Helpful BT - Not!....but then again...

[Deejay]

Morning Steve

Put your new postcode in here to see if Openzone is available.

http://btopenzone.hotspot-directory.com/

A wireless enabled laptop should work, if access is available, so no need to get a smart phone.

HTH

Cheers

Dave

 

[Steve Maskery]

Access isn't available Dave. Not in reality, nor according to that web page. 3.6 miles to a car dealership is the nearest! How on earth Mr Patel reckons that would be suitable is beyond me.

If I treated my customers as BT have treated me, I wouldn't have a business at all.

I'll look into tethering Roger.
S

 

[RogerS]

This looks a useful link, Steve

http://www.broadbandchoices.co.uk/ask-o ... aptop.html

 

[Steve Maskery]

I've just "chatted" with "Edwin" from T-mobile, who, after saying he couldn't answer my query because he didn't have access to my account, answered my question without having access to my account.
I can connect a Galaxy S2 to my Mac wirelessly to use it as a router. I assume that's only true if I have a good 3G signal there. I don't know how to check that.

But if that is true, I can get a "free" phone for £26 per month with AICE data and more minutes than I can speak for. That compares with paying BT 33-odd quid a month and my existing mobile bill of £5.33. If that actually works, it seems like a no-brainer. Am I being niaively optimistic?

The alternative is to sign up with Virgin. I was with them at my old house and never had any problems. Well, one, when our account was cloned, but it was sorted out quickly to my entire satisfaction. The trouble is, it's an 18-month contract again, and I don't expect to be in this new place that long. I certainly hope I won't be, I'm climbing the walls without a workshop!

 

[JakeS]

T-mobile
...
I assume that's only true if I have a good 3G signal there. I don't know how to check that.

You can look at their online coverage checker here:

http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/services/cove ... eet-check/

(Although their site seems to be a bit flaky right now!)

Whenever I've checked my coverage on one of these things it's been fairly accurate, but I've never been on T-Mobile so I don't know if theirs is. And obviously it is only an estimate, and very-local geography (things like specific houses in your way) can make a fairly big difference. I get four bars on one side of the office at work and two on the other, and there's a distance of about six metres between them. When they say things like "indoor coverage available" bear in mind that it generally means "indoor coverage available on the top floor and/or in the direction of mast, lower floors or leeward sides of buildings beware".



I've used my mobile tethered to my laptop for Internet access, and while it's certainly very feasible for general browsing, I've found YouTube videos are problematic, and file downloads can be a bit erratic. It really depends what you're doing with your connection, I guess!

 

[Steve Maskery]

You can look at their online coverage checker here:

http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/services/cove ... eet-check/

Click

Loading, please wait.....

Doesn't bode well!

S

 

[JakeS]

Loading, please wait.....

Doesn't bode well!

Are you perchance using Chrome or Safari? It works fine for me in Firefox and (shudder) IE, but yeah - I get the continuous loading in Chrome, and Safari is also based on Webkit.

 

[RogerS]

I think you can also share Orange masts with T-mobile.

Think a 3G dongle might be a better way especially seeing reports about the bandwidth between the phone and the computer throttiling the performance.

Also if you don;t get a 3G signal when you get there you can send the phone back and cancel...despite what they say in their returns policy.

 

[RogerS]

I think you're stuck with whichever provider gives you coverage where you are going. The downside is that they all seem to insist on 18 month plans....so you might as well forget the dongle and go for a smartphone.

 

[Deejay]

Morning Steve

How on earth Mr Patel reckons that would be suitable is beyond me.

Unfortunately, Mr Patel, like most call centre staff only work to a script. He has probably ticked a box to say that the problem is resolved and the statisticians will say that everything is wonderful.

Bearing in mind that there will probably be a penalty for early termination of your existing contract, it may be worth pursuing BT for a resolution.

If you decide to do this, there is a customer based forum at

http://community.bt.com/

Someone else may have given a solution to a similar problem.

You can escalate problems to a small team 'moderators' who are UK based BT staff.

Cheers

Dave

 

[Steve Maskery]

Well I've been and gone and done it.

I've cancelled the BT move (it's so much more pleasant talking to someone in a UK call centre). I need to ring again tomorrow to cancel my existing contract. It will cost me £33 to cancel early, but that's just about the same as paying until the end of my contract anyway. I might argue the toss but it's not humungous anyway.

