We have to update all of the web pages yet, but I have linked in the new ordering system and a page about the new terabyte services today so customers can order.
The ordering system has had a month of development and testing, but the real proof is letting it loose on real customers.
The service itself does seem to work, and the operations team at A&A are monitoring carefully - we have plans to upgrade the core network and have already started with additional routers. Will be setting up our 40Gb/s ring soon and new LNS links over the next few months to increase capacity.
Exciting times. It is nice to see how we have grown from dialup services which managed 64k on ISDN lines back in the last millennium to services where people bond multiple 80Mb/s circuits and have terabytes of download allowance. I have to wonder where the next 18 years will take us.
2016-01-30
2016-01-29
BT Engineer appointments
Obviously I had a bit of a rant yesterday, so maybe a chance to be a bit clearer on the real issue here...
Clearly mistakes can happen, appointments can be missed, work can be done wrongly or not completed, shit happens. It always seems to happen too much, but that is largely because we only "see" the problems.
The big issue here is how BT deal with such things.
The basic process is to arrange another appointment to rectify the problem or complete the work - and this seems to be done as a "normal" appointment. There is no concept of this being a screw up or having any urgency.
Now, we know BT can do work quickly - orders can be expedited (for a fee), and fault work can be done on a 24 hour a day working basis and 4 or 7 hour fix targets, if you have paid for the right service or the right "care level".
So it is possible to get another engineer out now, even if it is 8pm, and even if he is on overtime, to finish the job that should have been done by 6pm. It is possible to send someone on Saturday or even Sunday to finish.
It is certainly possible to make the failed job the first job for the engineer the next morning. That would not even add any cost but it would make a massive difference to end user perception.
But right now there seems to be no concept of a "priority" appointment for where BT have screwed up! Of course, where the CP has screwed up and not BT, BT could sell priority appointments for a fee as well.
If this does add cost that simply adds an incentive within the business to avoid the errors in the first place, and that is important. Without it business processes can simply become lax. Indeed, in some cases the problems mean more paid for work (I am thinking failed SFI visits here).
So, that is what I think needs to change.
P.S. why is a missed appointment charge about £80 where an engineer can simply go on to next job wasting maybe 10 minutes, but when an engineer missed an appointment wasting the end user a half day, BT pay out around £30? Is a BT engineer's time really that much more valuable than the end user's?
Clearly mistakes can happen, appointments can be missed, work can be done wrongly or not completed, shit happens. It always seems to happen too much, but that is largely because we only "see" the problems.
The big issue here is how BT deal with such things.
The basic process is to arrange another appointment to rectify the problem or complete the work - and this seems to be done as a "normal" appointment. There is no concept of this being a screw up or having any urgency.
Now, we know BT can do work quickly - orders can be expedited (for a fee), and fault work can be done on a 24 hour a day working basis and 4 or 7 hour fix targets, if you have paid for the right service or the right "care level".
So it is possible to get another engineer out now, even if it is 8pm, and even if he is on overtime, to finish the job that should have been done by 6pm. It is possible to send someone on Saturday or even Sunday to finish.
It is certainly possible to make the failed job the first job for the engineer the next morning. That would not even add any cost but it would make a massive difference to end user perception.
But right now there seems to be no concept of a "priority" appointment for where BT have screwed up! Of course, where the CP has screwed up and not BT, BT could sell priority appointments for a fee as well.
If this does add cost that simply adds an incentive within the business to avoid the errors in the first place, and that is important. Without it business processes can simply become lax. Indeed, in some cases the problems mean more paid for work (I am thinking failed SFI visits here).
So, that is what I think needs to change.
P.S. why is a missed appointment charge about £80 where an engineer can simply go on to next job wasting maybe 10 minutes, but when an engineer missed an appointment wasting the end user a half day, BT pay out around £30? Is a BT engineer's time really that much more valuable than the end user's?
2016-01-28
Infinity, unless it is for a competitor
We have a new service, our Terabyte VDSL products that we are launching this weekend...
