So, what happens with the cast-offs? Well, I’m sure that there are more than a few desk and bedside table drawers giving refuge to rejected models, but many people just chuck them in the bin.

Unfortunately, because mobile phones contain components that are hazardous to the environment if they end up in landfill, it’s important to dispose of your old mobile phones responsibly and recycling is the perfect solution — over 90% of a mobile phone can be recycled.

Here are a few options for doing this:

• You can pass them on to someone else who can use it;
• You can surrender them via the Mobile Muster campaign — Mobile muster is the official recycling program for the mobile phone industry in Australia. You can find out more about the program and how to recycle your old phone here.
• Donate your old phone to a charity to raise money for a good cause. For instance, you can help the Cerebral Palsy charity in your state here, support kids with cancer here, or donate to a charity of your choice here.
• You can even get cash for your unwanted mobile phone from sites such as Mazuma Mobile and Cashaphone.

That is, until last week, when I was invited to the media launch of the 2010/11 NBL season. Why was I there, you ask? The truth be told, I had no idea why I was invited, but I wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to rub shoulderswith some of my basketball heroes (or more like rub my shoulders with their elbows!), particularly my beloved Sydney Kings. I even managed to have my hand kissed by the Kings’ very charming lion mascot!

Well, the mystery was solved when Basketball Australia’s Chief Executive Officer, Larry Sengstock, announced at the launch that iiNet would be the naming rights sponsor of the National Basketball League for the next three years.

This partnership represents iiNet’s first foray into sports sponsorship and at first glance, the relationship between the two might entities is not obvious. However, iiNet’s Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, Sam McDonagh, argues that the rapidly growing telecommunications company is a perfect fit for the competition.

At the launch he said, “We know what it’s like to have big ambitions, iiNet started in a garage to become the leading challenger for Internet services in Australia, so we’re keen to take basketball in Australia to the next level.”

And the next level is just where Basketball Australia plans to take the national league. After a troubled recent past, the league is on track to return basketball to its former glory days through an agreement with Channel TEN and ONE, which will see live basketball games back on the small screen for the next five years, and the return of the Sydney Kings to the league to make up the nine-team competition.

Additional sponsorship deals with sporting goods manufacturer Spalding (as official ball supplier), apparel supplier AND1 and Centrebet were also announced at the launch.

The 2010/11 season tips off on October 15 and you can read more about the new league here.

And you can’t just block them, as they usually come from a private number or from randomly generated numbers, so the number is different each time.

Well, if you’re based in Australia, you can do something about it. Communications regulatory body ACMA (Australian Communications and Media Authority) has established a process for reporting such incidents.

Just forward the offending message to 0429 999 888 to have it added to the ACMA  database for investigation by the authority.

To read more about SMS spam, click here.

(Thanks to Lifehacker Australia.)

So, are you satisfied with your ISP? Well, here are the satisfaction ratings by customers surveyed for the latest Roy Morgan Research Survey on Internet satisfaction (July-December, 2009):

Internode — 90.3%
iiNet — 86.8%
AAPT — 82.5%
Westnet — 81.9%
TPG — 81.7%
OPTUSNet — 78.7%
3 Mobile — 73.7%
dodo — 66.9%
Telstra BigPond — 66.1%
iPrimus — 65.1%

The industry average rating for satisfaction was 73.3%.

Turns out I’m on a winner. Did your ISP make the top 10?

• At the end of December 2009, there were 9.1 million active internet subscribers in Australia.
• The phasing out of dial-up internet connections continued with nearly 90% of internet connections now being non dial-up. Australians also continued to access higher download speeds, with 62% of access connections having a download speed of 1.5Mbps or greater.
• Digital subscriber line (DSL) continued to be the major technology for connections, accounting for 51% of non dial-up connections. However, this percentage share has decreased since June 2009 when DSL represented 57% of non dial-up connections.
• Mobile wireless via a datacard, dongle or USB modem was the fastest growing technology in internet connections, increasing to 2.8 million in December 2009. This represents a 40% increase from June 2009.

The following graph from the report shows the shift in balance of how Australians choose to connect to the Internet.

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics Internet Activity, Australia, Dec 2009

However, these low-spend customers still often end up paying more than the advertised call rate by default, because the recharge vouchers usually have a fairly short use-by date — sometimes as little as 30 days — and run out before they can use all their credit.

A new mobile service launched in Australia at the end of March this year will be good news to low-volume these prepaid mobile users, as each recharge is valid for 12 months. However, while Lebara Mobile is a new service to Australia, it is a very big concern in the European mobile telecommunications market (over 3 million users).

Using the Vodaphone network in Australia, the service has no contracts, no monthly fees and all calls are charged by the minute. You can port your current mobile phone number and use your current handset if it’s not currently locked to another provider. You can buy a Lebara SIM card for $5.49 or get one free with a $10 or $30 starter pack.

Call rates

National calls to landlines and other mobiles are charged at 20 cents a minute (with a flagfall of 15 cents), National SMSes are 15 cents per message, and you can call other Lebara Mobile customers ‘free’ for the first 10 minutes (you’ll be charged a 15 cent flagfall and after the 10 minutes, call rates revert to the standard 20 cents a minute).

International rates are from 5 cents a minute —check here for rates to individual countries. International text messages are 15 cents each.

Where to buy

You can find the closest store to you selling Lebara SIM cards by going to the Store Finder and entering your postcode. But don’t worry if there isn’t one nearby as you can purchase one online. You can buy recharge vouchers online or at over 3,800 retail outlets in denominations of $10, $20, $30, $40, $50, $70 and $100.