Television adverts with no logic.

[A Challenge]

The Telephone Preference service doesn't put some companies off ringing me - and what's annoying is things like the dentist lalso withhold their number, and so I answer it anyway.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Very recently, BT introduced the free BT Call Protect System. Has anyone subscribed to it yet?

 

[Howardh]

The Telephone Preference service doesn't put some companies off ringing me - and what's annoying is things like the dentist lalso withhold their number, and so I answer it anyway.

Telephones are now so crammed with spam callers, and the fact that you can't see the genuine caller's numbers as they withold them; I'm seriously thinking of doing away with the landline and using fibre for broadband, and if someone important wants to contact me (doc's, dentist, anyone I genuinely ant to hear from) they will have to e-mail or text me and I'll Skype them back.

Wonder if anyone here is landline-less?

 

[Mvann]

I am landline-less. Just a mobile phone

 

[furnessvale]

The Telephone Preference service doesn't put some companies off ringing me - and what's annoying is things like the dentist lalso withhold their number, and so I answer it anyway.

Another part of the problem is that spammers computers are generating false numbers to show on your display to con you into picking up.

If I see an incoming call prefixed by my local code I know its spam because a genuine local call does not need the prefix.

 

[najaB]

I'm seriously thinking of doing away with the landline and using fibre for broadband, and if someone important wants to contact me (doc's, dentist, anyone I genuinely ant to hear from) they will have to e-mail or text me and I'll Skype them back.

Virgin Media already offer broadband without a landline, and Openreach (BT) are about to roll out SOGEA which is fibre to the cabinet broadband without landline service. So it will become very common relatively soon.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Wonder if anyone here is landline-less?

I'm virtually landline-less. I have a landline, but only because the cheapest broadband option I could get suitable for my needs happened to have a landline bundled with it. I'm fairly sure the phone connected to the landline has been broken for at least the last year and I still haven't got round to replacing it. And I never give any of my friends my landline number, so when the phone was working, I had no reason to ever answer any landline calls - I knew they wouldn't be interesting!

The only thing I occasionally used to use the landline for was to report faults on my Internet connection (the convenience of dialling 150 to get straight through to the ISP, guaranteed free). So I guess the next time a fault occurs, I might slightly regret not having replaced my phone.

There was a time when, even if you had a mobile permanently with you, a landline was still useful because call charges were so much less. But these days, in my experience, any mobile contract that gives me enough data allowance for my data requirements also comes bundled with far more free minutes a month than I would ever actually use - so using my mobile for all calls, even if I'm at home, is close to being free anyway. And it's much simpler if I only have to give friends one phone number.

 

[Howardh]

I'm virtually landline-less. I have a landline, but only because the cheapest broadband option I could get suitable for my needs happened to have a landline bundled with it. I'm fairly sure the phone connected to the landline has been broken for at least the last year and I still haven't got round to replacing it. And I never give any of my friends my landline number, so when the phone was working, I had no reason to ever answer any landline calls - I knew they wouldn't be interesting!

The only thing I occasionally used to use the landline for was to report faults on my Internet connection (the convenience of dialling 150 to get straight through to the ISP, guaranteed free). So I guess the next time a fault occurs, I might slightly regret not having replaced my phone.

There was a time when, even if you had a mobile permanently with you, a landline was still useful because call charges were so much less. But these days, in my experience, any mobile contract that gives me enough data allowance for my data requirements also comes bundled with far more free minutes a month than I would ever actually use - so using my mobile for all calls, even if I'm at home, is close to being free anyway. And it's much simpler if I only have to give friends one phone number.

Skype is so cheap it's almost free, and can be used on smart phones where there if free wifi! As for the landline, Sky wanted nearly £30 for the phone and broadband, and then another £8 on top for anytime calls. I sacked anytime calls, and got a discount off by broadband with them so I'm now paying about £24.
Once fibre phone-free options become more widely available (and cheaper) I'll probably go down that route.
Q - if you have broadband via your phone with one provider, can you have, alongside it, fibre broadband with another with just the single phone line?

 

[TheEdge]

Let's do some digging on that one:

• A quick WHOIS check shows that Breathe.com was registered by Breath Networks Ltd.
• Going to Companies House they were an Internet services company (ISP to you or me) who operated from 2006 to 2010.
• The Register reports that Breathe Networks sold their assets to Breathe Internet in 2009.
• And they still operate as such.

So now you know.

Image shows najaB dressed up as Inspector Clouseau

I now like to show adverts the contempt they deserve, most of my media consumption is done via the internet now, Adblock and laugh.

 

[jon0844]

Wonder if anyone here is landline-less?

I have to have a line for broadband, but I don't give the number out (well, I think the bank and mortgage company have it, but not much else).

If I get a call, it's going to be spam. Even if the bank calls, that's going to be spam too (the 'we'd like to chat to check we're offering you the best packages' calls).

