Energy use legislation

[Hamish]

40 minutes ago, monty said:

Always writing to my MP about various issues that affect all of us! Do you know what? Very little response! 

Monty that’s so sweet- I love the fact that you think it makes a difference. 
I’ve had local authority jobs where someone has written to their mp about council functions - I’d be surprised if the mp even sees the letter in or ‘my reply’ in return.

normally it’s done by the mp’s office support.

i guess if it’s a massive local issue with lots of constituents writing and in the press it may prompt a question to the minister ?

[RobH]

3 hours ago, monty said:

lways writing to my MP about various issues that affect all of us! Do you know what? Very little response! 

Yes - I have written to mine on this topic and got generic replies which didn't address any of the points I made.  Waste of time.

[Misfit]

Only if you leave it at that, write again, with a copy of the original letter asking why you haven’t had a reply, if MP XYZ wishes to continue receiving my support, I need to know he/she is at least taking on board my concerns. please respond. Your earliest acknowledgment would be much appreciated. 
Regards constituent.

 

That has worked, for me. 

[PaulAnderson]

On 9/12/2023 at 11:57 AM, keith1948 said:

1. Don't have a smart meter so they can't just switch you off

2. Make sure you have a log burner

3. Have a back boiler in a fireplace so you can have hot water and a warm room

4. Stock up on candles and torches. A wind up torch and a wind up radio are useful.

5. Don't have an electric car - have a petrol or diesel instead.

6. Have your camping stove and gas canisters at the ready.

7. An old fashioned gas cooker that doesn't need electricity would be handy.

8. Have a phone land line with the handsets connected by wire. Works in a power cut. Mobiles can run out of charge when you need them.

Wait a minute though. Several of these ideas aren't net zero and could land you in trouble with these new laws. Do I care? Not really.

Keith

I’m not sure how going digital on copper wires may impact that list but that’s what’s already started https://newsroom.bt.com/bt-announces-regional-rollout-schedule-for-digital-voice/    My partners father doesn’t have a smartphone and won’t have broadband, or direct debit, even though it would cost less than his difficult to find existing phone contract.   I suspect he’ll have to change shortly in order to keep a working land line.

I’m not keen on mass adoption of log burners due to harmful pm2.5 pollutants as per https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/nov/11/wood-burners-more-costly-for-heating-than-gas-boilers-study-finds?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other 

and https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/sep/23/ban-on-wood-burners-threatens-british-boat-dwellers-with-winter-freeze?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

and  https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/18/councils-england-issue-just-three-fines-under-tighter-wood-burner-rules?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other   
My father has one in his shed and uses any old wood which is likely to be even worse due to chemical preservatives in the wood.

[RobH]

No they are not 'going digital on copper wires' for the phone Paul -  the connection will be optical fibre only which is why it won't work in a power cut unless battery-backup is fitted at the consumer end. Even then the power to the electronics in the local BT cabinet won't last long either.  

A special adaptor is needed for an analogue phone to work on it via the (supplied) optical modem and the consumer has to find a VOIP (voice over internet protocol) supplier for telephone. Not all internet broadband suppliers will do that e.g. Plusnet are not going to do voip.  You will probably lose the existing home phone number too as there are hoops to jump through which have time limits, to retain it. 

https://www.thevoipshop.co.uk/can-i-switch-my-landline-phone-number-to-voip

The default VOIP provider will probably be EE since BT owns them now. 

Edited December 21, 2023 by RobH

[RogerH]

Hi Paul,

 here in West London we have a new community phone service - I think it is called Community Fibre -  they can keep your land line going for the foreseeable future.    Kave a look to see if you have something similar.

 

Roger

[Steve-B]

On 9/15/2023 at 5:03 PM, ntc said:

Octopus have today announced free air source heat pump if you get the government grant beginning of the end .

@ntcWe're also Octopus customers and haven't had such an offer put forward to us, or it'll possibly come after they hit their quota. Can you share a link via a DM please?

[Lebro]

5 hours ago, RobH said:

No they are not 'going digital on copper wires' for the phone Paul -  the connection will be optical fibre only which is why it won't work in a power cut unless battery-backup is fitted at the consumer end. Even then the power to the electronics in the local BT cabinet won't last long either.  

