TalkTalk trouble -3

Yesterday's modem crash caught me unawares. It was fixable fairly quickly, except for Clare's Linux installation. It had worked fine for ages, but the last upgrade I did wasn't 100% perfect. Linux is so rubust, it just worked anyway, without problem, until I had to change the router access password and couldn't find any way to access the desktop software which makes changing it a trivial thing. I resolved to re-install Linux, normally a half hour job, but not this time. The up to date install disk I had didn't work properly. I downloaded the .iso file, burned another disk. It didn't work properly, faulty disk. Burned another, it didn't work either. A poor batch of CDs. So I burned the .iso on to a DVD, and finally it worked flawlessly. All this tied me to machine minding for most of a day I try to spend quietly until I go to school. Not a happy experience.

I was glad to get out for a couple of hours, even if it was only to a Governors' meeting. I was pleased to draw the meeting's attention to the school's new IT classroom suite, the fruit of our enterprising Head Teacher's activity since last summer term. He's great a getting value for money. I'd love to see the introduction of free open source software into the school, with the potential to save lots more on IT resources. But the County Education department isn't keen, because they are tied into all the standard maintenance contracts which won't touch anything but Microsoft products and are even doubtful about the Mac. All the curriculum material and training for its use seems to be built around the use of branded products. Open Source products that can do the job just as well don't get a look in, and won't untill educational designers cut loose and start training users to work on ability to deploy different IT resources. It's almost impossible not to go with the dominant market flow in these conditions.

Finally, when I got home and logged on, a reply to my urgent request to TalkTalk of Saturday, timed at four o'clock this afternoon. All apologies and promises of immediate investigation, as ever. That's 53 hours after my first attempt to acquire a key to unlock my Anti-Virus program re-installation, 58 hours at the time of posting.

If I wasn't so obsessive about computer security, and let this matter slide, there's no way of knowing what nasties might slip on to my speedy new computer with its temporarily flawed defences, in the 4-5 hours I spent in that time, emailing and surfing. I've spent enough time over the years diagnosing and cleaning up the accidentally infected computers of friends, that it's made a zealot of me. I hate to see the angst in people who know there's something wrong and are helpless to know how to start doing anything about it. It makes me hate the whole business, relying so heavily as we do on these unreliable communications tools. No wonder modern life is so tense for many people! Sometimes that means me too.

TalkTalk trouble (again - 2)

At the eight o'clock Eucharist this morning, four young Turkish women joined us, two were wearing the hijab (forbidden in secular Turkey), two were not. Three were on a six month course in the University, the fourth is a PhD student in Theology. She was the one who sat in choir with us (wearing the hijab) and followed the prayer book carefully. She said she wanted to learn more about Anglican Christianity as part of her studies. She is investigating the Saint Gregory of Nyssa, one of group of great fourth century orthodox theologians, known as the Cappadocian Fathers, from their place of origin. "I too am from Cappadocia", she said with a great smile.'

If anyone ever asks how I can justify doing the eight o'clock Eucharist on Sundays for a handful of people, especially when it's a huge effort after a late night of banqueting, I can say in all honesty, that I never know quite what else is going to happen that will amaze me and make my day different. It's a time not to be missed.

The four also sat through the Sung Eucharist as well, and looked surprised when I greeted them with the arabic Christian salutation Mar hab'a at the Peace. I couldn't, however, persuade them to stop for tea afterwards. Perhaps next time.

Still no reply from TalkTalk, so this evening, I copied my email request to their CEO Charles Dunstone, to see if that can wake the dead. No doubt this will lead to a lecture about procedure thinly veiled as an apology from some defensive minion, but it's not unreasonable to expect some acknowledgement, even if it's only an auto reply saying they've gone home for the weekend.

I needed to use my unsecured desktop computer briefly to use the scanner hooked up to it, to prepare a Christmas card image for the publishers. As a precaution, given the anti virus was not properly installed, I switched off the router while the system was active. In doing this, by no means I yet understand, I managed to wipe the router settings competely. This took me half an hour to diagnose and a lot longer to re-instate the wireless password settings on the various computers in the house. What a lot of trouble and time wasted, all emanating from TalkTalk's non response.

Lisa, the daughter of two of our oldest friends, Mike and Gail arrived to stay with us during the afternoon. She's a singer, doing an opera course with grand mentor Dennis O'Neill. It's marvellous for us to have an opportunity to get to know her as the musical daughter of musical parents, establishing herself in that most demanding of career.

By the end of the day, still no word from TalkTalk, so I went to the F-Secure site and took advantage of their 30-day free trial Internet Security offer. That will tide me over until TalkTalk wake up. Or until we revert to BT, for the certainty of service.

