Posts by Da Weezil
314 posts • joined Friday 12th June 2009 16:04 GMT
Re: Apple is not unique...
I Still think the correct people to inquire about the authenticity is the CC issuer, they have a lot of information on file already, information that is "historic" and verified. Apple cannot have as much of a factual base for a check of submitted "documents" as your CC company / DC issuing bank would have if they called you for a verification check - which would use information already supplied and held on file.
Too many companies seem to think they have the right to chapter and verse about us. I wouldnt/havent had any issues over being called by the card issuer, I would be very disturbed to be asked to submit ID documents to a company selling me something, especially via an insecure submission method, thats without the data protection issues that may arise.
Re: It does not work!
Opera / iOS same... disappointing that a tech site gets details like that wrong.
A technicality.
I wonder how his insurance company view his generosity? When you consider how reluctant Insurers can be to part with cash after a claim, would they feel that by refusing the offer of a return of the stolen item he has not taken all possible steps to mitigate their loss as insurers?
Its a technicality I know - but then insurance seems to thrive on technicalities.
The point is that after receiving a payout, surely any items later located are the property of the insurers - and no longer the property of the insured to make generous decisions about.
Just curious.... any insurers reading this?
Re: Good question
Of course this is especially useful in rural areas where the local library is probably mobile with a bricks and mortar branch being several miles away (and probably adjacent to the Job Centre), thats without the many areas that are closing branch libraries due to the austerity budgets.
In my county branch libraries are only open three and a half working days per week. having a half day midweek, being closed on Monday and always closing sharp at 5 pm on days when they are open.
A few facts often overlooked by the overpaid posers that ruin - I mean run - our country.
Re: I hope one of those companies is Microsoft
We have a play along script in this household... including the information that "we are in Scotland on a very slow connection so downloading that program is taking some time" . The record is almost 50 minutes before the penny dropped and call droid realised he was being gamed..... oh boy do they get angry!!!!
Re: Most nuisance calls nowadays come from abroad anyway
I take the view that it is more a case of BT not wanting to do anything.
A BT droid once told me that it would be illegal for BT to block calls from overseas - even the ones that spoof caller ID.
My view is that if I am not expecting calls from overseas I should be able to block out of UK calls to the line I pay rental for - further the b/s about not being able to legally block any calls - I would suggest that where a caller is sending false data identifying an overseas line as being a UK one that has to be a breach of BTs T&C somewhere.
Its time some real protection was given to citizens - the business world has had 10 years to get its head around the law. Now we need to see some big fines, penalties for UK companies that deliberately use overseas call centres to circumvent UK law including a law to make them liable for the acts of companies who are in effect acting as their agents - and establish a quadruple penalty in those cases as it would be in effect an aggravated offence.
Time to play some real hard ball with this pond dwelling scum.
PPI complaints to the MOJ please!
I recently discovered that PPI companies have to be licenced by the Ministry of Justice. One call to A helpful guy in London was enough to register a complaint. The MOJ have a unit dealing with this - but it seems to be suffering from a lack of publicity - I called out of sheer bloody minded anger.
it would be nice to see some companies lose their licence - and be unable to operate in that field.
Posted in Windows Phone 8 support to end in 2014
Re: Given
Really? That wasnt my experience...... My low powered spare Driod - an orange badged ZTE blade - has been upgraded a couple of times.. Of course being rooted helped... now all it needs is cyanogen to release a stable build for my S3lte.
Posted in BT engineers - missed appointments
There are a number of posts on various broadband forums that suggest that FTTC installs are routinely marked by no-shows.
What really bites is that BT will charge YOU if you break an appointment, maybe we need a level playing field whereby BT are required to pay us the same level of "fine" is they break the appointment without due notice, then we could expand that into fining BT for wrongful SFI bills. That might make them treat their customers with respect and consideration...
Of course fixing my unstable 3km (or 2.6km depending on which database you look at)line so broadband doesn't drop out at random and delivers what all the stats say it s should would be too much to ask... even after 10 years. Hmm maybe one of the pair takes a longer route! that would explain the disparity.
Fail (as my line does too often)
two words... one of them "off".
I'm more likely to avoid ads that are spammed at me while browsing. Ad blockers installed wherever possible. I am NOT a marketing opportunity.
