You need a licence for that!

Potential-Monke

So, i'm at work in the last couple of weeks of my current employment. I work tech support for an IPTV company. You can guess but i won't confirm.

Anyway, the biggest problem i have here is trying to explain the loss of speed one gets over Wi-Fi. People just will not understand that the speeds your provider is giving you are speeds to the modem, and not over Wi-Fi. People sign up to 250Mb BB (as an example) and expect 250Mbps on their iPhone 5c or non-flagship Android phone. People cannot understand the difference between 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz. Even if you explain it in simple language, it's beyond them, but they still think that they should have over 200Mbps on their Samsung Galaxy Ace they bought 4 years ago.

Anyway, working there has me wondering if people should have to apply for a licence for tech. Like, you can get it, but you can't bitch about it if you don't have a licence to show you're competent and understanding of Wi-Fi and everything that affects it.

Likewise, you don't need a licence to have kids, but you better be sure you need one for an animal... Don't make sense!

TL;DR - People should have licences for things they don't understand.

What else would you deem should require a licence to operate/obtain?

ED E

Maybe if licences worked. Plenty of drivers with licences that cant drive. Dog owners with licences that abuse them. TV owners with TVs they cant switch the source on....

me_irl

Potential-Monke wrote: »

What else would you deem should require a licence to operate/obtain?

A child.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

It's quite a ridiculous idea. The world is full of things some people don't understand. Would you need a licence to programme the timer to record TV, to use a digital camera properly, to service your lawnmower, to paint the living room, train your dog, or knit a jumper? Tech is your thing and the lack of understanding of the field, by some, is one of the reasons you have your job. And the country is awash with people who have an ECDL and still can't use a computer.

Potential-Monke

Ah i'm venting. Sick of trying to explain to people why they don't get full speed over Wi-Fi on their €40 phone...

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Potential-Monke wrote: »

Ah i'm venting. Sick of trying to explain to people why they don't get full speed over Wi-Fi on their €40 phone...

But why don't they get the speed advertised? The supplier knows the limitations of WiFi so should compensate on their advertised speeds.

Can you explain? Just once more...

aaronjumper

What a bunch of eejits. Just plug in two magic internet boxes and have double the speed.

So why advertise something that isn't possible?

D3V!L

Strawberry Milkshake wrote: »

So why advertise something that isn't possible?

:rolleyes:

Also try explaining the difference between Wi-Fi and an internet connection. You might as well be talking to a wall. Neither technology require the other.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Strawberry Milkshake wrote: »

So why advertise something that isn't possible?

Have you the prescribed licences to receive such information?

the_pen_turner

You have laugh at these techy people. How can a normal everyday person understand all this tech stuff. It's too complex and changes so often

What I would like to know is can these people change a wheel or check the oil level in the car or cook a proper meal. How about ha g up a shelf or put together a flat pack wardrobe.
Everybody is different and has skills and knowledge in different areas.

D3V!L

D3V!L wrote: »

:rolleyes:

Also try explaining the difference between Wi-Fi and an internet connection. You might as well be talking to a wall. Neither technology require the other.

oooooh rolly eyes. That's me put in my place.

I'm just relocating to the hallway. Gonna sit on the floor, laptop on lap and connect the cable from laptop to wall. Max speeds woohoo. Just like they do in the ad.

Collie D

I know there are a lot of IT staff on Boards so this probably won't be popular.

I'm pretty clueless with most things tech. If I've a problem at work I'll ring the IT help desk to either come fix it or talk me through.

There is sometimes a certain condescension by a number of IT folk to people like me.

You have a degree in IT, I don't. That's your licence. I do my job and you do yours which is to help me with what you might consider trivial or idiotic questions.

If we all knew how to fix it you might be looking for a new career.

X6.430macman

That's something fairly simple to understand. I nearly get what your saying just vaguely reading it here

The Backwards Man

What good is a licence?

I know a local publican, he's down all them FEETFACK courses or whatever they are, some of the smartalecs get his phone and put it on silent, he has to go to the phone shop to get his fixed.

All licence shows is that you're no bloody good at listening as well as no bloody good at whatever you're trying to do

glynf

me_irl wrote: »

A child.

This, children having children; zero financial resources and/or basic emotional skills having several.

Ger Roe

I worked for a while installing domestic broadband and the speed issue was a problem for many consumers to understand. It was during the fibre upgrade drive and most had no clue as to why they were getting a different service, many thought it would increase the WIFI range of their router and they would head out to the back garden and see if it reached there!

They didn't take kindly to the fact that the full speed was calculated at the router and would be available only to a hard wired/network connection. The facts of physics regarding the two WIFI frequency standards was way beyond them and many thought they were being ripped off. They didn't want to know that WIFI is handy, but it's exclusive use is a waste of a good broadband connection.

