Virgin Media Customer Service

The Internet was slow. So hideously slow. By dial-up standards, it was still blazingly fast, but this is the age of broadband. I pay a hefty amount for my 10 megabit Internet, so I expect a decent speed in return. YouTube wasn't working properly. I was seeing a few seconds of video, then having to wait about half a minute to see the next few seconds.

I had noticed the Internet going slowly for a while now, but I generally just browse the web at home, so it wasn't a big deal, until I wanted to do something like watch a YouTube video. My service is provided by Virgin Media, which used to be ntl and Telewest, but they're all the same thing now. Calling them up was the usual frustrating affair of going through a series of 'phone menus' and pressing 1 for this, 2 for that, 3 for hurry the hell up.

The chap on the other end was a scouser. The problem was that he didn't know the difference between kilobits and kilobytes. Despite my insistence that I was only able to download at 100 kilobytes per second, he kept insisting that this was the same as 1.25 megabytes per second which was how fast my line was. While it's true that 10 megabits is the same thing as roughly 1.25 megabytes, it's certainly not true that 1.25 megabytes is the same thing as 100 kilobytes. After I asked to speak to his supervisor, he agreed to give me the benefit of his doubt and assume that the Internet was indeed slow.

The problem is caused by the different units of measurement and the similarity of their names. When even people with training are getting confused, how can we make sure that 'unit confusion' doesn't happen? The problem is compounded when ISPs use slang in their advertising. For example, a lot of companies offer "10 meg broadband". If I'm talking about the capacity of a CD-ROM, I might say "700 megs". These are not the same units of measurement, even though they are described with the same word.

File sizes have always been measured in bytes. Bandwidth has traditionally been measured in bits. The fact that there are eight bits in every byte, or ten when transferred via TCP/IP, seems to have slipped most people by. Can't we just change the way ISPs describe their service speeds? Why not call it "one megabyte broadband" instead of "eight megabit broadband"? Of course, this makes it seem slower, so they're doing themselves out of business. Can't we just change the way filesizes are referred to? Highly unlikely, since almost every operating system shows file sizes in bytes and not bits, so it would be very difficult to change all this. We just need to educate people I suppose. I hope that the "iPod generation" of youngsters growing up with various gadgets and the obligatory hideously-decorated MySpace page will learn the difference by themselves.

The result of my phone call to Virgin? There is a problem with the line. But I knew that before I called. It just means I have to wait a few days until it is fixed. When it is, I can apparently claim some partial refund on my account. After all, if you bought a six-pack of beer and there was only one can/bottle in there, you'd take it back, right? Why should bandwidth be any different?

Programming niggles

Wow, so it's been quite a while since I last wrote anything. No matter though, I'll soon catch up again.

In the course of my job at oncampus:uk, I do a bit of Java programming. Recently I stumbled upon a problem which had me totally stumped. No matter how I looked at the problem, I couldn't get the result I wanted from my programming efforts. This killed hours of my time, until I finally came to the conclusion that part of the Java code itself was to blame. A quick Google search confirmed that others had suffered the same fate, but the whole process got me thinking.

How many times have I been saved by other people writing about their troubles on the Internet? Whether it's just a general outline of the problem, or a complete solution, I find that the Internet is a key resource for troubleshooting and it's far better than any programming manual. I'll try to document my problems on this blog in the hope that I can pass on some of this 'good will' to other people with the same problems I end up getting.

Quality Street and Calpol

Someone gave me an Orange Creme Quality Street today, and I suddenly realised that the filling tastes exactly like what I remember the children's medicine Calpol tasting like. Is this a coincidence, or is there more to it than that? Quality Street is a Nestlé product whereas Calpol is made by Pfizer. Are there links between the Swiss confectionery company and the pharmaceutical giant? Random.

The Rabbit Saga, pt. 3

The little thing sprang into life about 11pm last night. I cannot say I felt a feeling of joy as much as a feeling of relief, stemming from the possibility that the woes might finally be over (see pts. 1 and 2). I have to say that I am underwhelmed by what the rabbit has to offer. It's almost like the salt in the wound, which was so close to healing.

