Stop! Don't Sign That Mobile Contract!

Already chosen the mobile contract that you want? You could be making a big mistake. The wrong mobile contract could end up costing you big time. So before you sign, you might want to read on and find out what you could be doing wrong...

Buy Mobile Phones Yourself, Not on Contract
The major mistake that costs many people on a contract is the signing of what's known as an incentive contract. Mobile operators offer two kinds of contract. A SIM only contract contains a calling plan for service, whilst an incentive contract has a calling plan and a mobile phone. Whether or not you get that phone for free or have to pay a down payment on it you will, over the course of your contract, pay far more than retail price for the phone, meaning it's cheaper to buy mobile phones yourself. These incentive phones are simply phones that are bought on an instalment plan. The monthly bill for an incentive contract is higher than the monthly bill for a SIM only contract, even though both those contracts may have the same calling plan. This extra cost reflects the instalment that you're paying on your phone. Add up all the instalments and you'll see that you're paying more than the value of the phone that you get. Skip signing incentive contracts, sign SIM only instead and buy a mobile phone outright to get better long term savings.



Your Calling Plan is Key
You might think that you're choosing the right calling plan, but are you really sure? The wrong plan will cost you money. A calling plan is made up of three parts. There'll be a limit for the amount of calling minutes you can use, a limit for the amount of text messages that you can send, and a limit for the amount of mobile data that you can use. Estimating these limits wrongly will lead to you paying more than you should. If the limits on your plan are too high for you then you're going to end up paying for services that you're not using. This is because you have to pay the same monthly fee for using all your minutes, texts and data as you do for using half, or even none, of them. Don't thing that that means choosing a small plan is better though. If you exceed the limits of your calling plan you will have to pay your normal monthly payment plus premium rates for any extra minutes, texts and data that you have used. Estimating the size of the calling plan that you need is tough. Try looking at some old mobile bills if you have any, since these should tell you what your average usage is like. Or maybe even get a pay as you go plan for a few weeks and track your usage so that you can choose the appropriate plan. Most operators will let you change your calling plan even after your contract is signed, but you'll probably have to pay a fee in order to do this, so it's a better idea to choose correctly the first time.



Is Your Contract the Right Length?
You actually have a choice of contract duration with all operators, though the advertised contracts that you see are generally for twenty four months. The law in the UK requires that operators offer a twelve month contract option. Some operators will give you an eighteen month option too, and some SIM only contracts are known as thirty day rolling contracts. That means that the contract is for only thirty days but that it will automatically renew every month until you tell the operator to stop your service. The length of your contract can affect how much you pay. With many operators the longer your contract is the lower your monthly payments are. The operator gives you a discount for a longer contract because they're guaranteed your custom and therefore your payment for a longer period of time. But even though a longer contract is usually cheaper, you still might want to consider a shorter one. When you sign a mobile contract you should be prepared to stick with that contract until it ends, because breaking a mobile contract can be exceptionally expensive. Two years is a long time to agree to use the same service. This will mean that you need to wait longer to take advantage of better deals, either from your operator or from another company. Also, circumstances can change. Things like moving house, having a baby, graduating from university or losing your job can all affect your ability to pay the monthly bill that you've agreed to. Choose the length that suits you
best, but you will get savings by signing longer contracts.



Did You Read the Terms and Conditions?
Everybody knows that you should read the small print on a contract before signing, yet when it comes to mobile contracts, few people bother. Before you sign that contract go to your operator's web page and read their terms and conditions, you might be glad that you did. There are a couple of things that you'll want to look for. The first thing you should look for is under which conditions you can cancel the contract. Some operators will let you cancel contracts for no fee providing you can prove certain circumstances. Other operators will let you cancel a contract for no reason at all and for free within a specified period of signing. You should know what these conditions are just in case you need to use them. The other thing that you should take note of is what you should do if your mobile phone is lost or stolen. Particularly if your phone is stolen you do not want to be responsible for paying charges run up by the thief. Different operators have different procedures surrounding this situation, so make sure that you know what to do should the occasion arise, since this could end up saving you a fortune.