Irish water were usually digging up everywhere we worked so I used to try and explain the broadband speed principle in water terms. Basically we were upgrading the pipe into your house so that much more water can travel through it much faster. But ..... your taps are old and can only let a small amount of water through at a time so bulk of the water is trapped behind it. The speed and pressure is there, but your taps won't let it through.

It made them realise that their end user equipment might have severely limited ability to take advantage of the new speeds that were being provided.:)

Samaris

See, the Irish water analogy I can get. I am reasonably techy (by normal-people standards), but the intricacies of wifi and networking were always a bit beyond me (doesn't help that I'm not that interested). But if the damn thing is advertised at X-speed, yes, I will have questions if it's crawling along in neutral. That should probably be better explained in the selling of them so that tech support don't get irate customers who are now stuck on an 18-month contract and still can't stream a youtube video without it having to wheeze.

Tbh, my broadband (and my partner's) both get very wheezy, mine more so, but I figured that we were out in the country and so coverage wasn't wonderful. Didn't realise there was moderately misleading advertising going on. Actually more annoyed about it now!

Achasanai

Potential-Monke wrote: »

Anyway, the biggest problem i have here is trying to explain the loss of speed one gets over Wi-Fi.

I see this attitude a fair bit from (some) IT people, from college all the way through work. To be honest, it's your job to explain these things to people. If they're not getting it, you're not doing the job properly.

My line of work isn't IT, but it does involve explaining things that might seem complex to some. If they're not doing getting it, I'm not doing my job properly.

Collie D wrote: »

There is sometimes a certain condescension by a number of IT folk to people like me.

You have a degree in IT, I don't. That's your licence. I do my job and you do yours which is to help me with what you might consider trivial or idiotic questions.

If we all knew how to fix it you might be looking for a new career.

The condescension is particularly hard to grasp when - in multiple experiences - I've seen them use Google to try and answer the problem. Or when they've put 'out of order' signs on computers that just have the power cable unplugged.

Autochange

A license should be required to work on cars or vans. You might not only kill yourself but also other fanilies you meet on the road while doing speeds upwards of 100 kmh. Its madness.

odyssey06

How about a licence so that companies making claims about their products have to explain the circumstances under which people will actually experience it?

RobbingBandit

Cycling get them two wheels nut jobs to register.

Ger Roe

odyssey06 wrote: »

How about a licence so that companies making claims about their products have to explain the circumstances under which people will actually experience it?

Samaris wrote: »

But if the damn thing is advertised at X-speed, yes, I will have questions if it's crawling along in neutral. That should probably be better explained in the selling of them so that tech support don't get irate customers who are now stuck on an 18-month contract and still can't stream a youtube video without it having to wheeze.

Agreed....

Going back to the broadband speed issue, the product is being sold by one company using for the most part, sales people who are not technical and are reading from the 'how to sell' prompt sheets provided by their employer to help them close the deal. They are not going to introduce doubt or potential issues on a sales call (such as WIFI standards) and they cover themselves legally with phrases like 'up to X speed' and 'depending on your location' etc.

The installation is more than likely being carried out by another company on a sub contract basis and the poor tech doing the install has to try and cope with the frustrated customer, even though he has no direct contact with the specific company that sold the product, never mind that particular sales person. When I was installing we were doing so for three different service providers but as far as the customer was concerned I worked exclusively for the company and sales person that they spoke to on the phone.

It's a consequence of deregulation, unbundling and increased competition - all leading to poorer customer service standards as more companies join in the relentless chase for increased market share. The aim was to improve the service provision situation through added competition, but instead the providers settle for the bottom and cheapest rung of the customer service ladder, relying on competitive advertising to attract potential customer calls in their particular direction.

A licence to explain things better and to run a sales/service operation with a genuine customer focus, would certainly be an idea ........ but it might not be in the best interests of pursuing profit

bnt

Never mind WiFi, just try getting some people to use their own TVs correctly. "OK, our box is plugged in to HDMI 2 on the back, that means you have to tell your TV to look at HDMI 2. Now get your remote control, and tell me what buttons are on it ..." :eek:

jimmycrackcorm

Ger Roe wrote: »

It's a consequence of deregulation, unbundling and increased competition - all leading to poorer customer service standards as more companies join in the relentless chase for increased market share. The aim was to improve the service provision situation through added competition, but instead the providers settle for the bottom and cheapest rung of the customer service ladder, relying on competitive advertising to attract potential customer calls in their particular direction.

How does that fix the wifi speed problem?

Junkyard Tom

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=st6-DgWeuos

Irish Guitarist

Potential-Monke wrote: »

So, i'm at work in the last couple of weeks of my current employment. I work tech support for an IPTV company. You can guess but i won't confirm.

Is it Compu Global Hyper Meganet?

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Potential-Monke wrote: »

Ah i'm venting. Sick of trying to explain to people why they don't get full speed over Wi-Fi on their €40 phone...

So why are you in that job?

