How Much! ?

Friendly pops to talk to customer services on a company website can be a real boon, and if done properly can turn a browser into a customer with just a timely encouragement and further product options to tailor the customer needs to your product range. More importantly it personalises what can be a very antiseptic interaction.

Vodafone today -  

You are about to be connected to a new connection sales adviser for Vodafone UK. Please note they do not have access to existing customer details and cannot process orders or upgrades. If you have a query of this nature please contact customer services.

You are now connected with Swarup.

Swarup: Hello, you're chatting with Swarup, one of Vodafone's online sales specialists.  May I take your name please?

You: I got a XPERIA Mini Pro - while I love Android and Voda was looking at HTC Wildfire S because I really dont like the Sony

You: David ...

You: PAYGO naturally

Swarup: Hello David! Thank you for contacting us.

Swarup: HTC Wildfire S is a great phone to own.

Swarup: With the Wildfire S, you're just as connected when you're on the move as you are at home. As on the HTC Desire S, it has the latest version of HTC Sense. This includes Friend Stream, which groups all your mates' social network updates together. So whether they're on Facebook, Twitter or Flickr, you can see all their updates, tweets and photos on the same screen at the same time.  

Swarup: It has the Android™ smartphone.

Swarup: It is*

You: I have seen the HTC Wildfire S Much cheaper sadly - So I may go buy one outright then find the network after

Swarup: We can offer you the pay as you go Wildfire just for £180 a month.

You: 

Swarup: How does that sound to you?

You: Probably the worse deal in Mobile history

Swarup: Okay.

Swarup: May I ask what's the deal you are looking for?

You: I could get the HTC Sensation - 4 Of them for £180 a month

Swarup: If I understand you correctly, you are getting the 4 HTC handsets just for £180.

Swarup: Is that correct?

You: Well No - Not Exactly BUT You Quoted me £180 a MONTH for the HTC Wildfire S which is clearly a Massive mistake - My Point was that if I can get a HTC Sensation for around £30 a month I could go for 4 of them!

Swarup: I am really sorry for the miscommunication. It's the £180 one off fee for pay as you go.

Swarup: It just added the month wrongly after the price in my previous response.

Swarup: I*

Swarup: So, you are looking to go ahead with the HTC pay as you go handset?

You: Ok well I will shop around then because there are better deals online - Thanks

Swarup: You're welcome.  So, you are looking to go ahead with the HTC pay as you go handset?

You: not yet

Swarup: What other questions do you have for me before getting started with your order?

You: none thanks

Swarup: You're welcome.

Swarup: Is there anything else I can do for you today?

You: no googbyee

Swarup: Thank you for chatting with Vodafone Online Sales Team. It was a pleasure assisting you. Have a nice time ahead.

Swarup: You have a great time ahead.

Are Google out to Kill Facebook?

Social networking has always been a fad, from the early Compu$erve chat rooms through iRC Chat to todays massive explosion of Facebook and Twitter, without exception all of these models have been fashion lead and been free.   But herein lies the seeds of many a start-ups demise,  If you don't subscribe its just too easy to turn your back and walk the other way, look at ICQ, Bebo, Geocities and many others.  Every one had legions of users with evangelical zeal that would tell you this is the ultimate destination. 

Can Google do it better?  

At first glance it would seem not, Google is a search engine and for many an anonymous corporate giant that has some handy Street Maps and an E-mail service that's getting some bad press over its snooper cars.  Its Android geek phone seems to be doing well, but the average consumer has not joined the dots to see how revolutionary the Android OS really is, not helped by phone manufacturers failing to even mention the Android glue that ties it all together in its adverts. ... Powered by an Android Skinned by ... HTC ... Sony how hard is that? 

The Android problem  ..... 

I went Vedic for about three years when I turned 30 .... But then I lived through the sexual revoloution - I was probably knackered.

Mentally It coincided with Terry Higgins being dead within days of being on Heavens dance-floor and our worse nightmares coming true as one after one of my friends went to St Thomas' Hospital or St Mary's in no time our next date was the funeral . lots of friends started to appear with Karposis Sarcoma skin cancers too as mentally we set our egg timers.

Totally rejecting sex of any kind was no burden - indeed it was a release from the endless chase. I really started enjoying that freedom, and its amazing how much more time and energy I had - and boy I was going to need it during the next few years

These days I Never look - sometimes it comes my way - and Ill love being Big spoon in cuddles but If I never had sex again - Cool - it only means I will be doing something interesting with my time.
(The above statement is tempered by a cancer diagnosis - and ejaculation stings - ooch lol ).

So the greatest things i got from celibacy were Freedom - to find myself -

32 Million Deaf and Hard of Hearing Phone users in Massive Mobile Network Rip Off Scandal (6M in UK)

This would indeed make top headlines in every national and local newspaper and have mobile CEOs heading for the bunkers if these users had a voice, but year in year out the deaf community around the world have put up with the situation.

In my case I have had a mobile since the days when a mobile was the size of a car battery. and every month I have paid out a portion of my bill for calls - they have been described as "Talk Time" - Bundled Minutes. And while most plans offer more and more of them there is no such thing as free.

Over the years My landline and Mobile Minutes have cost me thousands of pounds.

I cannot use them - I dont want them - but it seems I have no choice

I have written to every European Network operator - Members of parliament - Regulators - and virtual networks. Mostly Im ignored or referred to some web page insisting that "We have a commitment to disabled customers" blurb.

You would think that at least 1 clever network would seize upon the opportunity of reaching this vast demographic? 9 million Deaf/HOH users in the UK alone.

Now some people have suggested we don't NEED a phone - But its Not true I can for example Speak into a phone for 911/999 calls for an ambulance - Fire - or relay a voice message to my family - or indeed get a friend to make a call on my behalf, but the number of times I do this adds up to less than 5 mins a month.

