Richard Beddie's take on simplifying the world we live in
Technology
AirNZ – cell phone on flights. AHHHHHHHH!
01 year ago
Oh dear. Oh very dear.
AirNZ announced today that through Vodafone they will allow calls and texts (and data) on a trial basis on domestic flights (well on one AirBus 320 aircraft).
There are a few things wrong with this, IMHO:
- I like the idea of data, and to a lesser degree texts (if the phone is on silent), on a plane, but calls are just a pain in the arse (think how bad it is with people yelling into phones at the moment at places like cafes). Cellphoneitis is rampant!
- As Lance Wiggs points out the price is WAY WAY out of line.
- I realise its only a trial, but having it on domestic flights (max length 1:40 in New Zealand) isn’t long enough a flight time. Trans-tasman (3-4 hour flights) would be a good place to trial it.
AirNZ actually understand the whole talking is difference from texts issue, as they announced several months ago about allowing texts on their new 777 services, but not calls. So why on earth did they go and allow calls on this service? Is it money?
I will be the first to say SHUT UP (plus some other expletives if need be) if they guy next to me yells into his phone on a plane.
This also proves that cell phones are NOT unsafe on a plane, so forcing a user to go through the airlines connection is, well just a monopoly pushing a product.
Ironically it was announced back in May other airlines have done a deal with Telecom (XT) for similar services on international flights, it was implied that AirNZ had customer feedback that it wasn’t liked.
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
Here’s an interesting claim from the 2nd article on calls on planes:
However, mobiles are still banned when planes are flying under 6000 metres.
This means the first 10 minutes or so, and the last 15 or a flight might (will?) have no service. So on a flight Christchurch to Wellington, the actual usage time of the new AirNZ service could be as low as 5 minutes (flight time is after all 30 minutes).
Will be interesting to see how this develops. But I stand by my claim – calls are a BAD idea!
Black and White Version: Tech can be cool, but has to be thought out. Both the price (way to high) AND the product is wrong here (calls should be banned!).
A recap of the (non) news of the week
21 year ago
There is certain lot’s of non news this week. And another story that has a limited news-worthiness (is that a word?) that’s the lead on WAY to many media’s pages.
Here is the summary:
- iTunes to get Beatles music - the so called BIG announcement from Apple. *yawn* Beatles music is available elsewhere for AGES, it’s not BIG for us, it’s just coz Beatles (aka Apple Corps) keep suing Apple Computers that it even has ANY news-worthiness
- Some celeb says no I am not getting divorced. Great, so someone I don’t care about denies something that is probably not true to start with.
- Someone tipped over a portable toilet in Christchurch. But wait, not once but TWICE. Sorry, this is NOT news. I could call it a ‘shit story’ but I won’t. Oops, too late
- Then there is this story that has a headline that’s blatantly untrue about food supplies in Christchurch supermarkets being in doubt (they aren’t since the article clearly says they are being stocked just fine from Auckland). This is classic non news with a sensational headline.
But the biggie for overplayed news story of the day goes to this:
- Some guy called William is getting engaged. OK it is news coz he’s the Prince of something, 2nd in line to something else (the British thrown they say) but being the lead story is WAY overplaying its importance (slow news anyone?). But what’s really bad is doing stupid stories like this saying Local Couple Delighted is just a waste of my screen space. They could do a story about a local blogger bored with lack of journalistic stories, as that would be true too, but I fear this won’t happen soon.
Black and White Version: Nothing to see here, move on. Oh, wait Prince William got engaged, not a biggie I know, but yeah, slow (news) blogging day for me.
Vodafone, please fix your attitide while you fix your network
41 year ago
by Richard
in Technology
I blogged recently about issues with the Vodafone network for smart phones, and how they (Voda) were trying to say they weren’t real issues, and blaming everything EXCEPT their network. So I get to re-use my bullshit graphic, coz that’s what is, IMHO, happening again here, bullshit spin from Voda.
Because Vodafone have finally admitted there are issues.
However it’s clear that have major problems – not with (just) with their network, but with their attitude.
Vodafone spokesman Matt East defended the time it had taken Vodafone to notify customers of the fault.
Nokia Siemens Networks engineers had been looking into the “complex network issue” for a week and were working around the clock, but the cause was not yet known.
“We prefer to do a thorough investigation before we go out to customers, so we don’t give them the wrong information.
“We are not going to run out there every time someone drops a call and paste it over the website that we’ve got network issues or there is a problem.”
