fringsters listen up, I have great news for you!

Vodacom has just finished upgrading a huge section of their network (more than 3300 towers across South Africa) to support 14.4 Mbps Internet speeds. As for the rest of the network you guys will have to make due with the speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps on 3G. The great news is that with speeds of between 7.2 and 14.4 Mbps fring calling and video stream quality on the Vodacom network will be vastly better than on other local networks

A little birdy tells me that Vodacom is also testing 21.1 Mbps HSPA services on their network but this will only go live laters. So it looks like there are only good things to come. Watch this space for progress.

Vodacom 14.4 Mbps internet goes live on 1 May 2010

Joost the streaming internet TV service brought to you by the makers of Skype, recently took their service to a whole new level with the launch of Joost “flash”. The new service allows Joosters to watch TV via their computers without the user having to download the Joost software.

The service is now more like Youtube or Zoopy when it comes to ease of use. The good thing is that even though Joost is now easier to use the great Joost quality you have come to know will stays the same.

I took the new Joost service for a spin this morning and can say it’s much easier to use.

“In addition to switching to Flash, Joost on Tuesday also unveiled a number of new tools in a bid to build a social network around the website.” Mybroadband.co.za

If you haven’t already taken Joost for a spin, why not give it a try today.

“Italian mobile operator, Wind has started offering SIM cards, with an embedded DVD compliant optical disc in the plastic holder which can be used to store PC software or media content. Wind will use Smart Video Card, supplied by Gemalto to deliver software to allow wireless Internet access from a PC.” cellular-news.com

“The idea is that subs use the SIM in their phone, connect their device to their PC, and then insert the card to run up the software on it. The software installs the necessary drivers, and user guides on the disc make life simpler for the end-user.” IntoMobile.com

It’s good to see network operators are constantly looking at new things and here’s to hoping that our local South African networks will follow suit with something equaly clever in the very near future

Wouldn’t it be great to have an embedded DVD like this, that comes preloaded with fring and other great free software… hint hint