BT are bumbling fools always were.
BT are bumbling fools always were.
I'm not especially vulnerable. The UPS came with the house, which was a new build. It takes 12V from a 12V 1A mains adaptor and presumably gives 12V out, but I haven't measured the voltage and the label is probably on the back, where it's fixed to the wall. I don't know how long it provides a backup for. I'm not too worried because it's very unlikely my mobile won't get any signal, the UPS's battery will have run flat and I need to make an emergency call.
QuoteIf UK government had invested as heavily in communications as they have in useless and pointless green energy policy, the whole country could have had comms technology that would have actually been beneficialUk could have had fibre to every home back in the 80's,but instead bt was sold off and the funds allocated for fibre were fudged through creative accounting to make the books look good.yet another one of thatchers legacys.
I was there, but can't remember that detail. What I do remember is not being allowed to connect anything to the phone line and waits of forever for a line to be installed, or just a phone connected to it. If Thatcher's government was the one that removed all that and let me connect modems and pretty much anything I liked to the line, I'd find it hard to get irate with them.
I was there, but can't remember that detail. What I do remember is not being allowed to connect anything to the phone line and waits of forever for a line to be installed, or just a phone connected to it. If Thatcher's government was the one that removed all that and let me connect modems and pretty much anything I liked to the line, I'd find it hard to get irate with them.
I do also remember that time, when phones were hard-wired into a junction box, and you could only get your phone from a limited selection offered by the GPO or its successors. Anyone remember the "TrimPhone", a sleeker and more compact alternative to the big, clunky, traditional phone that was previously all you could get?
The important change was the de-regulation that let you have RJ11 phone sockets installed and buy your own phones from any retailer to plug into them. The other detail was that you weren't "supposed" to plug American phones or modems into the UK system, even though they did actually work.
The BT standard phone plugs are of type “431A” and less commonly “631A”, and never RJ11 from CPE to master or extension socket. There was an RJ11 on the other end of the lead, so that a damaged lead could be unlatched and replaced etc.
“431A” is the 4 pin version, of which pins 2 & 5 are the loop and I think bell wire is pin 4 (there’s a 470K OOS “Opt Out Of Service” resistor + a 2.2uF cap in series across the loop; the R/C pair tells the exchange when there’s no CPE connected, and the cap is to pass the 70-90 ish V/AC @ 17hz current to the bell)
I think “631A” may have been for Telex etc. I don’t recall.
BT are bumbling fools always were.
You can't say that. Maybe you are too young to know, but BT created the really nice, Buzby's adverts. How can you dislike a company which brings the Buzby's into existence?
I can and did say it. I’m in my late 40s so yeah I remember those ads (just). BT wasted a lot of time and resources. I knew a few people who worked for them, and would often call a senior engineer (I’d never met him) and quiz him about the finer technicalities of the phone network. They’re a dopey company who waste money and rip people off. Back before the internet and before LLU was a thing, they were a monopoly and a fat, lazy one.
According to public opinions (user reports), when I looked, a number of years ago. BT doesn't do too well, in the customer satisfaction department, for their broadband services.
Anyone remember the "TrimPhone", a sleeker and more compact alternative to the big, clunky, traditional phone that was previously all you could get?
had to be installed with a training session by the engineer when delivered!!
QuoteIf UK government had invested as heavily in communications as they have in useless and pointless green energy policy, the whole country could have had comms technology that would have actually been beneficialUk could have had fibre to every home back in the 80's,but instead bt was sold off and the funds allocated for fibre were fudged through creative accounting to make the books look good.yet another one of thatchers legacys.
There was a fibre to the home demo system in the 80s in Milton Keynes, but at a high cost per house that would not scale
"In 1986, I managed to get fibre to the home cheaper than copper and we started a programme where we built factories for manufacturing the system. By 1990, we had two factories, one in Ipswich and one in Birmingham, where were manufacturing components for systems to roll out to the local loop".
QuoteThere was a fibre to the home demo system in the 80s in Milton Keynes, but at a high cost per house that would not scalestrange, the head of bt engineering is on record sayingQuote"In 1986, I managed to get fibre to the home cheaper than copper and we started a programme where we built factories for manufacturing the system. By 1990, we had two factories, one in Ipswich and one in Birmingham, where were manufacturing components for systems to roll out to the local loop".As an aside was that the houses of the future or some such nonsense in ,i think ,heelands
The last time I had landline was in Australia 9 years ago. We do not have landline in our house in Boston. There is 1 Gbps fiber (Verizon Fios) and the area has good 5G mobile coverage.
I did not miss landline for a moment.
It is my belief that if you have a medical emergency at home, you are better served with a landline where the carrier can transmit the EXACT address to 911 along with your call. Even if we are totally incapacitated after dialing.
We keep our landline for exactly this purpose. It's a choice...
It is my belief that if you have a medical emergency at home, you are better served with a landline where the carrier can transmit the EXACT address to 911 along with your call. Even if we are totally incapacitated after dialing.
We keep our landline for exactly this purpose. It's a choice...
Our internet, on bad days, bounces up and down like a yo-yo. Our cell service is so bad that our provider gave us a microtower to run over the yo-yo internet. The other provider (company cell phone) doesn't have a tower anywhere near. That cellphone hardly ever works.