TalkTalk trouble (again)

The free three month MacAffee anti virus trial that came with my new desktop computer expired today. It's been effective and unobtrusive in action, not not free to continue to use. My ISP subscription to TalkTalk pays for F-Secure anti virus cover for three computers, so today was re-installation day. A nominal chore. However, in this age of wizardry, the anti-virus installer told me that my three subscriptions were already used, evidently incapable of recognising that I had uninstalled the anti-Virus program from the computer as part of decommissioning, and that as a result it had not been accessing updates for three months. The access key for all three machines in my possession now inconveniently has to be exchanged, and the means of obtaining an exchange was by no means obvious either from F-Secure's website or TalkTalk's. At 11.00am, I sent an urgent request via their very fiddly webmail, giving my account details. I had received nothing in response by 5.00pm, so I used the email address by which TalkTalk delivered the original key to me.

This evening, I preached for the Welsh Livery Guild's annual installation service, at St John's and afterwards Clare and I joined the Guild for their annual installation banquet in City Hall. It was a grand affair with lots of ceremony and speech making, and the food was good. It was 11.45pm when we got home. I checked my email, and there had been no response from TalkTalk while we were out. I wonder how long it will take to get anything from them? Watch this space.

A feast of images.

In August St John's will host an Exhibition of paintings by one of our members for a week, and an exhibition of marvellous photographs of people drawn from several USPG exhibitions of recent years. The light is so good in church when it's not cloudy, and the tranquil atmosphere makes it a great place to view pictures. I am preparing text material to accompany the photos. The artist, Keith Hall will be hanging his own pictures - all to be sold, proceeds to charity of the buyer's choice.

After yesterday's morning services, during afternoon and evening, I designed some publicity material for the painting exhibition, and ran up a promotional page on the Parish website to whet artistic appetites. I was pleased with the material I produced, and for once without a technical hitch. It gave me such a buzz, and cheered me up following my disconcerting arrival home last night, and failure to secure my sister's re-connection. Despite getting off to sleep all right, I awoke after a couple of hours, and lay awake for another couple of hours, my mind buzzing with thoughts to compose into a letter for the CEO of TalkTalk. The letter took me two hours to compose when I finally got around to it during the morning. No wonder I feel tired today.

This evening Clare showed me the website of an artistic project in which Jane, a long standing friend of ours is a key participant. She's a contemporary dancer and Steiner school teacher, with a wonderful spiritual eye for the mystery and beauty of life. I was much taken by what I saw and read on the website, describing a series of events involving a real physical art installation that embraced light, music movement, puppetry dance, and active participation by audiences whether children or adults. It's an original take on the idea of multimedia events, but without overwhelming electronics or 'virtual realities' attempting to stimulate or overwhelm the imagination. Rather, their projects use the senses in a way that frees the imagination to play freely - a gentle enchantment and initiation into the world of wonder.

Take a look at this - the Dome d'Ombre website. Looking at it, I was struck that there are some ideas here which would work wonderfully in a meditative liturgical celebration. Then I realised that two of the events described were located in churches taking advantage of unique places to awaken participants. How I'd love to see something like this going on at St John's, already a feast of visual beauty, so easily taken for granted. The freshness of an artists contemplative eye would unlock new vistas on to the Good News for our time.

Communication and Communion problems

My 24 hour stay with my sister in London was a part success. I was able to do some shopping for her, buy her a mobile phone and program it with assorted essential numbers. She has the instruction booklet and can learn how to use it at leisure. I was unable to make any useful contact with TalkTalk's engineers however, as the area she lives suffers from poor reception and high traffic, and we needed to be able to sustain an unbroken line for twenty minutes in order to survive the computerised queuing system and get to talk to a real human being.

It took three tries with the line dropping on two occasions. When we did get through the line was so poor it was hard make sense of what was happening at the other end. The last time, after the engineer had rung us back successfully once to a bad connection, we asked for a re-dial, and weren't reconnected. I had another go at eight in the evening only to reach an answering machine saying that the fault finding service finished at 8.00pm, although Talk Talk's latest bill stated 10.00pm.

So June still has no land-line or internet connection. My mobile phone account was £7.50 lighter for the 0870 call I made. Needless to say I'll be writing a fullsome letter of complaint to TalkTalk CEO Charles Dunstone. Their service discriminates against elderly technophobes and does not warn people in its promotional material that ownership of a mobile phone is virtually obligatory if one is to be able to report faults and help their engineer diagnose the problem. It may also be against the law to effectively deny a person made vulnerable by a medical condition for having a reliable telephone service at home.

I got home at nine last night to read for the first time an emailed round robin from the Bishop dated Thursday and arriving after I'd left, recommending that churches take the same precautions as recommended by the Archbishop of Canterbury on Tuesday against spreading swine 'flu via church services. This entails abstinence from the Peace and no sharing the chalice, no self-intinction nor communion straight into the mouth. The priest may intinct everyone, having taken suitable hand hygiene precautions.

