BT Internet Failures

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

Umpteen messages later……

JA –

The problems I had occurred twice, and in both instances I had changed nothing, nor installed any software.

The system is working again, but with a different signing-in page, so it is very hard to see this as any other than an effect of BT messing about with an e-mail system that had been working perfectly well.

I did have two other problems but not BT-related:

 

1) Posts arriving with “emojis” replaced by little squares (hooray!) but seriously, attached photographs missing. I am fairly certain these were sent from “smart”-phones not computers.

The block seems to have been a very obscure Firefox setting I could find and change only by an exercise in suspicion, patient menu-trawling, trial-and-error, and inspired(?) guesswork.

 

2) Certain types of document missing along with the accompanying message. I discovered this when I asked our Club Secretary about papers for the forthcoming NAME meeting. It transpired he had received and circulated them to members but his relay had not reached me.

Contacting the NAME Hon. Sec. directly obtained the two documents, and they were in a curious file-type new to me: .odt. They opened a word-processor of their own, and were printable but in an indirect way.

Now, this suggests some peculiar incompatibility locally, preventing the relay from one receiving computer to another, but not from the originating instrument to either. I can understand that might happen to attachments in non-MS formats,  but it is strange the carrying message failed too.

.

Computers… Oo’d ‘ave ’em?

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Nigel …

.odt files are “open document format”

an attempt at standardisation, would you believe ?!

Google away to your heart’s content, but Wikipedia is a reasonable place to start:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenDocument

MichaelG.

[pgk pgkParticipant @pgkpgk17461]

One of the fundamental benefits of the old copper phone system is that its power is supplied from the exchange, such that it still works in the event of a loss of electricity at the consumer’s end. Stating that this doesn’t matter with access to cell phone tech is of no help to those of us in rural areas with poor to absent cell phone access requiring either emergency generators or house battery systems if we wish to be able to access emergency services in that situation. One might as well abandon the telephone system altogether or go further and abandon any wire or fibre system to the house and use satellite or cell phone for the internet too and just make sure such signals are available in remote areas as well for the safety of rural communities and rural visitors.
We had a situation a few weeks ago when a digger driver caught a pole support and knocked down the 240v wire to my house. He drove to an open area where he could get a mobile signal and reported it. The leccy people cut off power to a wide area prior to assessing matters but were still able to ring all affected inhabitants via landline to advise them of the situation and give updates on repair. Thirty minutes later the hills echoed with a gentle hum as residents dragged out their petrol gennies knowing it was worth dragging them out of sheds and garages because it was going to be a while. (We usually don’t bother because while power cuts are common they usually don’t last long enough to bother firing up alternatives).

Luddites criticise electric cars on the dangers of battery tech but domestic battery back up supplies have to pose the same risks of runaway fires strapped to an outside house wall.

Perhaps I should stock up on emergency flares because injured or ill during a future power cut without copper telephone and I have no access to emergency services.

pgk

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

The problem that we so often face is that of a vendor imposing on their cutomer something which suits them, rather than the customer.

I witnessed, (nd then suffered), dishonest acts by an insurance company (In reality a large scale broker).

They will never get any business, of any sort from me!

If the vendor does not provide the service that the customer wants, they will move to a supplier who will!

Howard

[Chris CrewParticipant @chriscrew66644]

After leaving BT a few days before the end of my contract I accepted there would be a final bill. They sent me an estimate for £31, then they revised it to £34 but when it actually arrived it was for over £49. I have not used the BT line (it’s actually disconnected in the loft) made any calls or even used their broadband and there is no explanation of why I am deemed to owe this amount. Well, it’s been paid because I just can’t be bothered to argue with this money-grubbing company and I want to put as much distance between it and myself as possible. Hopefully I will now never hear from them ever again and why I put up with their greedy, above inflation pricing policies for so many years must remain a matter for personal conjecture.

[CirclipParticipant @circlip]

No Howard, Yackety Yack is not part of BT but does use their lines for T’internet connection.

Regards  Ian.

[Circlip]

On Circlip Said:

No Howard, Yackety Yack is not part of BT but does use their lines for T’internet connection.

Regards  Ian.

As do many other ISP’s, it is only recently that ISP’s like City Fibre have benn putting in their own netorks.

I have been with TalkTalk since they took over Tiscali many moons ago, service, availability, speed and price have always been good/competative but I have always chased the best deals, others who have just let things carry on year after year have been paying far more than I have for less bandwidth.

