Roam free with 3

Thumbs up: In what will hopefully be a trend-setting announcement from a mobile phone operator, 3 announced last week that it plans to abolish roaming charges for visitors to seven countries where it also does business.

Under the scheme, 3 phone users travelling between the UK, Ireland, Italy, Austria, Australia, Hong Kong, Sweden and Denmark will no longer be charged for receiving calls and texts. However, it is important to remember that roaming charges will still apply in these countries if phone users do not manually select the 3 network once they arrive.

Utilities unlimited

While it will probably never happen, we still liked last week's proposal from Fine Gael which would see households reimbursed if they suffered an interruption in their supply of a utility for more than three hours. Under Fine Gael's plan - an element of the party's consumer charter - if your gas, electricity, television, internet access or phone goes on the blink for three hours or more you will be entitled to 24 hours' free service. The charter also proposes that prices covered by a regulator should be kept at, or below, the rate of inflation, unless a clear public interest case can be proven. Another notion Fine Gael is keen to implement, should it win the next election, is the replacement of the barely up-and-running National Consumer Agency with a new consumer rights agency which will have considerably more power.

Showtime online

The founders of internet telephony firm Skype have unveiled a test version of a peer-to-peer online television service which they promise will combine "the best of TV and the best of the internet". The new venture is called Joost and it gives people greater choice, control and flexibility about what they watch. Already, a team of Joost employees are beavering away to convert television programmes to digital formats and adding information about actors, action, titles and directors. The shows will then be shared between users' computers.