COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

[Stanley]

When I thought about Pluggy's explanation about changing the sim card I was wondering how this would deal with the final resolution of the account on the switch to a new supplier.
Not that it bothers me. I am as you know a dinosaur when it comes to this urge to always look for a cheaper supplier. My experience with accounts systems (and this includes credit cards) leads me to believe that as they aren't sentient they leave accounts alone as long as there is no change. Once a change is signalled the computer has the opportunity to make mistakes and so often when you see accounts of people having problems it is following a change in the account. Besides, I am not convinced by these advertisements for switching sites which after all are trying to persuade you to change so they can get their commission. "You could save £X" doesn't attract me at all. Being an idle bugger who likes a quiet life I ignore the bills and let direct debit do the work.
Of course I could be wrong......

[Tizer]

Just make sure you're insurance company doesn't keep bumping up the premiums, which is what they do to most people who don't question the figure or switch. Mrs Tiz's parents ended up paying a high price for house insurance and we got it lowered by about £600.

Tripps, another coincidence on smart meters! Today's Telegraph reports:
`Smart energy meters giving readings up to seven times too high, study finds' LINK
"Smart meters are giving readings up to seven times higher than the energy consumed by households when connected to energy-saving light bulbs, according to scientists. A study conducted by the University of Twente Enschede in the Netherlands, has found that five different types of smart meters produced readings up to 583pc higher than the actual energy used. It is the first ever proof that smart meters, which the Government wants in every household by 2020 to improve the accuracy of people's energy bills, are producing readings which are too high. Scientists declined to name and shame affected smart meters but confirmed that those which give wrong readings in its tests have been sold and installed in the UK. It means as many as five million UK households in which smart meters are installed, may have potentially received inaccurate readings."

I'm not against modern technology but I worry about it being introduced without sufficient testing and without enough attention to security issues. I also don't have much confidence now in in the level of training of employees in companies and other organisations, and perhaps their school education isn't fitting them for the needs of business.

On a different matter, the BBC has investigated scam call centres in India targeting TalkTalk customers:
`Inside the TalkTalk 'Indian scam call centre'' TalkTalk

[Gloria]

I have a query, I have looked on the apple help which was of no help, so I am now here hoping someone can help.
My Apple ID is my email address. My email address is with orange, it is a freeserve.co.uk, on 31st May this is becoming defunct, Orange/EE are no longer going to be supporting emails. I have decided to use my iCloud for emails. All straight forward so far. But this soon to be old email address is my apple ID and I'm concerned it will become defunct when the 31st May arrives. Can anyone verify this?? I personally can't see how it would be a problem as it's an ID address, and they have the iCloud email if they wish to contact me.
Sorry if this sounds garbled.
Thankyou for any help.

[Big Kev]

I have a query, I have looked on the apple help which was of no help, so I am now here hoping someone can help.
My Apple ID is my email address. My email address is with orange, it is a freeserve.co.uk, on 31st May this is becoming defunct, Orange/EE are no longer going to be supporting emails. I have decided to use my iCloud for emails. All straight forward so far. But this soon to be old email address is my apple ID and I'm concerned it will become defunct when the 31st May arrives. Can anyone verify this?? I personally can't see how it would be a problem as it's an ID address, and they have the iCloud email if they wish to contact me.
Sorry if this sounds garbled.
Thankyou for any help.

Did you find this on the Apple site?
Follow these steps to change the email address that you use as your Apple ID.



1.Sign out of every Apple service and device that uses your Apple ID.

2.Sign in to your Apple ID account page.

3.In the Account section, click Edit. Under your Apple ID, click Change Email Address. You might be asked to answer one or more of your security questions.

4.Enter the email address that you want to use as your Apple ID. A verification code will be sent to your new email address.

5.Enter the verification code from the email into the fields provided and start using your updated Apple ID.

6.Sign back in to all Apple services with your new Apple ID.

After you change your Apple ID, you need to use your new sign-in information with all Apple services that you use.


If you can't change your Apple ID

You can change your Apple ID to any other email address you control, as long as it's not already in use as an Apple ID. If your email address ends with @icloud.com, @me.com, or @mac.com, you might not be able to change your Apple ID. You also won't see Change Email Address on your account page.

[Gloria]

Thanks Kevin,
Ive been through that and nothing seems to happen, BUT, I read you last paragraph and because I am trying to add an iCloud address that will be why it won't do it.
So, I should be able to change it to our gmail account, shouldn't I??

[Gloria]

Kevin, it's worked, many thanks, you are today's hero.

[Big Kev]

Kevin, it's worked, many thanks, you are today's hero.

No worries

[Stanley]

What a nice man he is and how nice to see two people being so polite and helpful. OG all over......
Tiz, I use Swinton at Burnley for my insurance and their premium went down this year for contents. It was reasonable before.....

[Tizer]

Tiz, I use Swinton at Burnley for my insurance and their premium went down this year for contents. It was reasonable before.....