The rabbit is supposed to be able to read RSS feeds and play podcasts, but both of these features are disabled at the moment. Violet say that they want to concentrate on fixing their servers before these features begin to work, but bearing in mind that the server problems were caused by incompetence on their part (a failure to estimate the demand over the Christmas period, rather than, say, a lightning strike, or colossal hardware failure), this only serves to frustrate.

Perhaps the most exciting feature on offer, the API, is not working either. The API is the mechanism which allows users to create their own applications (either programs, or web-based tools) that can interact with rabbits, doing things like sending messages, controlling the lights and moving the ears. This would really open up the rabbit to the community and allow for some neat ideas to come into play. I only hope the API is fixed (and fixed into a sensible format) soon.

My opinion of this product is unchanged. I strongly advise against buying one of these. What you get is really just a budget wireless card attached to a speaker and some LEDs. It doesn't even have a built-in text-to-speech (TTS) engine, which really shocked me. Instead, the Violet servers convert the text to audio, and the audio is downloaded to the rabbit, in an orgy of unnecessary bandwidth consumption.

There will definitely be more devices like this in the near future. With wireless spreading throughout Western homes like wildfire, it will only be a matter of time before something much better (and hopefully more reliable) comes along. With any luck, it will be provided by a company who take customer service seriously.

The Rabbit Saga, pt. 2

The last time I wrote, the Nabaztag I received for Christmas had been rather difficult. I had overcome many problems, including the wrong type of plug and the official website being totally useless. Now, it seems to have decided to do nothing much at all.

Despite setting it up properly and following the instructions to the letter, it just sits there. The idea is that it will receive messages from the Internet, read news and do a variety of other things. It doesn't do any of these things, despite appearing to be working properly.

I have to wonder at this point whether this thing was a big mistake. Despite the guys at the Nabaztag forums being extremely helpful, I am getting nowhere in a hurry, and from reading some of the other posts, many many people have been disappointed. Granted, I don't expect anyone to go to the forum and just post that their rabbit is working perfectly, so I expect the forum to be a little woe-heavy, but it is very active.

I did make a complaint to Violet, the company behind these rabbits. I received a very short, horribly informal response telling me that their website was now working properly (it wasn't). This is just so disappointing, because you realise you have invested in a product made by a company who, having gladly taken your money, could not care less whether you have received what you have paid for.

Because of all the problems, I am not going to recommend this to anyone. If you are thinking of getting yourself a Nabaztag or a Nabaztag/tag (the 'upgraded' version, on which most of the functions aren't yet working anyway) then please spend your money on something else. If anybody from Violet happens to stumble across this blog, I am waiting for you to send me a polite, understanding email telling me that your company has failed me and offering what help it can.

Other Rabbit Blogs

• Play6 reports (in French) on the server trouble
• bonvga reports (in French) about the death of his rabbit
• skrubu.net reports on the press release about the server downtime
• Michelle Lentz is not happy with the official servers and lack of documentation
• Yet another unsatisfied Frenchman!
• Headworx's frustrations
  

The Rabbit Saga, pt. 1

It is such a wonderful idea on paper. A wireless device that sits on your desk and reads you emails, RSS feeds, the weather, the news, random messages and whatever else you can think of. Best of all, it is in the shape of a cute bunny with wireless antennae for ears.



Unfortunately, all is not well in the world of Nabaztag. These cute little wifi devices are made by a company called Violet, who seem to have made a bit of a mess of the festive period.

First off, I got this thing as a gift. It looked like the perfect thing to ask for because it is something I would never buy with my own money, but something I'd enjoy having around and get a decent amount of use out of. On opening the box, the first thing I noticed was the power adapter. It's... European. These things won't plug into British electrical outlets. Why don't we all just use the same kind of plugs and sockets?

See also: Domestic AC power plugs and sockets at Wikipedia

Being Christmas Day and all, nothing is open. Nothing is open on Boxing Day either, so I have the pleasure of waiting until the day after that until I can get this thing working. I tell a lie: I had a rummage through the vast box of cables, wires, plugs and other electric peripherals that has accumulated in my home over the years (doesn't everyone have a box like that?) and found a 9V DC adapter that had the right connector. The Nabaztag operates on 8V, but I figured that the extra volt wouldn't make too much difference, right?

Wrong!