The way it works is using VDSL from the local street cabinet. The cabinet has (usually) fibre back the the exchange, and that provide a means to allow high speed internet (capped at 80Mb/s down and 20Mb/s up) using a VDSL modem.
The real trick is that we are using a different back-haul provider. It is still BT plc owning the copper, and the cabinet and the fibre back to the exchange, but from there it is someone else. In this case TT Business.
This has allowed us to tackle one of the most expensive bits - the cost of the back-haul. In BT it is ludicrously expensive compared to transit (which is getting data all over the world). It is not like TT are free but their pricing allows us to offer these terabyte services at fixed cost.
We really hope this is a way forward and BT will offer the same some time, and we have a more even choice, but for now, this is a new product.
So, we have some early adopters, thank you all. Most are going swimmingly, and we expect to open up ordering to all this weekend.
But I have one early adopter, an friend of mind, who is also doing decorating in the house. A local tradesman with a family, and ideal for this new service.
All I can say is that I am hugely embarrassed by the whole fiasco.
I am so thankful this is done as a new line and he is not without Internet for his family, but it is a mess.
Our friends, BT plc trading as Openreach, are making a total balls up of the whole thing!
Their one job, last Friday, was a simple new phone line with FTTC (the VDSL service to the cabinet). They turned up and fitted a socket and left a modem, but did not finish the job as such, hmmm. No clear idea why.
They turned up unannounced 9am on Sunday to finish, but even though the BT VDSL modem did not show as working, they left.
Then we have Tuesday - appointment - not bothered!
Then we have Thursday - appointment - cock up - not bothered!
No sense of urgency whatsoever - this a cocked up install from a week ago, and they do not make first job of the day, or have any priority, just a "maybe" they will turn up and make it work. Next attempt is tomorrow.
BT need a kick up the arse, sorry. The definitely need a "BT screwed up" flag on jobs (would be set lots of times) to make jobs priority.
At present, once they screw up, that is it - no incentive to ever actually fix the problem - compensation (if any) fixed as "a screw up" so no reason to fix it ahead of other jobs. Tough!
Maybe the title here is not fair - maybe they would screw up if the end user contracted with BT plc instead of a competitor - who knows. Suffice to say I do not think I have ever seen this level of cock up on a BT FTTC rather than a TT FTTC? Perhaps that is just me. Seems odd to me. But at the end of the day, what do the people on the ground has as any incentive to actually fix this?
Update: Appointed for Friday - but then appointment moved to Monday. Guys at TT were on the ball and chased Openreach and managed to get the job done Friday afternoon, though the engineer did not read the notes still. Well done TT.
The way it works is using VDSL from the local street cabinet. The cabinet has (usually) fibre back the the exchange, and that provide a means to allow high speed internet (capped at 80Mb/s down and 20Mb/s up) using a VDSL modem.
The real trick is that we are using a different back-haul provider. It is still BT plc owning the copper, and the cabinet and the fibre back to the exchange, but from there it is someone else. In this case TT Business.
This has allowed us to tackle one of the most expensive bits - the cost of the back-haul. In BT it is ludicrously expensive compared to transit (which is getting data all over the world). It is not like TT are free but their pricing allows us to offer these terabyte services at fixed cost.
We really hope this is a way forward and BT will offer the same some time, and we have a more even choice, but for now, this is a new product.
So, we have some early adopters, thank you all. Most are going swimmingly, and we expect to open up ordering to all this weekend.
But I have one early adopter, an friend of mind, who is also doing decorating in the house. A local tradesman with a family, and ideal for this new service.
All I can say is that I am hugely embarrassed by the whole fiasco.
I am so thankful this is done as a new line and he is not without Internet for his family, but it is a mess.
Our friends, BT plc trading as Openreach, are making a total balls up of the whole thing!
Their one job, last Friday, was a simple new phone line with FTTC (the VDSL service to the cabinet). They turned up and fitted a socket and left a modem, but did not finish the job as such, hmmm. No clear idea why.
They turned up unannounced 9am on Sunday to finish, but even though the BT VDSL modem did not show as working, they left.
Then we have Tuesday - appointment - not bothered!
