receives over 2 billion location-based searches each month.

How to Submit Your Business to Google Places and Get Tons of FREE Traffic?

How is this possible? You can be one of the businesses that consumers spot online by signing up for Google Places. Google Places is an application programming interface (API), which allows you to enlist your trade location. Place Pages connect people to information from the best sources across the web, displaying photos, reviews and essential facts, as well as real-time updates and offers from business owners.

Once you have established and have optimized your listing page, you can rank in search results whenever potential customers shop around for offers within your niche and area.

Google lists everything  from restaurants and hotels to dry cleaners and bike shops, as well as non-business places like museums, schools and parks. It sounds like a great opportunity for your company. And, the best advantage of all is that it does not charge you a penny! With that said, sign up for Google Places using these simple steps.

Step 1: Go to Google Places and click “List Your Business”

» Go to google.com/places and choose “Get started”

» Log in using your Google (or Gmail) account or create one (that is, if you do not have one yet). If it is the latter, click on “Sign Up” at the top right corner (check out the next image for reference).

Step 2: Check if your Business has already been Picked up by Google Places

» The moment you have logged in or created an account and are already on the Places page, choose your country and type in your company’s phone number to help Google determine if you have a previous listing.

Step 3: Follow the Steps While Remembering Google Places Guidelines

» If there is no previous listing matching yours, another page will appear asking for basic info on your business. While you are filling out the fields, take note of these reminders:

- Provide complete details on each box.
- Use a real and specific address and not your P.O. Box.
- Supply as much information about your company on the “Description” field and do not forget to incorporate relevant keywords. And, by “relevant”, it refers to terms related to your niche or industry.
- Enter your website to ensure that your target customers know where to find you in case they want to shop online.
- Include several trade categories under “Category” as long as these associate with your offers. To do this, click on “Add another category”.

» Upload an image of your company logo as well as those of your products or successful transactions to show potential buyers your capacity as a seller.

Step 4: Get your Google Places Listing Verified

» When you are through, click on “Submit”, which you can see at the bottom. Now, you have to know that you need to verify or claim your listing before it actually appears on Google Maps or search results. You will receive an email, SMS, or phone call for this. While you can confirm through all these methods, the second and third are the quickest means.

» Sign up for Business Photos too. This way, you can give the consumers an initial look into your establishment and offers through pictures (taken by professional photographers from Google) and a 360-degree interactive tour.

» As a last note, take time to update your Places listing each time something new comes up in your company. Additionally, upload interesting content such as videos or links to your official website. Finally, request reviews from your satisfied customers because these help in putting you at the top of search results.

Guest Author: Emma Tomlinson is the Head of Retail at Smart Traffic, a leading search agency providing SEO reseller packages to local and national companies. You can read more articles from me by checking out the blog section of Smart Traffic’s official website.

Making calls or using data services outside of your cellular provider’s coverage area (especially if you are traveling abroad) can get very expensive. Smartphone users have to be especially careful when traveling: automatic data syncing and third party apps running in the background can rack up enormous data roaming fees.

Fortunately, there are things you can do to make a phone work in another country without having to go with something complicated. This doesn’t usually even need to involve signing an international contract in a language you may not even be able to read. It simply involves using a prepaid SIM card instead of the one that came with your phone originally.

Same Phone, Different Method

Keep in mind that even if you turn off data roaming and data sync, third-party apps can still turn these back on. Therefore, you need to be sure you don’t have any apps installed that will override your data roaming settings. If all you want to do is make/receive phone calls and you’re not absolutely sure you don’t have any apps that would turn data roaming back on, consider leaving your phone at home (turned off) and renting a cell phone just for your trip or renting a different SIM card for your cell phone.

While you may not realize it, there is a good chance that your phone can work in almost every country in the world. The major issue that you need to consider is your SIM card. When your SIM card works with a particular network, you are essentially good to go if you have any time on the card. While some phones don’t use a SIM card, this is something you can easily find out simply by looking inside your phone.