A special adaptor is needed for an analogue phone to work on it via the (supplied) optical modem and the consumer has to find a VOIP (voice over internet protocol) supplier for telephone. Not all internet broadband suppliers will do that e.g. Plusnet are not going to do voip.  You will probably lose the existing home phone number too as there are hoops to jump through which have time limits, to retain it. 

https://www.thevoipshop.co.uk/can-i-switch-my-landline-phone-number-to-voip

The default VOIP provider will probably be EE since BT owns them now. 

I'm with Virgin for my landline & broadband, the change to all broadband phone is immenent, I already have the adaptor, which is nothing more than a connector conversion from "modem" type (on the router) to normal BT phone socket. I'm guessing it won't work with my candlestick phone (with dial) or my wooden box 1930's wall mounted phone (no dial but handle to turn to ring for operator !)  Which will be a shame.

Bob

[RobH]

The adaptor (ATA) needed for connecting a analogue phone to the fibre modem is rather more than just a BS 6312 to RJ45 socket adaptor Bob.  It needs to include a ring-tone generator, a power supply for the analogue phone and an A-to-D encoder / decoder to the appropriate codec for the VOIP server.  Maybe your modem has all that inside? 

Edited December 22, 2023 by RobH

[BlueTR3A-5EKT]

21 minutes ago, RobH said:

The adaptor (ATA) needed for connecting an analogue phone to the fibre modem is rather more than just a BS 6312 to RJ45 socket adaptor Bob.  It needs to include a ring-tone generator, a power supply for the analogue phone and an A-to-D encoder / decoder to the appropriate codec for the VOIP server.  

So that is what the three blokies who parked their cherry picked equipped van across the pavement might be up to.   Converting our telegraph pole to digital.  

[Lebro]

17 hours ago, RobH said:

The adaptor (ATA) needed for connecting a analogue phone to the fibre modem is rather more than just a BS 6312 to RJ45 socket adaptor Bob.  It needs to include a ring-tone generator, a power supply for the analogue phone and an A-to-D encoder / decoder to the appropriate codec for the VOIP server.  Maybe your modem has all that inside? 

  Well this is the supplied adaptor.

It does not look like there are any electronics inside it to me.  It must all be in my hub already.

I can't see 50 volts coming out of it, which is why I I am sure my old fashioned phones (or bells) won't work.

Bob

Edited December 22, 2023 by Lebro

[RobH]

This is the sort of thing I was meaning: 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p4432023.m570.l1311&_nkw=voip+phone+adaptor&_sacat=0

 (an FXS port is the socket for an analogue phone but not BT type connector - RJ11 I think) 

[RogerH]

Whatever happened to two cocoa tins and a length of string??????

 

Technology going mad.

[RobH]

The trick is keeping the string tight between you and the exchange Roger.  People tend to trip over it. 

[keith1948]

I am struggling to follow the rationale for the phone connection changes.

We have to get rid of copper wires because it has been in use for up to 100 years. So that must mean it worked ok?

Fibre is better for carrying data and speed but locally we have issues with fibre companies putting up overhead wires when there are ducts underground they could have used except the company that owns the ducts won't agree. Result will be 2 or more different lots of fibre systems.

Then this has to be connected to the house which has copper wire at present. So an adapter is needed.

However we live in an area where power cuts are not that uncommon so will also need an uninterruptible power supply for our landline phones.

Someone will suggest we use mobiles but we are in a no-signal area. We have a couple of mobiles that are 2 and 3G compatible but not 4G. The 2 and 3G signal is better than 4G nearby but they plan to switch 2 and 3G off soon. This leaves 4G which has less coverage locally than 2 or 3G. We have had to get a couple of more modern mobile phones that can connect to 4G but in the house we connect via the internet. When power is off this doesn't work.

So I am thinking maybe Roger has the solution with 2 cans and a piece of string?

Or maybe we could use copper wire - now there's a thought?

Keith

[Peter Cobbold]

6 hours ago, keith1948 said:

I am struggling to follow the rationale for the phone connection changes.

We have to get rid of copper wires because it has been in use for up to 100 years. So that must mean it worked ok?

