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Here are the Archived entries for 2008
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| GO investing in a secondary submarine cable
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| Written by HiVoltage |
Tuesday, 22 January 2008
GO have announced the launch of a secondary submarine fibre optic cable to Sicily, which will be used to increase the bandwidth available to Malta drastically, apart from having more redundancy in case of failure. The cable will have 4 pairs, of which only 1 will be lit initially. This pair will be equipped with terminal equipment supporting 2 wavelengths at 10 Gbps each. That means an extra 20 Gbps added to the current 2.5 Gbps GO have on the existing cable. This project will be complete by Q4 2008, and the cable will be connected to the Interoute network.
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| Last Updated ( Saturday, 01 March 2008 ) |
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| No broadband? Then register for €3/mo access next weekend
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| Written by HiVoltage |
Thursday, 24 January 2008
If you or someone you know doesn't have broadband at home and haven't had any broadband since 1st December or earlier, then you should be considering the scheme the Government is offering where you can get broadband Internet access for a whole year for a whole year for just €3/month. This scheme, named Blueskies, is being offered by the Ministry for Investment, Industry, and Information Technology (MIT&I) and is being offered to all those who were holding back from getting broadband at home because they couldn't afford it, or who just didn't want to pay the price. To register for the offer, one should go to Merchants' Street, Valletta on Saturday 26th January between 9am and 1pm, or on Sunday 27th in St. Francis Square in Victoria, Gozo between 10am and 1pm. One should take an ID card for the registration, and then, will eventually receive a voucher by post which can be used with any major local ISP. To make things even more attractive, BOV are waiving the access fee for Internet Banking for those who apply for this scheme.
Meanwhile, those of us who already have broadband at home and have been paying high prices for a number of years, may continue to do so, and by doing so, they would be helping in subsidising the prices for those who simply don't want to pay...
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| Last Updated ( Tuesday, 19 February 2008 ) |
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| PayPal transactions failing?
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| Written by HiVoltage |
Wednesday, 30 January 2008
These last few days, a number of Maltese customers were complaining that they cannot use PayPal to pay for their purchases, because every time they try to do a transactions, they get an error message saying that the card cannot be verified.
The problem is that PayPal is attempting to charge Maltese credit cards in Maltese Lira - with the obvious result that the bank rejects the transaction as that currency is now inexistent. Multiple emails to PayPal to fix this issue resulted useless as they were ignored by the highly efficient PayPal support team. Fortunately however, until they wake up, there's a workaround. Exactly before accepting a transaction, in the "Review Payment Details" page, simply click on "Conversion options", and select "Bill me in the currency listed on the seller's invoice.". That way, PayPal will bill your credit card in whatever currency the item you are buying is in, and the transaction will get accepted.
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| Last Updated ( Wednesday, 30 January 2008 ) |
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| Government refunding 16% from purchase of new PCs
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| Written by HiVoltage |
Tuesday, 19 February 2008
If you were thinking of getting a new PC, now it's time, as the government is subsidising the purchase of new PC's for home users by 16%, up to a maximum of €186.40. Furthermore, the local banks have also modified their computer loan offerings to go with this offer, whereby the customer doesn't have to pay more than €0.99 a day. These schemes are available until 30th May. According to Minister Austin Gatt, this is being done as part of the effort to ensure that everyone is included in "The Smart Island", and it goes along with other initiatives such as BlueSkies, and StartSmart, where families and persons with special needs can buy refurbished computers for €130.
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| Last Updated ( Tuesday, 19 February 2008 ) |
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| Melita Cable to build new submarine cable
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| Written by HiVoltage |
Thursday, 28 February 2008
Just one month ago, we reported that GO are investing in a secondary submarine cable. Today, we have just got to know that Melita Cable will be the third company to have its own submarine cable. According to the article on The Times, Melita Cable are investing over €5 million on this project, which is expected to be finished within 12 months. Unfortunately, Melita hasn't yet released any information regarding to where this cable will be passing, to what network it will be connected, or how much bandwidth it will be able to carry. What we know for sure is that 2009 will mean way more International banwidth to consume!
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| Last Updated ( Thursday, 28 February 2008 ) |
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| Onvol offers 10 Mbps "all you can eat" connection
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| Written by HiVoltage |
Monday, 24 March 2008
Melita Cable's Onvol are once again at the first position in the local speed race. Their new Internet access package - Onvol 10, offers 10 Mbps of download speed (and a miserable 512 Kbps upload), unlimited downloads, and a static IP address - all that for €65/month. Whether that would be worth paying for or not, it's up to you, but for small businesses, it's probably the best offer at the moment - at least until GO's retaliation.
