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How To Slash Your Bills In One Hour

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If you’re looking for ways to save money and make your income go further, you need to take some action. Making some quick and easy changes to your spending could help you free up some money and finally help you reach your savings goals – no more scraping by until your next payday.

Want to know how you could slash your bills in one hour? Take a look at these useful tips.

Photo by Sora Khan on Unsplash

Cut down on your insurance

Cutting down on your insurance premium is one quick and simple way to reduce your outgoings. All it takes is a few minutes to find a new deal. Sometimes, you might not need your insurance to be as comprehensive as it is, especially for an older vehicle. It’s worth taking a look at some specialist quotes for the type of vehicle you have, such as a van or motorbike to help you find the right deal. You can find out more, here. Compare quotes regularly to make sure you’re always getting the best deal!

Switch energy providers

Energy providers all want your business and are therefore likely to offer a competitive deal. If you’ve been with the same provider for a long time, it’s worth seeing if other providers will offer you a better rate on your energy consumption. Many providers will also give you an incentive such as a cash reward or gift vouchers for switching over, so it’s worth trying if you think you could be paying too much each month. Check out some cheap energy deals to help you get started.

Find a cheaper phone contract

A mobile phone can be a major expense, and there are always better deals to be found if you’re smart. Buying the phone outright (or with 0% interest) and getting a sim-only deal could be one way of reducing your phone bill, stopping you from paying over the odds for a phone. This way, you won’t be tied into a 24-month contract either, allowing you to benefit from a new release sooner, while being able to sell your old phone for a worthy sum.

Cut the expenses you don’t need

It’s easy to waste your money each month on things you don’t need. Are you a member of a gin club? Or maybe you have a gym membership that you barely use? Look through your monthly statement and work out if there are some expenses you can simply cut out of your life. It’s fascinating to see how much people spent on Netflix during lockdown, and could be a bit of a wakeup call if you are one of the people who barely used it! 

By taking a little time out of your day, you could easily save some money on your bills and bring your monthly spending down. Simple changes can make a big difference, helping you save £100s more over the course of a year. Set yourself a challenge and see how much you could save in one hour!

Are we ready for 5G? A look at 4G

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While many of us are enjoying the speeds of 4G and soon to be 5G there is many parts of the UK that don’t even have access to 4G. If they do have access to 4G it’ll be incredibly slow too. Analysis that has been undertaken by comparemymobile.com, a mobile comparison and recycling website have revealed that Yorkshire and Humber have the lowest download speeds. However, it is still one of the best perfoming regions for 4G availability!

Their research has discovered that Yorkshire and Humber have an average 4G download speed of 20.28Mbps. Furthermore the region comes 3rd on the leaderboard for how often users can access 4G. With an availability rate of 86%. This is according to data reports by OpenSignal. While no regions, at present, even meet the recommended download speeds of 25Mbps for watching 4K content on Netflix!

Each regions averages are based on the 4 big network providers in the UK. That’s EE, Vodafone, O2 and Three. There has been some improvements in the download speed of 4G networks, as the North West of the UK has an average of 23.05Mpbs. Yet this is still below Netflix’s recommended speeds of 25Mbps for 4K viewing content.

Futhermore there’s been little improvement on the availability of 4G. 95% 4G mobile coverage target in the UK was set by the government for Ofcom by the end of 2022. The region closest to this target is 87.09% is London. While many rural communities struggle to get a good connection at home or at work.

Connectivity Quality

Please see a table below of the best/worst performing regions:

Best Performing Worst Performing
North West (23.05 Mbps) Northern Ireland (19.13 Mbps)
London (22.89 Mbps) Yorkshire and Humber (20.28 Mbps)
West Midlands (21.87 Mbps) South East (20.54 Mbps)

When looking at availability the best and worst performing regions are:

Best Performing Worst Performing
London (87.09%) South West (79.06%)
North East (86.99%) Wales (80.17%)
Yorkshire and Humber (86.01%) Eastern (81.42%)

Availability wise,Yorkshire and Humber are doing really well. Yet they sit at the bottom of the table for download speeds. Which indicates there is a long way to go before everyone can get the best connection available.

