Tag Archives: TalkTalk

Sep 17 2014

Back to School with TalkTalk Mobile: 50% off Top Brands

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I’m not sure whether I’m relieved or devastated about the fact my children are a long way off school. I can’t wait to have a bit of freedom back, but I know I’ll be one of those embarrassing parents who takes a whole box of Kleenex to the school gates and waves hysterically until they’re out of sight.

Although I’m not at this stage yet, I can appreciate that school is expensive business. Not only do you have uniforms, lunchboxes, school trips and stationery to fund, if you’ve decided to return to work, you might also have after-school childcare to shell out for too.

I’m reliably informed it only gets worse as they get older too, as the demands for the latest gear begin to ramp up. If Johnny has a £150 pair of Warrior football boots, I suspect Dexter will want them too.

Well TalkTalk is on hand to help parents deal with one of those must-have teenage items. We love to hate a mobile phone. They cost us a fortune, but we can’t remember life without them. Although we might resent them beeping and interrupting a family dinner, we feel safer with one safely tucked in our children’s schoolbags.

As part of its commitment to making TalkTalk homes better off, TalkTalk Mobile has half price offers on some of the very best brands to kit the kids out for school without the hefty costs. Customers can get the Samsung Galaxy Fame from just £3.75 and the brand new Nokia 630 from just £5 a month. Customers can also get half price tablet and mobile bundles, ideal for back to school starting from £7.50 a month.

Hurry though, these deals end on September 30th 2014.

Here’s the scoop on everything TalkTalk Mobile!

We’re TalkTalk ambassadors and are currently receiving a phone, broadband and TV package for free. This post is part of a series of reviews of their services – more can be found here if you’re considering making the switch yourselves!

Jul 21 2014

The Lego Movie Review - Now Available on TalkTalk

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Popcorn? Check.

Small child? Check.

One adult (pretending to be disgruntled)? Check.

I guess this makes us ready to settle down and watch a new movie on TalkTalk Box Office. Not just any movie either. It’s the block-buster that is The Lego Movie!

Yep, the same day that the movie goes to DVD, TalkTalk are making it available for all its customers - grown-ups and kiddies alike. At just £4 for rental (watch as many times as you like for 48 hours) it saves you trekking to HMV with an over-excited toddler in tow.

Here’s what we made of it!

I loved it. I’m usually the animation-grinch (Disney makes me break out in a cold sweat), but this was full of subtle adult humour, and cute little nods to my own childhood and fighting over bricks with my brother. I loved little details such as Wyldstyle’s movable hair-do, and the fact that Will Ferrell’s character (President Business) really looks like him. Emmet’s early shower scene where he was pelted with plastic bubbles also had me sniggering.

All this was, of course, lost on Dexie. The only film he’s ever managed to sit through without wandering off to cause chaos and destruction was Toy Story 3. He’s just not ready for films yet. Pulling out wires, hitting his baby sister and pulling off his nappy and peeing on the carpet is just too appealing. It was a little tricky to follow too and I’d say it’s definitely more suitable for the 5+ crew.

The plot is fast-paced. It opens with Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman) a wizard and “master builder”, who is blinded by Lord Business (Will Ferrell) having failed to protect a ‘secret weapon’. Before Vitruvius is kicked into the abyss by Business, he foretells of a hero, the “Special” who will save the Lego Universe from the eternal stagnation that Lord Business will inflict upon them.

We see this stasis for ourselves as the film kicks into action some 8.5 years later. It takes the form of unrestrained chirpiness which takes on a positively incendiary quality. The Lego kingdom follows a set of rules dictated by Lord Business, characterised perfectly by the irritatingly upbeat theme tune “Everything is Awesome”. All of the characters are seemingly unaware that they are, in fact, living in an imposed form of hell.