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| Last Updated ( Monday, 24 March 2008 ) |
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| Digital radio trials start
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| Written by HiVoltage |
Thursday, 22 May 2008
The DAB+ digital radio network in Malta has reached another step by launching trials. An article on The Times was published today that states just this. The radio channels participating in the trials consist of a number of local FM channels such as XFM and 89.7 Bay, RAI International, and some others. This list is expected to grow as the network moves on to official broadcasting. The main problem that remains, however is the sheer lack of devices that can receive DAB+. Up till now, no Hi-Fi equipment or even car head units can be found supporting this new standard, and only a couple of "kitchen radios" are available. This situation is however expected to improve later on this year as manufacturers ramp up production for the DAB+ launch in Australia next January.
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| Last Updated ( Thursday, 22 May 2008 ) |
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| Google Maps acknowledges Malta
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| Written by HiVoltage |
Thursday, 05 June 2008
Up till a few days ago, when you tried to view Malta on Google Maps, all you would see was either the satellite imagery, or else, just an outline of the islands. However, Google has finally added a good street map for the Maltese islands, complete with street names, and places of interest. While this hopefully should not lead contributors from abandoning OpenStreetMap, it should act as a good alternative until OSM is complete.
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| Last Updated ( Thursday, 05 June 2008 ) |
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| Go Internet customers get double speed, download limits
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| Written by HiVoltage |
Sunday, 22 June 2008
In the next few days, GO will be upgrading their customers' account both in speed and download limits. All customers except those that are currently on 2Mbps will get an upgrade. Those that currently have a 4Mbps connection will get upgraded to 8Mbps, and those currently on 6Mbps, will get 12. These quoted speeds refer to downstream only. Upstream is still unchanged at 512Kbps. Monthly download limits were also more or less doubled in all accounts. GO are now also offering an unlimited download connection for €70 monthly with a download speed of 20Mbps.
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| Last Updated ( Sunday, 22 June 2008 ) |
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| Onvol upgrade Internet packages too
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| Written by HiVoltage |
Monday, 23 June 2008
Onvol have upgraded their Internet packaging, added new ones, and also changed their pricing structure. Those customers that had 5Mbps downstream, can now get 10Mbps and a download limit of 80GB for the price of €30.26 monthly. The 10Mbps unlimited package has now been upgraded to 20Mbps, and there's also a new 30Mbps connection for €100 a month.
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| Last Updated ( Monday, 23 June 2008 ) |
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| Internet packages change again, stabilise
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| Written by HiVoltage |
Monday, 30 June 2008
Last week, after the first change in pricing, ISPs continued adjusting their offerings, and now they seem to have settled down. The third ISP that upgraded the offerings was NextWeb, which apart from the speed upgrade, also increased the monthly download limits, which although in some cases still stand below what other ISPs are offering, are still quite decent, and should suit most customers.
Meanwhile, GO once again changed the monthly bandwidth limits. Now, those that originally had 12GB/month download limit, have 100GB, those who had 25 now have 150, and those who had 40, now also have 150, but their download speed is being upgraded to 12Mbps.
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| Last Updated ( Monday, 30 June 2008 ) |
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| Works in Sicily mark Internet doomsday for Malta
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| Written by HiVoltage |
Wednesday, 06 August 2008
According to GO's statement, infrastructural works by a third party Italian contractor were the cause of the fault in GO's one and only cable linking Malta to the rest of the world. For most of the day, up till around 7pm, GO customers and those using ISP's that depend solely on GO's infrastructure had no International access. Earlier, International phone calls were also affected, but this problem got allievated with the use of backup microwave and satellite links. However, no Internet access except to some Maltese sites was available to GO customers until this evening.
This occurrence shows us how much we need further redundant connections linking us to the rest of the world. On a positive note, both GO and Melita Cable are working on new fibre links to mainland Europe.
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| Last Updated ( Wednesday, 06 August 2008 ) |
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| Goodbye Hello and Onvol. Hello, Melita!
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| Written by HiVoltage |
Monday, 01 September 2008
As from today, Melita Cable and all its subsidiaries are to be known under one name - Melita. All the services are now merged under one single name. This re-branding exercise is probably being held to make way for Melita's 3G mobile phone network, since the "cable" part simply doesn't fit in when it comes to mobility.
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| Last Updated ( Monday, 01 September 2008 ) |
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| Bay Mobile finally announce rates
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| Written by HiVoltage |
Friday, 12 September 2008
Lately, we've been hearing a lot about Bay Mobile, Melita Mobile, and maybe also about One Mobile. Basically, Bay and One are what we call "MVNOs", or "Mobile Virtual Network Operators". What that means is that they are actually resellers for another network; in this case being Vodafone. Therefore, they are buying airtime at wholesale prices from Vodafone, and reselling it under their name. On the other hand, Melita are currently building a completely new 3G network, which we have yet to hear more about.