The recent survey of ISP providers show TalkTalk in the middle of the table, quite an improvement over past years.

If one is not happy with ones ISP then change and move elsewhere……

[Chris Crew]

On Chris Crew Said:

… I have not used the BT line (it’s actually disconnected in the loft) made any calls or even used their broadband and there is no explanation of why I am deemed to owe this amount. …

Most likely because part of the charge covers infrastructure costs, like the network, telephone exchange, poles, wires, green boxes, and the line into the house.    I think all utilities are the same:  a hefty lump of my gas bill charges me for pipes, meters, digging the road up, and admin even if I haven’t used any gas at all!

Be aware that they are all sharks.   The usual arrangement is that switching ISP results in lower costs for a year or two, then they pile it on again.  Wait and see!  There is no customer loyalty, the customer has to look after himself.   The only way to keep costs down is to switch provider regularly, which can be a serious hassle.

Dave

[SillyOldDuffer]

On SillyOldDuffer Said:

On Chris Crew Said:

… I have not used the BT line (it’s actually disconnected in the loft) made any calls or even used their broadband and there is no explanation of why I am deemed to owe this amount. …

Most likely because part of the charge covers infrastructure costs, like the network, telephone exchange, poles, wires, green boxes, and the line into the house.    I think all utilities are the same:  a hefty lump of my gas bill charges me for pipes, meters, digging the road up, and admin even if I haven’t used any gas at all!

Be aware that they are all sharks.   The usual arrangement is that switching ISP results in lower costs for a year or two, then they pile it on again.  Wait and see!  There is no customer loyalty, the customer has to look after himself.   The only way to keep costs down is to switch provider regularly, which can be a serious hassle.

Dave

Infrastructure costs are a part of any utility provider and still has to be paid for whether you use any gas, electricity, phone, water etc, you either pay a seperate amount or pay for it in the unit pricing, they are all businesses seeking to make a profit – you need to get realistic.

 

NO! not sharks, just businesses making a profit without which they would not survive.

I am not in league with ISP’s just being realistic.

If you want/have to chainge ISP regularly then get yourself a non ISP specific email address such as @gmail.com and make life easy.

 

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

Michael –

.odt files: Thankyou.

Reminds me of those blasted .docx and .xlsx files: strange versions of ‘Word’ and ‘Excel’ files that could not be edited without obtaining some Adobe software or other to translate them back to original forms. You could not buy the software, only rent it, and it was costly so just not feasible for occasional private use.

I encountered them when in preparing for retirement I tried sending some files about pensions etc. home from work; and also when as a committee-member of my model-engineering society these were among a weird and wonderful slew of file-types and formats circulated by fellow officers. In the former case the company’s server converted them to …x types, but eventually I discovered I could protect them by re-saving them in early versions of their creating software.

Microsoft’s cosy relationship with (ownership of?) Adobe meant a large window would appear with a big blue “Translate now” button – as on any common scam. And like any common scam, it was a lie, as it merely opened the Adobe sales page instead.

 

Are ODT files in the same category? I’m not sure if standardising file-types and software is not a double-edged sword for although the aim is entirely worthy it makes life easier for attackers. Though perhaps the real problem there is the near-total monopoly of Microsoft ‘Windows’ and the open use of it by large authorities, companies, etc.

[NealebParticipant @nealeb]

Not quite right, Nigel. The “…x” formats have been the default format for the Microsoft office products for some time now. However, the popular  (and free) Libreoffice software can read the format as well as produce MS-readable formats to exchange with fellow committee members and so on. Libreoffice is a package which pretty much parallels MS Office in functionality. Adobe does have its own proprietary formats but in this case, MS is actually a bit more “open”. I run Libreoffice on one of my workshop PCs as a free way to open various reference documents.

A bigger problem is how someone who just wants to use a PC as a tool without tracking all the finer detail of software versions and updates and compatibility can find out this stuff. Actually, this question is easy with Google but I agree that sometimes it can be more difficult, and a pop-up that points you to an expensive option is less than helpful.

Should you have things like file formats fixed for ever so no-one ever has to update, or accept that sometimes you need to extend the format to allow for more sophisticated features (that not everyone wants to use?) which means that older software cannot read them? Generally, newer software will continue to read old formats, sometimes even be told to save in older formats, but it’s not an approach that can last for ever – if you accept that things sometimes need to develop. But it’s not an easy one, especially for those who just want to do the everyday things that they have always done.

[Author]

Posts