There wasn’t ONE complaint Mr East, there were dozens of complains. And you KNEW about the issue, because when it was reported last week Vodafone tried to blame iPhone users for turning on their phones at the same time. That would be laughable if it wasn’t so pathetic (and untrue). Ask anyone who works in the telco space and they will tell you the last response from Voda was complete rubbish (a few dozen phones connecting at one time does NOT take down a network!)
Here’s what you need to do Vodafone:
- get real, and admit the issue
- say you are gonna fix it (and do it)
- compensate your customers
- most importantly COMMUNICATE with your customers about the problems and update them on what’s happening (it would be too easy to put in a dig about being a communications company after all – ooops, too late I just did it).
And if you aren’t sure how to do this @ Vodafone – go hire some people from Telecom who handled the XT outages – they did the communications thing quite well.
The issue is less about IF things go wrong (coz shit happens) but WHAT you do about them when they do.
Black and White Version: Vodafone admit faults (finally) but their bad attitude is what needs to be fixed first.
Voicemail on XT with iPhone 4
01 year ago
by Richard
in Technology
For some reason this blog keeps coming up as a result for the search terms like iphone voicemail setup xt and such like. In fact when I went to search for an image for this post using XT Voicemail Image in Google.com I found my site as #1 and #2!
Problem is I don’t have a whole lot of info on it – other than the # to dial for XT voice mail is 083210 and this post on XT Voicemail issues on the iPhone 4, which is now out of date, but has some useful links that are still relevant.
So here is my fix.
For those that have issues working with XT (Telecom) Voice mail on an iPhone check the following:
- You should have a version 3 sim card from XT – if not swap it (free) at your local Telecom retailer
- It should now work
- If it doesn’t, go into your phone (as you would do dial a #) and press *5005*86*083210#
- That’s it, your voice mail button should now work
- Remember the fail safe is to dial 083210 (always works).
Black and White Version: Telecom XT Voice mail on iPhone 4 explained.
Media gets it so wrong about dangers of WiFi on planes
21 year ago
Today the Age in Australia, Via Stuff in NZ, reported that WiFi may be dead before it arrives on planes due to new security concerns.
They claim:
The long-awaited advent of Wi-Fi and mobile phone usage on planes may be scuttled before it begins after last week’s bomb scares.
The person they quote (a Managing Directory of a British explosives consultancy) claims:
Wi-Fi connections give a bomber lots of options for contacting a device on an aircraft, Alford told New Scientist, including voice-over-internet connections to reach a mobile phone.
Pity they didn’t interview a TECHNOLOGY expert rather than an explosives MD. Because the facts are:
- At 30,000 feet most cell signals are out of range from terrestrial (ground) cell sites. If they are in range whether or not the plane offers a service or not doesn’t change any risks.
- WiFi on planes will require security to log on (just as a WiFi access point does on the ground). This means a device on a plane has to know that password before it’s able to communicate.
- The headline is totally misleading. Even the story says things will be reviewed (not dead) and the only airline quoted says their use would not pose any threat.
- The headline is also TOTALLY wrong since already dozens of airlines offer WiFi and have been for over a year.
With a simple password system any WiFi on a plane will not add to any security issues (which all have BTW), Airlines don’t normally provide WiFi for free!). The biggest issue is actually a device on a plane that’s near the ground (ie within terrestrial cell site range) coz unless planes install cell blockers, a device could be remotely activated from the ground without any airlines providing WiFi or cell services (ie it just uses the standard land based cell network). Of course a bomb with a simple timer would work too. The risk is from the BOMB, not WiFi! The focus needs to be on how to detect explosives devices, not banning communications that have no bearing on the issue.
Black and White Version: Another headline that is NOT what the story says. Nothing to see here, move on.
Telecom – great deal, but too many steps
81 year ago
Partly to show that I will call out Telecom when they trip up too (not just Voda), and partly coz I think on this one Telecom are just DUMB, here’s my commentary about Telecom’s systems for topping up mobile broadband.
Background
Today I swapped my iPad XT sim from the 2GB post pay plan ($59.95 a mth) to a pre-pay plan (so 10c/meg up to $29.95, and then nothing till 500MB, and then 10c again till $59.90 and free till 1GB). An awesome deal, especially since iPads don’t use THAT much data (esp when they are set up to use WiFi at home/work/airports etc) and I don’t use the iPad for massive data intensive applications (mainly email, web, apps etc).
The issue
Anyway, all was fine with the swap (very easy). Getting a password set for my sim so I could log in and check data usage was a tad harder (since it sends a text to the sim). Lucky I had an iPhone 4 handy that I could throw the sim in – I wonder how others do this for data-sticks etc? Why not have an option to email, or even just show it on screen? Anyway , that wasn’t the big issue).
