The Virgin Media engineer was scheduled to arrive between 4.00pm and 7.00pm ... and he actually arrived at 6.35pm. He introduced himself, and explained that he knew what had caused the problem before he had arrived as it was affecting the whole area! When I pointed out that the Virgin Media website was displaying the message ‘There are no problems in your area’, he apologised and admitted that Virgin Media was experiencing ‘a few problems’.
He then explained the cause of the problem and how they were working to solve it.
At approximately 2.00am on Wednesday night there had been a short power cut in the local area. Power was restored very quickly ... but it had knocked out the local Virgin Media exchange box. Because this was the original Videotron* exchange box that was installed in the late 1990s, and which used 1980s technology, it could not be restored remotely. Every connection had to be reset manually by a technician ... and he explained that he was about to do ours.
He then returned to the exchange box ... and ten minutes later he was back to check that the line was working ... and it was.
It is interesting to note that our landline is connected to the telephone network using what the technician described as being '1980s technology'. In other words, I live in the largest city in the UK, and if I want to use a landline telephone, I'm dependent upon equipment that is nearly forty years old! To make a probably inappropriate comparison, that is like trying to take part in the Battle of Britain in a Bleriot monoplane!
I suppose that the counter argument is that my generation (i.e. anyone born in the 1950s and earlier) tends to use landline telephones rather than mobile ones, and that the technology in use is sufficient for the job. The demands placed on it are reducing as the rest of the world moves over to mobile or wireless technology for its telecommunications, and that old stick-in-the-muds like me are getting as obsolete as the equipment we continue to use.
So, roll on the arrival of 5G ... then 6G ... and 7G etc., etc., etc. They will no doubt allow us to communicate more ... and say even less of value.
Here endeth the moan!
* Videotron is a Canadian company that won a licence in the late 1990s to install fibre optic networks in the UK. They supplied us with phone, Internet, and cable TV ... and then sold out to Cable & Wireless ... who sold out to NTL ... who then became part of Virgin Media.
He then explained the cause of the problem and how they were working to solve it.
At approximately 2.00am on Wednesday night there had been a short power cut in the local area. Power was restored very quickly ... but it had knocked out the local Virgin Media exchange box. Because this was the original Videotron* exchange box that was installed in the late 1990s, and which used 1980s technology, it could not be restored remotely. Every connection had to be reset manually by a technician ... and he explained that he was about to do ours.
He then returned to the exchange box ... and ten minutes later he was back to check that the line was working ... and it was.
It is interesting to note that our landline is connected to the telephone network using what the technician described as being '1980s technology'. In other words, I live in the largest city in the UK, and if I want to use a landline telephone, I'm dependent upon equipment that is nearly forty years old! To make a probably inappropriate comparison, that is like trying to take part in the Battle of Britain in a Bleriot monoplane!
I suppose that the counter argument is that my generation (i.e. anyone born in the 1950s and earlier) tends to use landline telephones rather than mobile ones, and that the technology in use is sufficient for the job. The demands placed on it are reducing as the rest of the world moves over to mobile or wireless technology for its telecommunications, and that old stick-in-the-muds like me are getting as obsolete as the equipment we continue to use.
So, roll on the arrival of 5G ... then 6G ... and 7G etc., etc., etc. They will no doubt allow us to communicate more ... and say even less of value.
Here endeth the moan!
* Videotron is a Canadian company that won a licence in the late 1990s to install fibre optic networks in the UK. They supplied us with phone, Internet, and cable TV ... and then sold out to Cable & Wireless ... who sold out to NTL ... who then became part of Virgin Media.
When I had similar issues a few years ago, the BT engineer who came out to look at the issue knew exactly what it was before he arrived too.. apparently the old exchange boxes use a lot of aluminium connections.. it was de rigeur at the time and the new wonder material.. they didn't know it could corrode as well.. he's already been out multiple times to fix connections for my other houses in the street/neighbourhood :o)
ReplyDeleteSteve-the-Wargamer,
DeleteOne wonders how many trips the BT engineers will need to make before someone realises that - in the long-run - it will be cheaper to replace the equipment in the exchange box.
All the best,
Bob
Hi Bob, I thought you had to have a land line anyway if you wanted broadband whether you use a landline phone or not. We have to have a landline (but haven’t used a landline phone for years). Or is it the case that mobile signals are getting so good that you can pair up with your laptop/desktop to get acceptable speeds without a cable into your house?
ReplyDeleteBy the way, Virgin Media itself was acquired by Liberty Global in 2013, so the long tale of merger and acquisition continues.
Nundanket,
DeleteApparently a lot of newer internet connections are wireless. We have a 4G hub as a back-up for our cable connection, and our neighbour has his internet connection via his Sky dish.
I did not know that Virgin Media had been sold ... but it might well explain why the service has gone downhill in recent years.