Today, after a considerable intoductory marketing campaign, Bay Mobile have announced their rates. They are very similar to Go Mobile's "Base" plan and Vodafone's "Max Value Simple" plan. SMS's are priced the same at €0.05, and calls are priced at €0.15 per 30 seconds instead of €0.16 charged by Vodafone and Go. They are also offering SMS bundles at prices better than the two main operators. No data plans have been announced yet.
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| Last Updated ( Friday, 12 September 2008 ) |
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| IT fair postponed
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| Written by HiVoltage |
Friday, 26 September 2008
As if things weren't gloomy enough for the future of the IT fair in Malta, this year, the fair was postponed in the last minute. Unlike previous years, this time, the fair was supposed to be held in the last week of September, just in time for the "back to school" season. However, for some undisclosed reason, it has now been postponed till late November. According to an article on The Times, the exhibitors received a notice saying "Due to unforeseen circumstances I regret to inform you that this
year's edition the IT&T Exhibition has been postponed to a later
date". If the fair ever happens, expect nothing special this year, as the few remaining exhibitors are now considering whether to withdraw their participation.
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| Last Updated ( Friday, 26 September 2008 ) |
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| GO launch "Broadband Everywhere" ADSL + 3G
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| Written by HiVoltage |
Sunday, 05 October 2008
GO are further exploiting their quad-play status by offering ADSL and 3G internet in one single package. The offer is 8Mbps ADSL with 100GB monthly download limit and 3.2Mbps mobile Internet with 3GB monthly transfer limit (download + upload) for €30.90 monthly. It's actually being elusively advertised as €30 monthly, but a look at the fine print shows "Rates are inclusive of 18% VAT but exclusive of 3% excise tax". A call to GO's support line confirmed this.
A small comparison with what was previously being offered shows the following:
8Mbps ADSL
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| 3G w/ 2GB limit
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This brings a total of €42.18 monthly, and you'd be getting 1GB of mobile Internet usage less. In other words, with this new offer, it is now possible to get 3G Internet for €7.72 if you you already have ADSL with GO.
A small note, however - if you need a free ExpressCard (3G modem) or USB 3G modem, you'll have to sign a 2-year contract, which may not be desirable considering the constantly changing market. Also, having voice on the same SIM card being offered for mobile data with this package is not possible.
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| Last Updated ( Sunday, 05 October 2008 ) |
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| Redtouch Fone announce rates
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| Written by HiVoltage |
Sunday, 26 October 2008
Redtouch Fone (One Productions' mobile phone subsidiary - previously referred-to as One Mobile), have announced their mobile telephony rates. Similarly to Bay Mobile, they decided to take Vodafone's "Max Value Simple" plan and modify it. Pricing for calling or SMSing other networks is exactly the same - 16c per 30 seconds, and 5c per SMS. However, on-net traffic is drastically cheaper, at 8c per 30 seconds, and 4c per SMS. Data pricing is yet to be announced by the end of this year.
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| Last Updated ( Sunday, 26 October 2008 ) |
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| Vodafone launches Apple iPhone in Malta
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| Written by HiVoltage |
Monday, 03 November 2008
Vodafone Malta has started offering Apple iPhone 3G. However, if you were expecting a low price, think again. Basically, there are 2 options - either pay the full price for the phone, which costs €515 for the 8GB version, or €599 for the 16GB, or else, get it with a price plan. As expected, the iPhone price plans include voice and data. The cheapest price plan costs €40 per month, and with that, the initial cost for the phone would be €295. The most expensive one is priced at €100 monthly, and with that, the iPhone is given away "for free". All plans contain 600MB of data usage, and a number of voice minutes - 60 for the €40 plan, 300 for the €100 plan, etc. Whether this announcement will lead to more iPhones in Malta, we have yet to see.
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| Last Updated ( Monday, 03 November 2008 ) |
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| Melita Mobile set to launch in February
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| Written by HiVoltage |
Saturday, 06 December 2008
After a long wait, Melita is finally almost ready to launch their 3G mobile network throughout the Maltese territory. Unlike the two previous launches - those by Redtouch Fone and Bay Mobile, Melita Mobile will be a fully-fledged mobile network and not an MVNO. Therefore, Melita will have virtually complete control over the pricing and the way they present their services.
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| Last Updated ( Saturday, 06 December 2008 ) |
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| GO light up new submarine cable to Sicily
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| Written by HiVoltage |
Thursday, 25 December 2008
The new submarine cable linking Malta to Sicily that then connects to the Interoute network was lit earlier than expected due to the damage to the old cable. The new link was originally planned to start operating in early January, but in order to restore normal Internet connectivity, the work was speeded up and the system started operating on 23rd December.
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| Last Updated ( Thursday, 25 December 2008 ) |
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