Then we have Thursday - appointment - cock up - not bothered!
No sense of urgency whatsoever - this a cocked up install from a week ago, and they do not make first job of the day, or have any priority, just a "maybe" they will turn up and make it work. Next attempt is tomorrow.
BT need a kick up the arse, sorry. The definitely need a "BT screwed up" flag on jobs (would be set lots of times) to make jobs priority.
At present, once they screw up, that is it - no incentive to ever actually fix the problem - compensation (if any) fixed as "a screw up" so no reason to fix it ahead of other jobs. Tough!
Maybe the title here is not fair - maybe they would screw up if the end user contracted with BT plc instead of a competitor - who knows. Suffice to say I do not think I have ever seen this level of cock up on a BT FTTC rather than a TT FTTC? Perhaps that is just me. Seems odd to me. But at the end of the day, what do the people on the ground has as any incentive to actually fix this?
Update: Appointed for Friday - but then appointment moved to Monday. Guys at TT were on the ball and chased Openreach and managed to get the job done Friday afternoon, though the engineer did not read the notes still. Well done TT.
Rejected Petition
"Dear Adrian Kennard,
We rejected the petition you created – “Will Govnt allow companies to offer communications services which can't be read?”.
It’s not clear what the petition is asking the UK Government or Parliament to do.
We cannot accept your petition as it does not include a clear request for action from the UK Government or Parliament. You may prefer to contact the Home Office directly to ask your question on this matter."
FFS I was asking the government to ANSWER A SIMPLE QUESTION.
That is what I wanted them to DO!!!
The fact they will not answer this question, and neither will the Home Office, is actually the problem - they keep skirting around the point and not answering it.
Trying again...
sponsor
My petition:
Will Govnt allow companies to offer communications services which can't be read?
It was not clear what I am asking the government to do last time?!
I would like the government to ANSWER A SIMPLE QUESTION!
That is what I would like it to do...
The above question - please answer it.
It is possible to send secret/private communications using nothing more than pen and paper and dice which cannot be read by anyone else, not even GCHQ or NSA. So terrorists and criminals can communicate anyway. But the Investigatory Powers Bill asks companies to remove any "protection" someone has applied. This can only serve to invade privacy of the rest of us! So the question is whether the government wish to allow iMessage, WhatsApp, Signal, https, etc, with no intercept, or not? Yes/No?
P.S. If this does not work I'll petition for a system like the petition system to have questions asked from the public at PM question time.
P.P.S. I have sponsor / sign "Provide a means for members of the public to present questions for PM Questions?"
We rejected the petition you created – “Will Govnt allow companies to offer communications services which can't be read?”.
It’s not clear what the petition is asking the UK Government or Parliament to do.
We cannot accept your petition as it does not include a clear request for action from the UK Government or Parliament. You may prefer to contact the Home Office directly to ask your question on this matter."
FFS I was asking the government to ANSWER A SIMPLE QUESTION.
That is what I wanted them to DO!!!
The fact they will not answer this question, and neither will the Home Office, is actually the problem - they keep skirting around the point and not answering it.
Trying again...
sponsor
My petition:
Will Govnt allow companies to offer communications services which can't be read?
It was not clear what I am asking the government to do last time?!
I would like the government to ANSWER A SIMPLE QUESTION!
That is what I would like it to do...
The above question - please answer it.
It is possible to send secret/private communications using nothing more than pen and paper and dice which cannot be read by anyone else, not even GCHQ or NSA. So terrorists and criminals can communicate anyway. But the Investigatory Powers Bill asks companies to remove any "protection" someone has applied. This can only serve to invade privacy of the rest of us! So the question is whether the government wish to allow iMessage, WhatsApp, Signal, https, etc, with no intercept, or not? Yes/No?
P.S. If this does not work I'll petition for a system like the petition system to have questions asked from the public at PM question time.
P.P.S. I have sponsor / sign "Provide a means for members of the public to present questions for PM Questions?"
2016-01-25
Applying for credit these days...
The arse covering is strong with this one.
