General Chat

:-D :-D :-D

Aw such a shame .I have vertigo don't know sometimes vere to go but put one foot in front of tother you will be right ;-) :-)

The problem with sea legs is that once you return to dry land you then feel very wobbly for a few days until you get your land legs back...mind you I do practice for this daily by my alcohol consumption :-D

And once we have adjusted back to land conditions, three and a half days on a rocking train puts us back to square one :-( :-D :-D :-D

You'll soon get your sea legs Allan....enjoy!

Thanks, Barbra, we'll try to although the weather doesn't look too promising at the moment :-D :-D

Hopefully, by the time we reach Sydney Harry and Megan will have transported the bad weather elsewhere ;-) :-D :-D

Face book isn't something I am interested in but suppose that's were the majority of GR.members keep in touch .hope you have a.great holiday Mr & Mrs A .safe trip . :-D Barbara x

BrianW :-D :-D :-D

I was a member of two or three groups as well as keeping in touch with a cousin.

However, I'll not be topping myself over a lack of access ;-) :-D :-D

Allan,
I'd count not being able to access facebook as an advantage! Lol.

....which is why, one hopes, a bit of forethought goes into upgrading things in the UK! :-D

Well whatever happens in the UK I hope that the new service is better than in some parts of Oz, including where I live, where the NBN (National Broadband Network) is very unstable.


This replaced the old ADSL service.


Originally the new service was going to be fibre optic cables to the house, replacing the old copper system


However, to save money the government decided to keep the old copper wires to the house and only provide fibre optics to a 'node' with copper from there. :-|

And I still can't access Facebook!


:-D

...so why does the second paragraph begin:
"Right off the bat we should clarify that this is NOT a removal of the old copper lines that underpin such services but rather a change of how the service over the top of those lines is communicated"

True, they go on to say:
"although it will in future help to facilitate the replacement of copper with pure fibre optic (FTTH/P) lines (you’ll only be able to use Internet Protocol (IP) based traffic over the latter)"

That's 'Help to facilitate the replacement of copper" - but in the far future.

The PSTN is going better get used to it.

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2018/05/openreach-begin-consulting-on-withdrawal-of-uk-pstn-phone-network.html

Paperless society......and yet many still print up their details from computers....

There was a Government consultation in the UK in 2014, about switching off PSTN - at the time they envisaged "Smart homes, smart energy and smart cities will become the norm, and "driverless cars will lead to safe motoring requiring ubiquitous road coverage".
That's not likely for quite a time!
Also, there's this:

"The government would need to be sure that any switch-off of copper networks would not leave any consumers without the availability of communications services," the DCMS warns. Any deadline would need to be sufficiently far in the future that current planned investments in copper, such a unbundling local exchanges, still make sense financially."

Bearing in mind, some areas of the UK still have a rubbish internet connection, surely putting that right should come first?
I believe work - type computers (Desktop PC's) need PSTN.
I wonder what they would do about that?

I also remember the 'statements' about cheques disappearing - cheques are still alive and kicking.
Anyone not upgrading to window's 10, apparently losing all internet acces etc etc.

BT plan to switch off the PSTN by 2025 rendering the trad phone socket silent. There will be a basic ip phone service for those that want it. Oz has already made the change.

It seems to be assumed nowdays that everyone has a smartphone and is on Facebook.

But my phone is just a phone and I'm not on Facebook.

Thank you Rollo, I didn't know that. I used to think a mobile could be located by satellites that the networks use, but it's more likely to be pylons.

I bought Fred a Teddyphone.

It is designed for children, has no screen and no SIM, you must supply your own and you can only programme in four numbers which are activated by buttons on it's paws.

I think it was possible to listen to them without the knowing as well and that you could track them with it.

Also, being in the shape of a teddy, it was so un-cool that there was little fear of it ever being stolen.
Of course, it was far too uncool for that old sod to carry with him!

All mobile phones, smart or not, have an IMEI code which is unique and wired into the phone. ISPs record this number as the phone moves from cell to cell. The police have access to the logs and can track the phone both history and in real time. There are other methods for switched off phones so long as the battery is not removed.

These methods are frequently used to locate missing people and for evidence.

Criminals often have disposable "burner" phones not registered.

If someone goes AWOL, missing, is it true that the Police can locate them through the signal from their mobile phone ?