If ever an "industry" was a perfect example of a waste of energy and resources it is the Ad "industry"
Their real crime was not being a big enough business to be untouchable, and not to be making decent donations to the right political parties... that and probably not attending the "right" school/university screwed them.
Yes I am very cynical about the way this country is, its about as corrupt and amoral as it gets and the closer to the top you get, the worse the stench gets.
"That strength in Wi-Fi is, in part at least, achieved by putting a publicly accessible network hotspot into every T Broadband router issued by the telco. "
Something which I disable in every BT router set up I touch as BT have dragged their heels over even ADSL2 on our exchange I don't see why they should inflict the double whammy of higher IPSC pricing for lower speeds and allowances and add to that Stealing some of the line capacity on people connected to a service that they have really dragged their heels about dragging up-to date on an exchange which has 10,000 lines (so not a shed in the middle of a village green - many of those HAVE ADSL2!). That really rubs salt into the wounds!
BT - the suckiest bunch of sucks the ever sucked.
Tesco here killed the high street record store. They opened... put in a full aisle of cds and dvds... then when the local businesses folded because all of the kids were buying the latest NOW xx crud there they slashed the range to a small selection of cheap oldie compilations and the sad old record company rigged top 40 albums. After Woolies and the other chain whose name escapes me folded we are left with our "local" HMV (65 miles away) hanging on precariously and nothing but a supermarket wasteland between.
I'm afraid MR White is talking out of a different orifice to the one musicians usually use to accompany the strumming... there are NO real record stores left in many places now, The market place is one dimensional!
He who pays the politican calls the tune
Like most "citizen protection" in the UK, its only Lip Service, there is no real desire by Government - who are in effect a bunch of company owned puppets - to effectively prevent the exploitation of us to the fullest degree possible.
They need a sharp reminder of Whom the are SUPPOSED to work for - and it isn't those with those writing the donation cheques.
There is nothing more corrupt than politics and politicians - they make even bankers look like paragons of virtue
i said a while ago they needed to combine swype with this to have a great app... seems that they heard me :) the predictive side of this is just great... I hope the flow-type works as well. time to upgrade my app and swap over the default from swype and give it a try
another ones gone....
Im trying out Tango as it will run in my Desktop and my smartphone, it seems far less prone to those annoying stranger requests I get on Skype.Most of my MSN list are also on yahoo so we will just move there, I still have ICQ and AIM in Adium too (or Trillian on my remaining windows laptop screen) I'll run it while it works but when they switch it off I will move off of Microsoft services for most of my chat, I may even drop Skype as that is becoming a buggy annoyance, I don't do facebook so it isn't that which has driven me out.
It all helps me to move further and further away from Microsoft - even my dyslexic sister is now running a Linux based machine and wont be seeing a windows phone anytime soon. Own goal by Redmond - again. Maybe they have caught the Nokia deathwish virus.
Re: Apps store
"Nokia was very big in many languages most Americans cannot even spell, and which constitute substantial markets."
Works just as well this way...
Nokia was very big in many languages, and which constitute substantial markets. Most Americans cannot even spell
Re: Why not....
how about Renault Dauphines.. driven by Clouseau look-alikes.
"Zat car is going like a berm...."
Re: Hmmm
My sister has a 54 plate Megane DCi that has Keycard ignition... I'm not familiar with the electrickery that they have harnessed to this Gallic witchcraft. I know someone who has a 2003 Laguna that was one of the most unreliable cars I have ever seen, covering almost as much mileage on the back of beaver-tail trucks as it did on its own wheels.
another pipe dream
Given the number of dire warnings about an ageing UK generation infrastructure - and thew potential for "gray outs" due to a lack of capacity in the UK at peak times.. where is all the power for this going to come from? And how is this *green* power going to be produced in enough quantity to power the additional requirement?
Re: An idea springs to mind
And this addresses the poor range and slow recharge how? Lets not get into the question of who would fund this, and where all this electricity is going to come from - especially on a nice still summers day...