Start dishing out licenses for this and that, and you won't have much of a life.

Also, wtf is with the cycling bashing already? There really is a serious issue in Ireland with regards this.

Ger Roe

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

How does that fix the wifi speed problem?

It isn't a speed problem, it's a physical fact that applies to all WIFI connections.
The customer's problem is the sales approach that hides or certainly doesn't explain the potential issues that might prevent you availing of the new max speeds that have been provided.

People using WIFI exclusively with an incoming connection that can achieve max speed, are never going to see it on a WIFI connected device - it just isn't physically possible over a WIFI link. They are subject to a set limit that is below that maximum speed/bandwidth that can be provided to your modem. In short, WIFI can't pass the full whack on to you - the water tap is too small.

People are not told this because the companies do not want to risk a sale by introducing doubt and complication. Many customers do not want to know that they will have to connect their device through a cable to their modem to avail of the max speed that they are being provided with. The same goes for the age of your laptop, PC, Phone, Smart TV - added factors that could also restrict its ability to use the improved speed.

My point in the increased competition argument is that a customer is told as little as possible to get them to sign up now rather than dial another provider number. It is seen as their responsibility to swat up on some quite complicated principles and to be sure that their equipment will do what they are looking for, before they commit to a service. The more competitive a marketplace gets, the more ruthless the sign up process becomes with sales people on contract completion targets and minimum time targets per call.

redcup342

Would you even need anything faster than 50 megabit ?

Ultra HD on Netflix only requires 25 megabit.

A girl asked me if I could take at look at her Wifi one day.

Called over and it was just a Wifi router plugged into a power socket and nothing else, no Internet provider at all, she though buying "Wifi" would be enough.

She then went on a rant saying the guy in Media Markt should have told her the Wifi wasn't enough for Youtube and Whatsapp and was going to go back for a refund

pickarooney

the_pen_turner wrote: »

You have laugh at these techy people. How can a normal everyday person understand all this tech stuff. It's too complex and changes so often

What I would like to know is can these people change a wheel or check the oil level in the car or cook a proper meal. How about ha g up a shelf or put together a flat pack wardrobe.
Everybody is different and has skills and knowledge in different areas.

The point isn't that they should know everything, it's that they should either accept the professional opinion of the person they're asking for help from or be able to understand an argument.

Imagine if you point blank refused to accept a diagnosis of diabetes because you know it's hereditary and your father didn't have it.

It's this kind of pig headed ignorance of the limitations of your own knowledge that wastes so much of everyone's time.

fizzypish

Potential-Monke wrote: »

TL;DR - People should have licences for things they don't understand.

What else would you deem should require a licence to operate/obtain?

I don't think anyone would have a phone then. I work in tech too but I'd have to do some serious study to figure out how GSK modulation (Something about mashing a load of signals together and transmitting it in the freq domain, and demodulating it with maths magic?) works exactly. The first mobile phones were pretty complicated never mind how an iPhone actually works.
Contracts should specify the following: We can provide X IF everything works perfectly. Note: nothing ever works perfectly.

FixitFelix

Potential-Monke wrote: »

So, i'm at work in the last couple of weeks of my current employment. I work tech support for an IPTV company. You can guess but i won't confirm.

Anyway, the biggest problem i have here is trying to explain the loss of speed one gets over Wi-Fi. People just will not understand that the speeds your provider is giving you are speeds to the modem, and not over Wi-Fi. People sign up to 250Mb BB (as an example) and expect 250Mbps on their iPhone 5c or non-flagship Android phone. People cannot understand the difference between 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz. Even if you explain it in simple language, it's beyond them, but they still think that they should have over 200Mbps on their Samsung Galaxy Ace they bought 4 years ago.

Anyway, working there has me wondering if people should have to apply for a licence for tech. Like, you can get it, but you can't bitch about it if you don't have a licence to show you're competent and understanding of Wi-Fi and everything that affects it.

Likewise, you don't need a licence to have kids, but you better be sure you need one for an animal... Don't make sense!

TL;DR - People should have licences for things they don't understand.

What else would you deem should require a licence to operate/obtain?

Should need one to post on here

Alun

bnt wrote: »

Never mind WiFi, just try getting some people to use their own TVs correctly. "OK, our box is plugged in to HDMI 2 on the back, that means you have to tell your TV to look at HDMI 2. Now get your remote control, and tell me what buttons are on it ..." :eek:

Not to mention all the people buying 65" UHD 4K TV's, connecting them up to their UPC SD analogue cable connection that they probably aren't even paying for, sitting 2m in front of the TV and then complaining that the picture is a bit fuzzy.

Sin City

Also there is the fact the all devices have a built in wifi speed limit
most newer devices have an AC card in them allowing them speeds over 100mbs
(providing the modem has the same card)

unfortunatly most devcies have only an N class card giving speeds on average between 40 -50 mbs

so no matter what speed you have you will only get what your device can support