Q&A about getting the most from your home technology

Can you help explain how iphone storage works? I have a 16G iphone 4. I have some music on it - but not a ridiculous amount. A few videos I have shot on the phone (all approx 10-20 seconds long and only a handful of them) and quite a lot of photos. But when I sync my phone on my computer it shows I have basically used up all my storage.

I love having the photos on there (grandma's bragging book) so what can I do to free up a bit of space. I have about 600 photos in total

Why is it that companies (not just yourself, but Sky, BT, Virgin etc) all advertise a package with broadband, TV, whatever - but then there's a small bit where it says line rental on top? If line rental is necessary for broadband, why isn't it included in the price?

Also, Virgin run cables, so why is line rental necessary for the broadband package?

Am I too late to add my question? It's also about photos on an iphone and I had forgotten until I saw Floribunda's question.

If I click on the photo icon on my iphone a list of "albums" comes up. There is one called "From my computer" which is photos I have compiled to make a little album to keep on my phone. There is "Camera roll" which is the photos I take on my phone or save on my phone. But then there is also "photo library" which has more photos in it than "from my computer" but not as many as there would be if you added both the other albums together. So what is this album, what goes into it - and is it duplicating the other two albums and therefore taking up lots of storage space?

Hoping I can squeeze a mac question in too! Between us we have a macbook computer and an ipad and I also have an iphone. My question is about icloud back up which I have been told is on my phone. How does it work? Is it on my ipad too? And can I put it on my computer so I can keep all of my stuff saved together (and actually - I would really like to know more about icloud in the first place - how does it work? what does it save? and how do you access it if you need it?)

At the risk of iphones hijacking the whole thread trying to work out whether to buy an iphone from apple and then get a sim deal or whether to get the same phone on a monthly contract. Essentially if I assume it will last 2 years and pay (approx) £500 for the phone and then £15 a month on the iphone sim deal (which has enough minutes and data for my needs plus unlimited texts) it works out that I am spending the same as if I do a 2 year deal with the same provider and get the phone (more or less) included - there is a small fee at the start for having the phone I want. So what I am trying to ask in a rather roundabout way is are there advantages to one method or the other that I might have overlooked?

My question is about online storage - or backing up in general. I have always used an external hard drive to back up my computer in the past but a friend pointed out that if the house burned down and my computer went with it the hard drive would likely go up in flames at the same time.

I mainly want to back up all my photos and my documents. I got the free drop box thing but it's already running out of space and I am unsure whether to pay to upgrade - partly because it seems expensive and also because I wasn't sure if there are better options.

Thank you in advance

Very interested to see what you say to katykat's question. Am also intrigued by the pic folders on the iphone...

And following on from the earlier ones:

Is icloud better than dropbox then? Does it work in the same way?

And I'm due an upgrade soon on my iphone 4 - is the iphone 5 much better in your opinion? Or should I stick to the iphone 4 and rather negotiate a better package.

And also, is the problem of other people hacking in to your own wifi still an issue? I have a strong password (I think).

Is it wise to "lock" the screen on your ipad or iphone so that after a certain period of time you need to enter a four number code to be able to use it? I always thought it was good in terms of security but then my DS pointed out that in an emergency no one would be able to access my ICE (in case of emergency) numbers to let them know something had happened

Why sometimes when I am out and about with my computer do I find it impossible to log into the internet and get a message saying either than my computer has not got an IP or has a self-assigned IP and therefore cannot connect?

Seems to be OK when I get home...

I tried to get faster broadband through Virgin but despite leafleting the road saying their services were available they said the only way I could have it was with wires up the front of my house. The people who sold the package were incredibly hard sell - only interested in getting a signature on a form. i explained to them that I couldn't have anything up the front of the house but they weren't interested in discussing how it would happen. I think they must have got the commission regardless of whether the sale actually went through. The whole thing was a depressing experience. Do all companies use these techniques and how could I get faster broadband without festooning the house with cables?

Message deleted by Gransnet for breaking our Talk Guidelines. Replies may also be deleted.

This clicks on to an advert?

Message deleted by Gransnet for breaking our forum guidelines. Replies may also be deleted.