We've just had our renewal letter for car insurance from Direct Line...up £100 over last time. I did a search on the Go Compare site and could get the same cover for £100 less from many well known insurers such as AA, RAC, LV, Halifax, Saga and retailers such as Tesco, M&S etc. I told Direct Line but they wouldn't budge. The man said "I know, we all do it, ignore loyalty to attract new customers". He apologised. I renewed with LV (Liverpool Victoria), a friendly society which had twice as many reviews as most other companies on the site and one of the highest ratings. Their web site was very easy, documentation clear and they use 2nd level verification when you pay, so they are one of the most secure.

[Stanley]

How short sighted can a company get ? Can you imagine running a corner shop on that basis? The only thing I can think is that the senior management bonuses are linked to expanding the customer base and so attracting new customers with introductory offers is financed by dunning the existing customers. When I took over the Building Insurance for my house because Janet was incompetent due to her illness I was given a better price on the same insurance simply because I was a new customer!

[Tizer]

The bosses who run these companies are supposed to be the expert managers but these days they're all in thrall to mantras, even if the mantras don't work (a bit like being in thrall to Trump). For example, the mantra that you should milk the old customers and leave them to die, they won't be around for long anyway. Instead, concentrate on offers and attractions to bring in the young ones because they've got more years ahead of them. What they forget is that today's youngsters are tomorrow's oldies, they don't stay young forever. There will always be the `older' market and if you ignore it you're missing a large part of the market.

[Tripps]

This is drifting off topic, but on the same theme as above - I've had an email from The Spectator. I took a special offer of 12 issues for £12, and then let it run at £35 per 3 months because I was enjoying it. I cancelled it a couple of weeks ago after about a year, and I must admit I'm missing the Friday morning reinforcement of my opinions.
Now they have offered 12 for £12 again, and also say

Plus, if you get back to us within 14 days, we’ll throw in a Spectator engraved stainless steel Parker pen. We hope to welcome you back.

So with what I'll save on the power bill and no TV Licence charge now, I can easily afford it - and a free Parker pen too. What's not to like?

[Stanley]

I always enjoy off piste David, it make topics more interesting..... Go for the offer but be careful not to get locked in to something you don't want!
I was watching a BT related item on the news last night and they highlighted a village that is still on dial-up speeds (If the connection works). These are the people who are being left behind now everything is internet related. I can't imagine being thrown back into the Stone Age!

[Wendyf]

That's where we would be without our wireless connection Stanley....no broadband here at all. The company who provide our service are trialling a 160 Mb service in the Bradley area near Skipton at the moment.

[Big Kev]

I'd be lost without a connection, I did look at fibre again yesterday but they still want too much money. My ADSL connection still meets my needs so I can't jusify paying the extra.

[Wendyf]

Here is a link to the article in last week's Craven Herald about Boundless bringing super fast connection speeds to rural areas. The new MD David Hood used to own Pace Microsystems in Saltaire when Col first worked there, looks like he is investing hugely in this company.
http://www.cravenherald.co.uk/news/1510 ... o_Bradley/

[PanBiker]

David Hood, there's a blast from the past. Back in the mid 1980's when I was helping to run the computer club which we held at Colne Library. I succeeded in getting David to come along and demonstrate the Nightingale 300baud modem, he brought six along. One of our keen members was a BT engineer and as we needed a telephone line or two (or six) he accessed the underfloor cables on the landing and stuck a breakout box in to provide us with six "off tariff" lines from the engineering pool. We had a fantastic time that night accessing the early generation BBS and viewdata systems who's dial up details could be found in the back of the computer mags. We had BBC's, Ataris, and Commodore Pet's hooked up. I can hear the handshake tone now.

[Wendyf]

He used to live up here Ian at Cocket Farm (now renamed Stoneybank Farm) but had moved before we arrived at Lower Burnt Hill. I believe he had his own helicopter to get to work and now has a jet charter company. When we produced digitisers for the Amstrad PCW in the late eighties we bought the plastic boxes from Pace, their modem boxes were ideal for the job. It was the job at Pace that drew Col down from Scotland.

[Tripps]

"but be careful not to get locked in to something you don't want!"

They say I can quit at any time without penalty. I'm thinking of putting in new figures with a 10% increase as a contingency fund, then I think I'll do it from the end of this month.


PS - how do you quote part of a post - I've tried but failed.
Others seem to have the knack.

[Big Kev]

PS - how do you quote part of a post - I've tried but failed.
Others seem to have the knack.

Just delete the bits you don't want.

[Tripps]

[

Just delete the bits you don't want.
[/quote]

Never considered that Thanks

PS Looks like there is work still to be done. Tried to delete this but it wouldn't let me.

[Big Kev]

[

Just delete the bits you don't want.

Never considered that Thanks
[/quote]

Make sure the leave the

information at either end of what you want to see in your 'quote' as per the screenshot above

[Tripps]

Thanks - you're very patient I'll get there.

[plaques]

Getting Quotes into a reply. This may sound long winded but it works.
Open 'Post a reply' >> Click into it to get the cursor blinking. >> Scroll down to the target Post that you want to quote. >> Blue out the section you are interested in ie; ( Click into it hold and drag along until you have covered all the words you want release the click) .. In the same target post move up to the (") quote symbol, .. Click the quote symbol..
The quote should now appear it your reply posting.

[Tripps]

The quote should now appear it your reply posting.

And so it does. Thanks - hope I can remember that