Hmm. I posted on this blog on 5th May, eleven weeks ago, about making this change to my liturgical routine in the light of injunctions about hand washing made days earlier by the head of the World Health Organisation, just after the seriousness of the 'flu outbreak was confirmed. No I'm not bragging, just wondering why it has taken both our Archbishops so long to say something about this matter.

The Bishop's round robin was informative about the history and precedents justifiying exceptional use of communion in one kind, pages of the stuff. It was however, too long and not simple enough for a sermon, even though a clear explanation for the suspension of custom and habit, and implementing the new routine is essential for people's sense of order and comfort. in prayer. I had to ditch doing a proper sermon on St James, a Parish patron saint (translated to Sunday), and struggle against tiredness to think through what to say and how to handle the practicalities of communion. Especially at the early service, with no assistant to hold the chalice to allow me to dip communion wafers for each person.

It would have been just a little more helpful to spell out to clergy that hand-washing before handling the bread and wine for communion not after, as enshrined in centuries of priestly training and liturgical tradition is essential for this precaution to be effective. Common sense needs conscious application. Liturgical ritual can numb one's sense of reality if care is not taken. I was not in a good mood and quite apprehensive about getting things right when Communion time came. Perhaps I was fussing, anxious about people's reactions. Although it was clear that not everyone was ready or could work out how to receive the dipped bread, we got through OK, and nobody missed out or dropped the Host, least of all me. I would have liked a few days longer to think about it and prepare. I don't mind change, but it does take longer to effect these days, just like getting out of bed in the mornings.

Troubleshooting trip

Still no joy with getting my sister's phone working. Thanks to the availability of my good friend Archdeacon David Lee at very short notice to do today's lunchtime Eucharist, I shall take the bus up to London today, armed with my mobile phone to see if I can sort things out. I must make sure personally she is OK, as I have no other means of contacting her, and am aware that she is unwell, stuck at home without a phone of her own.

Lines still down

A phone call from Talk Talk's CEO office in response to an email of concern I sent off last Wednesday about the problem with my sister's phone. It has taken the system that long to pass it up the line - I made the point in it that it wasn't good for a single elderly person to be a long time without a home phone, as it left them vulnerable in the event of an accident. The caller said she would make sure to ring my sister's number to ensure all had been resolved. I had rung earlier in the day and the automated voicemail was still in operation.

An hour later June rang jubilant with success, having just arrived back at Gatwick airport. She promised to call again when she got home, but I received no call, and the automated voicemail was still functioning, so the matter remains unresolved. That's now a whole week.

Broadband blues

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Finally I am able to post from the church office computer.

Last July we switched phone and ISP providor from BT to TalkTalk at the very time when the latter were inundated with demands for their free broadband offer, so we expected delays and resolved to be patient.

By December we started wondering if we'd been forgotten. Calls to customer service yielded nothing useful, until the day we were told TalkTalk didn't have our telehpone rental account, only line rental, so they could not switch us over to broadband. Only at this time did we notice that TalkTalk phone bills were for calls only, not rental. Nobody worries about small bills do they, even if they appear too small on scrutiny. Further investigation led to the church treasurer ringing BT and establishing that they no longer owned the line rental account. It had been ceded to Cable Direct in July 06, a company bought out by Talk Talk in September '06. Which cyber black hole had swallowed up the account, nobody could tell us.
Another six weeks passed, and then a member of the congregation came up with the personal email address of the CEO of TalkTalk, Charles Dunstall. I wrote and told him the story, and within hours received a sympathetic reply. Within the week, someone else from Customer services rung up, took details and set about unearthing the missing account. Several more weeks passed, occasioning another email to Mr Dunstall and another sympathetic response, followed by a further conversation with someone higher up the pecking order in Customer service.
Second time lucky - the line rental account details were hunted down (they were there all the time, tucked away in a screen behind the first account presentation screen,) and finally the process of activating the broadband supply began. Of course there was ten months unpaid line rental still to be dealt with, but this was speedily dealt with. By the time this was done by the church treasurer it was May.
Finally, just before going on leave, notification of the start date of our TalkTalk broadband service arrived at the church office - eighth of June - while I was away. I set up the office router with the designated password and left it for someone else to discover if it worked.
As it happened, nobody bothered. Just as well, since I'd made a mistake entering the account details into the router. Anyway, once corrected, on my return to work last week, it worked fine, eleven months from the switch of service to BT. Is this a record delay I wonder? But, it's not the end of the story.
A letter arrived telling us that a subscription to the excellent F-Secure anti-virus came with the broadband business service. A download address and initialisation key was provided in the letter, but the download address proved to be non-functional. Customer services kept me on hold for half an hour when I rang before dropping the line. I emailed and was told to ring Customer Services. Vicious circle.
Fortunately AVG Free has caught up with the office computer being eleven months off line and purrs along happily.
Now, shall I annoy Mr Dunstone about this one more time? Or has he changed his email address?