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Thursday, August 22, 2013

Mini 'key fob' mobile phones could be banned in the UK

It’s reported that the UK government is considering a sales ban on small mobile phones designed to look like remote-access car keys.

Although many of the phones resemble keys used by major vehicle brands, which would infringe the manufacturers’ copyright, there are also concerns that the phones are small enough to be smuggled into prisons.

The National Trading Standards Board (NTSB), which represents trading standards services across England and Wales, has confirmed that its eCrime Centre is working with the Serious Organised Crime Agency because some of the phones may be dangerous.

Lord Toby Harris, chairman of the National Trading Standards Board, said  “Trading Standards takes a very serious view of products being sold that might pose a danger to members of the public.  We are particularly concerned that these phone are being sold online and retailers may not be aware of who they are selling them to.  We would urge online retailers not to sell these phones, or members of the public to buy them.”

Recent figures have shown that around 7,000 mobile phones and SIM cards are currently confiscated in prisons across England and Wales every year.

[More details: BBC News; The Times]

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Categories: Handsets and manufacturers, Retailing, NewsNumber of views: 3053

Tags: uk security legal

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Opinion Articles

Is Android losing its impact for Google?

Mark Bridge writes:

Recent figures released by ABI Research have prompted the market intelligence company to ask whether Google is losing control of the Android ecosystem.

At first glance, Android dominated smartphone shipments for the final quarter of 2013. ABI Research says 77% of the 287 million smartphones shipped in Q4 2013 were running Android.

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It’s time to prepare for the upcoming surge in signaling traffic

Robin Kent writes:

After initially suffering from slow pick up by consumers, 4G has begun to accelerate, and is now well on the way to the forecasted one billion subscribers by 2017. In fact EE, owner of T-Mobile and Orange, recently announced the addition of 493,000 new 4G customers to its existing base of 1.2 million.

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Mobile phone coverage: is this as good as it gets?

Mark Bridge writes:

A new report has highlighted the issue of poor mobile phone coverage in rural Sussex villages. BBC Sussex invited me onto their ‘Sussex Breakfast’ radio show to explain what could be done - and, as usual, I made enough notes for a lecture rather than a three-minute interview.

Here’s what I would have liked to have said if I’d been given a disproportionate amount of time to talk.

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Last week at The Fonecast: 27th January 2014

Expecting the unexpected

Mark Bridge writes:

Great news for mobile phone users. Ofcom’s new rules preventing unexpected mid-contract price rises came into force last week, which means UK consumers can no longer be surprised by their subscription charge increasing while they’re still locked into a minimum-term deal.

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Ofcom changes the rules for mobile phone contracts... and so does O2

Mark Bridge writes:

This week, new Ofcom rules came into force. They’re designed to avoid unexpected price rises during the minimum term of a mobile phone contract. Yes, just because you signed a fixed-term contract doesn’t mean the charges can’t increase. Networks said they needed this option in case of inflation or regulatory changes. Customers felt trapped.

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