Aargh! This would be filed under rants if I had such a category, however whinges will have to do!
Yesterday afternoon saw me having to drive across Plymouth. A drive of about 3 miles at about 4pm. I had a meeting to attend at 5pm. Plenty of time I thought. How wrong could I be! The traffic was crawling or stationary for most of the journey. Why? I’ve no idea, but it didn’t get any better in all the time I was stuck in traffic. I’d have been better off leaving my car where it was and walking. I eventually got to the meeting at about 5:30. Half an hour late.
Why all the traffic? I’m told “sometimes it’s like that”.
And people put up with it!
If there was ever a time to look into telecommuting/working from home, now must be it. Why wait in traffic when you can have an extra 2-3 hours a day at home! We have the technology - Internet, VPN and VoIP. It’s all possible these days.
So stop whinging about the traffic and the commute, get with the 21st century and lobby your bosses to allow you to work from home. Get them to get a decent Internet connection and VPN server and also get them to get a good VoIP capable PBX. And I know a man who’ll be more than happy to sell you one too.
Ever had a call from someone who just hung up? The chances are that it’s a marketing call system and alas, you’re going to get more …
What to do… Firstly if they didn’t withold their number, then look it up. How? Several ways and they might not even cost you anything. Firstly, find the location - if it’s a UK number (starting 01, 02, or even 08, 07, etc.) Try this site: Magenta Systems. That will tell you where (in the UK) the call originated from. Maybe it was just your long-lost Aunt Flo from Durham?
Then… Google the number. The chances are you’ll either find the companys website (if it’s legit!), or you might find the number listed it a “Who called me” website. One I’ve used in the past is: Who Calls Me.
And if there is a human on the end of the phone? Well, Speak to them. Tell them that you’re not interested (which you won’t be!) ask to be added to their do-not-dial list. They’re paying for the call, so just waste a little of their time and get on with your life.
And if by-chance you hear a robot saying something like “Please press 9 to be connected”, then don’t wory about and rumours that you might hear or read about - there’s no-way you can be charged (yet) in the UK for an incoming call, so go-ahead and press 9 - it’s just their way of making sure there really is a human at your end, and then waste a little of their time, then get on with your life.
Do not call the number back. Especially if it’s an 09 or 070 number. (Note: 070 is NOT a mobile number, it’s a premium rate service!). All that’ll do is waste your own time.
Finally, register every number and address you have with the Telephone and Mail preference services.
You might see a few companies (especially BT!) offering deals in return for a “Rolling one year contract”, but what does this mean, and how it it different from an ordinary “One year contract”.
Well, in simple terms it’s a lock-in from the supplier of one year, (just line any other one year contract), then at the end of that year, it’s a another lock-in for another whole year, and so on.
Traditionally, we’re used to taking out a contract with a telephone company for one year, then after that it’s on a monthly (or sometimes quarterly) basis after that. Not so with the latest deal from BT…
But is it worth it? That’s for you to decide - there’s usually an incentive from the supplier (but not always - check the small print!) In BT’s case, the current incentive is free evenings and weekend calls if you sign up for a rolling contract.
So always read the small print and make sure this is what you really want to do before signing up for one.
When it’s going through the “Spook Call” service, of-course…
So this is a company, setup with the intention of letting you place a telephone call, but fake your caller ID number to the far-end. Not only that, but they’re offering a voice disguise function too.
Is this good? I don’t think so. It completely de-values caller ID, meaning that when someone calls you and you see their number (which might even go into your system and produce a name or even be integrated with your address book, or CRM system and produce more details), you can now no-longer rely on that number being who it says it is, and in todays world where we’re all fighting against identity theft, spam, and other nuisance phone calls, this is just too much.
A lot of people PAY BT, etc. for the privilege of receiving incoming caller-id too - are these people going to carry on paying for something that’s now a joke?
Fortunately “something’s being done” or at least it’s being brought to the attention of the press, MPs and so on.
