OK, this may be old news, but I have only just found out. In my dark days of banking I used to look at the financial news every day, but fortunately those days are over. Anyway, I just took a look at The Times Online and went to their business section. It is subscription only! Below is the form that greets readers now.

So you now pay £1 a day, or £2 a week, if you want to read their online paper.

This is what the author says:

I don’t think anyone has done a vid to this song yet…and I CAN’T believe they haven’t…so I HOPE the EMP has done this song proud and LAZY TOWN’S ONLY slightly above average SUPERHERO!!!

This is an AWESOME SONG that showcases Sportacus’ many unique moves and abilities! WE need a HERO and he NEEDS this song!!

ENJOY!!!

By YouTube user TheEmpressAR.

Learn more about the real Sportacus at MotleyHealth.com. Sportacus is one of the few healthy role models for children. He encourages children to eat “Sports Candy”, which are apples and other fresh fruits and vegetables, and gets children active. Many children and adults alike are inspired by his work, for Sportacus is not a totally fictional character – the real man is Magnus Scheving who went from being an ordinary energetic kid to a European gymnastics champion in a few short years.

Orange have a mobile phone package called Business Sense. If you wish to access the Internet on your smart phone, to send emails, use Google etc. then they charge a small fee of £4.25 per month for you to do so. This used to be called their “unlimited mobile internet” package. It seems quite reasonable.

However, should you exceed this 500Mb limit, rather than charge you per Mb at a fair rate (the standard rate works out at 0.85 pence per Mb) they charge a massive fee which is about 100 times more per Mb. In one case where a user (me) went over by 157Mb in June 2010 Orange decided to charge an additional £126.00. Yes, that is right, £126.00. This is the equivalent of 80.25p per Mb used. Staggering.

It seems that Orange’s current policy is to severely punish small businesses that use mobile internet. I run a web design and web content management business. When on the move I need to access multiple websites to update them, moderate communities, write new content etc. It is what my business is all about. So to be charged an excessive fee to do my job is absurd.

When I was with T-Mobile they had a real “unlimited” mobile internet deal. I paid about £5 a month to use my 3G connection on my Google mobile phone and was never charged for “excessive use”.

What is Excessive Use?

Orange describe this as file sharing, downloads etc. etc. As a business customer I find it pretty degrading to be thrown in the same category as media pirates, file sharers and the like. Come on, this is a business package sold to me because I am running a business. I obviously use the mobile Internet more than the average plumber, bank manager, pilot or butcher, but why should I be punished severely for it?

If a salesman went over his 1000 minutes per month limit would Orange charge him 100 times more per minute he talked? I think not. They would charge a fair amount. If someone sent more that 1000 text messages in a month, would they be charged a small fortune? No.

So why punish a web content manager? I am in my first year of business, just starting out. I thought that by changing from a standard T-Moble account to an Orange Business account I would receive superior support. But no. So far Orange have told me:

• They do not support me or my phone. Apparently I have the wrong type of phone, i.e. a Google G1 running Android.
• They do not support my business – i.e. an internet business.
• They will not cancel the contract to let me go with a provider that will support my phone and mu business.

I have less than 2 years to go now. 2 long years though, that could cost me about £5000 if the last bill is anything to go by. That is a massive chunk of my earnings.

But hey, must look on the bright side, at least my tax bill will be less than I though. The future is bright, the future is Orange. Just make sure you are an Orange shareholder, not a customer.

My problems since moving to an Orange Business package continue. When I was sold the package, I was told by Excell Communications that it would cost me no more than £20 per month, the same as my previous T-Mobile package. I was told that the package included a data package, but this is called by Orange an “unlimited data bundle”. So, what is the problem?

Unlimited Date Bundle?

My bill for the month just came through, it is £212.03. I have been charged an additional £126.00 for going over the unlimited data bundle cap of 500Mb.

There has obviously been a mistake! I phoned Orange business support on 345 and explained the error.

Well, the data bundle is only called unlimited because most people do not use that much Internet. What? Are most people professional web content managers that require Internet access to run their business? No. Most people are retail customers who like to watch a odd YouTube video, so there must be a cap.

How Much Do Orange Charge Per Mb?

