August 2009 news

18th August 2009

While we may be complaining about our connections more than ever, us Brits are signing up for both fixed-line and broadband services in record numbers. It's clear the UK's love affair with all things internet is here to stay, but it's becoming more of a love-hate relationship. So who's to blame?

Ofcom's Communications Market Report last week highlighted consumer satisfaction with fixed-line broadband speeds has dropped from 90 per cent to 81 per cent, while mobile broadband has a lower overall satisfaction rating (83 per cent) than any other telecoms medium analysed by the regulator.

According to Broadband Genie editor Chris Marling, it's the same as so many troubled relationships – both sides should take some responsibility for the problems, and work on their communication skills.

He said: “As is so often the case, there was a lot of bravado from the internet service providers as they tried to woo consumers – now we're a little further down the line, the public are starting to realise some of those promises are a little far fetched. The relationship has settled into a pattern, the industry has got comfortable, and the public is starting to question its commitment to its promises.

“However, this doesn't mean we don't love broadband – we want the relationship to work but shouldn't expect the earth. Mobile broadband companies are now being more realistic about its capabilities, often promoting their services as complimentary to fixed-line rather than as a replacement, while fixed-line is now upping its game – more and more people can receive broadband of 10Mb plus, thanks to Virgin Media's cable network and the expansion of LLU technology into BT exchanges (allowing ADSL2+ speeds of up to 24Mb).”

Ofcom's report also revealed around 12 per cent of the population now has mobile broadband (around three million homes), with more than 250,000 sales in May 2009 alone, and there are 17.3 million fixed-line connections in the UK (up 10.7 per cent) – that's 65 per cent of the population covered (up 7 per cent).

Marling concluded: “According to Ofcom, people are more likely to cut back on meals and nights out than the internet: only spend on toiletries and groceries are more secure. So, while we may have been going through a rocky patch, the foundations of our relationship with broadband are still strong. For all your broadband counselling needs, visit Broadband Genie and check out our extensive guides, forums and reviews.”

Source: PublicTechnology.net

3rd August 2009

BT has created "Communication Choices: for deaf or hard of hearing people", the first in a new series of guides being developed by BT offering help and advice for people around specific impairments.

These guides describe a full range of options that will help people to identify the right communications tools for their needs. The first in the series is devoted to people who are deaf or hard of hearing and, while leading on traditional telephony, it also explores the benefits the internet and associated technologies can offer.

You can download this new guide as a pdf or in rich text format from BT's website.

Source: BT Inclusive Communications

The Communications Consumer Panel has published its July e-newsletter. See more at:

http://www.communicationsconsumerpanel.org.uk/e_newsletter_July_2009.pdf

August 2009

Progress with emergency SMS trials
The technical trial is complete and informed user testing is taking place now across all five networks.

The large-scale user trial will start on 14 September and will involve real people registering for the system and using it to send genuine emergency messages. As most of us can go for very long periods without having reason to call the emergency services, the trial will need to involve several thousand people in order to ensure that there will be a sufficient number of 999 messages. A range of deaf and speech impairment organisations will be asked to circulate information to their members inviting them to register and materials should be ready in the next two weeks.

Assuming all goes well, the trial will be indistinguishable from the actual scheme for users – the differences will be behind the scenes. They are 1. that the trial can be terminated if it is causing unforeseen problems and 2. that the number of people being registered to the scheme can be slowed down if the increase in call volumes is noticeable enough to create capacity issues for the emergency services that need to be addressed. The trial can also be extended if necessary, but the aim remains to make the scheme permanent in early 2010 if all is going well.

Registration

To register, users will text a word such as ‘register’ (the actual word is not yet public) to 999. They will then have to accept the terms and conditions which can be accessed in one of three ways: sent as a series of text messages to the user, read on a website or mailed out to the user. People who are not registered but who try to send an emergency message will receive a message back saying that they are not registered. No information other than a list of mobile numbers registered to the scheme will be kept.

People who make hoax calls can be de-registered and barred from the system (though they can of course get another SIM and re-register, in the same way that hoax voice callers can).

Reliability of store and forward technology

SMS is not a perfect medium for real-time emergency communication as it relies on store and forward technology. For example, on New Year’s Eve there is often heavy congestion on the network leading to delays in messages being received. However, there is general agreement that an imperfect mechanism is better than no mechanism - so long as users are aware that it is imperfect. The terms and conditions will make it clear that users should not assume their message has been received until they receive a reply from the emergency services stating that help is on the way (and they should not rely on automated SMS delivery receipt).
On this point, there was a suggestion at the meeting that the mobile network operators could be asked to pull off records from their Short Message Service Centres - this would enable an assessment of how many 999 SMS messages have been sent compared with how many arrived.

Contact: Katie Hanson [Katie.Hanson@ofcom.org.uk]