What is a SIM (Smart) Card?

The SIM (Subscriber Identification Module or Subscriber Identity Module) card – a.k.a. “smart card” – holds all of a subscriber’s personal information and phone settings. In essence, it is the subscriber’s authorization to use the network. It also holds the phone number, personal security key and other data necessary for the handset to function. The card can be switched from phone to phone, letting the new phone receive all calls to the subscriber’s number.

You can also ask your carrier to unlock your phone (they may charge a fee for this and it may take a while to take effect); this will allow you to buy pre-paid cellular service from a local carrier at your trip destination and insert their SIM card into your cell phone.

It’s a Lot Cheaper Over Time

Naturally, buying a prepaid SIM card is not going to be free. Just like everything else in life, there is some degree of cost involved in the matter. However, this is a cost that you will easily make up as your trip progresses. Think about how much international phone rates tend to be and you will understand that making a one time purchase can save you tremendously on what you would otherwise spend.

If each minutes costs you something, with only a few short conversations you can start to rack up some serious costs. But these costs won’t be a factor if you simply purchase a SIM card that already works in the country you’re speaking in. Moreover, using SIM-only phones help you go green!

Make it Easier on Yourself

Simply put, this is easier in every possible way. On the one hand, you have the fact that you won’t have to deal with the international calling rates that apply when you go from one country into another. On another hand, you won’t have to deal with the irritation of having to deal with essentially jury rigging a SIM card that isn’t supposed to work in another country’s network. Thirdly, the time and money you save by making it easier will put a lot less stress on you. Traveling is stressful enough without having trifles like your phone bringing
you down.

You can use your Android-powered mobile smartphone as a wireless hotspot for multiple devices while continuing to use standard phone features, such as making and receiving calls or sending and receiving text messages. Most mobile phone providers require an additional data plan to use your phone as a mobile hub/hotspot/router.

Agreed; that you might be put off even starting this process because you think that Android phones are still considerably expensive, well they have been on the market for long enough now that you can find some great deals. If you visit a price comparison site like uSwitch, then you can search for great android phone deals. Once you have bought yourself a cool new Android smartphone, turning it into a wireless hub wouldn’t be much of a hassle. Read on…

How to Turn Your Android Smartphone Into a Wireless Hotspot?

The steps to enable the mobile hotspot on your phone will vary depending on the device.  Here is how you set up your phone as a wireless hub…

First You Need to Tether

There are many ways you can tether your phone to your personal PC, laptop or Mac. However they may require adapting advanced settings on your Android device; we won’t be advising that. The advice we will give means downloading some Android apps (programs) directly on to your phone and changing a few basic settings.

Step-by-Step Tutorial on How to Use PDAnet App to Turn Android Phone Into a Wireless Router

You need to start by opening up the Android Market and looking for an application called PDANet. This is free of charge, so download it straight on to your phone. The latest version of PDAnet turns your Android  (any version) into a true WiFi HotSpot so that you can connect from your computer (MAC or PC) or iPads. This allows your laptop to go online wirelessly through the 2G/3G/4G network on the Android Phone.

And the best part? PDAnet supports USB/Bluetooth DUN and it does not require a tether plan or rooting. At just one click, PdaNet instantly shares the Internet access of your Android phone with your computer. It does NOT require root access or hacking your phone’s firmware. It works on all Android phones.

When you have it installed, you need to get the accompanying program to your personal computer. Make sure you select the right one for your PC, which should be clearly labelled. The program will be in several versions , so best to get the most recent, if your computer supports this.

Then you just need to change one setting on your phone. Start at the home screen, then hit the Menu key and go to settings. Then go to Applications, then to Development. The next step is to hit USB debugging. Then finally hit OK on the confirmation dialog box.

Now the PdaNet app should stream information straight from your android to your computer. To protect yourself, you should disallow that USB debugging setting whenever it is not in use.