My main issue was with top up of Telecom Pre-Pay. Firstly, finding it was not easy. Why is a link not on the mobile broadband page? I have to go through three more steps > click Pre-Pay Plans (top right) THEN at the bottom of the page click Topping Up Your Mobile Broadband THEN click on Top up Online (about a 3rd of the way down the page). Why so hard? Why so hidden? Isn’t topping up (i.e. paying money) one of the MAIN things Telecom would want to encourage people to do online – if not THE main thing. But that’s not the biggie.
The BIG issue I have is with the whole unnecessary step of providing my payment details and sim # on the web page, and then getting a voucher code that I then have to call an 0800 # to redeem, and AGAIN providing my sim # etc. Why not just skip this 2nd step entirely? I provide my sim # with payment, why not just top it up based on that? The whole system appears very 90s. If was overseas and doing this, I couldn’t (since they only offer 0800 numbers to call). Seams unnecessarily cumbersome. I was also surprised I could only top up $60. Why? Why not $200? I don’t want to be topping up every 2 months! I would gladly throw 200 bucks on it now and let it remind me in 6 months when it’s running low.
The fix
All (and I mean ALL) of the overseas sim cards I have, allow me to top up online without having the sim on, or even in a phone, and I can remotely check the balance VERY easily. Telecom should let me log in and then top up, any amount, at any time, from any location via their web page. They have my details, they have the ability to charge credit cards, and know my sim # (since I am logged in), so just do it! Although I have to say the online usage check bit works fine now – I can log into it via the web page or via the cool wee Consume App on my iPhone and check how much data I have used. Unlike when I was on post-pay, since Telecom are yet to allow any corporate customers the ability to check usage online – another gripe. Surely this group are MORE important to Telecom!
Anyway .. enuf said. Gripe over (for now).
Black and White: Taking money of people should be made EASY, not hidden in 3 levels of web page clicks. And it should be one step, not two!
OMG might Telecom actually be cool?
11 year ago
I have been meaning to blog about this for a while. And that’s the rise of Telecom vs Vodafone in NZ, and who wins in the cool stakes.
Actually I should take a step back, let’s first talk about the FALL of Telecom. When Bell South came along in NZ it got a whole bunch of high end business users, but was not regarded as mainstream by many. From memory, estimates were it had around 10% market share. It also had coverage issues, especially in Auckland.
When Vodafone bought Bell South in 1998, their market share begun to steadily climb, for a whole bunch of reasons:
- It had a superior product (GSM sim card based tech vs CDMA)
- Better phones (more GSM handsets from the then market leader Nokia)
- Telecom was the atypical monopoly, and people hated them, so anyone who wasn’t them was perceived as better
- Most important, IMHO, Vodafone was COOL. Telecom was boring, old and .. well, not cool. Vodafone marketed this very well at the time.
iPad four months in (a review)
01 year ago
I have now been using an iPad for over four months now. My initial iPad review can be found here, but here’s a summary of my thoughts four months on (the back and white, cut to the chase, version)
This post if a follow on from my Black and White take on iPhone 4 and iPad in NZ.
So anyway .. on to the post: (more…)
Grindr – how to get smiley faces in profile, and other tips
51 year ago
by Richard
in Technology
I have done a couple of blog posts on Grindr, the iPhone app that has been euphemistically described as Dating for Gays (I say hook ups, but that’s just me). I find it amusing that Israeli publication Haaretz has the headline New iPhone application lets gay Israelis look for love while on the move. Love? Hmmm, call me cynical (or maybe just call me realistic) but I don’t think it’s love anyone will find (nor are they looking for it if they are using Grindr).
I number of people have asked me how to get things like smiley faces (or Emoji) in the profile name and/or profile text. Well the answer is easy: Install Emoji (as explained in this post) and then you have them to type in just like you would any character.
While I on the subject here are some protocol tips for using Grindr: (more…)
iPhone free smileys (emoji) – easy peasy
21 year ago
Everyone with an iPhone (probably) knows that you add in Emojis (smiley face icons etc) to the iPhone for 99c via various apps.
Almost a year ago I did a post about how to get emojis for free on the iPhone. Now that I have my new iPhone 4 to play with, I went to follow my own instructions on how to do this for the iPhone but found that the app required for step one has gone AWOL.
So a quick Google search and I found that there is now a MUCH easier way, and best of all it’s FREE!
Just go to the app store – search for Emoji Free (if there is more than one, choose the one with 4 images, one being a monkey in the icon). Install it, run it, and follow the instructions on screen. Easy peasy.
Black and White Version: Installing Emoji icons for free on the iPhone just got easier.