So, how much do they charge? Their data bundle is $4.25 per month for 500Mb. That is more than reasonable, that is 0.85p per Mb. I used an additional 157Mb (note there was no text/email to alert me I went over). So an extra 157Mb should be about £1.33. No, they charged me an extra £126, which is a charge of 80.25p per Mb. They have increased the fee by almost 100 times. So much for unlimited.

What really sucks about this Business Package is that I get 1000 texts and 1000 minutes. Of those texts, I have used 28. Yes, just 28 text messages. Do I get a refund for not using all 1000? No.

Mobile Internet is Just All Screwed Up

It seems to me that mobile Internet is just all screwed up. Across these networks they are happy for people to send 1000 text messages each month, but send a few more emails than average and manage a few websites, then they sting you.

Orange business support are looking into the problem, and say that I will be contacted within 1 week after they have “recalculated” my account. I fear that their calculations will simply show that I have used the Internet a little more than their measly 500Mb cap. The big question is, will they actually understand that some business users need more than others?

I would be happy to lost 900 texts per month if it meant getting 2000Mb per month. That does not seem an unreasonable suggestion. But hey, this is Orange we are talking about, the company that is looking for to make a brighter future for its business customers. Maybe their new slogan should be “The future is dark, the future is Orange Internet Data Bundles”.

Still cannot get over the fact that Orange ahve charged me an additional fee 100 times greater per Mb for my mobile internet. This has to be the highest excess charge in mobile history. In fact, it could be the biggest excess charge in any industry.

BBC News is looking extremely sleek today. At first I thought I was on the wrong page! I always read their Health News pages and today was pleasantly surprised by the vibrant and modern new look.

The BBC have decided to remove the old fashioned left sidebar and now have all their navigation along the top of the page. The right hand side shows features, most popular news of the week and also has relevant links to video material on iPlayer.

They have provided a guided tour of their new layout which helps to explain where things are and why they have moved. The design aims to be cleaner and provides more space for better quality pictures and videos.

Alongside each story they now show other relevant stories. Each video page displays a better quality and larger video with links to other videos. This will possibly revolutionise the way the BBC share its news content.

They are now provide social networking links to that we can share the news easier with friends and family. Well done BBC! Right, now time for a Webologist.co.uk makeover!

What a nightmare. A warning to all here:

Do Not Try To Upload Too Many Photos to Facebook At Once

I was attempting to upkload about 6 or 7 photos to Facebook from my phone and it just died on me. It got pretty hot, gave some memory warnings, then crashed. I tried rebooting but the keys were not responsive at all. I removed the battery to force a reboot but that did not help. It did not boot, never got beyond the Android logo on the boot up. So I eventually decided that a factory reset was the only option. In case you find yourself in this situation, this is what you do:

1. Remove the battery again, then replace
2. Hold Home Key and End key for 20 to 30 seconds until you see a triangle with an exclamation point and a picture of the G1.
3. Open the keyboard and press Alt+W until and chose factory reset
4. Allow it to boot up. If you have no network then skip Google sign in
5. Go to wireless settings and activate
6. Open Gmail to force back into Google sign in

After doing this the Orange 3G seemed to then wake up. Gmail synched. Fortunately all the photos on my SD card are still there, factory reset does not erase those. But lost all the applications I used. No idea what state the phone is in, I guess I need to upgrade to the latest version now… will check.. ok, things I need to do after a factory reset:

1. Create a new screen lock code
2. Switched off GPS satellites (to save battery)
3. Changed the background and tidied up the desktop – including removing that silly clock
4. Now trying to remember what apps I had …..
5. Version is 1.6 – this is the latest version. I was expecting it to revert to the original one. That is clever….
6. Hmmmm, I know I had a lot of apps, but what did I really need? Hmmmm….. will not install anything until I need one. Maybe the Facebook one, that resulted in the phone dying…

OK, althought uploading photos to Facebook killed my phone I am sure it is not Facebook’s fault, want to make that clear before someone complains. Once, during the Londong G20 Riots, I tried to send about 5 photos by email and the phone kept dying then. In that situation it was overheating then rebooting, and then also running out of battery. Even when connected to my monitor by USB it was running out of battery before sending all the mails. Odd. No memory problems then, but maybe all the messages on the phone and applications slowed it down. Maybe I will experiment with sending lots of photos again on a clean phone. Hmmm, do I still have my SMS messages?

No. Lost all messages. Oh dear. What did I lose?