Fibre is better for carrying data and speed but locally we have issues with fibre companies putting up overhead wires when there are ducts underground they could have used except the company that owns the ducts won't agree. Result will be 2 or more different lots of fibre systems.

Then this has to be connected to the house which has copper wire at present. So an adapter is needed.

However we live in an area where power cuts are not that uncommon so will also need an uninterruptible power supply for our landline phones.

Someone will suggest we use mobiles but we are in a no-signal area. We have a couple of mobiles that are 2 and 3G compatible but not 4G. The 2 and 3G signal is better than 4G nearby but they plan to switch 2 and 3G off soon. This leaves 4G which has less coverage locally than 2 or 3G. We have had to get a couple of more modern mobile phones that can connect to 4G but in the house we connect via the internet. When power is off this doesn't work.

So I am thinking maybe Roger has the solution with 2 cans and a piece of string?

Or maybe we could use copper wire - now there's a thought?

Keith

We are in the sticks  and have a land-line for voice only. We have two internet links. A locally run point-to-point wireless internet service and a Vodafone 4G internet link. It is highly unlikely that fibre will ever be run to the dwelling. We have simple 3G mobiles that will still do voice on 2G when the 3G is switched off 'soon'. Its all good enough for our needs, but hardly ideal for younger people and businesses. Without fttp I dont see an answer to speeds in remoter locations.

Peter

[keith1948]

Yesterday I had a conversation with a lady who lives around the other side of our village. She told me that a while ago now they had a smart meter installed. The engineers from the power company had problems getting it to connect but by the end of the day they seemed to have got it working. Within a day it stopped communicating with the provider so the lady says her husband continued to put the readings in manually as before. Not long afterwards there was a knock on the door and it was someone from National Grid come to inspect the smart meter. This they duly did and said it was alright. So the lady asked what were they looking for. Reasonable question to ask. The reply was a bit unexpected “Oh the electricity provider has reported that the meter has probably been tampered with by the householder because it doesn’t seem to be providing any readings’. So not the smart meter installers fault or the meter  but the householder must be the reason it isn’t working. (This lady hadn’t seen the series about the Post Office computer system scandal) So another good reason not to get a smart meter. If it goes wrong you could end up being investigated for tampering with the meter if it doesn’t work. Of course it cannot possibly be the meter or installers fault. Yet another example of technology with built in faults that cannot possibly be at fault. After all computers are always right aren’t they?

Keith

[RogerH]

I have built many things that didn't work properly.

So building a smart device that doesn't work as it should must be easy.

 

Roger

[Steve-B]

1 hour ago, keith1948 said:

Not long afterwards there was a knock on the door and it was someone from National Grid come to inspect the smart meter. This they duly did and said it was alright. So the lady asked what were they looking for. Reasonable question to ask. The reply was a bit unexpected “Oh the electricity provider has reported that the meter has probably been tampered with by the householder because it doesn’t seem to be providing any readings’.

Keith

I steadfastly have and will continue to resist installed a Dumb Meter, as they appear to me to be the next Horizon scandal for comments from their technician like above!

[Peter Cobbold]

I refuse to have one fitted, precisely for the reason Keith describes.

[Trev Good]

Having just put TR Action 349 to bed, I had time to peruse the forums, so apologies for my interjection here!

When I took up the mantle of Editor, my BT line was crippling me with it's lack of speed, so having investigated what was on offer, I signed up to a new local broadband supplier for country dwellers, who then went bankrupt about ten seconds after they took my money.

I therefore tried again and have moved to Sky broadband. It is ten pounds per month cheaper than BT and I get over four times the internet speed than I was getting on BT broadband! But wait!! It uses the existing BT network.

BT have nonstop phoned me since I cancelled their contract, offering many incentives to come back and promising the increased speed. Prior to this, I used to regularly give up trying to speak to BT! Every time they now ring, I point out to them that for 24 years I had been on to them (when I got through) to try and increase my broadband speed but to no avail, they then have no answer other than repeating that I can have it now!

Am I to assume that BT purposefully 'choke' existing customers broadband speed then?

[Peter Cobbold]

My BT line would support 28K dial-up. Until trees break the line, again.