Then you need to start the connection. To do this, make sure you phone is plugged into the USB plug on your computer. Start the PdaNet app on your android and hit the Enable USB Tether setting. The app will check for the PC equivalent, that you have already installed.

It will then let you know that it is operating in the background. Then you need to look on your computer, and look for the PdaNet setting, right click on this and hit Connect from the menu.

You should now have confirmation that you are connected and your PC should be running through your phone. That’s it! You can now use your Android phone’s data plan to connect your PC or Mac to the internet — FREE of cost. And yes, the PdaNet app also has another option ‘Enable Bluetooth DUN’. If you have Bluetooth then you could always connect without wireless and use this option instead.

Google Inc spent the past two years poring through online encyclopedia Wikipedia, the CIA Factbook and other sources to expand a database of 12 million items that it picked up as part of its 2010 acquisition of Metaweb. The information warehouse, which Google calls a “Knowledge Graph,” is an attempt by the Internet’s dominant search engine to provide answers as quickly and concisely as possible so users don’t have to sift through a hodgepodge of Web links displayed on the main results page.

The Google Knowledge Graph feature will at first be available to US-based users, but will be rolled out globally in due course. It follows similar efforts by rival Bing to provide added search content beyond the typical list of links. Microsoft’s search engine launched its “snapshot” column last week as part of a wider site redesign.

Google Knowledge Graph and Better Search Results

If a person enters a search request, such as “kings,” that can be interpreted in several ways, Google will now display a box on the right side of the page listing several other options, such as the Los Angeles Kings hockey team, the Sacramento Kings basketball team and the Kings TV show. Clicking on any of these choices will deliver results exclusively devoted to that topic.

Google said the Knowledge Graph has been programmed to use around 3.5 billion different attributes to organize results meaning it can now group results according to those various alternative interpretations.  For some searches, such as on prominent people, Google will automatically pull up a summary box with key information on that topic.

It also aims to help users discover additional facts on a topic with information derived from the Knowledge Graph. Queries on specific people or places will generate thumbnails that list key statistics about the topic. Google bases its assumption on what people are most likely to want to know on an analysis of past search requests.

Effect on SEO: Google Knowledge Graph and Anti-Spam Campaign

As websites seeking traffic have learned to manipulate commonly requested search terms, their links have been appearing more frequently on the first page of Google’s results, even though they might not have the most relevant information. Google periodically tries to remove the rubbish by tweaking its ranking system, only to have websites figure out new ways to outfox the search formula.

If the Knowledge Graph works like it’s supposed to, it will give visitors less reason to leave Google’s website. Anything that keeps people on Google longer is likely to amplify complaints that the company is more interested in promoting its own services than pointing visitors to other helpful Internet destinations.

The feature will begin rolling out as early as Wednesday afternoon for some users in the United States and eventually be available on desktop, mobile and tablet searches. It will first become available in English, then in other languages.

How Google Knowledge Graph Works? [Video]

Rather than upgrading your storage, here are a few Android apps and services that you can use right now to help you offload your data to the cloud and extend your device’s capabilities. Apps that go beyond something cool to have, but also provide great features and usability.

No need to upgrade SD card or buy a new Android device. These awesome apps will let you store your files on the cloud,  apps that provide streaming media to help you skip downloading stuff directly to your device. If you are thinking about buying an Android smartphone or have bought one and want to start maximizing its potential then here are my top five cool Android apps for cloud:

Dropbox

Dropbox is deemed the best and one of the simplest apps in the Android Market that offers the most hassle free user experience of storing and downloading files online. Though the 2 GB storage may seem less for you, it is good enough to store documents and variety of files that can be accessed from anywhere. The app offers a no non-sense interface to upload files and mark them as favorites for offline viewing.

The Android app lets you access all the files in your Dropbox from the palm of your hand, and these files can be synced from your computer or other mobile devices. And yes, you can also refer your friends to increase your free storage.

