Time for a re-re-think about PSTN/POTS?

[Peter Able]

better value - but Three is no good here. I tried it!

PA

[Peter Able]

I've tried a Mifi with a Vodafone (the best signal) SIM. No problem with its WiFi and it could recognise the SIM - but no connect. Also, it wouldn't retain the connect parameters.

PA

[Peter Able]

Kudos for knowing the correct spelling of storey !!

[Peter Able]

I didn't even try to haggle! Just told them that after many years with them, I was off. They actually, off their own bat, refunded me the final £26 back. As I'll now pay £9.95 less £4.90 for the Lebara SIM I'll cancel, That's the next five months for free, then £5.05 per mo.

PA

[Andy Burns]

same here, you don't really need to threaten to leave, just as long as you're willing to extend contract, you should get that sort of price ...

[SH]

was those measurements made with an external aerial?

It does make a differece if outside and high up as Line of sight is then less cluttered

S.

[The Other John]

Mine was £29.95, now my new contract is £24.99. (FTTC 70/20).

[Peter Able]

That was from the best position within the house. For comparison the Vodafone signal at the same point in the house is about -108dBm.

The signals in the middle of the road are about the same for those two networks. Trading height and screening by the house!

That said, the signals were atrocious today, early afternoon. Never seen it so bad in six months of testing! That said Youtube could still deliver HD video without reloading, very different to Plusnet's offering.

Currently, from the best position in the house:

2G - four bars of O2 3G - three bars of Vodafone 4G - one to two bars, -107dBm to -102dBm of Vodafone

PA

[SH]

the interesting thing about 5g is that it can send & recieve from several different towers simultaaneously which then increases throughput, and also as its a different modulation scheme, it can work at lower dBm.

So another reason to have an external antenna higher up as then extra towers then come into play.

If you know where the towers are and what network they support, you may find a directional antenna may also help.

[Nick Odell]

...and kudos for knowing the correct spelling of kudos!!!

N.

[John Rumm]

Worth keeping in mind that you don't have to solve all the problems with one box. If you get good 4G in one place and good wifi elsewhere, then you can have a router and separate wifi access point(s) linked via a cable / homeplug ethernet / meshing wifi etc.

In many places good wifi coverage all over will typically need more than one wifi access point.

Cheers,

John.

/=================================================================\ | Internode Ltd -

| |-----------------------------------------------------------------| | John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk | \=================================================================/

[John Rumm]

Its one of the reasons that many pay by card parking machines are also going - many rely on 3G.

[Peter Able]

Similar with LycaMobile this morning. Just asked for a cancel due to no service since they switched to EE. Was asked to put the SIM back into the intended hand-set and try to connect to Lyca - No Connect. Then to EE - No Connect.

Reckon that Lyca're going to hold on to my 49p ! Look on the bright side. I didn't want to use EE, so didn't bother to get a SIM from one of there Brand X sellers. Little did I know that I was going to be forced onto EE.

Story (no e!) about EE. One of their stores handed over 40 mobiles on the basis of a phoney order in, apparently, the name of a Limited Company. One of my late wife's and my Limited Companies. EE's lawyers came down hard and fast rather than EE contacting us first. A lot of stress for some time. The Bums.

PA

[Jeff Layman]

It begs the question of exactly how the car park owners know that a parked car has had its fee paid, whether by use of a parking app or other method. Assuming they aren't going to waste money by employing parking attendants, ISTM they would have to use CCTV with ANPR. How are they going to get the video feed back to the server in order to check and perhaps issue a parking ticket? If there's a video feed, there must be ample bandwidth to allow payment by card to be used.

[Andy Burns]

Don't the machines that take cards print a ticket, same as ones that take coins?

[charles]

They do, but if you "pay by phone", you don't get a ticket. Few phones have an integral ticket printer.

[Andy Burns]

We were told in this instance there was a machine, presumably with pay by app there is no machine, just a sign? I've never paid by parking app.

[nib]

Often there is a machine for card or cash as well as the option to pay by app.

Here in MK there are virtual permits as well. Pay by app and virtual permits both work by registration number. The car parks are enforced by people walking around with readers for the number plates, so they have to (from what I see) check each vehicle for a ticket on the dashboard, or if none check for a virtual ticket attached to the number.

For example with my EV I can park in any standard rate space, just with my reg number associated with a "G" permit (which currently is annual and free!).

nib

[David Wade]

At present many car parks offer multiple ways to pay, some of which produce a ticket, others which don't. So in Stockport you can pay for your on-street parking by machine, where you get a Ticket, by a phone call or an app, the RingGo app where you don't get a ticket.

[Jeff Layman]

Probably, but you could have, for example, paid for 1 hour and stayed all day. How do they check other than with a parking attendant? And if they employ one of those, why can't the attendant also empty the machines which use coins?

It seems to me it's a nice little earner for the parking app suppliers (with maybe a cut to the car park owners - who knows?). This is an interesting page:

For most, you'll be paying a 20p "convenience fee". So the car park owner saves money on not paying for coin collection, and perhaps having a card-reading machine. Yet the parking fee isn't only not reduced by whatever they save, it actually costs you an extra 20p!