All the best,
Bob
Hi Bob,
ReplyDeleteAn interesting post- Glad you've had the problem fixed by the Technician...I still prefer the old Land Line for talking to people- and I do not own a Mobile Phone and refuse to do so...Interesting that this morning I was having a Coffee at our local Village Cafe and a young couple were doing the same- except that they had their eyes glued to their screnes of their Mobile Phones the whole time - and they hardly conversed with each other- let alone look at each other...strange thing to observe. Best Wishes. KEV.
Kev Robertson,
DeleteI still give out my landline number when people ask me for my phone number ... and quite a few actually query why I don’t use my mobile phone number.
The younger generation seems to be obsessed with being able to communicate with each other 24/7 ... and for many it has seemingly become their sole means of ‘talking’ to other people. I know of one mother who texts her children all the time ... even when they are in the same room!
When I first went to work in 1968, my fellow train commuters used to read their newspapers and books, play cards, or talk to each other. Now commuter trains are like morgues, with people who are having a conversation talking in whispers so that they don’t disturb those that are glued to their smart phones.
All the best,
Bob
I have persisted in keeping a land line simply because when the power goes out I can still use an old fashioned phone which plugs into the wall jack since the phone company provides its own power. Dependence on any one type of technology can lead to great difficulty if that technology goes down.
ReplyDeleteCelticCurmudgeon,
DeleteWe have kept our landline for exactly those reasons. Being reliant on a single technology is a dangerous course of action to take. I still use a Filofax diary even though I have an iPad and iPhone, both of which have diary apps. The reason is simple; the Filofax never runs out of power!
All the best,
Bob
I guess that you should be glad that Virgin's services can fail separately and that you don't lose TV, broadband and landline all at the same time whenever there is a problem. When we returned from the USA last year out landline was dead but in our case it was a problem in the box attached to the outside wall of our house and a nice young lady turned up the next day to fix it.
ReplyDeleteOur supplier started out as The Croydon Cable Company, was bought by United Cable of Denver and after a complicated collection of mergers and purchases emerged as Telewest and after a few more deals finally merged with NTL to create NTL:Telewest which a couple of months later bought Virgin Mobile and after a few more months rebranded itself as Virgin Media. All of which means that my landline may be as old as yours (1984?) but probably uses totally different technology?
I keep the landline for a variety of reasons, one of which is security. A lot of financial organisations are now insisting on two stage verification and want to do this by sending SMS text messages to your mobile (not got a mobile or no signal at home: bad luck, save with another company seems to be their customer service response). This is actually not particularly secure - Twitter's CEO recently had his mibile phone spoofed - and some organisations (HMRC for example) will instead phone your landline and a computer will speak the code you need. Much more secure as it's hard for anyone to spoof your landline and you can't really leave it on the number 60 bus.
As for your, Filofax we have a big calendar on the wall on which we enter all appointments and we both keep paper diaries. I do also use Google's diary App as it sends me reminders which I'm finding increasingly helpful as I get older, plus it's synchronised across all my devices so that it will take some fairly drastic systems failures before I lose total access to it (could happen but I suspect that things would then be bad enough that all appointments would have been cancelled anyway).
Mike Hall,
DeleteWhen our landline, internet cable, and cable TV were all supplied by Virgin Media, we lost all three regularly. Since ‘losing’ the cable TV service, the situation seems to have been far more stable. I wish that they would replace the box on the outside of our house as it has been in place since the late 1990s and is now no longer properly weatherproof.
It sounds as if the history of your service provider is as tortuous as ours has been ... and who knows who will be the next owner!
Using an insecure system to send someone secure information makes no sense whatsoever ... but it probably seemed like a good idea to whoever commissioned it!
My wife and I still use diaries and a shared calendar to ensure that we don’t ever get double booked or take on conflicting commitments ... and so far, it has worked fine. I’d never thought of using the Google diary app to coordinate my calendar across several platforms, but that is something that I ought to think about. Thanks for the tip.
All the best,
Bob
We use the Apple calendar across all our family devices (mum, dad, two teenagers - laptops, phones). There is always a device that has a ‘backup’ version available. It also makes it easier to agree to new commitments since you can see at a glance who is where at a given time. I think we’d need a secretary to keep paper diaries up to date! My wife still insists on a paper diary as well but then gets caught out occasionally with changes.
DeleteI guess something like the Google diary app would mean its brand agnostic. And with two adults it’s probably not such a dynamic situation.
Nundanket,
DeleteI have used the Calendar on my iPhone and iPad since I first got them, but accessing it on my PC has always proven difficult until now. Using the Google Calendar app (to which I can link my iPad Calendar) now means that I can ... but my wife still prefers a paper calendar and will NOT change!
All the best,
Bob
Sounds like the start of an episode of Dr Who
ReplyDeleteGeordie an Exiled FoG,
DeleteMy whole life has been an adventure in time and space!
All the best,
Bob