Re: Yes but - @Thorn
....And most weekends I need a car capable of doing far more than this toy can manage, I'm sure the hire companies would love a steady income stream like that, but in REAL LIFE this isn't sustainable so the nasty pollution causing not at all green electric car is no more than a novelty item for airheads to chatter about at dinner parties, in the real world it doesn't work, is over priced and causes far more pollution than it fans like to admit.
This is not a real world solution
Just another example of how politicians exist to funnel OUR money to their business owning friends. Its all about the Govt: business pork barrel redistributing wealth upwards, while stripping away rights and security from those at the lower end.
This should be in house as should all Government functions, we don't have the right to stop our data being farmed out to these asshats, so if it is obtained by compulsion it should be kept away from the private sector and that includes stuff like the DVLA database.
The ore intrusive the ads - the less TV I will watch. Its their choice!
I am not a marketing opportunity.
Self defeating advertisers.
Whatever they do is self defeating as ad breaks during live viewing in this house are always muted as a matter of course so the ads get ignored - but generally we "miss" the start of the show so we are time shifted by a few minutes and can skip thru the breaks.
The more intrusive the ads, the more I resist... Its just the way I am wired - and I'm sure I'm not alone in that.
Shame they didn't rip out the crap copper that has been flapping my line for the 11 years I have been on broadband. That way I might get a decent pair that will allow my "always on" service to be *always on* instead of having a sync that resembles a bouncing ball..... and no it isn't an issue in the flat - every elecrical gizmo and gadget in the premises has changed in that time... most of my neighbours have changed due to short-hold tenancies (this development is popular amongst the buy to let boys) so no issues with something that her next door has - and now one else around here has this issue.. IT IS THE <&@£ LINE!!!!!!!!!!!
As for masquerading as BT engineers, the same charge could be levelled against the muppets that keep closing jobs on my unstable 3 km line as no fault when the ISPs radius and my router logs clearly show the line dropping far more often than it should, Including the guy who improved the below FTL fault raised by my last ISP then authorized an SFI charge on a fault that wast in my premises or equipment.
*sigh*
There is one - the regs were recently tightened up - and all it has really achieved is creating more administration for the metal business and an inconvenience of having to faff around with cheques as cash payments are no longer permitted.
The bent dealers will still operate the black market as none of this stuff ever went through the books anyhow. Just another example of legislation from a bunch of muppets who have no grasp on real life for ordinary people.
The van was most likely running under faked registration details either a non existent owner or cloned with another vehicle or on stolen number plates. Do people really not know about this stuff despite the exposure in the media of the different ways thieves operate?
Euro Curruption begins at home.
Ah.. I bet there will be the end of any hope of faster broadband for the REAL west of Wales (thats the bit past Swansea for those who rarely look west of Cardiff), where we have been left behind in the political fudge that has seen Labour represented areas prioritized - despite the claim that areas with enterprise zones would be prioritized It seems that where such areas didn't vote labour (like the 3 southwestern counties) they are relegated to the second tranche for this money supposedly to bring broadband to rural areas - behind areas that are bordering urban centres like Newport and Swansea and behind areas that already have access to ADSL2 - which is quite scarce across the "real" west.
From the Enterprise Zone Wales website
"With around 30% of the UK's energy supplies now coming via Pembrokeshire and contributing over £2 billion a year to the Treasury, we are rapidly increasing our reputation as the 'New Energy Capital' of the UK.
Based on existing and potential new energy sites the Haven Waterway Enterprise Zone is a unique location with access to deep water port facilities coupled with sea conditions that are ideal for the development of both Wave and Tidal Stream Marine Energy."
So we meet the priority criteria... but don't get the money - how does that work? Id ask the minister responsible, but given her political allegiance I doubt I would get an honest answer. We give plenty to the economy of the UK... but we get a scant return.
I'm sure that once the money has been blown in the Welsh Labour heartlands we will be told sorry but the money has run out - not helped by the way they have procrastinated over this whole issue. The Welsh Assembly whatever it is calling itself this year whilst trying to apply a title that it has no claim to by stealth is a waste of money and a vanity project that serves NO One expect those with their snouts in the Cardiff bay trough.
The whole BDUK set up in Wales smacks of patronage and corruption - quite fitting for something run with Ei
Euro money
Re: Data cap anyone?
3? They have problems with 3g connectivity in my area.... a lot of people here will never trust them again.
