BT’s just announced v2.0 of the BT Home Hub. We hope to be featuring a full review of this within the next couple of days.

What we know so far is that the new hub supports the faster 802.11n wi-fi standard, has a power-saving mode, and has revised, easier-to-use software. We’ve also learned that the Hub 2.0 has four Ethernet ports.

We’ll be adding more to our BT Home Hub 2.0 soon.

BT’s just released a new addition to their Total Broadband package… “BT Total Broadband Anywhere”.

For an extra £5 a month, you can get a BT ToGo - This is a Windows Mobile smartphone that switches between wi-fi and the mobile phone network to let you surf and handle emails on the move. Think ‘Blackberry’ and you’ll be on the right track. The ToGo has wi-fi, Bluetooth, is a PDA and comes with a 1.3Meg onboard camera.

More details at www.bt.com/btbroadband.

Some changes to BT’s Total Broadband offering were announced today:

BT Total Broadband technical support is now free. BT’s opting for an 0800 Internet helpdesk number, zapping their former 0845 service.

Secondly - good news for new and existing Broadband customers - they’re dropping £2 a month from their Option 1 and Option 2 packages. Option 1 drops from £17.99 to £15.99 (discounted to £7.95 for the first 3 months), and Option 2 is £20.99 a month. They’re still offering the free BT Vision digital TV recorder, and you can get a BT Home Hub if you order online.

More on today’s changes at www.bt.com/btbroadband

Phorm is a US company that has a commerical offering called Webwise. They’ve done deals with broadband providers BT, Virgin Media and TalkTalk about collecting information about sites that consumers are viewing, and serve up adverts based on browsing habits, back to consumers.

Phorm claims that no personal information is extracted, and that this type of activity is the right side of the law, but privacy and data protection campaigners aren’t convinced, and neither is creator of the world wide web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, who wants ISPs to keep their hands off his data.

Many are now referring to this practice as “Data pimping” - your ISP selling your browsing history off to a third party for advertsing purposes.

An Online petition to Downing Street collected over 9,000 signatures in its first month from users concerned about their privacy - http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/ispphorm/ . More on the Phormwatch blog

Until the end of February 2008, BT’s offering their wireless router, the BT Home Hub, free on BT Total Broadband Option 1. It’s been available on Option 2 and 3, but not on their basic package (broadband only £8.95 for the first 6 months).

As well as being an Internet router, note that the BT Home Hub is required if you want BT Vision - and BT are still offering their digital set-top box / recorder… for free to BT Broadband customers. More on the Hub at www.frequencycast.co.uk/homehub.html or at www.bt.com/btbroadband