App Link: Dropbox
Price: Free
Requires: Android 1.5+

Amazon Cloud Player

Amazon’s Cloud Drive and Player lets you store music in the cloud. Amazon caused a stir in both the music industry and the cloud storage arena when they launched Amazon Cloud Player. This was primarily because they launched a music storage locker in the cloud without the blessings of the major players in the music industry.

Within Cloud Player, which gives you 5GB of free cloud storage for your music, you can access the music stored in your Cloud Drive and the music stored on your device. You can switch between these two music libraries using the “Cloud” and “Device” tabs. Play your music via the web or stream it right on your Android device using the Amazon MP3 app, which also gives you access to buy music directly from the Amazon MP3 Store. For a limited time, you can get an extra 15GB of storage space simply by purchasing an album through their store.

App Link: Amazon MP3
Price: Free
Requires: Android 1.6+, and you must be in the USA

Pandora

Your very own personalized radio station, Pandora is great if you want music and aren’t that picky about what you’re listening to. Pandora Radio is your own FREE personalized radio and is available to stream music on your Android phone. Just start with the name of one of your favorite artists, songs or classical composers and Pandora will create a “station” that plays their music and more music like it.

Tell Pandora your favorite artist, song, or classical composer and it will play a continuous stream of related music for you. No hassle with obtaining and syncing music, no reason to worry about storage space.

App Link: Pandora Internet Radio
Price: Free
Requires: Android 1.5+

Netflix

Movies, TV Shows, and video entertainment in general will eat away at your storage faster than all those apps you can’t help installing. There are a few different ways to stream video to your Android, but some lucky users now have access to Netflix. Using this app, you can watch as often as you want and resume watching where you left off on your TV or computer.

This app is part of your Netflix unlimited membership. If you have a supported handset and a Netflix account, you can access their huge catalog of movies and tv shows over 3G or WiFi without using up storage on your device. There are only six officially supported devices at this time, but that number seems to be growing rapidly.

App Link: Netflix
Price: Free
Requires: Android 2.2+

Google Play (Music)

Not to be outdone by the likes of Amazon, Google launched their own cloud storage music locker. The service is nearly identical to Amazon’s, offering a web interface and complimentary Android application.

The Google Play Music app lets you listen to your music collection anywhere. All your music is stored online, so no need to worry about syncing or storage space. Google Music also comes with access to a bunch of free music. Access your entire music library instantly with the Google Play Music app, and save your favorites for offline playback. Accounts are free (for now) and offer the ability to store 20,000 songs as opposed to measuring storage in GB.

App Link: Music
Price: Free
Requires: Android 2.2+

LED backlit 3D TV is the big buzz word in the audio-visual world at the moment. In a bid to help you navigate these at times confusing waters, we’ve gathered together our reviews of the best 3D TVs of the recent times. Including 3D TVs from Samsung, Panasonic, Sony, Sharp and LG. So if want the perfect 3D TV for your living room, read on as we try to help you to decide which 3D TV is right for you.

The first 3D-capable HDTVs were demonstrated in early January 2010 at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada. Whether you want it or not, chances are your next new HDTV will include 3D capability. This does not mean that you will be forced to watch 3D programming if you don’t want to. The 3D capability is just a new feature being added to new HDTVs.

Along with Sony and Samsung, Sharp is a leading manufacturer of high quality high definition television (HDTV) products. Sharp’s line of LCD TVs is the best on the market and the company offers the world’s largest LED screen with an 80-inch diagonal.

As 3D technology becomes increasingly more impressive, you may ask yourself if a 3D TV is your next big entertainment investment. The best 3D HDTVs, such as the Panasonic TC-P55VT30, LG 55LW6500 and the Sony XBR-HX929 display lifelike, vibrant images that seem to come out of the screen and into your living room. Three-dimensional films are no longer cinema exclusive; they are now a very real option for your home theater.

