MSE News: The death of the landline?

diamonds

giraffe69 wrote: »

The problem many people have is that they need a landline for broadband.

The other problem is Ofcom will not allow naked ADSL, cheaper broadband would be available IF Ofcom allowed a phone line to carry broadband only like most other countries - Ofcom, the telco's FRIEND FOR LIFE.

Caddyman

diamonds wrote: »

The other problem is Ofcom will not allow naked ADSL, cheaper broadband would be available IF Ofcom allowed a phone line to carry broadband only like most other countries - Ofcom, the telco's FRIEND FOR LIFE.

Yup, and therein lies the problem I supsect. The mere prospect of any Regulator allowing naked ADSL services to the masses would I suspect financially harm the telecoms providers. I reiterate, I'm personally not looking for free broadband (though that would be nice!), I'm happy to pay reasonable costs to maintain the line/system. Yes, agreed, there would still be a large section of the home landline community who would opt to keep their landline voice call package, but equally, there would be plenty of people who would ditch the voice call bundle.

Now, about that E-petition?........

A.Penny.Saved

Pincher wrote: »

I do my own dishes, 80cm for Hotbird and Astra, as well as the 45cm Sky dishes. When the cloud is thick, you lose signal, no matter how good the installation. This is when the Jaegi rooftop aerial (Freeview) shines, because the terrestrial line of sight is below cloud cover.

Before all the catchup services like BBC iPlayer, I used to record programs using a PC with Media Player to record on terrestrial, as well as on Sky+, because I had some missed shows.

Which brings up the question: watch iPlayer wirelessly? More money than sense?;)

I have never had a problem, even on my smaller dish which is a little bit bigger than an Sky minidish. That does provide a slightly better signal than a Sky minidish and I have never experienced rain fade. I do use high quality Invacom LNB's and not the cheap ones. I fitted and aligned them myself without a professional meter. My meter is better than the cheapo meters in that it does provide a digital signal reading.

Mine are both currently aligned to Astra, I have tried hotbird on my Penta 85 but there wasn't anything interesting enough to keep it aligned to Hotbird. I have been considering fitting a motor but haven't got around to it so far. There just aren't enough worthwhile channels worth all the expense.

zagfles

Caddyman wrote: »

One thing I will say though, I would never 'expect' anyone to call me on my mobile. Again, it's down to choice, if they want to call me, they will, if they don't, I'm not bothered!

If you only provide people with a mobile number to call you on, then you are expecting them to pay a "premium" to call you (expect for people on some mobile contract with more minutes than they ever use so they think it's "free").

I think it's perfectly reasonable to give such people a premium rate number to call me on, so they have to pay a premium to call me too! I did once have an 0870 number I used to give out to such people, but doesn't appear to be working any more...

Caddyman

zagfles wrote: »

If you only provide people with a mobile number to call you on, then you are expecting them to pay a "premium" to call you (expect for people on some mobile contract with more minutes than they ever use so they think it's "free").

I think it's perfectly reasonable to give such people a premium rate number to call me on, so they have to pay a premium to call me too! I did once have an 0870 number I used to give out to such people, but doesn't appear to be working any more...

Of course, I see what you mean about people who call me effectively paying a 'premium' as such because they are calling a mobile number. That I'm afraid is one of those things. The nice thing about the giffgaff mobile network for me, are the relatively low call charges to other mobile numbers compared with the mainstream mobile providers. As I'm on PAYG and I make few calls anyway, that suits me perfectly.

It would be nice to subcribe to a premium rate number so those who called me unnecessarily (telemarketers!) were made to pay for inconveniencing me, but I believe I would also have to subscribe to a code of practice where I am required to advertise the fact my number is a premium rate number?

Back to the topic, the sooner a provider such as Virgin Media becomes available in my area so I can switch to cable broadband only, the better, but sadly, I fear, it will be years down the line.

Pincher

A.Penny.Saved wrote: »

I have never had a problem, even on my smaller dish which is a little bit bigger than an Sky minidish. That does provide a slightly better signal than a Sky minidish and I have never experienced rain fade. I do use high quality Invacom LNB's and not the cheap ones. I fitted and aligned them myself without a professional meter. My meter is better than the cheapo meters in that it does provide a digital signal reading.

Mine are both currently aligned to Astra, I have tried hotbird on my Penta 85 but there wasn't anything interesting enough to keep it aligned to Hotbird. I have been considering fitting a motor but haven't got around to it so far. There just aren't enough worthwhile channels worth all the expense.

Getting off topic. Better cut it short.

I upgraded to a 0.2dB two years ago, and I
get around 90% Signal Quality when the weather's good.
I only lose signal when it's really bad, like dark skies at noon.

Cameraman

The argument of it costs too much to call a mobile is out the window for so many now that so loads of mobile tariff's have unlimited calls or a huge number of bundled minutes.

We hardly ever answer our home phone as we cant be doing with the sales calls. When I was doing up the house I left it unplugged for about 6 weeks.

There are some good reasons for a home phone but if I could get broadband without it then would have been long gone.

Blackpool_Saver

Hmmm, people without land lines bug me too, I hate calling mobiles as I don't want to pay loads to do it from a landline, and I don't want to put a mobile to my ear. So I use my mobile on loud
speaker and that's bugs other people, well there ya go ...........

billsavings

Caddyman wrote: »

Of course, I see what you mean about people who call me effectively paying a 'premium' as such because they are calling a mobile number. That I'm afraid is one of those things. The nice thing about the giffgaff mobile network for me, are the relatively low call charges to other mobile numbers compared with the mainstream mobile providers. As I'm on PAYG and I make few calls anyway, that suits me perfectly.

It would be nice to subcribe to a premium rate number so those who called me unnecessarily (telemarketers!) were made to pay for inconveniencing me, but I believe I would also have to subscribe to a code of practice where I am required to advertise the fact my number is a premium rate number?

Plus you would probaly have to pay extra to have a premium rate number terminated on a mobile.;)

roddydogs

Cameraman wrote: »

The argument of it costs too much to call a mobile is out the window for so many now that so loads of mobile tariff's have unlimited calls or a huge number of bundled minutes.

We hardly ever answer our home phone as we cant be doing with the sales calls. When I was doing up the house I left it unplugged for about 6 weeks.

There are some good reasons for a home phone but if I could get broadband without it then would have been long gone.

Right, ive got a mobile but its PAYG, & a Landline, so its not "Out of the window" for me is it?:mad: