Posts by Andrew Woodvine 106 posts • joined 18 Jun 2007
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Before you can access your voicemail from another phone on Orange and Vodafone you first have to change the default PIN, by calling your voicemail service from your mobile. I assume this is the case for the other three networks, but I don't know. Anyone?
Also, if the default PIN hasn't been changed you can't spoof your CLI and get in that way, as I've tried it with my own voicemail, just out of curiosity.
You're sort of right. If you activated an immediate divert on your home network before travelling then the incoming call would never leave the UK, so you wouldn't be charged for an incoming call. Historically, if you set up a conditional divert (in the UK or when abroad) then you would be charged for an incoming call to the country you were in and for an outgoing call back to the UK to your voicemail service. Networks recommended setting up diverts before leaving the UK because they couldn't guarantee it would work if trying to do it when abroad.
Orange stopped charging for conditional diverts to voicemail when abroad 7 years ago (see this Usenet posting for more details http://bit.ly/bToN6G) and Vodafone also no longer charge. I'm not sure about the rest of the networks but it would be interesting to know.
The prices are as good as you get on pre-pay, and for standard calls/SMS match Asda Mobile (MVNO of Vodafone). With GiffGaff you also get free calls and SMS to other GiffGaff numbers, which could be useful for some people.
Making the claim that they can offer you cheaper calls because they're "people powered" is a marketing gimmick though. How much do the mobile networks spend on customer service for their pre-pay segment? Maybe an average of 50p per customer/month but we will never know the exact figure. So GiffGaff may be able to make a small saving this way, but not enough to make a noticeable impact in the price you pay for using their service.
Still, it will be an interesting one to watch. Hope they don't go the same way as Easy Mobile, Blyk and Dot Mobile.
I was thinking exactly the same.
A quick look at the Data Protection Act tells me that personal data cannot be transferred outside the EEA unless that country ensures an adequate level of protection for the rights and freedoms of data subjects in relation to the processing of personal data (the eighth principle) BUT Schedule 4 of the Act lists 9 cases where the eighth principle does not apply.
Presumably call-centres use one (or more) of the 9 cases under Schedule 4 to gain exemption.
I've also experienced this problem - I've never been able to use OpenZone when it's provided via a BT customer's router.
After checking out O2's forum it turns out that nobody has been able to use OpenZone with an iPhone unless the hotspot is BT's own. There was a reply pasted onto the forum by a BT representative that confirmed that they don't allow access to OpenZone hotspots that are provided via their customer's equipment. Another reason to hate BT.
I've just read the judgment (http://www.alikelman.com/jobhbos.pdf) for this case. I noticed that in 2005 the bank issued a replacement card which didn't arrive at the claimant's address and was fraudulently used. Then again after the claimant reported the fraudulent transactions in 2006 the bank issued another replacement card which also didn't arrive and was fraudulently used. In both instances the bank accepted the claimant didn't receive the cards and refunded the fraudulent transactions.
Several of you have questioned whether this would be really free due to the exorbitant data charges imposed by the mobile networks.
A few years ago this would have been a valid point. Recently though data costs have reduced significantly and now you can typically get "unlimited" data for less than £10 a month. I'd expect many people that would use Skype on the handset would already have "unlimited" data included in their tariff anyway, so I'd say it's about as free as you're going to get.
Of course, all the networks need to do now is to work out how to charge separately for such traffic.
@Liam Thom 3.5G is what the industry generally use to describe HSDPA enabled UMTS technology.
The speed test application I have on my iPhone typically gives me a download speed of 2.5Mbps over cellular (that's on a HSDPA enabled cell with a maximum download speed of up to 3.6Mbps). The maximum download speed of a non-HSDPA UMTS cell is 384Kbps.
So the iPhone 3G is compatible with HSDPA. Maybe they should have called it the iPhone 3.5G, but perhaps that name is too much of a mouth full.
I like Twitter. I've got back in touch with people that I'd lost contact with because of Twitter and have also met some interesting people though it as well.
I also went to a Twestival last night, it was in a pub I'd never been to before, and it was one of the best pubs I've been in for a long time. I even bumped into a few people in the pub that I'd not seen in years. I'm going back there for some more real ale tonight :-)
So it's not intrusive or pointless for me. I wonder how many of the anti-Twitter crowd have actually tried using it?
Yes it is cheaper for a mobile company to connect a 0800 call than it is to pay the termination fee for connecting a call to another mobile network.
Mobile companies don't want 0800 (o 0870 for that matter) to come out of your inclusive minutes as people use them as call-though numbers for getting cheap international calls - mobile networks would sooner you dial directly so you pay their much higher rate. By making 0800 calls chargeable regardless then at least they are still making some money if you use a call-though service.
Of course, there's always a way around these things. You can call a standard geographical number, +44 23 8003 0800 and then enter the 0800 number when your call is answered so that the call is deducted from your inclusive minutes.
"Probably the only security issue with mobile broadband is loss or theft of the USB dongle or data card, and with it a user’s access credentials."
There is no user stored data on USB dongles/data cards - the users access credentials (which are generic anyway, unless you are using a private APN) are stored on the laptop.
Some dongles now act as a memory card reader as well, so the only risk would be if you had a memory card in the dongle and then had it lost/stolen.
Also, it's worth remembering that you don't necessarily need a dongle/data card to connect your computer to to the cellular network. I get my laptop online on the move by connecting it over WiFi to my phone. The advantage of this is that it gives me "unlimited" data at no extra cost. I use an iPhone with the PdaNet application to do this.
Replying to Sean Aaron - you will be able to put the phone onto 2G only (and hence double the talk time) - Macworld confirmed this in their podcast yesterday after speaking to Apple.
Replying to Jiminy Krikett - Apple's website confirms that HSPDA is supported.
It appears that there is still no MMS support or video capture though.
Vodafone use compression technology from Bytemobile, along with every other UK network operator.
I can understand the need for this in pre-UMTS days, as the image compression will have enhanced the user experience when download speeds were slower. With 3G though the image compression has the opposite effect - I just find it annoying.
If you're using a Mac then you can download a utility called ByteMe Optimizer from http://aitne.com/ and this suppresses the optimisation.
The only problem is that, at most, any photos that you put on Facebook can only be seen by people that you add as friends and people who belong to the same network as you (this goes for your whole profile for that matter).
Anyone concerned about their privacy can restrict the photos to be shared with their friends only, and you can even add friends but restrict them from viewing your photos.
So I don't see how a potential employer or university could use Facebook as part of their vetting process.
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