And with fast moving display-innovations, glass-free 3D technology and 3D games have already started seeing consumer’s homes. At the unveiling last year at the IFA Technology Fair in Berlin, 3D enthusiasts stood on a line watching Toshiba’s glass-less 3D display without glasses.

When talking about new generation TV sets, how can one forget about the brand Sharp? As one of the oldest manufacturers of HDTVs, Sharp products are renowned for their high quality. The company is a leader in high definition LED technology and it has gained a reputation for always pushing the bounds in delivering excellent products.

Sharp LED TVs have real rather than dynamic contrast ratios of 800:1. This provides for excellent viewing of darkly lit scenes. If power consumption and Eco-friendliness is a concern, the AQUOS LED TVs feature high quality displays with a 30 percent reduction in power usage.

There’s a vast range of shows to inspire, delight and boggle your brain this year – choosing what to watch is the only trouble! Whichever programs you decide on, however, a high-quality TV set is a must for full enjoyment.

There is a good range of market leading LED TVs available online.  Why don’t you check out a Sharp TV at K&Co.? With a number of HD-ready, Free view-integrated models to choose from, you can enjoy your favorite shows with fantastic picture quality.

No matter what your feelings are about 3D TV, it is here and it looks like it is here to stay for the foreseeable future. However, you are still free to choose whether you will watch 3D on your new TV.

How Can You Recover from Penguin? One of the most difficult things with this update is telling people how to recover. Anyone hit by Penguin was deemed to be spamming Google. I doubt anyone has recovered yet but that doesn’t stop SEOs from sharing tips and techniques they are using in an attempt to break lose from the Penguin’s grip!

Top 5 Reasons to Hire an SEO Company for Penguin

Talking about Penguin recovery, I think it is about time when we start agreeing that when it comes to blogging and placing content online, ‘SEO is required’! There are companies that specialize in optimizing content for search engines but the question is whether to opt for them. Here are top 5 reasons why you should consider hiring a SEO company if your site was hit by Penguin update and you are trying to recover the SERP damage:

Knowledge of Search Engine Optimization

One of the main benefits of hiring a SEO company is that the employees will already understand the use of keywords and how to rank highly in search results. They know what exactly is wrong with your site and what needs to be fixed. The employees know the good tactics to use and those to avoid.

This takes months, if not years, to completely learn and then it takes time for the search engines to notice the change and rank the content accordingly. And when you are trying to recover from an anti-spam update like Google Panda or Penguin, hiring a SEO company makes perfect sense.

Understand Algorithm Changes

Forget about just Penguin or Panda updates, the search engines, in general, change their algorithms on a regular basis. This helps with ranking high quality content highly instead of those pieces that are trying to cheat the system. Those who work for optimization companies will understand the changes quickly and will implement them to the content; it can take months to really understand the changes and how it affects content on a website or blog.

Constantly Optimize Your Content

Another benefit of hiring an optimization company is changes are regularly made to the content on blogs and website. This is difficult for a website owner or blogger to do as they will need to offer fresh content and work on other areas of the site or blog – and the business. It is important to update blog pieces and content regularly to help with algorithm changes and to reach as much traffic as possible.

Saves Your Money

The problem with hiring someone else to do this is that it will cost money; otherwise search engine optimization is free. For those who run small blogs or niche websites, there may not be the funding available to have someone else do the optimization. This is something for larger businesses and those making a larger profit to consider.

Saves Your Time and Better Chance of Penguin Recovery

SEO copy-writing is extremely important to rank on a search engine highly. It is important to reach within the first two pages for the chosen keywords as research has shown very few searchers will look past the second, maybe third, page. Hiring a company to do everything helps to cut down on the time spent on the content and means time can be spent in other areas of the business or on the blog; however, this is not for everybody.

Further Reading: Top 10 Penguin Recovery Tips Directly From Google

Author Profile: Ryza Royze has been contributing search engine optimization articles to the SEO industry for almost 5 years. All she ever wanted is to share her knowledge with people showing interest in the same field.