News just in the Google has bought an online travel firm. ITA was set up in 2007 by a group of IT developers in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Google have paid $700 million for the company.

They plan to integrate the ITA travel information within their own search results in the same way that some retail products have now been integrated.

The main points of the deal are as follows (info source: Google.com):

• Google’s acquisition of ITA Software will create a new, easier way for users to find better flight information online, which should encourage more users to make their flight purchases online.
• The acquisition will benefit passengers, airlines and online travel agencies by making it easier for users to comparison shop for flights and airfares and by driving more potential customers to airlines’ and online travel agencies’ websites. Google won’t be setting airfare prices and has no plans to sell airline tickets to consumers.
• Because Google doesn’t currently compete against ITA Software, the deal will not change existing market shares. We are very excited about ITA Software’s QPX business, and we’re looking forward to working with current and future customers. Google will honor all existing agreements, and we’re also enthusiastic about adding new partners.

QPX Travel Search Engine

QPX prides itself in its excellent search function in the online travel market. ITA Software make the following statements about the QPX search engine:

• The deepest and most thoroughly customizable search
• Highly advanced shopping features that drive sales
• Built entirely on open systems architecture
• Industry-leading uptime and performance
• Integrates quickly and easily with existing systems

It certainly looks like a good product, and as more and more people turn to Google in their first step to organise travel it could help users. But, the big question is, is this good for users? Currently users who search Google for travel information should view a collection of sites based on the Google algorithm.

If Google are going to place the ITA data into their search results pages then Google may quickly monopolise online travel search which not only could mean users are not getting such a variety of choices but could put many other online travel companies out of business. Many small web entrepreneurs make a living from running their own price comparison sites, but if Google essentially bypasses them and provides its own results that link direct to agencies many existing websites may see a dramatic fall in revenue.

Is Google’s monopoly on search becoming too strong? Or will its ITA results have to strictly adhere to its own search engine page rank rules?

How is this possible? Today I witness the publication online of a new article on a health and fitness website. The article was about how diet can help reduce hay fever symptoms. What I witnessed was shocking. The main Adsense advert on the page was for a popular anti-histamine drug. For this advert to appear, Google must have known about the article almost instantaneously.

This was the first article on hay fever on this particular website, so it is not a case of Google delivering the same adverts to the new page as it sends to all the other pages.

Now, I have seen pages be published for many years now. Several years ago a new page would often show totally irrelevant adverts while the Adsense robots would come and spider the new content. For some new sites that used a shared Adsense account the adverts would be totally off topic for several days in some cases (I never forget the time I had lingerie adverts all over a techy website!).

But now it seems that Google returns relevant adverts at light speed. My server sits in the north west of England. Google’s servers are in California. OK, maybe the Adsense servers are localised now, but certainly not in the small town my server is in. I cannot be bothered to try to work out how far the servers are apart and how long it would take light to travel between them – I do not have the time for such nonsense. But, it must take some time, even if only a fraction of a second, and Google seemed to return relevant results almost instantaneously.

Within a fraction of a second of a new article being published, Google not only knew about it, it scanned the content, determined the topic and picked a relevant advert to display on the page. Amazing.

It is interesting to see that all the Adsense links are all “wrong”, i.e. on the general theme of the site and not the topic of the article. So maybe on the content blocks use this super fast technology. Will refresh the page now and see what happens …… still the same 2 adverts for hay fever (main content one and one in the left skyscraper block). So, there has not been a review in the time I wrote this article. Google is therefore confident that it returns the most relevant adverts in a nanosecond. Google, the true Super Hero of the modern age.

For 3 days I have been without Internet. This is the longest I have been without Internet since I first got dial up in 1999. OK, I am writing this by tethering my mobile (Android/PdaNet) so I do have an Internet connection, just not the broadband service that I am paying Opal Talk Talk for.

So, what is the problem? On Saturday afternoon I lost the ability to access websites. That simple. My email and Skype still show a connection, although the Skype appears to keep losing and regaining the connection. Websites just load very very slowly or not at all.

On Satuday I called Opal Talk Talk (Opal and the business to business service offered by Talk Talk, it was previously Freedom2Surf) and the chap I spoke with suggested that the likely problem with an IP issue (I have a static IP address, required to access off site servers).We changed the DNS settings in both Vista and the router to the static ones Opal use, instead of using the dynamic ones. That did not work.