And I've ordered a Galaxy S2. I hope it's as good as everyone says. In the days when I built PCs I vowed I'd never buy anything Samsung again. It always looked fantastic but had lousy reliability. Floppy drives, hard drives, phones (the wired sort), fax machines. They were always disappointing. But I've heard only good things about this.

Anyway I have 7 days to change my mind and 21 to return it, so I reckon it's low risk. Hey, I'm entering the 21st century!
Now, where did I put my filofax?
S

 

[brianhabby]

I've ordered a Galaxy S2

Hey, I'm entering the 21st century!

Congratulations and welcome aboard

regards

Brian

 

[Steve Maskery]

I'm like a kid with a new toy. I received the handset at about 4.30 yesterday and spent all evening playing. I don't sleep well generally, but last night I went to bed at midnight and was still awake at 4.30. Felt ghastly at 8 o'clock this morning. Still, I have it collecting email, it will tune my guitar. Unfortunately it doesn't help me to play it
But the best bit is this. For some reason best known to themselves, T-mobile have disabled the tethering function of the Android operating system. Tethering is when you connect your computer to the phone and use the phone's internet connection to browse on your computer. Apparently. Anyway, it is disabled. BUt. One of the installed apps is a link to the Apps Store, in which is a very nice App called FoxFi. It is free and does exactly what I want. It's not tethered by a cable, but sets the phone up as a aWiFi hotspot. So it creates a wireless network called, say "FoxFi", and that appears on my list of available wireless networks. So my Mac connects to that and I can surf on my Mac even when my regular router is not connected. Result! Especially as BT can't connect me until Oct 4th!
So: New smartphone, no broadband, no landline, all the connectivity and Minutes I could possible want and I save a few pounds every month into the bargain. And I no longer have to have any dealings with that excuse for a cowboy outfit called BT. Absolutely dreadful, from the moment I signed up a year ago to today. Dire, dire, dire.
So life is starting to look up. I'll be getting a new workshop next!
But first I have to survive another house move.....
S

 

[Harbo]

Nice news Steve.

Rod

 

[JakeS]

For some reason best known to themselves, T-mobile have disabled the tethering function of the Android operating system.

I get the impression that mobile companies like to fiddle with (and by "fiddle with" I mean "cock up") the Android system just because they can.

My dad was complaining to me the other day that he couldn't work out how to uninstall applications. It turns out that he can uninstall applications just fine, it's just that some bright spark at Three thought that it would be a laugh (or more likely: profitable) to have Facebook installed as an essential system app.

 

[Steve Maskery]

I think it must all be down to profitability. Let us assume that data transfer is expensive, so more data = higher cost. I'm not sure why that should be, because I don't understand the technology, but let us assume that to be the case.

Little Android machine = little data, whereas big desktop machine = large amounts of data. Is it that simple? In which case, having a huge iMac hanging off the back of a little smartphone, and the income is the same, it's in the carrier's interest to, how shall we put it, dissuade the user from taking up lots of data transfer. Yet they are happy to sell it at Unlimited Internet. Hmmm.

I just hope that the experiment that has worked so well here, works equally well at the new location.
S

 

[RogerS]

Steve finally managed to get his new phone working at his new home

:lol: :lol:

 

[Steve Maskery]

HOT food? And shelter too? Luxury!

 

[Steve Maskery]

In the days when I built PCs I vowed I'd never buy anything Samsung again. It always looked fantastic but had lousy reliability. Floppy drives, hard drives, phones (the wired sort), fax machines. They were always disappointing.

I should have known better! I've discovered that I can't send text massages, the Centre Number is not set up. I've been through the auto download option on the phone, the auto download option on the website, I've got a very nice Scottish lady to send me the text, I've been to a higher support guy who tried to put it in in the root of the phone and I've been to his superior who got me to do a factory reset. All to no avail. I have spent 2 hours on the phone today. So I have to get a replacement phone. But it's bank holiday and I move house on Tuesday, so if he delivers on Tuesday when I'm not here, I'm stuffed. Or I wait until Thursday.

Either way I'm going to have to set it all up all over again

Oh woe is me,
Woe, woe and thrice woe.
S

 

[RogerS]

That sounds bizarre.