Now 5G on the way

With plans to roll out 5G later this year, it’s unsurprising that many rural areas are growing frustrated at the lack of 4G signal in their area, let alone the promise of a faster network. Despite this, the UK does remain one of the leading countries in the world for 4G adoption. This is largely due to there being such fierce competition between the four big network providers, EE, O2, Three and Vodafone as well as heavy private investment.

However, there is still a long way to go to ensure that people in rural areas have good access to 4G networks, both in terms of high download speeds and availability. Ofcom’s plans to sell new mobile airwaves in 2020, with coverage obligations attached in its bid to achieve 95% 4G coverage in the UK by 2022 is promising, but it does mean that those with little or no coverage still have a while to wait until they have reliable 4G network access.” Rob Baillie, Mobile Expert at Compare My Mobile 

More information available here. 

The analysis uses Opensignal’s data to compare 4G download speeds and availability in each UK region

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Turning A Smartphone Into A Driver’s Best Friend

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We’re not encouraging that anyone spends more time looking at their phone rather than keeping their eyes on the road and their hands on the steering wheel. However, smartphones are becoming versatile tools with apps to seemingly fit any situation and that includes when you’re on the road as well. Here, we’re going to look at some of the coolest, most convenient, and even most helpful apps that can help you drive safer, cut costs, and even deal with an emergency.

Don’t choose between tunes and data

This might not seem like the most vital of tools, but when it comes to using apps on the road, a lot of people are going to discover the limit to their data very quickly when they first hit it. Rather than cutting off your access to half your apps thanks to data-draining apps, there are ways to make it stretch a little longer. In particular, if you listen to music or podcasts on the road there’s a good chance you use Spotify to do it. Spotify Lite is a slimmed down, efficient version that can keep those tunes, but without burning through your data.

Balance your fuel budget

Sick of paying more than you think you should for gas? There are other apps that can help you manage your fuel efficiency, but Fuel Map is all about one thing only: helping you find the most affordable gas stations closest to you. By comparing and listing the current prices of stops across the country, as well as how far away you are for them, it can help you make a real dent in the fuel costs that can make your car more expensive to own than you might like.

Be ready for any situation

There are apps that can help you when you’re in a true pinch, as well. If you’ve been caught in a car accident, then after the dust has settled, you’re going to need a replacement car. Apps like Compass Car can help you get a replacement delivered quickly to your location and pick it up wherever you like whenever you’re done with an app that shows you where the delivery is in progress as well. Rather than simply downloading, you have to apply to the service to get the app, but it can be truly helpful in a tight situation.

Never have trouble finding a spot again

Particularly useful for urban dwellers, Parkopedia is an app that’s designed to help you find a parking spot much more easily, highlighting where the open spots currently are. It doesn’t yet reach across the whole country, but it is steadily expanding to include more locations. If you’re having trouble finding spots consistent, you should check the site to see if it’s in the city in which you live.

While often the cause of accidents when misused, smartphones can be a lot more helpful to drivers than you might imagine. The above-mentioned apps are some of the most useful out there, but there are plenty more worth taking the time to discover, as well.

 

Episode 319 Gadgets Boy

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iPhone 8

What to Expect from the iPhone 8

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The iPhone 8 is not released until September but details of the new features have been released by Apple CEO Tim Cook.

The new iPhone will move from an LCD screen to an OLED screen, which will mean vivid colours and darker blacks as every pixel is ‘turned on’.

Other features will include a smarter Siri, who will be able to translate English into Chinese, French, German, Italian and Spanish; the iPhone 8 will also have an Augmented Reality feature (ARKit).

Augmented reality was used in the Pokemon Go gaming app last year, but Apple’s ARkit uses the camera, the GPS details and the accelerometers built-in to the iPhone to make it’s AR more realistic.

Nokia – You Lose!

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Credit: Hobi.com

Credit: Hobi.com

 

Everyone’s first love soon comes to an end. *Most of the time*

After Nokia (who used to be the BIGGEST DOG IN THE PARK, everyone knew what the nokia ringtone was, everyone had a Nokia, didnt matter what style it was, everyone had a Nokia) got bought out by Microsoft their CEO said this:

“we didn’t do anything wrong, but somehow, we lost”

They didnt actually do anything wrong in business but they didnt change in a very quick changing world, when they should have done, were too slow to the punch and got piped by Blackberry who then got piped Apple.  – It seems clear if you don’t change you will lose!