About the Author- When Sam Jones was looking to buy mobile phones he knew he would have to shop around for the best deal. He went online and compared prices using uSwitch and other similar sites and managed to get a really great deal

The Best Netbook Accessories

Image Source : Laptoppimp

Now is the time to get great netbook deals. With manufacturers stopping production, prices on netbooks are cheaper than ever. For some people, a netbook is a great solution to mobile computing. Whilst laptops are getting cheaper, netbooks are still even more affordable and more portable too. And tablets might be cool, but they lack the processing power and memory capacity of a netbook. On top of that, typing a long email on a tablet's touch screen, even on an iPad 3G, really isn't any fun at all, whereas a netbook has a full physical keyboard. Not only can you get a great deal on a netbook right now, but you can get good prices on all the requisite accessories too. Got your new netbook and want to kit it out? Here's what you should think about getting...

A Carrying Case...
Your netbook is going to get carried around, which means that it's liable to get scratched or even broken somewhere along the way. A decent carrying case will not only protect your netbook, but will also mean that you can save a little space in your briefcase or back pack, and carry your netbook over your shoulder. Crusher makes some excellent cases. Look for something that has a carrying strap, rather than just handles, as it will make carrying more convenient. If you're not into the idea of carrying your netbook separately, then look out for deals on specialised bags and back packs that come with a netbook pocket. These can be convenient compromises between separate cases and an over-stuffed briefcase or back pack.

A Sleeve...
If you decide not to go with a carrying case, you're going to need at least a sleeve to protect your netbook whilst it's in a pocket of another bag. A sleeve will give surface protection, meaning your device won't get scratched, but it should also be slightly padded to provide at least minimal shock absorbing capabilities. Look out for a sleeve that's at least 0.25cm or so thick, so that it can adequately protect your netbook. Also, make sure that the sleeve fits properly. They do come in different sizes, and too small means it will be difficult to remove your netbook, whilst too big means that your netbook can slip out when you're carrying it.

Techie Stuff...
There are some other great accessories that you can look out for. If your netbook has an HDMI port, grab yourself an HDMI cable. This will let you hook your netbook up to a regular computer monitor or your TV, so you can get the big screen feeling when you're not on the go. If there's no integrated DVD player on your netbook, you can pick up an external one pretty cheaply. This will make your netbook great for entertainment on a business trip, as well as for working. A wireless mouse is a pretty nice thing to have too, since netbook track-pads can be annoying to use in the long term. Finally, invest in some decent anti-virus software as well. Netbooks are just as vulnerable as any other kind of computer to viruses, and it's best to protect yourself.


Phil Turner would buy an iPad 3g for travelling but he cannot get on with virtual keyboards, so he has bought a netbook instead.

How To Know You're Getting The Best Mobile Security

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Mobile security is a tricky subject that many people don’t fully understand. While a good security app should be similar to a desktop security program, there should also be some additional features like an SD card scanner and SIM card lock to protect your mobile device. These are the features and options that you should look for if you want the best mobile security app.

Scan Everything
The mobile security app should be able to scan everything so that it can alert you if you are about to download a virus. This doesn’t just include files from the Internet. It should also include apps from official and third-party sources, external files from your computer and any other file that you are about to download.

The app should also be able to scan SD cards. Many hackers give out free SD cards that are infected because the virus will infect your device as soon as you insert the card. A scanner will be able to check the card to see if there are any malicious files.

Most mobile security apps can scan files, but sometimes the scanner is limited and it can only check files from the browser. This is good, but not good enough if you want the best security.

SIM Card Lock
While many people are worried about hackers, the truth is that theft is more common than hacking. It’s relatively common for someone to steal a phone, switch the SIM card and then use the device. Normally there is nothing that can stop this type of activity, but a good security app will have a SIM card lock feature.

This will lock the phone if a new SIM card is entered so that the person cannot use your phone. You can change the SIM card if needed, but you must enter a password to keep the phone from locking.

Phishing Protection
Phishing is much more common on mobile devices because people tend to fall for these scams more often if they see the phishing message through a mobile device. This reason for this is that users often trust the sender more if they see the message on their smartphone. Another reason for this is because most smartphones are connected to an email inbox, social media accounts and other messaging services.