For more reading, have a look at The Registers take on it, but for now, trusting incoming caller ID is going to be somewhat tricky now 
Update: Friday 13th June
It looks like the Spook Call company have turned themselves off. Hurrah! (or words to that effect 
Imagine going into a pub and asking for “Up to a pint of beer”. If the landlord gave you a thimble-full, would you have course to complain?
But for the past few years, we’ve been sold on the “Up to 8megabits” broadband connection.
Now, from a technical point of view, this is correct - the speed that we can get is dependant on the technology which depends on the copper wires connecting out premises to the local BT exchange, and the longer these wires are, the slower the speed. 8Mb is the maximum speed you can get with an ADSL+ product, but how many people actually get the full 8Mb?
Not that many - of-course it really depends on where you are… A recent survey suggests that if you live in a city then you’ll get faster speeds, than living in a rural location - What can I say to that? How about (to use an americanism), “Well, Duh”… It’s patently obvious and you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to work out why - Cities have a higher population density, therefore more telephone exchanges, therefore the chances of you being closer to an exchange is higher.
Back to the point. Ofcom is now asking ISPs to be more up-front with their advertising and numbers. They’re also asking them to be honest (what, an ISP lie to you? Never!) when they use terms such as “unlimited”, and so on. (And what do you think “unlimited” means?) It’s very hard these days to get a truly unlimited Internet connection - well, actually, it’s not that hard, but no-one is willing to pay for it!
So if you’re getting or changing your broadband connection, READ THE SMALL PRINT! and use the various checkers to give you an estimate of the maximum speed your line will support. A very good one is the Sam Knows site. Get your phone number and postcode handy, then jump in, so some research, ask friends and neighbours, pester your local ICT geek, and go for it!
Many moons ago we used to have a 2-tier charging system for calling “landlines”. Local and National. Then NGNs were invented - Non Geographic Numbers. These started off as 0345, then quickly became 0845 and 0870 (and now we have others too - 0844, 0871, etc.) This was well and good, when we had the 2-tier charging system - however very soon, we moved to a single charging system for all UK landlines, but the 0870 “national” rate, and 0845 “local” (now “lo-cost”) rates still carried on.
What’s worse is that these numbers are revenue generating, meaning that someone, somewhere if making money out of your call, and it’s not just BT …
What’s even worse is that most of the time you can’t use your inclusive or discount minutes on whatever telephone (landline or mobile) plan you use.
So you end up paying the full whack, and the recipient of the call gets money for the pleasure of talking to you. The amount they get varies, but it can be over 5p a minute, which may not sound much, but imagine 100’s or 1000’s of people calling this number every month …
These calls are now firmly in the class of premium rate calls, and as far as I’m concerned, the operators of these numbers are ripping you off on the pretence of “national” rate, or some other feeble excuse.
So what can we do about it? Well some (but not all!) 0870 numbers have a geographic equivalent… How do we find that? Well this website has a very good list: Say No to 0870
What else? Well, Ofcom decided last year to finally recognise that these numbers are revenue generating and ought to be treated like premium rate numbers. In February this year, everything was supposed to change.
It didn’t.
Fortunately the consultation is still going on.
Basically the plan is to treat them as proper revenue generating numbers (announcements needs to be made in advance on while on-line telling you how much it’s costing you, etc.) and fines can be imposed to those who don’t follow the rules. The department responsible for premium rate numbers is called PhonePayPlus (previously known as ICSTIS)
Ofcom has aimed to publish a decision in the summer of this year PhonePayPlus will start to regulate these numbers by the end of the year.
If you want to read the consultation notes, then for 0870 numbers, it’s:
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/0870calls/
Don’t we all hate SPAM, aka Unsolicited Commercial Email, or UCE ?
I do, and I devote a lot of time and resources at trying to keep my email systems sane and safe from it.
Recently, I’ve been attending various business networking meetings - breakfasts, lunches, etc. and it seems to me that giving your business card out appears to be an opportunity for the recipient to add you into their nice little email system. WRONG! That’s not what networking is about! I don’t want to have to click a link to unsubscribe because I never asked to subscribe in the first place! When will people realise that opt-in is the keyword, not opt out.