Changes within the BBC

Aquos76

I had to call the BBC this morning to get one card switched from one box to another and also to get another activated. I would proberly have reason to contact the BBC on average about 3/4 times daily. This morning something strange happened. I rang up as normal and gave the viewing card details and the correct name and address. I explained to the guy that my previous receiver had packed in, and I needed the card switched to another box. He asked me what sort of problems I had with the other box and I told him that I was getting a message on the screen saying no satellite signal being received and also some picture break-up, on certain channels. His exact words to me were " honestly tell me where outside the UK are you because we have changed our frequencies for the BBC so only UK residents can now receive the channels" I told him that I was in London and my BBC channels were not affected by the picture break up. He went on to explain to me that since Thursday over 750 calls had been logged from outside the UK reporting problems with BBC. We got chatting about the beeb going FTA and he told me that there would be no new cards given out after the 3Oth of May and that all existing cards whether it be the new type or the old type would remain unaffected. When I questioned him about knowing that I was outside the UK (my number is ex-dir) he explained that they had new software installed over the last few days to tell whether a call was from within the UK. He was not able to tell where I was except that I was not calling from the UK. When I rang to get the second card switched on I gave all the correct details and this time the lady on the phone asked me was I calling from the address matched with the card and I just answered yes and she never commented further.

So if this guy is to believed we can take from this that it may not be safe calling from outside UK anymore and also the day of the FTV card is drawing to an end(except for those who already have one)

carrolls

If you put 141 before 0044 870 243 8000, this will block tracing.
They then cannot tell whether the call was made from the UK or not.

sceptre

Originally posted by carrolls
If you put 141 before 0044 870 243 8000, this will block tracing.
They then cannot tell whether the call was made from the UK or not.

I'm totally correctable on this but while that'll stop them seeing your actual number, they can still see whether the call comes from inside or outside the imperial isle.

Aquos76

I didn’t need to put 141 before my number as I said that my number is ex directory anyway, but as I said before they were not able to tell where I was but they did know that I was outside the UK.

This is like when somebody over in the UK calls an Irish number and his or her number is blocked, it comes up on the caller ID as "call" or "unknown" instead of "blocked number"

I'd imagine this is the same principal that they are working on.

watty

My brother definately lives in NI (UK)
If he rang BBC during day it might be from Dublin.

Lots of people have UK addresses and may be "abroad" during working hours

Years ago you didn't have to block and Irish number. I couldn't use a German ISDN BBS that was *FOR* non-germans as Eircom blocked all trans-national CLI for "consititutional reasons (Eircom told me).

So the German BBS could not get positive confirmatio that I was dialing from outside Germany. The German operators had to set up a special account for me!

So perhaps things have changed alot?

Also on Chorus Wireless Loop phones the destination gets no Identification (U can't use Western Union etc!)

All kinds of things in UK can come up as "international" call, like a phone on NTL cable in UK!

I'm not saying you were told a porkie, but call me sceptical.

watty

BTW if you mean a FTV card, the "BBC" has NEVER handled the calls..

It used to be PO, and it is now Sky.. You are talking to a Sky Call centre when you ring the FTV number!

Aquos76

Yes maybe Sky do run this call center but the BBC certainly pay for it. Thats why they are saying that when they go FTA they will not be paying for this service any longer.

watty

Yes they should have had the Dutch /Swiss system of a €15 annual or once off fee top cover costs.

ITC, UK Gov, ITV , CH4 and Five will have to get heads together to "rescue" the FTV management as it would be politically unacceptable that a new Digital Satellite user in UK could only get ITV/C4 and Five with a subscription!

Anyones guess what will happen. But Sky are hardnosed they won't do a single day for FTV call centre without knowing who to send bill to.

Aquos76

Your spot on there. When have we ever heard of Sky doing anything for nothing? At this moment in time the pressure must be on the remaining 3 broadcasters to try and sort something out. According to this months What Satellite CH4 and Five only make a modest contribution to the running of the call centre only, whereas ITV don’t pay anything at all. So that begs the question are ITV going to be willing to enter into any arrangement with the others to take over the running of this.

carrolls

What about this scenario.
When your FTV card loses its channels after 3-4 weeks of non operation. The card now doesn't automatically switch back on after being powered up for a few hours. It now needs a new signal from the FTV phone operator.
When the Beeb stop paying for the managment of FTV cards, who do we call to get the signal re-sent?

Aquos76

I wasn’t aware that a new signal had to be sent. This has happened to me on a few occasions and I left the card in the box and after 2-3 days all channels have come back. Granted before it used to be back over night but I never had to give them a call.