The unwitting hero is ordinary Lego construction worker Emmet (voiced by little-known Chris Pratt), who is thought to be the prophesied “Special”. The film follows his epic journey to defeat Lord Business and bring autonomy back to the universe. It’s littered with pop culture references to enthuse young and old alike, from Star Wars, to Long of the Rings, to Harry Potter. There’s also an all-star cast of voices including Elizabeth Banks, Morgan Freeman and Jonah Hill.

I recommend it to anyone who has ever played with Lego. You’ll be surprised just how relevant this movie feels. Maybe not Mega Blox though, hey Dexter?

The Lego Movie Review has been written as part of a series of posts in conjunction with TalkTalk. We are trialling the tv, phone and broadband package for 18 months (free of charge in exchange for our thoughts).

Jun 19 2014

The all new and improved TalkTalk player

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As you all know, we’re TalkTalk ambassadors and are now roughly halfway through an extended trial of their services. Just in case I’ve managed to tempt any of you into making the big switch, I thought I’d give you a little update with some important news from the brand. They’ve gone and launched an all new and improved TalkTalk player - and pretty special it is too.

It’s easier to use, quicker to load and tailored to you giving it a much fresher user experience. To access the new world of TalkTalk, you need only press the TalkTalk button on your remote and you’re then free to browse the new homepage for On Demand programming. If you can’t access it, you’ll need to go to ‘Settings’ from the YouView menu, select ‘Device Management’, ‘Update On Demand Players’ and press ‘OK’ to download the update. This update is now available to all one million plus TalkTalk TV homes.

It’s actually a much needed update. The old style was a little tricky to navigate. In particular, it was difficult to work out which films were part of the Sky On Demand collection, and which were available to rent. With the new look, the menu is now styled on a word cloud so there’s no more tabs to scroll through - this has simplified the experience so you can easily tell the difference between the bundles and Sky On Demand service. They’ve also handily got a space for ‘Included channels’ so you can find the free to watch movies, series and shows included within your TV boosts.

They’ve also considerably improved their TalkTalk Box Office with new blockbusters like The Wolf of Wall Street and 12 Years a Slave added daily. As always, you can watch trailers for free so you can always find something you know he’ll hate you’ll like when your significant other has finished hogging the telly for the World Cup. Movies are priced from £4.00 for 48hrs with many released on same day as DVD. This makes it far cheaper than a trip to the cinema or HMV. It’s also worth reminding you that you cannot accidentally select a movie and be charged for it as you have the pin protect feature - this is a must when you have button-happy tots milling around.

It’s quicker too and more intuitive. It’ll save your last position if you have to leave a programme suddenly. This is SOOOO useful as I’m forever having to leave the sofa to see to one of the kids. The rewind function was always a little clunky and I hate leaving a programme on pause in case of screen burn. Now I simply turn the television off and know I can resume watching from where I left off.

Other features of the revamped TalkTalk Player include:

· Powerful search: Search movies by title, actor, director or keyword

· Watchlist: Save movies and shows to watch at another time

· More like this: Find similar programmes to your favourite shows

· Play all: Press the green button to play every episode in a series back to back

· Most popular: Your favourite shows and movies in one place

They say:

The new TalkTalk Player is the latest installment in TalkTalk’s continual enhancements to its YouView TV service. In April, TalkTalk joined forces with FilmFlex to significantly expand its movie library and offer hundreds more movies on demand. It also bolstered its Plus TV package by adding in seven Sky Entertainment channels including Sky 1 and Sky Living. Earlier this month, it launched a new African Boost package, offering eight additional channels from across the continent, and just last week pre-school favourites Wallace and Gromit and Timmy Time joined TalkTalk’s popular kids line-up.

YouView from TalkTalk is fast becoming a destination for family entertainment and our all-new TalkTalk Player offers more of the best TV and movies at a cost viewers can control. We’ve made our on-demand movies, kids and Sky entertainment library bigger than ever and the TalkTalk Player is faster, and smarter, making it easier to find shows and films you want to watch.

Thanks TalkTalk - we’re loving it!

 

 

pixel The all new and improved TalkTalk player