So he said that he would change the IP from static to dynamic and that should clear it up. At about midnight I checked the connection and rebooted the router to be sure, and the IP was updated. But still not website access.

On Sunday morning I called Opal again, after being on hold for almost 15 minutes, and was advised that the likely problem was with the router. After the Opal technical guy reset a few things, the router could no longer authenticate, so he concluded that my router was probably faulty. I bought a new router on Sunday from PC World, spending more than I would normally, but I was desperate to be online again to work on Monday (I work 7 days a week being a self employed web designer / consultant). I installed the new Belkin (G Wireless Modem Router) on Sunday afternoon, and lo and behold, still no website access. It seemed I had wasted my money, and insulted my trusty old Netgear 834 with the additional Netgear WG602 Wireless Access Point that had treated me so well over the last 8 or so years.

I tried calling Opal and just got an answer machine (phone calls never responded to) and so sent a message to their support group (not replied to). On Sunday night I ran my antivirus software and went to bed.

Woke up on Monday, AV said all clear, so that was good to know (I use Avast! and it updates on a regular basis). Still no web access. So I then called Opal again. Monday quickly became a very stressful day.

Firstly I was on hold for about 20 minutes before finally getting through (remember, this is their business support line, so you would hope that they were a bit quicker). On this call I explained everything (again). We decided to try the DNS settings again, and no change there. The next idea was to try another computer. I said that I had done this already but the other computer was having the same problem. But the technical guy insisted, so I plugged in the laptop. Same problem. He then asked if I had a third computer to try….. well, I tried, no luck. Shocking.

The next idea (at this point I started to feel that they were clutching at straws) was that I just had too many Internet connections and this was making it slow. I had about 40 connections whereas the “norm” is about 10 to 20, apparently. This must be the problem. I said no, I have been running this PC very well on a slower connection without any problem, and reminded him that the other computer had the same problem. And yes, I had run anti-virus before calling.

His next idea was that we connect the router to the BT test socket, so he got me to go downstairs and remove the front plate of the main BT telephone point. I did that, went back the phone and had lost connection. He failed to mention that removing the front cover would disconnect the call. This got me a bit angry. I had been on the phone with him for about 40 minutes at this point. I called back. In hindsight it was a good thing as on the next call I got someone who was capable of actually diagnosing the problem rather than taking me through the same steps over and over again.

On the fourth call I got through to a new chap, and told him the whole story (again). Oh, was on hold for another 14 minutes before the call was answered. This chap was called Robert and was actually much more helpful than the first three. After talking through the whole thing for about 10 minutes, we tried the DNS settings again. Same result. We did some pinging from the command prompt, and even when pinging Google it was losing packets. We tried booting Vista up in Safemode to check if any other programs could be the problem, but the slow web remained in safemode. Robert also got me to remove the front plate of the BT box, but he was clever enough to take my mobile number first. We did this. Oh, I skipped a part.

The next phase in diagnostics was line testing. As we had determined it was not a router problem, or a DNS problem or a computer problem, then there must be a line fault. A test with the modem in the office showed that there was a “voltage issue”. As this could be an internal problem the next step was to connect direct to the BT master socket. Another test showed that the “voltage issue” was still there. Robert agreed that an engineer should now investigate on site. I had requested this initially, but they decided that I was the best person to carry out all the tests! I spent about 2 hours today messing around with it, what with the multiple calls, being on hold for almost 40 minutes in total and doing all the rebooting, restarting, unplugging modems and connecting them up downstairs in the hallway. It was 10.35am when I fished the last call I think, having first called at about 8.30am.

So, I have been assured that an engineer will visit the relay station within 48 hours and then if the problem is not fixed there, someone will come to the office to try to fix it. Although this will cost me if it turns out the problem is internal, but Robert at Opal Talk Talk does not think so because …..

Steps to Diagnose and Repair slow Internet / Web loading problem

1. We changed the DNS settings in the computer (Control Panel\Network and Internet\Network Connections\Local Area Connection Properties\ TCP/IPv4 Properties) and on the router.
2. We tried two different routers, different models
3. We tried two different computers, same problem on both
4. Ran anti-virus on main computer
5. Confirmed no new software on the computers
6. Tried in safe mode (so no other programs running) and still slow
7. Tried in test socket, still slow
8. Line test showed a “voltage issue” that was external to the property as it appeared when the router was plugged into the test socket.

