hoping to get a free consultation from epipheo studios about the ark project and they will see the value of being involved.  i'm not sure how much things cost with them but we probably only really need a really punchy 30-60 second video about the ark project to put on the indigogo page.  then we will promote it again.

quicklink | go-connect.co.uk

disclaimer straight off the bat! - i'm working with mygocard who provide the go: connect service as an additional product. i have paid for the service myself and will be reviewing it in the normal way with no bias whatsoever to the company.

ok. glad that is done!

as some of you will be aware i have been disconnected from the internet at home for quite some time (over six months) and have been using 3g dongles to enable me to use the internet when at home. this has caused me to consume the internet in a different way and also highlighted to me the price of connectivity when using such a dongle/bandwidth system - with fixed broadband at home bandwidth is not one of those things that you spend too much time thinking about.

as i am very keen to rent/houseshare the property having internet in the property is paramount. having looked around for a way to get it back on i was told about go: connect the partner phone service from mygocard which has a much lower re-connection fee than if i went back and asked BT to do it.

It actually worked out better all round what with the £11 a month flat fee for the line rental and then only £5.99 for my internet - all of this being take from mygocard prepaid mastercard which is perfect because it allows me to pay directly from my card without having to worry about another direct debit from a bank account. i believe that BT require over £100+ for reconnection - my engineer arrived (funnily enough a BT openreach van) and was done and out the door within fifteen minutes of his arrival.

I was a little let down on the day that the router equipment had not come ahead of time but i'm to expect it after the installation date. the distributer/reseller policy is that the installation has to work and go ahead because they send out the ready configured router i presume - normally this is next day but it failed to arrive on this occasion. i'm guessing that it will arrive at some point today. a minor frustration that i hope with working though the customer feedback will enable mygocard to alter the way the installation is handled.

one of the good things about the way that the go: connect package works is no credit checks. my credit history is terrible what with the mortgage issues and the arrears on the house since i have been out of work in the last six months so trying to get back on the internet has been a pain. having to go and drink coffee every other day or scrape money together to purchase bandwidth with 3g dongles and the slow speed that they normally run out can make it impossible to get things sent up and done on the internet.

i see the go: connect isp service more than just an isp distributor. it is using the same ethos as the mygocard prepaid mastercard product to actually help digital inclusion for those unemployed or low income families by giving them a way to get reconnected and manage the money they do have. i'm sure there are many other services that are better, faster and have more features than the go: connect offering but for the low income family trying to keep their head above water in these difficult recession times the price and offering is one that will enable many to search actively for work again online.

i'll update you with reliability and upload/download speeds once i have done some more testing.