Why to download YouTube videos when you can watch them online? Well, you can’t be online all the time, and despite the majority of YouTube videos being nut-shots and Lady Gaga parodies, there is a lot of great content that you might want to download and watch offline. Whether you want to watch YouTube video on your iPod while working out, insert it into a PowerPoint presentation to add some spice, or simply download a video before it’s removed, it’s quite essential to know how to download, convert, and play YouTube videos. Here are top 3 great ways/methods to download and convert YouTube videos for entertainment, fun and work.

There are some programs and browser extensions to do this, but we’ve found that the easiest and quickest methods in this post today. These tools and methods will let you download standard quality and high-definition YouTube movies as MP4 video and MP3 audio files.

1. (‘Kiss‘) ‘Save’ Your YouTube Video URL

Earlier called kissyoutube.com, saveyoutube.com is perhaps the most popular and easiest way to save any YouTube video to your local computer. To download a YouTube video just go to saveyoutube.com, enter the youtube video URL to the textbox, hit enter, select your download option (from various file formats like flv, mp4, mp3 etc) and that’s it.

Alternately, you just need to add the word ‘save’ to the YouTube video URL and then when you press enter in your browser’s address bar it directs you to their website where you can download it as a .flv video or convert it other formats as well.

Apart from this, they have also the options to search and loop YouTube videos just by entering the YouTube URL. One thing worth keeping in mind is that this online converter requires your browser to be java enabled. So you may want to try in a java-friendly browser like Google Chrome or Safari.

2. Download Youtube Video as MP3 Audio

Would you rather want to just download the Audio in MP3 format from a YouTube videos? Though there are tons of online as well as desktop applications to do this, Listen to YouTube is a great free online tool that lets you to convert YouTube videos to mp3 format. This is an easy process and only requires you to paste a link into a field. You can choose standard or high quality output.

If you are feeling lazy then simply pick any Youtube video URL and add After a few minutes, the process will finish and you will be able to download your new mp3 file. There is no limit to how many downloads you can make with this wonderful free service.

You just put in the Youtube URL and listentoyoutube.com spits out an mp3 for you to download. How cool is that?

3. For Ubuntu (Linux) Users

If you use Ubuntu (Linux), it is pretty simple. Even though you might not realize, in Linux a copy of every Youtube video automatically gets saved in the /tmp folder. So just copy it from your temp folder. To make it even easier, you can create a one-click bookmark to my .temp folder, in Ubuntu.

Disclaimer

We are not encouraging anybody to use Youtube only for downloading videos and songs that could be purchased on Amazon, iTunes, Beatport, or any other digital outlet. These tools are only for video clips and songs that were nowhere to be found.

Moreover, according to the YouTube Terms of Service, downloading videos is not allowed. Hence, please use these tools cautiously and support your favorite artists by purchasing genuine copies of videos and music online. Online streaming services such as YouTube are one of the most popular ways to view videos. But, if you are someone looking to join a movie streaming service to watch all your favorite movies and TV series, then why not check out LOVEFiLM vs Netflix!

Men in Black 3 Game

Just in time for its release in theaters, Men In Black 3 for Android will be available on May 17 for free. However, MIB 3 will follow the recently popular mobile game trend of offering freemium gameplay, allowing players to make purchases within the game for weapon upgrades, unlocking levels and having access to other in-game content.

The game will be available for free for the users of iPhone, iPad and Android smartphones and tablets. MIB 3 is Gameloft’s first collaboration with gaming mogul Sony Mobile, so it’ll be exciting to see what this partnership will develop together. The movie is expected do really well this summer and Gameloft is hoping to ride that train all the way to the bank.

