VoIP News: August 2009

Customers threatening to leave their existing internet service provider (ISPs) could find they are offered better deals and can pay less for a faster connection. According to Moneysavingexpert. com, many ISPs now have a customer retention department in their service centre, which is designed to reduce the number of customers cancelling their accounts, frequently by offering a reduction in monthly payments, reports the Daily Mail.

Achieving the targets set out recently in the government's universal connectivity plan could save the UK economy £17 billion a year through more flexible work conditions. Research from Orange and YouGov reveals that nearly 90 per cent of Britons would work from home at least some of the time if they could, with 16 per cent of workers willing to take a pay cut of nearly £7,000 a year if they could work from wherever they wanted.

The European Commission (EC) has called on all member states to improve media literacy to ensure no-one is left behind by the digital economy. Viviane Reding, information society and media commissioner at the EC, said more widespread technology training could help people to learn how to communicate using the internet so that everyone is able to contribute within modern society. Active learning could help people learn to use VoIP solutions or other forms of communication such as instant messenger or email.

Next-generation broadband is vital to the future and so the government should consider all possible ways to pay for it, according to a West Midlands campaigner. Glyn Pitchford, elected West Midlands Business Council business representative on the city region board, is campaigning to speed up the roll-out of next-generation broadband in the region and is concerned that the government is not moving quickly enough on the matter, reports the Birmingham Post.

A broadband expert has called for the unified roll-out of next-generation broadband infrastructure rather than smaller, localised projects. Edd Dawson, editor of Broadband. co.