O2 Webtext Delay - Intentional?

smokingman

jimbob wrote:

We should all write to a newsaper. they would see so many of us are writing in and print it......

Then i'm sure there would be a fix..pronto....

You guys are hilarious....while we're at it, can I write to a newspaper about the lack of porn on childrens tv?

My point is....you have none.

Does anyone here actually work in a big company? I'm sure they've got engineers on the problem and didn't introduce delays on purpose.
I know for a fact that when Voda overcharged people, it was a genuine system error, not some sinister x-file nerd wannabie conspiricy...

oh how I chuckle at thee....

The Corinthian

smokingman wrote:

Does anyone here actually work in a big company? I'm sure they've got engineers on the problem and didn't introduce delays on purpose.
I know for a fact that when Voda overcharged people, it was a genuine system error, not some sinister x-file nerd wannabie conspiricy...

I would tend to agree with this. I've worked with all of the operators to one degree or other over the years and would have to say that at worst it may be down to the SMSC being under pressure from high volume and the Web-based SMS being of a lower priority to subscriber SMS. Of course it may be intentional, but then again, the Moon landings may have been faked too...

And that’s the reality of it - you get what you pay for and so if the SMS is free you expect the warranty that comes with a free good, i.e. none. And the free Web SMS that is offered on all three operator Web sites is exactly that and not covered by any paid subscriptions or contracts. AFAIK they are all the responsibility of their various marketing departments too.

Now, I’ll leave this thread open for now, but if it continues with the tripe that I’ve seen then I’ll close it.

jimbob

How long does it take to fix a problem.

An Effing month.. Yes thats how long its been.

:rolleyes:

Boggles

smokingman wrote:

You guys are hilarious....while we're at it, can I write to a newspaper about the lack of porn on childrens tv?

My point is....you have none.

Does anyone here actually work in a big company? I'm sure they've got engineers on the problem and didn't introduce delays on purpose.
I know for a fact that when Voda overcharged people, it was a genuine system error, not some sinister x-file nerd wannabie conspiricy...

oh how I chuckle at thee....

Vodafone, O2 & Eircom plus a couple of big banks all have admitted overcharging or been forced to admit overcharging in the past 12 months, conspiricy or dodgy software, whatever it is, it's completely unacceptable.

In relation to O2's web txt service working only sometimes, just because its free doesn't mean it shouldn't work, it's ridiculess to offer a service which may or may not work. I've been an O2 customer in Britain and Germany and there is a reason they don't offer a service they can't guarantee, only the Irish would put up with it and then try defend the company that is not providing decent service

The Corinthian

jimbob wrote:

How long does it take to fix a problem.

I've seen it take six months.

Boggles wrote:

Vodafone, O2 & Eircom plus a couple of big banks all have admitted overcharging or been forced to admit overcharging in the past 12 months, conspiricy or dodgy software, whatever it is, it's completely unacceptable.

I don't think anyone would disagree with that.

In relation to O2's web txt service working only sometimes, just because its free doesn't mean it shouldn't work, it's ridiculess to offer a service which may or may not work. I've been an O2 customer in Britain and Germany and there is a reason they don't offer a service they can't guarantee, only the Irish would put up with it and then try defend the company that is not providing decent service

I’ve seen numerous cases of shoddy work in both the UK and Germany in the past, so it is hardly an ‘Irish’ issue. Such an accusation borders on being offensive.

Additionally, I would agree that while, free or not, one should not offer a service that is of poor quality, I was simply reminding some of the posters here that there ultimately is no such thing as a free lunch.

Boggles

The Corinthian wrote:

I’ve seen numerous cases of shoddy work in both the UK and Germany in the past, so it is hardly an ‘Irish’ issue. Such an accusation borders on being offensive.

Additionally, I would agree that while, free or not, one should not offer a service that is of poor quality, I was simply reminding some of the posters here that there ultimately is no such thing as a free lunch.

You were being understanding and forgiving, this is the Irish way, don't see it as being offensive.

Vok

otron wrote:

er ... What business?? It's hardly like your paying for a free SMS gateway!

Jeez, tough crowd in here. Can't a guy just pop in, throw a few random, un-founded allegations around the place to vent his frustration and leave?

I was looking for gateways that are ad-supported or use some other spurious business model to finance my SMSs. I know there's no such thing as a free lunch but as long as someone else is picking up the tab, hey, I'm happy.

Anyone who uses the O2 site on a regular basis knows that it's probably the single most flaky site on the whole interweb in terms of logging in etc. but, taking that into account, their web texts have always been prompt once you were able to reach the web text page. This delay is a new development and makes the site's previous crappiness look like an old friend's lovable idiosyncrasies in comparison.

As it stands, I'm already paying O2 (very handsomely) for the privilege of using web text. It's one of the only things that's kept me with them after they sold me a complete pig-in-a-poke of a usage plan that ended up costing me hundreds more than I would have paid if I'd stayed with my original plan.