So how do they view the use of a browser with a torrent client built in - Opera (for Windows) springs to mind?
Re: Am I out of touch? [guffaw]
I'm already moving family and friends towards a Linux based set up.. dropping as much Windows only stuff as I can and getting them used to more cross platform software. I banished windows from my desktop some time back and now only have a token install on a laptop (rarely used) and a basic win 7 set up on my imac which I never seem to need.
This does indeed look like a move to subscription based model with no physical media involved (or only available at a huge premium.)No thanks Redmond.
The scary thing is that they allow people like that to breed.
Re: International CLI and BT
.... along with a facility to bar (free) unwanted calls from overseas. Im not expecting any... so barring non UK numbers isnt an issue for me. I purposely avoid companies that have overseas call centres.
Re: These are network services
Anonymous call reject is useless in the face of so many spammers spoofing Uk numbers, maybe it is about time the network was inspecting the CLI and dropping calls from invalid UK codes. Such instances have to be a breach of BTs T&C for carrying calls and so they would not be in breach of any international carriage agreements by dropping calls that lie about their origin.
There is so much interest in "data inspection" these days - this would be one area where such prying would be welcome by most and extremely useful in controlling these parasites
Re: simple solution to nuisance calls - hurt their wallet
But in much of the UK the only way to have broadband is to comply with the ofcom sanctioned "BT profit margin protection scam" that requires you to pay for a full voice service rather than a data only service, so while i am forced to pay for the provision of voice I may as well use it... For many the problem would be solved by forcing BT to provide only what we want/need.
TPS registered, but whats needed is HUUUUUUGE fines for UK companies that use overseas telemarketers to spam our phones, with an assumption of liability for compliance on the part of the company that does the hiring. BT have no interest in stopping this completely as it generates a useful revenue for them and of course OFCOM is too busy staying Lubed up for big telco to bother trying to regulate effectively or in the interests of the individual citizen
On the subject of Dutch call centres claiming that they don't fall under the remit, being [art of the EU they should be aware of the Privacy in Communications Directive which addresses this exact area.
The fact is that with society being so morally bankrupt at the higher levels nothing decisive will be done because business owns the governments in terms of both donations to political parties and the promise of cushy jobs when the hurly-burly of politics becomes too much.
I reserve the right to be as offensive and abusive as I can on my phone.. especially when some scum sucking pond life wastes my time with spam calls.
A James T Krk/Denny Crane Hybrid could be funny though!
Paris because.... "Denny Crane!!"
Nokia Ended a near 15 year unbroken addiction to their handsets when they announced the ditching of symbian just as I was about to jump in. Glad I waited. I moved to a mix of Linux and Mac to avoid further exposure to windows - why would I add to the frustration on my phone?
My phone is separate from my other devices, I don't want a pc in my hand, it has a different set of uses often due to the pricing and performance of UK networks. My Samsung does all I want and is a Redmond free phone.
Are you sure that strangely surnamed individual isnt Mr Ratner in Disguise?
Fail Because they drove away a whole household of Nokia Fans.
"The only sure way to get rid of 360 is to format the HDD and start from scratch (JUST like many M$ browser products); no wonder my AV and AntiMalware programs list it as Malware !!"
At least you can get rid of it - unlike that pesky Redmond malware called Internet Explorer!
No Sterling Please....
Another US only card?
Not that Id have any use for a FB card - I refuse to give the site any credibility - But its the same with Google. There are Vouchers in the UK IF you buy the right model Droid at the right Mo fo chain, but no actual Google play card for Google Play Store to use or gift. I was going to send someone a card to fit out his new Droid, but instead sent him a card for something else - not phone related. Play cards are available.
Guess the septics dont want our money!
What a Waste
ICO, OFT, OFCOM, All useless and toothless.
Ripe for replacement with something that looks after the citizens rights... oh silly me.. that would impinge on the rights of companies to profile us/Fleece us/allow us to be ripped off by ISPs.
Re: NO problems with old Samsungs
OTOH my Samsung LCD TV died after 14 months of very light use - it worked.. locked to one channel only and at one volume only - refusing to accept inputs from either the supplied remote, the correctly programmed Sky remote, or the few buttons mounted on the side of the set. According to the service agents it was a motherboard fault - the Warranty company just wrote me a cheque and I rectified my mistake with a nice Panny Smart Plasma that has performed faultlessly for 18 months now.