I pay £1 for broadband and £18 for the line. I realise Ofcom now makes companies combine the two charges so as not to give misleading figures (like £1 for broadband that you can't have without a phone!).

I'd quite like to pay nothing for a landline, and not be able to make or receive calls or get any weekend calls or other nonsense.

Virgin Media already offer broadband without a landline, and Openreach (BT) are about to roll out SOGEA which is fibre to the cabinet broadband without landline service. So it will become very common relatively soon.

I can't get Virgin and BT missed our cabinet due to some missing paperwork (the only one in the whole town not enabled, as it crosses private land and BT lost the permission paperwork*) so I'm probably going to be the exception to the rule for a bit.

* By losing it, they have then taken over five years to make any attempt to rectify this situation, other than to say it's back on as a planned upgrade but can't give an estimate of when it will be done. Suffice to say, I find Openreach to be totally and utterly incompetent. And even my MP has been unable to get anything done quicker, or locate the right people to speak to as Openreach don't communicate with Joe Public.

 

[najaB]

By losing it, they have then taken over five years to make any attempt to rectify this situation, other than to say it's back on as a planned upgrade but can't give an estimate of when it will be done. Suffice to say, I find Openreach to be totally and utterly incompetent. And even my MP has been unable to get anything done quicker, or locate the right people to speak to as Openreach don't communicate with Joe Public.

I used to work for BT up until fairly recently and I can assure you that issues like that are not uncommon and the blame is most of the time not BT's. The people who sat opposite me are Openreach planners and they were often pulling their hair out because jobs were stuck for months (or years) waiting on wayleaves or similar.

I know of one job in particular which was held up for going on four years because three parties had to give permission for the work to go ahead and it was nigh on impossible for them to agree a common date for it to start.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Back on the subject of non-logic adverts, how do Specsavers feel about the most stupid senior policeman in existence appearing in their latest advertisement.

 

[D6975]

Telephones are now so crammed with spam callers, and the fact that you can't see the genuine caller's numbers as they withold them; I'm seriously thinking of doing away with the landline and using fibre for broadband, and if someone important wants to contact me (doc's, dentist, anyone I genuinely ant to hear from) they will have to e-mail or text me and I'll Skype them back.

Wonder if anyone here is landline-less?

Yup, no landline. 2 mobiles and a 4G mifi.

When I first moved to where I now live I enquired about Virgin cable services only to be told they couldn't offer anything, despite a cable running almost past my window. The reason? No junction box nearby and they weren't prepared to put one in. A rather short sighted decision I think as I live in a flat in a block that has over 60 flats in it. The first few months that I lived there, the Sky engineers were visiting two or three times a week.

 

[Welshman]

Wonder if anyone here is landline-less?

We have been landline-less since a fault developed, which Open Reach[or whatever they are called this week] have still to fix, and so rely solely on our mobiles for communication.

Its been lovely not being interrupted by unknown people ringing us about the serious accident we hadn't noticed we'd recently suffered, or the ppi insurance we have not yet reclaimed.

 

[najaB]

...which Open Reach[or whatever they are called this week]...

Openreach - same name that they've had for over ten years.

 

[Welshman]

Back on the subject of non-logic adverts, how do Specsavers feel about the most stupid senior policeman in existence appearing in their latest advertisement.

Speaking as one who used to have a liking for Specsavers products - motivated mainly, I must confess, by the elderly couple who rest accidentally on the fairground ride and wonder about the brand of cheese, or the shepherd who tries to shear his faithful dog, I'm not impressed with the dumb policeman series, and may even try Boots next time.

Going back to the OP's point about ads with seeming little logic, how are overweight men dancing provocatively in the street wearing tight denim shorts, and then being frightened-off by an equally overweight woman, supposed to endear me to buying their car insurance?

"So Moneysupermarket" ??? I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole.

 

[fowler9]

Ross Kemp (On Gangs) advertising Fruit and Fibre. A fantastic story line.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

If I see an incoming call prefixed by my local code I know its spam because a genuine local call does not need the prefix.

BT or Offcom or someone said about a year or two ago that they were going to switch to needing to dial the full code even for local calls so this might not necessarily hold true in the near future.

 

[me123]

BT or Offcom or someone said about a year or two ago that they were going to switch to needing to dial the full code even for local calls so this might not necessarily hold true in the near future.

This is true. When I lived in Aberdeen, BT mandated the dialling of the 01224 prefix. If you didn't, you got a recorded message telling you to redial with the area code. The ultimate aim is to introduce local numbers beginning with the digits 1 and 0, which should increase available numbers by 25%. Aberdeen was one of a small number of areas where this has happened.

With many people using their mobile as a main phone, dialling the STD Code (yes, that's its real name, stop laughing in the back) is now commonplace. I usually do so, even for a local call, just out of habit.