Along with the convenience of being able to write these things about 10X faster, every free web text I send is a satisfying two fingers of cost avoidance on my part. Meanwhile, they get the revenue from the calls and texts I can't avoid making through their regular network. Everybody's happy.

I've just received another diagnostic text on my phone that was a full 5 hours and 10 minutes late. If this isn't sorted, I have zero reason to stay with them and will switch to Vodafone or Meteor. They then lose the revenue from all of my calls and texts - well over a grand a year. Small potatoes, maybe, but I imagine others would be feeling the same way.

Bottom line, if you're providing a service, free or not, to a customer base that has a definite performance expectation, then you are compelled to meet that expectation or it ends up costing you the goodwill you hoped to accrue.

And no lunch, even a free one, is worth waiting 5 hours for.

cormie

There should at least be a notice on the page. Before I copped it that there was a delay I was trying to arrange things with people and they never got my messages until a few hours later. I still use it for messages that are not urgent. But it would be handy to have it back to the way it was. To avoid all the hassle of broken links on the o2 site, I have this link bookmarked in my favorites:

http://web.o2.ie/personal/my_o2/messaging/freetext.jsp

fatherdougalmag

And there's always dear old TextBuddy.

The Corinthian

Boggles wrote:

You were being understanding and forgiving, this is the Irish way, don't see it as being offensive.

Fair enough, although I’ve recently been reminded that I’m not entirely Irish.

cormie wrote:

There should at least be a notice on the page.

With the amount of red tape that you get in these companies, you’d be faster to fix the problem. As I’ve said before, from change request to code going live I’ve seen it take six months on one operator Web site.

Vok wrote:

Jeez, tough crowd in here. Can't a guy just pop in, throw a few random, un-founded allegations around the place to vent his frustration and leave?

No, because as I’m sure you’re aware this is called libel in the Real World and Boards Ltd has received numerous solicitors letters in the past on things posted here or on other boards.

Additionally, I don’t want to have some marketing bunny who monitors this board whine at me.

As it stands, I'm already paying O2 (very handsomely) for the privilege of using web text.

Actually you’re not. Read your contract. Same goes for the other networks.

Web-text is treated in much the same way as hotels treat complimentary mints on the pillows of fresh rooms. Sloppy not to have them, but they’re a complimentary extra rather than part of the paid service.

And no lunch, even a free one, is worth waiting 5 hours for.

If Web-text is enough of a feature to make people switch operators then people should let this be known. I certainly do not object to that as I know enough of the operators monitor this board for some good to come from it (eventually) and that Web-text actually becomes part of their packages rather than simply a marketing gimmick (which is all they presently see it as).

However unfounded conspiracy theories are out of order as are pointless whines about not getting your free lunch on time. There have been numerous threads about all three Web-text services being down at this stage (and O2 seems to be the worst offender) and 95% of these threads are just noise.

cormie

Speaking of lunch, hehe, in some places you order a coffee and you get a biscuit with it (not what you ordered but it's complimentary). If you order a coffee and the waiter/waitress says "I'll get your biscuit now" and your waiting to have your biscuit while your coffee is getting cold, you will get slightly upset. Especially coming to the 5th hour :rolleyes:

smokingman

If it's the ability to type texts on a keyboard you're after you could use the other sms thing they have.

http://web.o2.ie/business/services/mobile_tools/desktop.jsp

Think you have to pay for this at whatever rate your sms is at and it's a plugin for outlook so no mozilla goodness here I'm afraid...

I've been using this for about 6 months now and there's no delays on it, even in the last while - my company pays my phone bills though so I'm probably not a good advertisment for it seeing as we seem to have nothing but sponging students on this thread

ah I remember the days...kookai noodles before they had the redesigned cover and they cost 24p....7 per week was my grocery shopping back then.

eth0_

It's gone screwy again. 5 hour delays. Was ok over the weekend.

cormie

fatherdougalmag wrote:

And there's always dear old TextBuddy.

That's a pretty cool programme. Only 700k, sits in system tray, easy to login/out and the best thing is you don't have to send 160 characters at a time, you can keep typing and however many messages it takes you to say what you want. Although when you hit 293 chars, your on your third and when you send a text with less than 160 chars, it says (Sent with text buddy) at the end, when you send 2 it also says (Linked 1/2) in 1st and (Linked 2/2) in second part. Messages send instantly.

I think I'll be using this from now on. And it's also allot easier to add contacts:)

Thanks Dougal!

Boggles

fatherdougalmag wrote:

And there's always dear old TextBuddy.

Never heard of this, is it any good?

smokingman

I'm guessing it get's busy around ten to the hour lunchtime with all the students coming out of classes...

Going to send a few timed txts meself in 10 minute intervals to see what the delay is and I'll post the results up - yeah, boring "not a lot to do in work" day today for me....

Been playing Mario rpg on snes emulator all morning - very not busy indeed but having fun nonetheless!

smokingman

text sent 11:15
received 11:16

good so far - let's hope it lasts...

