SaveShortwave2

“We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to require the relevant regulatory authority namely Ofcom to take active and speedy measures to test samples of all makes and types of PLT device and to remove from the UK market all those devices where the sample is found to be non compliant with the requirements of the Electromagnetic Compatibility Regulations 2006. And to take all practicable and necessary steps to prevent anyone placing non compliant PLT devices on the UK market now and in the future. The Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and Ofcom are familiar with these devices they being widely distributed by a national communications supplier, various high street stores and on the Internet. These devices are used to transfer electronic data via domestic electrical household wiring and the techniques involved in typical use result in harmful interference to short wave radio reception.”

Details of Petition:

“The Government has confirmed in their response to the “Saveshortwave” petition that “Power Line Technology (PLT) equipment is required to meet the relevant regulations.” The relevant regulations are the Electromagnetic Compatibility Regulations 2006 (the Regulations) for which BERR is responsible. Independent testing to date has shown that PLT devices do not and cannot meet the requirements of the Regulations. Furthermore, continuing numbers of complaints of harmful radio interference from PLT devices amply illustrate that in practical applications they do not meet the “Essential Requirements” of the Regulations and prevent other equipment from functioning as intended. Irrespective of and notwithstanding the number of recorded complaints of interference, we call on BERR to comply with the law, namely the provisions of the Regulations which are based on a European Directive, and to expeditiously remove this menace from the market by the means as set out above.”

Read the Government’s response

Thank you for the E-petition about testing Power Line Technology (PLT) equipment.

The Department for Business Innovation and Skills is responsible for the Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) Regulations 2006.  Enforcement powers are delegated to local Trading Standards offices and to the Regulator, the Office of Communications (Ofcom), where there is a radio spectrum protection or management issue.  Ofcom is the body responsible for the management of the civil radio spectrum in the UK.

In the last twelve months Ofcom have received 143 individual PLT interference complaints about inability to receive radio transmissions in the High Frequency (HF) band (3 to 30MHz).  Of these, 121 have been investigated and referred to the apparatus supplier who has resolved 104. The solutions employed include replacing the apparatus, hard wiring and conventional wireless alternatives.

As a result of the Regulator’s investigations which found no breach of the EMC requirements, Ofcom decided against taking further enforcement action at this time.  Ofcom is therefore working to reduce any negative effects in individual cases with BT, the largest supplier, and with Comtrend UK Ltd, which supplies the apparatus as part of the BT Vision package.  Further information about PLT and Ofcom may be found on their website:

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radiocomms/ifi/enforcement/plt/

On the available evidence, we do not believe an outright ban of all powerline equipment is justified.

Ofcom can provide advice and assistance to those who complain of interference with radio communications equipment.  Any individuals who wish to report specific cases of interference that may be caused by PLT apparatus, or any other source, should contact Ofcom’s Advisory Team on this phone number in United Kingdom with 0300 123 3333.

So it looks like the OfCom, who are run by the govermnment don’t really care about us Amateurs, and just after we got rid of Analogue TV which we would normally get the blame for wiping out, we get lumbered with another useless idea that we will have to put up with, and we will most proberbly get the blame when these things as well, just because our antennas are visable and therefore it must be us…. typical government…

I moved to Sure as soon as my old contract was up, Manx Telecom were unwilling to offer any service at all, they didn’t care that Sure were cheaper, and as far as they were concerned I was just a small single contract, and they can afford to loose a few of them can’t they!

So up until now I was very happy with Sure, you can put up with the shop staff being totally useless and having the combined IQ of a dead tadpole, and I did not mind paying £45 per month for a contract which I never really used all the services that I was sold, I used the internet maybe 1 ot 2 times a week and that was useually only for a google search, I did not download anything via it and never used it for e-mails, in fact I could most proberbly have done better getting a cheaper contract and a smaller phone than the Blackberry Bold 9000.

My problem is this! I missed one single payment, after not missing any since I opened the contract with Sure. I telephoned them to soft it out and being a rather short month I said that I would sort this out and pay 2 months at the end of this, No problem I was told! I could pay both months at the end of this month.. I also asked them to change the date for the direct debit to the start of the month to make sure that this never happens again, again, No Problem! …  except!!!

I got cut off today! so I went to a friends house to make a call, No home phones at all, not worth it with mobiles, where I was told that I was cut off for not paying my bill, this even though I had previously been told that it would be OK to sort out at the end of the month. I was told by someone who sounded about 16 and had to put me on hold every 30 seconds to ask a colleage most proberbly what to do or what’s a mobile phone! You expect the shop staff to be useless, but you would have thought that they would put some thought in to training their support staff.

Anyway, so sod Sure, at least with Manx Telecom if I didn’t make a payment because funds were shorter than expected, which did happen just once with them, they at least did not mind waiting to the end of the month for me to credit my account, I am not bothering with Sure anymore, they disconnected me, without even a telephone call or a text message to at least tell me this would be happening, even after being told I could sort it out at the end of the month. As for my contract, not my problem, they disconnected me, not me who cancelled it, they did.

My issue with Sky is that unlike most people out there, we had to purchase the units including the dish and installation ourselves, mainly because the local Sky installers either wanted stupid money to install a new dish where we we, or that they would not do it without installing scaffolding and a site survey along with health and survey etc, basically all crap and any excuss to up the bill and make more money out of us, especially as we had very easy access to a flat roof which has proven perfect for the dish which in the end we had purchased ourselves and installed with very little hassles, thanks to a local friend of ours. I then purchased 2 Sky boxes, a Sky plus box at £175 and a normal Sky Digibox at £80 from the local Sky shop, the same shop that would not have installed the system without a site survey, etc. We had to tell them that the units were replacements else they would not have sold them to us.

All is well until 6 months later when the Digibox died! called the sky shop and there comment was to call Sky as the warranty for the box was with them and log a call so that the unit will be swapped out ‘Free of Charge’! BUT, the problems start here.

Sky could not fit in a call out for over 2 weeks! I would not have really mattered about this, but they said that I would have to have an engineer call out to check the system over, and because Sky had not installed the system then I would have to pay not only for the visit but also for the replacement Digibox, and this is where I feel really pissed off!

Having been a customer with Sky TV for many years, either personally or via the partners account, you would have thought Sky would give us a bit more lee-way, and especially as I had to purchase the units myself whereas most of the people in the UK got there Sky installed for around £40, and especially since the move to Free-View they have been offering Sky Plus for the same cost. but no, because I had got the system installed by myself and also because I had purchased the units myself, even though it was Sky that would not supply the units which left me with no choice but to purchase the units myself, the Sky think it is fair to ripp me off again by charging me yet more money….

So I have now canceled my Sky subscription for both units, I was happy to keep the Sky Plus box going, but they refused to just cancel the Sky Digibox off the contract as I had only had this contract for less than a year, as we had only just moved to this address, they don’t care that you have been with Sky TV for many years, nor that you have had to purchase your own equipment, and they also don’t care about customer services…

Basically if you are thinking of installing Sky in the Isle of Man, don’t! The local installers are a bunch of ripp-off merchants and are out to scam you out of anything that they can, go Free-View, it is cheaper and so much less aggro, Sky have gone down-hill big time, and hopefully they will maybe work out that they are turning people away, and with Free-View costing around £20 a box, instead of the £45 per month, then it’s their loss…