It started making quite an alarming buzzing noise as soon as I plugged in the power, so I unplugged it again rather hastily.

Let me explain how this rabbit works. It connects through the Internet to the Nabaztag site and communicates with it by itself, behind the scenes. That means that it totally relies on the site. You cannot give the rabbit any commands yourself, and it has no built-in web browser or method of doing pretty much anything at all. Without the Nabaztag site, it has no brain.

I needed to register the rabbit on the site so that it would be activated. I figured I'd get a headstart, even though I couldn't begin to use it without that electrical adapter. To my surprise, I discovered that the registration and services sections of the site were down. The bit that describes the product and makes it look all glossy and appealing is still working. Apparently, even though it is obviously in this company's interests to keep track of how many units they have sold, they were so surprised by the Christmas demand on the website that they had to take it offline. But not the sales area. Oh no. That was working fine.

I managed to get the power adapter from Curry's for a whopping £7.99. It's a piece of plastic with some appropriately shaped metal prongs inside it. It must cost pennies to manufacture. Nevertheless, I opted to part with my eight pounds.

Switching this thing on and teaching it how to interact with my wireless network at home was the most painless part, it has to be said. Apart from needing to change my wireless channel to 11 (I could find no explanation for this, despite every other wireless device being able to use whichever wireless channel is necessary), the setup was straightforward. I am fairly technical, so I know my way around my router's configuration well enough to be able to switch wireless channels. For the rest of the population: good luck. I anticipate a lot of people will be poring over their router manual trying to work out how to do this.

The thing is switched on, and connected to my wireless network. However, the Nabaztag registration site (without which the rabbit is just a box with flashing lights) is still not working. It's now well after Christmas and although server load has probably not diminished, this is ample time to increase capacity to a level that should have already been reached before this problem arose.

So now what? I will have to wait to be able to use this thing. I wouldn't say that it ruined my Christmas; that would be going a little far. It is very disappointing that a company has been so incompetent though. If you are thinking of getting one of these things, I can't recommend it now, although I hope to be able to recommend it once it starts working. If you have already got yourself one, and have been affected by the server problems, I urge you to write a complaint to Violet.

Useful Links

• Nabaztag official blog
• Nabaztalk forums
  

Albatross18

It's one of those nice oddities on the Internet. On the most basic level, it is an addictive multiplayer golf game with easy-to-use controls but extremely hard to master. From a longer-term point of view, it's kind of like a massively multiplayer online game.

The game is free to sign up to and play, but the 280MB client download might put a few people off. We have more bandwidth than ever before though, and even a 1mbit connection can handle that file in less than an hour. Installation and setup is really simple and you can get going within minutes of your download finishing.

It's a little bit on the anime side of things. Coming from the far East, it's got those sickeningly cute characters and some of the caddies are just ridiculous, but as long as you don't let this put you off, it's a solid golf game. Aspects of golf like wind speed, wind direction, ball spin, shot surface and angle are all modelled, although it does get slightly wacky. In particular, a perfect shot is known (for some unknown reason) as 'PANGYA' and grants you power spin or power curve, making the ball do some fairly improbable things.

In traditional far-Eastern gaming style, your character has a bundle of statistics which can be improved over time, and there are a lot of different items you can carry around in your pocket for use in those tricky situations where you need a super-accurate shot or a bit of extra curve. You can also gain experience points from each game you play, and level up gradually. Each new level becomes harder and harder to attain, so it keeps you playing, always wanting to get to the next stage.

Certain things such as extremely long shots, good shots or good scores can give you 'pang', one of the in-game currencies in Albatross18. You can save up a bit of pang and spend it on upgrading your things, whether it's new clothes, a new caddy, new clubs and balls, or even an entirely new character.

How can all this stuff be totally free? This is where the other in-game currency comes in: cookies. These things can be bought with real money, but allow you to buy some extremely powerful items. Some may question this as it immediately points to the possibility of giving the upper hand to the more wealthy, but if this allows everyone to play for free, despite being slightly underpowered, is that such a bad thing? It's a contentious issue.

If you're not convinced, do give it a try. I had my doubts initially, but the game has some substantial depth, a lot of beautifully decorated 18-hole courses, and some stiff challenges in the form of real players. Head over to http://www.albatross18.com and see what you think.