The Eurostar, despite having a perception of being an elegant, sophisticated way to hop across the Channel and sample the delights of Paris or Amsterdam with ease, is actually a fairly dull travel experience, not helped by the occasional horror stories that come from nine-hour delays.

Still, some 20 million people use it every year, and, instead of staring out of the windows at the dull, industrial landscapes of northern France and southern England (the route really is dull) most will spend the time using tablets and smartphones to read news, send emails and other web activities.

Except, of course, during the bit actually in the tunnel when all signal disappears for the duration, until you emerge, blinking, into France or the UK.

However, Eurotunnel, the management firm for the Channel Tunnel, is set to change all this having announced a deal with French telecoms operators to install 2G and 3G networks ahead of the Olympic Games so our Gallic cousins can enjoy Le Web as they head to Blighty.

The service will at first only be available in the France to UK tunnel, with operators Bouygues Telecom, Orange SFR and Free agreeing a deal with the French government and Eurotunnel to manage the €14 million installation.

Of course, this does mean that yet another small pocket of internet-less existence in the Western world will be gone, as we continue with our desire to provide pervasive web access wherever we may be, so we can't escape life, work, family, stock prices, and the rest.

Still, the UK to France tunnel won't be fitted with the necessary equipment until after the games, so those travelling to the continent can at least disappear for a little while yet, and then claim roaming charges make it too expensive to call home or check data on-the-go.

However, with the European Commission (EC) hoping to slash roaming costs too, there may soon be no excuse there either, so prepare yourselves for a world of endless, non-stop, unfettered communication - there is no escape, resistance is futile.

It's been a busy week for the broadband industry, especially when it comes to closing the digital divide, with the fixed, mobile and satellite sectors all making a case to help solve key problems and get the entire UK digital.

First up, the satellite industry made its play for increased funding from member states and the European Commission by arguing that the technology is ideal for closing the digital divide in the remotest of regions.

Then mobile operator Everything Everywhere announced a partnership with BT to deliver a 4G trial network in Cornwall for 200 lucky volunteers.

Jersey Telecom Group and Alcatel-Lucent, meanwhile, announced the trial of an LTE network on Jersey and Guernsey in the 1800MHz band that could offer speeds of up to 50Mbit/s.

Rural MPs recently argued that the use of mobile broadband on LTE networks is key piece of the digital divide jigsaw, urging Ofcom to enhance coverage obligations on operators that win key 4G spectrums from 95 to 98 per cent.

More good news for Cornwall came from BT with the announcement on Friday that its project to bring superfast broadband to every resident in the county, part funded with EU money, is on schedule.

Half of all exchanges in the region are set to go live in 18 months' time in areas including Falmouth, Truro, Camborne and Redruth, while St Austell is head of the queue with exchange upgrades scheduled for this summer.

More widely, rumours circulated this week that BT is behind on its rollout of fibre to the premises (FTTP) owing to blocked ducts, although the company said that any delays are down to the sheer complexity of the rollouts and that work is moving as quickly as possible.

"FTTP is a complex technology which we are currently trialling at scale. We are pleased with how the trials are going, but have always been clear that we will only launch it on a commercial basis once it's been fully tested and is ready for market," the firm said.

Finally, homes and businesses in Wiltshire, Norfolk, Somerset and Devon had reason to cheer when it was announced that they will receive a portion of the second wave of government funding for broadband of £50m.

So, with all three industries pushing ahead, whether through political pressure, unique trials, live rollouts or securing government funding, the UK's broadband market certainly doesn't want for effort at trying to get everyone online with high speed access by 2015.

Mobile phone users should thank Ofcom for making their life easier after the telecoms watchdog brought in new rules today forcing mobile operators to provide a Porting Authorisation Code (PAC) within a maximum of two hours.

The code is required when a customer wants to switch network operator and keep the same number, but previously it could take days for this code to arrive. Ofcom now requires it to be given immediately over the phone or sent by text within two hours.

Ernest Doku, a technology expert at uSwitch.com, said the move would give consumers far more control over their mobile phone contracts by helping them to get the best deals, while keeping their all important number.

"The process of keeping your phone number when you switch networks has been extremely cumbersome and has been a major barrier to switching. Over 18 million have never switched network over concerns about losing their number," he said.

"Mobile numbers are as important as home addresses these days. Anyone who has lost their phone will know what a hassle it is to contact everyone you know with your new number - so of course people want to keep their number when they switch."

By a neat coincidence, research by mathematics analytics group Billmonitor has revealed that UK consumers could save billions if they switched their mobile phone contract to a tariff that more accurately reflected their usage levels.

The group analysed 28,417 anonymised bills from customers on O2, Orange, Vodafone and T-Mobile over the past 18 months and found that a whopping £4.89bn is wasted every year due to the wrong contract being used.

Some 52 per cent of customers have a tariff that is too large, while 29 per cent are on a tariff that's too small, so they pay extra charges, while 19 per cent do not optimise free benefits and allowances or use lower costs on 24-month contracts.

The site has launched an impressive tool to coincide with this release that requires access to your online billing account before generating a report specific to you that offers the best possible contract based on your usage.

So if you've always thought you could get a better deal, now's the time to find out - and if you can, there should be no issues around changing provider quickly and keeping your number.

This video from Billmonitor shows why so many UK consumers have the wrong mobile phone contract.