So now I am waiting for an engineer to call, hopefully with some good news. But all this worries me. Why?

My Main Concerns Now

1. I could lose a lot more work time while waiting for the repair to be done. At the moment I cannot access secure sites on my mobile connection, so cannot analyse web server logs and manage any of my advertising or webmail. All Google applications are unavailable and that includes Analytics, Adsense, Webmaster tools, Gmail, Google Docs (all my spreadsheets, daily task lists, reports).
2. If they cannot fix the problem, which seems crazy to think, but may happen, where does that leave me? Their contract is clear, for me to cancel I need to pay a fee of £300. Great. Looking at the Opal Talk Talk contract worries me further though, as it is a 2 year contract, but to cancel after the 2nd year costs £125. How does that work? I assume it means that the contract is 2 years, but they will automatically renew it after 2 years and then still charge me £125 if I decide I was a different supplier. Hmm.
3. What if they argue that it is my fault (again) even though Robert said that it could not be, because of all the tests done?
4. If it takes too long my mobile supplier will start charging for excessive 3G usage. I need to upgrade some software but that will eat into my tiny 500Mb per month bandwidth.

You see, I have never received replies from any of the emails I sent via their customer service form. This is worrying. I even said that if the problem was not resolved I would cancel the contract. That should have prompted someone to respond, but it did not. Maybe they are the type of B2B company that provides a discounted service but as soon as a serious problem arises they do not have the resources or even desire to fix it. Of all the tech support people I spoke with, only 1 was actually truly helpful and listened to what I said. The others just got me to go through the same steps over and over and were reluctant to call an engineer. Maybe “not their jobs worth”?

Anyway, thank you Robert of Opal Talk Talk, lets hope the engineer fixes it, tells Opal customer services and I get that call I have been promised.

What to look for in a home / office Broadband Internet Service Provider (ISP)

All this got me thinking (and researching) about what makes a good ISP. So I have come up with a list of things to look for / ask when ordering.

1. Is the customer support helpline operated 24/7 with people that know what they are talking about? (Talk Talk has been criticised on some forums for having excellent sales staff on call but not enough tech support).
2. Do they have their own team of engineers that can go the the telephone exchange and do on site checks? Do they have engineers to come to your home / office and check your systems? If so, how long do you have to wait for them to come? Do they charge you extra for this?
3. If you wish to cancel your contract because they are not providing the service you are paying for, can they still charge you £300 to cancel? Opal do, and as the telephone line works and I can receive emails (just about) then they could argue that it is only the higher speed web broadband I am not getting, so bad luck.
4. Do they provide any compensation for loss of service? Opal Talk Talk do not, at least no more than the cost of the service itself. So 3 days without Web access will mean I could possible claim compensation of about 99p (based on the £10 per month broadband deal). Not good when you have about 30 websites to manage and clients wanting updates, reports, analytics etc.

There are probably many other things to think about, but I am exhausted from barking up the wrong tree all day and getting nowhere.

So what next? Who knows…. hopefully I will be able to comment with some good news tomorrow.

If anyone else in Great Baddow is having problems with broadband from any provider, especially from Opal, Talk Talk or Carphone Warehouse (I think they are all the same company now) then please leave a comment below. Or if you have had problems with Opal Talk Talk, with the quality of tech support or on site engineers, then speak up.

WordPress 3.0 is a highly anticipated upgrade for the popular blogging and content management system. WordPress merges the WPMU (WordPress multi user) system with the standard WordPress, so that any WordPress site can now offer multiple blogs. An exciting upgrade indeed.

You’ve probably already seen the notice in your dashboards, so I’ll keep this one short and sweet:

http://wordpress.org/development/2010/06/thelonious/

3.0 is faster, stabler, and more secure, so you can focus on what matters (your audience) and let the rest fade to the background.

Custom post types, MU merge, menu editor, Twenty Ten theme, over 1,200 bug fixes… there’s so much to enjoy in this new release, we’re really proud of it. It’s the best WordPress yet, and available for a limited time for only free ninety nine.

Tell your friends, help them upgrade, write new themes that use the new features, spread the good word.

Love,
Matt Mullenweg
http://ma.tt | http://wordpress.org

Watch the WordPress 3 Video Guide