Damn you Bowser!!

er..

smokingman

text sent 11:26
received 11:28

The Corinthian

We get the picture. Desist.

smokingman

no worries....any suggestions on what to do on a boring work day so?

maybe I'll head over to after hours....

meditraitor

Boggles wrote:

Never heard of this, is it any good?

Iss good yaa

Vok

The Corinthian wrote:

If Web-text is enough of a feature to make people switch operators then people should let this be known.

Just as long as you do it in a non-"pointless whining" kind of way; evidently something way beyond my feeble powers of self-expression.

When someone tries to remind me of the Real world and then tells me that my dissatisfaction is down to me not having read my phone contract - Ghhh! - I know it's time to leave.

For anyone who's interested, apparently IVenus - http://www.ivenus.com/index.asp - provides fast, free, reliable texting to its members.

Good luck!

The Corinthian

Vok wrote:

When someone tries to remind me of the Real world and then tells me that my dissatisfaction is down to me not having read my phone contract - Ghhh! - I know it's time to leave.

TBH, no one should really have to remind you to caveat emptor.

Boggles

meditraitor wrote:

Iss good yaa

You can't send to international numbers can you? it won't let me put in more than 10 digits, good software otherwise.

kasintahan

The Corinthian wrote:

And that’s the reality of it - you get what you pay for and so if the SMS is free you expect the warranty that comes with a free good, i.e. none.

Oi! We ALL pay for it. If it were "free" where do you think the money for the servers and bandwidth come from? We pay for it with our handset messages and calls, if webtext were not free then out calls would be cheaper. Just because the operator decides not to <i>directly</i> charge for something doesn't mean that it should be of a lower quality.

Boggles

Boggles wrote:

You can't send to international numbers can you? it won't let me put in more than 10 digits, good software otherwise.

Ignore this post, I e-mailed there tech support and they got back to me within 2 minutes, there is an option in preferences to disable the 10 digit restriction.

The Corinthian

kasintahan wrote:

Oi! We ALL pay for it. If it were "free" where do you think the money for the servers and bandwidth come from? We pay for it with our handset messages and calls, if webtext were not free then out calls would be cheaper. Just because the operator decides not to <i>directly</i> charge for something doesn't mean that it should be of a lower quality.

It doesn't mean that it should be of a lower quality, but neither does it mean that you have a SLA with them on it either. It’s like going into a pub that sporadically serves free peanuts to its customers and complaining if there’s none being served that day. You may go to that pub, in preference to other pubs, only because of the peanuts, and change pub if they aren’t served but you actually have no right to be indignant if those peanuts aren’t there.

After all, you indirectly pay for free Webmail, such as Hotmail, by allowing advertising to be attached to your mails, but that does not mean that you should expect the same level of support or service as you do from a paid email address.

Boggles

The Corinthian wrote:

It doesn't mean that it should be of a lower quality, but neither does it mean that you have a SLA with them on it either. It’s like going into a pub that sporadically serves free peanuts to its customers and complaining if there’s none being served that day. You may go to that pub, in preference to other pubs, only because of the peanuts, and change pub if they aren’t served but you actually have no right to be indignant if those peanuts aren’t there.s.

It's not peanuts. I save over 60 euro a month with O2 webtxt because I use it mainly for international txting, This is the main reason I switched to O2.

The Corinthian

Boggles wrote:

It's not peanuts. I save over 60 euro a month with O2 webtxt because I use it mainly for international txting, This is the main reason I switched to O2.

Then more fool you. Read the terms and conditions of anything you reckon you are buying, especially if it's free.

cormie

The Corinthian wrote:

It doesn't mean that it should be of a lower quality, but neither does it mean that you have a SLA with them on it either. It’s like going into a pub that sporadically serves free peanuts to its customers and complaining if there’s none being served that day. You may go to that pub, in preference to other pubs, only because of the peanuts, and change pub if they aren’t served but you actually have no right to be indignant if those peanuts aren’t there.

After all, you indirectly pay for free Webmail, such as Hotmail, by allowing advertising to be attached to your mails, but that does not mean that you should expect the same level of support or service as you do from a paid email address.

Well with the peanut thing, you're not being told you're getting them and you can't really complain, but with the coffee thing:

Speaking of lunch, hehe, in some places you order a coffee and you get a biscuit with it (not what you ordered but it's complimentary). If you order a coffee and the waiter/waitress says "I'll get your biscuit now" and your waiting to have your biscuit while your coffee is getting cold, you will get slightly upset. Especially coming to the 5th hour

You are being told you're getting them so you wait for the biscuit to arrive before you start your coffee and your coffee starts to get cold, and you like a nice hot cup of coffee.

It would be different if on the page it said "unavailable at present" instead, (but of course it would still have to let you get into your phonebook.) as they are not misleading you and making you think the arrangements you have made have been acknowledged by the receiving end.