I have a galaxy s3, but I wouldn't touch their other stuff...
Re: No improvement in quality
Removed EVERYTHING even the phone some years ago - yep paying for a voice line that I cant use cos the first thing that happens in that Openjoke try to blame our stuff. Everything electrical has changed here during thetime I have had broadband. Several routers have been tried including 585v6 and HGV2700s and now a Fritzbox.
I moved 10 months ago to an LLU service and STILL the problem persists, even after a pair change between the Cabinet and Exchange. It has to be between my NTE5 and the cabinet, but Openjoke are reluctant to try to fix this any more. BT cant even sort out the line length. According to one person I spoke to at BT some time ago - and this fits with the estimators at Kitz and other sites... my line is a shade under 3 km, However the Be checker claims that the BT database gives my line as being 2665 metres.
When they invest in tech that actually gets faults fixed then it will be newsworthy!
Re: No such thing as bad publicity
and yet only yesterday I took delivery of a nice shiny white S3 i9305 LTE... I had looked at an ishiney... but despite having a 27inch Imac here I decided to stick with the droid, and while i wouldn't buy another sammy TV after the last one died at 14 months old.. the phones are a different thing.
Those who say it is a significant loss for Samsung seem to forget that they make a LOT of electronics.. not just phones
No improvement in quality
All this tech and they still cant stop my line dropping at random as it has done for 10+ years - now they are blaming CP equipment that has only been available in the area for 10 months.
Re: Seem to remember something like this before
Yep Independent TV went that way as did Independent radio. Its just a way of establishing the building blocks of a new media empire fr one of their cash rich friends who wants to break into broadcasting.
We need quality output - not more dross made on a shoe-string.
Thankfully we are not getting it here - the local (county) radio station is DIRE, and a waste of spectrum - I cant see local TV being much different. Its not like they are making anything decent now. Its a waste of money and resource.
Uswitch - about as much use as a Martin Lewis recommendation for Best Broadband.
Most people round here would give their eye teeth for 5 megs total... never mind a 5 meg loss!
This is a not spot... a BT investment Not Spot.
Its crud like this that distorts the real situation for many who only have fibre in their breakfast cereal, those on the many old 8 meg exchanges that remain fare worst of all.
The usual whining from BT Openjoke is about how much it would cost and yet there are areas with fairly well concentrated centres of development that are still ignored or have dates slipping again and again while BT group hope that they can get the Govt: to fund the capital investment for them, while BT are happy to charge over the top for slower speeds and smaller allowances on equipment that is increasingly second hand.
Add to that the lethargy with which they tackle exchange congestion and the refusal to ensure that ancient copper (or other metals) in the local loop is actually functioning properly/ providing a standard of service that is acceptable within the constraints of the "technical expectations" of the line.
To borrow from the BMW driving salesman analogy.. My BMW as a random problem with the engine restarting itself at random times and with no input from the driver - this can result in the BMW only being able to be driven at half speed or less until I get out lock the doors wait 5 minutes and then start again. The only thing that hasn't been changed is the local pair from my home to the Cab (400 mtrs max) but Openjoke consider that as its an intermittent issue and only completely screws my service for a couple of days once or twice a month on average then it isn't worth bothering with - they even tried to blame CP equipment from my LLU provider (that I have been with for 10 months) for an issue that goes all the way back to the pre ADSLMax 512k service when the exchange was first activated in 2001.
They cant even get the line length right. Kitz Checker (and a couple of others suggest 3 KM) According to the Be Checker Openjokes database says 2665mtrs in which case my line is also seriously under-performing. BT are the biggest bar to decent broadband in the UK.
"High-Level Group on Media Freedom and Pluralism" - I really did read that as "Puritanism" at first glance
Life in Europe really is a joyless thing. While I agree the press has demonstrated its seedier side in recent years, do the Eurocrats really believe that democracy is served by this sort of drivel?
There are bigger fish to fry....
BT Inept
You are lucky - the ones they have in West Wales seem completely inept - except for booking charges where a network fault exists.
