In his call for free Internet access he highlighted the fact that just 20% of the world’s population currently has access to the web, and said that free unfettered access could be instrumental in giving people access to critical services such as healthcare.

“I would like to see people enrolled in a cheap data plan by default. I would like them to get it for free”  Sir Tim said during his speech.  “What about these people who have a signal but are not part of the web, who are not part of the information society?”

He went on to say that people could  ”create their own communities and share their own information” and suggested that network operators could indeed provide free connections on the basis that as people became more affluent, they would be prepared to pay for faster connections.

Dr Hamadoun Toure, the head of the UN’s International telecommunications Union, the United Nations body that oversees international telecoms, agrees with him.  In a recent interview with the BBC he said that free access to information should be a “universal Human right”.

Sir Tim also spoke about net privacy and neutrality, addressing concerns raised over the recent move by Google and others to create a “two-tier” Internet.  

“We assume that when you look up a [web page], that you can get any page because that is the way it has always been and that is why the web has flourished.  Of course a lot of companies would like to limit the pages you get.”  For example, he said, a firm that sells streaming movies may “like to slow down access to other people’s movies”.

Sir Tim has enormous influence and is a person that world leaders will listen to.  How successful his calls for a more open and accessible Internet are remains to be seen.

MW Conn is a mobile internet access software specifically designed for data cards like PCMCIA or USB cards that are used to connect to the Internet. The software comes with a German and English user interface and is compatible with Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista and Linux/Wine. Lets take a look at some of the features of the mobile Internet access software:

• Display of speed, data volumes, online time, operating mode, signal strength, network name, Cell-ID
• Various display forms, like Tray-Icon, mini-window and Start button-Inlay
• Displaying information like up- and download speed in kBytes/s, used data volume, used online time, mode of operation UMTS(3G)/GPRS, used speed range EDGE/HSPA, signal strength in percent and dBm, network name and cell id (if provided by pc card), homezone status and battery status
• Warning in case of exceeding data-volumes- and online time
• UMTS- and GPRS-network analysis
• Connection monitoring and automatic re-establishment of connection, even after blocking
• Receiving/sending SMS, PC-remote control per SMS and call
• Detailed log functions, integrated service terminal
• Timer for program end or shutdown
• Script optimization
• Query- and recharge option for Prepaid-Tariffs

MW Conn comes with an excellent help guide in pdf format (both in English and German language) that can be used to quickly start with the software. The first thing that the user has to do after installation is to create a new Internet connection in the software’s interface. One interesting option is that MW Conn does work with Internet Routers and (some) mobile phones that act as a modem for Internet access.

Supported data card manufacturer are Huawei, Novatel, Option, Sierra, Qualcomm and compatibles plus the Linksys router WRT54G3G. Mobile users usually do not get back to the original software supplied by the data card manufacturer as MW Conn provides a more resource friendly and advanced software for mobile Internet access.