The latest monthly progress report from NBN Co bears good news for its attempts to push customers to the network’s higher speed tiers, with an impressive increase in the uptake of 50mbps or higher plans since December last year.

After altering the pricing scheme for its different tiers in December and shifting focus primarily to the 50mbps plan by offering wholesale discounts to service providers, NBN Co has managed to get 70% of new contract sign-ups to opt for a plan that’s 50mbps or faster.

While responsibility for this also falls in part to the telcos relaying these discounts to the customer, this uptake brings the total number of NBN users on 50mbps plans or higher up to 44%, almost tripling the 16% figure it was before December.

It’s worth noting that, among these higher speed tiers, NBN Co counts the 25-50mbps plans on its fixed wireless network, which has become the fastest tier on offer since regional and rural Australians won’t be getting the option for a 100mbps plan.

Decongestion?

The other victory that NBN Co is celebrating with its latest report is the decline in congestion, which was “reduced from more than five hours to less than 30 minutes per service, per week compared to this time last year”.

Indeed, that statement is in line with NBN Co’s reports – last May was especially bad in the way of average networks congestion – but it’s perhaps a tad misleading in terms of the month-to-month progression.

The average congestion per service, per week, has actually increased to 18 minutes since February, when it was 12 minutes, and hasn’t improved considerably since December-January. 

Despite this sleight of hand, the fact that congestion rates are remaining somewhat stable is still impressive, given the increasing number of users that are signing up for the NBN – 3.9 million as of May 2018, increasing by roughly 100,000 each month – and the company acknowledges “there is more work to be done”.

http://www.techradar.com/news/new-nbn-customers-are-finally-flocking-to-higher-speed-plans

Rumors regarding Samsung’s plans to bring a foldable smartphone to market have circulated relentlessly over the last few years, and thanks to some leaked images that have just surfaced on Twitter (and then posted on SlashLeaks), we now have an idea of what that dual screen concept might’ve looked like. 

Looking like a pair of Galaxy Note 5 handsets attached by a hinge when viewed front on, the foldable device has been dubbed ‘Project V’ and is believed to be from 2015-2016 based on its SM-G929F model number, which puts it in the same group as the Galaxy S6 Edge (SM-G925x) and Galaxy S7 (SM-G930x). 

The keen-eyed among you might also notice the old Play Store icon featured on the phone’s display.

Far from the flexible display that most of us imagine when the words ‘foldable phone’ appear before us, the device features a clamshell design with two separate screens that appear to show two home screen pages simultaneously when flipped open. 

Samsung Project VSM-G929FCANCEL pic.twitter.com/NhBLH6grZKJune 16, 2018

We can also surmise from the images above that the bulk of the phone’s internals can be found in the thicker half of the device, while the thinner half is just a secondary display that can be flipped out from the back when needed. 

In theory, the tech behind this wouldn’t be too hard to achieve, so we have to assume that Samsung did not move forward with this concept because of how utterly ghastly it looks. 

Still, it appears that Samsung is not entirely done exploring this particular smartphone layout, with some leaked patents from earlier in the year showing this foldable dual screen concept to be alive and well.

Hopefully it’s more appealing than the similarly-designed ZTE Axom M which released late last year to little fanfare…

http://www.techradar.com/news/leaked-project-v-images-show-off-early-samsung-foldable-phone-concept

For a limited time, you can score yourself one of Amazon’s own ereader or smart speaker products at a discount, so if you’ve been looking to pick up a Kindle or an Echo but have been waiting for a price drop, now’s your chance to jump in.

In the Amazon Echo smart speaker range, you can save up to $80, with some of the lowest prices we’ve yet seen on the likes of the Echo Plus and the display-toting Echo Spot. The two more basic workhorses, the Echo and the Echo Dot, are both knocked down to a very attractive price as well.

When it comes to ereaders, Amazon Kindle’s range is of course the household name, with the ubiquitous brand offering a variety of devices, both comprehensive and intuitive. Whether it’s the premium Kindle Voyage, the midrange Paperwhite, or the basic Kindle model, you’ll find a discount right now.

You can find the appropriate ereader and smart speaker products at the links above, but you better hurry as the discount is only available until June 30.

http://www.techradar.com/news/amazon-australias-discounting-kindle-and-echo-devices-for-a-limited-time