How Cleaning Up Your Google Assistant or Alexa Device Will Improve Performance

google assistant, smart home assistant, smart home automationGoogle Assistants, smart speakers, Alexa devices and all kinds of IOT Smart stuff are a way of life for many of us. While once they were a gadget which it was just kind of cool to have around the house, their usefulness and practicality has made them a firm favourite with anyone who used them regularly. However, over time you might find that your home network is slowing down. And here’s why.

Of course it’s down to age, but this isn’t a blog bemoaning built in obsolescence. The fact is that if you’ve been living with a smart home network for any length of time you’re going to have added smart devices which you no longer use, they may have not been as useful as you expected, you may have bought it on a whim, connected it and forgotten all about it, or, the device may have been lost, got broken, or thrown out. Read more

Broadband Data Prices Are On The Rise, But Not At Briant’s!

The cost of living is going up, and there seems to be very little we can do about it. Energy providers are shutting down and making it almost impossible to shop around for other companies. There are gaps on the shelves of supermarkets as products and the ingredients necessary to make our own foods are stuck at borders, making food more expensive over-all, and now, to follow suit, all the big name broadband providers are hiking their prices too.

If you’re with Virgin you have the opportunity to quit your contract by 18th of February because they don’t have a clause in their broadband data contract with lets them put their prices up annually, meaning that one their price rises are announce they have to give their customers the chance to opt out.

If you’re with any of the other main broadband internet providers your options are rather more limited as they do have clauses in their contracts which allow them to increase how much you pay.

And if you’re affected by the price rises, you could face having to find a lot more for your broadband data. Depending on your provider and the contract you’re in, it could see your bill going up by more than 20%. That can be more than £50 per year for many users, users who, according to many comments on Facebook and Twitter are generally unhappy with the levels of reliability, customer service, and professionalism shown at many levels, including call centres, help desks, and engineers. Read more