To be clear, I am not in a position that I have to apply for credit - I do have a mortgage, but largely because I have such a stunningly good rate on that it is is almost silly to repay it. I am, finally, at this stage in my life, reasonably well off. I too am surprised at this, and I know it could change any day - the industry I am in is very variable, and running a business is always a risk. I have had a lot of very much not well off years too and so am reaping some of the rewards of that at last.
But, my daughter wants a loan - and I am trying to make them all stand on their own feet and not just scrounge off me all the time. Sadly she is just starting with a job and rented house, and so she is not good on the whole credit rating, so needs a guarantor. It is not Wonga, thank arbitrary deity, but not a brilliant rate, but she will learn.
Being guarantor, I am happy to do, but it means I end up going through the whole fiasco of credit checking as if I was getting the loan!
It is a fiasco and arse covering exercise and not really a solution. OK, maybe some people are stupid enough to call up and give actual details and be turned down, but even the thickest of people will soon realise that you can just make shit up.
At the end of the day there are two types of information - things they can verify, and things they cannot. Now, having had the conversation, they can verify exactly what I pay on my mortgage each month - so WTF ask me that! They can also make good guesses at food, council tax, TV licence, and so on. What they do not seem to actually know, and what really matters, is income. I was honest as I had no reason at all not to be, and having stated my income they could have cut the whole process short on the basis that anyone earning that much is not going to have any problem with the loan repayments.
But no, they insist you cover every detail, including that apparently I have a mobile phone account with someone that has a £3 balance. I suspect it is a credit balance on some pay as you go type thing from years ago, but that needs to be explained!
The real stumbling block here was mortgage payments. I have a base rate plus fixed offset mortgage. So guessing payments over next 5 years, which is what they wanted, depends entirely on the Bank of England base rate changes over next 5 years.
I am sorry, but I do not have a crystal ball - I cannot predict that. It is not reasonable, or helpful, to ask me that!
They moved on to the "what would you be happy with", well, (a) I would be happy if it stayed as now, and (b) it does not matter if I am happy, if the rate goes up I pay more - I have a contract. As I explained, if the rate was not reasonable I'd start clearing it damn quick.
I ended up along the lines of "what is the balance left each month - I'd be 'happy' with mortgage rising to consume all of that"... It is a nonsense question to ask, and clearly does not actually represent any sort of "responsible lending"...
Being a responsible lender should not be covered by an arse covering script like this, and when anyone that can afford to pay has to go through this, they should have some simple short cuts. I should have billed my hourly rate for this as it was well over an hour.
To be clear, I am not in a position that I have to apply for credit - I do have a mortgage, but largely because I have such a stunningly good rate on that it is is almost silly to repay it. I am, finally, at this stage in my life, reasonably well off. I too am surprised at this, and I know it could change any day - the industry I am in is very variable, and running a business is always a risk. I have had a lot of very much not well off years too and so am reaping some of the rewards of that at last.
But, my daughter wants a loan - and I am trying to make them all stand on their own feet and not just scrounge off me all the time. Sadly she is just starting with a job and rented house, and so she is not good on the whole credit rating, so needs a guarantor. It is not Wonga, thank arbitrary deity, but not a brilliant rate, but she will learn.
Being guarantor, I am happy to do, but it means I end up going through the whole fiasco of credit checking as if I was getting the loan!
It is a fiasco and arse covering exercise and not really a solution. OK, maybe some people are stupid enough to call up and give actual details and be turned down, but even the thickest of people will soon realise that you can just make shit up.
At the end of the day there are two types of information - things they can verify, and things they cannot. Now, having had the conversation, they can verify exactly what I pay on my mortgage each month - so WTF ask me that! They can also make good guesses at food, council tax, TV licence, and so on. What they do not seem to actually know, and what really matters, is income. I was honest as I had no reason at all not to be, and having stated my income they could have cut the whole process short on the basis that anyone earning that much is not going to have any problem with the loan repayments.
But no, they insist you cover every detail, including that apparently I have a mobile phone account with someone that has a £3 balance. I suspect it is a credit balance on some pay as you go type thing from years ago, but that needs to be explained!