Facebook - GTalk - Gmail - MSN Messenger all provide my links to the hearing world, SMS is way less important than it was even 5 years ago and becoming less relevant with each passing day.

ANDROID is the PERFECT PLATFORM for me and millions like me - Choose my contact and I can see instantly the best method to get my message across.

Can You Help Me?

If your working for a Network or checking new price plans Please ASK (on behalf of a friend) if they offer a "DEAF TARIFF" and if not Why Not.

Please Mention some of the facts above on your Blogs

Pester your own networks - Please Give a voice to people that don't have one.

Together we could change the world - Remember that many deaf HOH members of our community are often the lowest paid - They can least afford to subsidise your voice calls.

Android DEVELOPERS!!

Can You think how useful a real Time SUBTITLED world could be if your out and about?

Imagine being out Shopping or with a group of friends the isolation you feel if everyone Gets a joke except you - because you missed a punchline / or you sign up for a service but incorrectly miss read someone's lips.

ANDROID has all the tools ready to put together a reasonably reliable real time subtitling machine.

Noise cancelling microphones - "Speak now" Search Prompt etc we are almost there....

Thanks you for taking the time to read this

David

_________________________________________________________________

Hey Im Not Alone it seems others are waking up to the idea we get a raw deal

ANDROID FOR THE DISABLED - at the great ANDROID and Me Website

Google Chrome OS

I think CHROME OS will be a run away success on net-books low end laptops and smart TV hybrid devices that need a little more grunt than an Android device.

Most of us that will read this site Need our Computers and Applications there is no doubt of that, BUT look around your own circle of friends and family..... how many of them are not connected, through technophobia, cost, age, unemployment - whatever the number its TOO MANY.

When I got my first IBM PC I knew computing was for geeks it was hard, Gem Windows in every iteration piled on the learning curve and hey presto - Windows 7 comes along and computing is still for geeks.

Where Google will win big time with CHROME OS is buying for this group will be a no brainer. The Devices will be Dirt Cheap - the OS free and there will be thousands of applications from the Android Store that will be surely available

My Mom wants to get online at 75 - perfect

The kids need a cheap safe way to surf - If they loose it - so what - Log on with a new device change your Google Password to be safe - and all your stuff is back with a few mouse clicks.

Try doing that with Windows 7

I have friends on disability benefits or unemployed that cant afford a new PC or have the skills to get "into computing" or see the need for online stuff. Its this group that could benifit the most getting advice support information and job searches. These are the NEW POOR!

Google Chrome OS could be the the very solution for Information Poverty - Lets wipe it out.

Microsoft & Intel have had things pretty much to themselves in the Education field but why do we still not have a computer on every school desk 30 years after we were introduced to the "Personal Computer" ?

Chrome OS could be the perfect solution - The "Thin Client" comes of age.

Go Google show us your best

Cost of Nexavar

NICE said the cost of Nexavar (Manufactured by BAYER HEALTHCARE for Liver Cancer is about £3,000 a month - was "simply too high".

Well at last the Government has had the balls to tell the Drugs Industry It wont pay Sky High prices for monopoly drugs. The NHS Drug Bill is like supporting our own Space Exploration programme.

BAYER has effectively lost the UK market - Their only option now is reduce the price and quickly or licence the drug to another company that can re brand it and take a longer view and sell it much cheaper in the long run recouping development costs over a longer period.

WHAT CAN WE DO?
If you are taking any drugs - check if they are manufactured by BAYER - If they are ask your GP to move you to a similar drug by another manufacturer and ideally cheaper alternative.

An Undecided Voter

I really dont get it that the Financial Hole is Labours doing Admittedly they were on watch when it all came tumbling down - But its a global problem caused by the banking investment sectors - Gambling effectively Gordon Brown came up with a solution that could - If implemented worldwide Might just stop a banking collapse and a full on depression we have not seen in living memory - If he could bring on board all the leading economy's and bail out (nationalise) the banks - Then a very different outcome was possible. Thankfully a new president was in the oval office and while the world changed before our eyes Gordon Browns plan was put in place. The opposition crowed about blame but failed completely to offer an alternate solution. Today while unemployment is rising and few country's expecting much in the way of growth this year - the catastrophe that could have befallen us has not materialised. Sure after the next election whoever is in power has to grapple with how we deal with a new national debt but lets remember the UK only recently paid off the debt of World War ll - we are kind of used to dealing with debt and there is little public or political desire for doing it too quickly with all the pain that would bring. The traditional monitrist (read Thatcherist) response typically would have let the banks like RBS to bust while they fluffed around listening to advisor's (Bankers). By now there might have been mass unemployment and cunts in government spending beyond our worse nightmares. We have Gordon Brown to thank for that and in some senses when history rembers him he may be listed as one of the most important prime ministers since Churchill. The only thing that should concern us now as voters is who has the best plan to build us out of this hole - My personal view is that Labour should be allowed to try - they have shown superb stewardship during the biggest meltdown in history Last time we had a major downturn (winter of discontent) On Callahans Labour watch - it paved the way for Thatcher to dominate for 18 years. Mor a vast number of people it brought pain closed entirely mining - unions - a massive sell of of our crown jewels and created hundreds of private companies that act as virtual monopoly's. Tried getting Water Gas Electricity Telephone calls cheaper over the years? Yet the poor are still struggling on minimum wage (torys would abolish it) the cuts in public services will hit them harder - and guess who will bear the brunt of most of the job cuts will come from? I really don't want to live through firemen nurses strikes - civil unrest and police firing tear gas on the British streets again. When the Election is called the whole debate MUST rise above the the current level of thinking or we are fucked. An Undecided Voter