This feature will ensure that you don’t give away your personal information and it will also block common phishing messages.

Constant Updates
Some free and poorly supported mobile security apps are rarely updated. This is a problem because hackers are always creating new viruses and exploiting programming bugs to infiltrate mobile devices. The best mobile security app should have constant updates so that the app is as ready as possible to stop a hacker and block malware.

The app should at least have monthly updates. Weekly updates are better, but even many of the best apps don’t offer this frequency.

Locate Device and Remote Wipe
Phones are much easier to steal than desktops or laptops. They also tend to contain more sensitive information. A good security app should help you find your device if you lost it. This is usually done by sending a GPS signal that can be easily tracked from another smartphone or computer.

The app should also allow you to remotely wipe the information stored on the smartphone. This means that the thief won’t be able to access or steal the information on your device because it will all be erased.

Continuous Scanning
The last feature that you should look for is continuous scanning. The app should keep checking your device to see if there is any malicious activity occurring behind the scenes. Many viruses will remain dormant until you do a certain action. The app should be able to block and remove the virus before it becomes active so that it doesn’t hurt your device.

Conclusion
There are many great mobile security apps available for users, but you must ensure that you are getting a comprehensive one if you want to keep your device safe. Constant updates and the ability to scan everything isn’t enough. The app should also consider problems that are unique to mobile devices like theft and SD cards.


About the author : Katelyn Roberts works with Sarah Hendricks who is a security expert on protecting users and businesses from hackers and data leakage. Users in the office, at home, or working remotely are all subject to attack. Sarah has teamed up with Mobile antivirus software at NQ.com anti virus software to keep mobile devices protected nation wide!

Seamless DDoS Protection - Using It To Benefit Your Organization

In the computing world, DDoS attacks which are also known as distributed denial of service attacks are rather common. They can cause a great deal of damage to an organization and result in the dilution of the brand, loss of revenue and decrease in customer loyalty. Therefore it is in the interest of every organization that owns a website or offers any other online service to protect itself against distributed denial of service attacks. Unfortunately the most fortified of defense can also prove vulnerable to a person who is determined to launch the DDoS assault. DDoS has in fact attained leadership status as far as threats in the cyber world simply because it is capable of taking on many forms.
Conventional defense solutions often fall woefully short because these attacks take on a distributed nature and can make their unwanted presence felt at many levels and in many ways. This also means that one DDoS attack is very different from any other DDoS attack. Therefore an organization has to constantly plan for and mitigate such incidents. One important aspect to such protection is seamless DDoS protection. Most leading DDoS protection solutions providers offer services that bring together multilayered security and 24 x 7 monitoring.
It is important to deploy DDoS protection solutions immediately and proactively. This approach to protection will ensure that the network has the security capability of deflecting attacks even before they happen. Such protection should also take place at the edge of the Internet or as close as possible to the origin of the DDoS attack. This will prevent the “dangerous” traffic from even entering the organization’s Internet or network. Among the many features of such seamless DDoS protection are aspects such as

• 24 x 7 readiness and protection
• Capability of capturing or logging the events as far as the DDoS traffic is concerned
• Deflecting of DDoS attacks by way of blocking IP addresses and geographical locations
• Capability to absorb and deflect traffic long before itreachesthenetwork
• Visibility into the traffic flows which will help the protection solution in not only monitoring but also identifying the source and nature of DDoS attacks.

Leading DDoS protection solutions providers will also offer seamless integration with a client or an organization’s existing IT landscape or infrastructure. This is important so that there is no disruption or slowdown in ongoing business operations. In the absence of such seamless integration, it is possible that an online presence of a company can be compromised deeply and can also result in a crashof critical web applications. For reliable and strong DDoS protection, only seamless integration will do the trick.
Depending on the Distributed Denial of Service protection solution that you choose, you can get a product that integrates seamlessly with your network up to 1 Gbps. When choosing your protection solution, you shouldask about pricing as well. Comparing one company’s price against another, or perhaps several others, would be a good idea so you know the degree of protection they offer and the price for the same.

James is a writer and blogger with 5 years experience.