The real stumbling block here was mortgage payments. I have a base rate plus fixed offset mortgage. So guessing payments over next 5 years, which is what they wanted, depends entirely on the Bank of England base rate changes over next 5 years.
I am sorry, but I do not have a crystal ball - I cannot predict that. It is not reasonable, or helpful, to ask me that!
They moved on to the "what would you be happy with", well, (a) I would be happy if it stayed as now, and (b) it does not matter if I am happy, if the rate goes up I pay more - I have a contract. As I explained, if the rate was not reasonable I'd start clearing it damn quick.
I ended up along the lines of "what is the balance left each month - I'd be 'happy' with mortgage rising to consume all of that"... It is a nonsense question to ask, and clearly does not actually represent any sort of "responsible lending"...
Being a responsible lender should not be covered by an arse covering script like this, and when anyone that can afford to pay has to go through this, they should have some simple short cuts. I should have billed my hourly rate for this as it was well over an hour.
2016-01-24
Will UK government allow companies to offer communications services which can't be read?
Latest attempt at a petition [also first attempt at a video blog post].
Please sign here.
Will Govnt allow companies to offer communications services which can't be read?
The Home Office answered my last petition with a contradiction, so this is a simple yes/no question.
Encryption means people can communicate privately, so their communication is impossible to read. This means terrorists and criminals can also have privacy.
Will the government allow this?
It is possible to send secret/private communications using nothing more than pen and paper and dice which cannot be read by anyone else, not even GCHQ or NSA. So terrorists and criminals can communicate anyway.
But the Investigatory Powers Bill asks companies to remove any "protection" someone has applied. This can only serve to invade privacy of the rest of us!
So the question is whether the government wish to allow iMessage, WhatsApp, Signal, https, etc, with no intercept, or not?
Yes/No?
Please sign here.
Please sign here.
Will Govnt allow companies to offer communications services which can't be read?
The Home Office answered my last petition with a contradiction, so this is a simple yes/no question.
Encryption means people can communicate privately, so their communication is impossible to read. This means terrorists and criminals can also have privacy.
Will the government allow this?
It is possible to send secret/private communications using nothing more than pen and paper and dice which cannot be read by anyone else, not even GCHQ or NSA. So terrorists and criminals can communicate anyway.
But the Investigatory Powers Bill asks companies to remove any "protection" someone has applied. This can only serve to invade privacy of the rest of us!
So the question is whether the government wish to allow iMessage, WhatsApp, Signal, https, etc, with no intercept, or not?
Yes/No?
Please sign here.
2016-01-23
Counting the terabytes
We are finally launching our terabyte (or more) per month download usage tariffs!
More here.
This means that, for the first time, the download usage limit is measured in terabytes. A terabyte is 1,000,000,000,000 bytes. That is enough to actually average 3Mb/s on a broadband line and not blow the monthly limit!
Just imagine what that would be in floppy disks!
Indeed, on the 1TB service, the impact of over usage is to be capped to 3Mb/s until next month.
The current state of play is (apart from the trial mailing list) a prototype ordering system which I have finally had one customer try out for real and mostly work.
I am happy to do one by one test orders with customers (ask on irc). There is a free dragon up for grabs!
It is based on CHAOS2, the new ordering system API, and uses javascript to feed that. I am coding it (the back end), and it is one of those somewhat tedious jobs - the code is rather monolithic and has to embody business processes (not just A&A, but BT and TT) so as to offer the right packages in the right way at the right prices. This is very annoying code!
My plan is this should be live, even if not all options available, but end of Jan, and specifically must allow ordering of new Home::1 Terabyte, SoHo::1 (2)Terabyte and Office::1 (10)Terabyte as well as regrades. I think we are pretty close to that working as planned, and will be doing more testing this week.
We have dozens of people signed up using the trial mailing list though, so thank you all for that. We'll be making a proper "launch" soon, and I feel it is a good product. None of this "unlimited" crap, but none the less a limit that is really high.
At the end of the day, a terabyte is a heck of a lot of porn :-)
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