For the first time ever, you will be in charge of your own MIB agency. On the field you’ll embody a young agent, who, with the help of Agent O, Agent K and Frank, will fight against a new threat to humanity lead by the vile – Radiant. In the movie, Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones will reprise their respective roles of Agent J and Agent K in the sequel. Josh Brolin will portray a young version of K and former X Factor judge Nicole Scherzinger will appear as villain Lilly.

The video from Gameloft is short and sweet, and hints that the game is coming to Android and iOS soon, but after giving us a glimpse of some actual in-game footage they proceed to tell us “what you have just seen is NOT the Men in Black 3 game by Gameloft, this is just an experiment.”Anyway, we hope the game is based on the same story line as the movie considering it promises to be an action packed entertainer.

Men in Black 3 Game for Android Teaser Video by Gameloft

Asphalt 7: Heat Game

As far Asphalt 7: Heat is concerned, we can expect more cars, detailed car models and race tracks and an overall improvement in graphics. While, the official date for the Google Play launched as not be revealed, we did get a whiff of the game at last week’s Samsung Galaxy S3 launch, where Samsung used the game to show off some of the graphical capabilities of the new quad-core Exynos chipset powering the S3.

This is definitely going to be the best racing game for Android and in Asphalt 7: Heat we can expect even better graphics, intense races, and possibly a Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit style game with the “heat” on your tail as you race through the streets.

So who is looking forward to this summer now? Whether you like movies or prefer games, it seems that you wont be hard pressed to find some decent entertainment.

That catch has been the ability of broadband providers to mislead and advertise broadband speeds they know their service isn’t going to reach, unless no-one else on your bandwidth is using the internet at the same time as you. Given that even major service providers will let as many as 20 people onto the same space as you, and given the existence of peak broadband times during which everyone is using the internet, that was equivalent to advertising something you just weren’t ever going to achieve.

Well, that promise has gone out the window now, as the Government cracks down on dodgy industry advertising practices. And that’s making the new broadband speeds touted by the market’s big wigs look somewhat unbelievable.

Future high speed (it’s now being referred to as ultra-fast broadband, presumably when it gets even faster they’ll have to invent a whole new name for it!) broadband is going to reach between 80Mbps and 100Mbps – a full 50 times faster than the paltry 2Mbos currently experienced in Lancashire, one of the UK’s most broadband-poor areas (see my other blogs for more about that).

Bear in mind that ultra-fast broadband is still some way off. We’re still just getting our heads around superfast broadband, which is yet to reach the majority of UK homes and businesses. So fellas, getting the best broadband Internet access in your locality could still be a little farther dream than you had imagined.

Government subsidies and a major investment drive have made the dawning of the new broadband age a more realistic prospect. The Government is releasing a large fund of prize money for cities vying to be included in an ultra-fast broadband upgrade scheme; while BT is conducting market surveys to direct its current investments for super fast broadband to the areas where it is needed most. In the latter case, BT aims to have two thirds of the UK connected to super-fast broadband by 2015. I’ll say that again: 2015!

So don’t expect your current broadband speeds to reach the dizzy heights of download speed you’re hearing about on the radio, or seeing talked about online. For now, you’ll be enjoying the same download speeds you have been used to for the last few years.

Mobile broadband will remain at 3g status for some time yet in the UK. 4g isn’t even really in the press here yet, let alone coming out of the mobile phone masts. So for superfast mobile broadband connections, you’ll need to look to your connection to a wireless router supplied with a competitive service.

To escape the broadband coverage nightmare, some users recommend satellite connections. Which in theory should deliver an unobstructed, uninterrupted signal at a decent strength (around 10 mbps at the moment). The problem, though, is cost. Satellite broadband is prohibitively expensive for most UK users, hence the continued reliance on cable connections. At least when BTY connects fibre optics it’ll get better quicker.

Now that you are able to determine what speed you need to run the applications you want, which broadband technologies can you use to deliver those speeds?

About Author: Olivia is a hardcore technophile, when she’s not tweaking hardware or building custom apps she’s out finding the best broadband deals for her friends and family.