 

[Alex 2901]

For ads having no logic; I raise you an A Level Media classes attempts at a short ad...

One group (mine, I'm afraid to confess) came up with this gem/turd (delete as appropriate) :

Walls: the only sausage company endorsed by a President.

With me dressed as Donald Trump, against a green screen with a wall behind it; and a mate pretending to scale the imaginary ladder...

On TV though, very few ads annoy me, but it's the continuity things on channels like Fox that annoy me, especially at 1/2 am when trying to sleep and I've left the TV on...

 

[heart-of-wessex]

Hello all,

I've seen this a hundred times on E4, it's impossible to miss it as it's slotted in on every ad break, but now everytime I see it I can't work it out. I found the backstory but unfortunately it still doesnt help:

https://mediacentre.vodafone.co.uk/...-network-gives-customers-power-keep-promises/

So near the end, 'Uncle' falls asleep and 'girlfriend' answers phone thats all we see. So, when he has what looks like a hand written bit of paper with Nathan Skyes on it for 'Amy', why does the girlfriend look confused and askes 'whats this??'...I'm thinking what do you mean whats this? You answered the phone and apparently ordered the tickets? Has he got any idea that she got the tickets? I don't get that ending at all?

Can someone explain it to me please? It's bugging me!

Thank you!

 

[najaB]

This is true. When I lived in Aberdeen, BT mandated...

OFCOM. They own the dial plan.

 

[me123]

^ OK, "the powers that be".

 

[Howardh]

We have been landline-less since a fault developed, which Open Reach[or whatever they are called this week] have still to fix, and so rely solely on our mobiles for communication.

Its been lovely not being interrupted by unknown people ringing us about the serious accident we hadn't noticed we'd recently suffered, or the ppi insurance we have not yet reclaimed.

Surprised you managed to write and send that with your computer being so full of errors.....

 

[najaB]

^ OK, "the powers that be".

Hey, I can't help it that telecoms is one of my 'nerd areas'. There'll be a dozen posts on here if reporters use a photo of the wrong class of train in a story, I'm like that when it comes to telecoms.

 

[Welshman]

Surprised you managed to write and send that with your computer being so full of errors.....

Sorry, but I don't understand the point you're making.

 

[jon0844]

I used to work for BT up until fairly recently and I can assure you that issues like that are not uncommon and the blame is most of the time not BT's. The people who sat opposite me are Openreach planners and they were often pulling their hair out because jobs were stuck for months (or years) waiting on wayleaves or similar.

I know of one job in particular which was held up for going on four years because three parties had to give permission for the work to go ahead and it was nigh on impossible for them to agree a common date for it to start.

BT admitted they'd lost the paperwork, which was about all anyone managed to get from them. It happened around 2012. It then dropped off all plans, as if the cabinet didn't exist, until my MP and councillors got involved, but all that achieved was getting it back on their plan. It's now down to be done, but no date at all.

I know that usually you can escalate something within a company, or go via the press office to push for a more detailed investigation, but BT Openreach seems to have no such channels. It feels like a faceless organisation from the outside, such that nobody can ever give any sort of update. If they were actually struggling to get new paperwork sorted, why not say? Why not allow my MP to go to the other parties to chase them to speed things up?

Anyway, I live in hope that 2017 might just be the year, but frankly I am always looking out for a mobile broadband alternative. I can get a 50GB plan on EE that gives me 100+ Mbps, but 50GB isn't anywhere near enough. I hope BT might one day use its own 4G spectrum to offer an unlimited service, as is available in some parts of central London.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Another TV advertisement for "Dreamies" would have you believe that a cat owner only has to shake a bag of this product and a cat would burst through the wall of the room in order to obtain the "treat". The trouble is that the same wall has a few more of these same holes, but the man in question seems totally oblivious of the damage caused to the property.

 

[furnessvale]

BT or Offcom or someone said about a year or two ago that they were going to switch to needing to dial the full code even for local calls so this might not necessarily hold true in the near future.

You are correct. Yesterday, for the first time (to my knowledge) a genuine local call came in with the full call attached.

What annoys me is that, if I pay a monthly fee, I can have number withheld call blocking so they DO have the technology. Why should I have to pay to stop a nuisance they are causing?

I have contacted my MP and also the MP specialising in nuisance calls (I forget his name) to try and force phone companies to make this a free service. The companies won't do this voluntarily, they make far too much money from the scam call industry.

 

[Howardh]

Sorry, but I don't understand the point you're making.

Scam calls from "engineers" purporting to be from "Microsoft Windows" telling you there are errors on your computer and to fix it they blackmail you into parting with cash (for nothing, of course!).

Don't you get them? I get at least two a week! I must have so many errors they must think I'm Bury's back four...