I took a Netbook and a Mobile Broadband Dongle from 3 down to the hospital in Liverpool.  It worked much better than I had expected it to, at least as far as signal and speed were concerned.  Unfortunately, the Dongle stopped working less than half way through my stay.  I’ve already written about the disappointment this caused but the story got worse!

Customer Service?

After a long call from hospital that emptied the credit on my mobile, 3 said they would need to send me another SIM card.  They sent this out as promised and it arrived at my home address a few days after the call.  Of course, this was useless because I was still down in Liverpool, only a couple of hundred miles away!

When I got home, I found that the replacement SIM did not work either.  This led to a farcical turn of events that very nearly led to me losing my temper!!

Call 1

When I called from the hospital, the chap was polite and friendly.  I explained what I had done already and he had the grace not to ask me to do anything again.  Eventually he said there had been a security fault with my account, so I needed a new SIM.

Call 2

When I found that the new SIM didn’t work, I got one of those extremely polite people that doesn’t listen to a word you say.  She said that “according to her computer” (in India), my Dongle and SIM card were functioning correctly.  She did make me go through all the troubleshooting steps.  She started with “Please remove the SIM card and give it a wipe”!  Of course, I had already done everything she suggested and more but there was no telling her.

Next she told me to swap the SIM in my 3 mobile with the one in the Dongle.  This uncovered a fatal fault with 3.  They expect that you are already a mobile customer.

I don’t have a 3 mobile and no, neither do any of my friends.  “Well in that case sir, can you take it to your nearest 3 store and they will be able to sort out the problem”.  When I pointed out that the nearest store was 35 miles away and asked if she would arrange for the 70 mile Taxi journey to be paid for, she actually said yes!  Of course, she wasn’t listening to me, was she?!

Visit to Store

This is where the sublime turned to the ridiculous.  I took the Dongle back to the store I had bought it from.  One of the staff plugged the Dongle into a laptop and announced that it wasn’t working!!!  Getting somewhere?……No!

Did I have the packaging……No!  When the Dongle had worked, I threw it out (Mistake 1).  Did I have the receipt?……No!  (Mistake 2).  But, I had assumed that Customer Services could pass on details of our calls.  They had not told me that I needed proof of purchase.  After all, the Dongle does have a BIG 3 on the side!

When the assistant pointed out that I needed to prove that I had bought the Dongle from them, I started to feel a little warm.  I explained the whole conversation with Customer Services, told him the time and date that I had been in the store and that I knew he wasn’t working that day but his colleague across the store had been.  None of this was any good because he needed the number on the box!  At this point he even said that Customer Service should not be sending people to the store because they are completely different parts of the company?

He refused to do any more.  All he could suggest was that I went home and looked for the receipt.  Another 140 miles anyone?

I did feel my temper rise a little but made sure I didn’t raise my voice.  Unfortunately he wasn’t able to control himself quite so well.  Despite this, he took the liberty of pointing out that I was shouting at him.  He wasn’t happy when my wife pointed out that it was him that was shouting, not me!!

Call 3

Eventually I persuaded him to call Customer Service and find out what I needed to do now.  Suddenly everyone was very friendly!  He told CS that he had tested the Dongle and they immediately agreed to send out a new one???  However, his computer was down, so could he call me back in half an hour?

I had a premonition!  There is a very feint number on the inside of the cover.  I couldn’t read it, so I asked him if he would need this number before leaving the shop.  “No, that’s fine, I just need to go through the repair details with you.  I’ll call you back”.

Call 4

Guess what?  No!……He did call back but we were in the car (dark) and he asked for the number I couldn’t read!!

Call 5

Sorted (Really?).  They would send out a new Dongle.  When it arrived, it would be with a pre-paid bag that I should use to send back the old one.  OK!

Have You Ever Thought……

…..It’s just not worth it?  I got my new Dongle and (so far) it’s working OK.  I even got £10 of credit from the very first call!

The Dongle cost £40 with 3Gb of data on it.  The first two calls to India cost about £7 each.  Of course, it’s free if you call from your 3 mobile.  The trip to Edinburgh and the hassle in the shop should not have been part of the procedure.  Surly it was obvious that the fault was with the Dongle?!?  BUT, I couldn’t jump through the computers hoop of testing the SIM in my phone.

PLEASE 3……Realise that you are selling two different and unconnected products.  The man in the shop……give him a little training.  You cannot deny that a product comes from a particular company when the company’s name is stamped all over the product.

I will NEVER have a 3 mobile.  I’m stuck with the Dongle!

Related posts:

1. Mobile Broadband
2. They Cut Off My Arm
3. Maplin Electronics – Customer Don’t Care Department

As I think I mentioned already, I was lucky enough to get a Netbook for Christmas.  Of course, to get the full benefit of my new machine, I really needed a Mobile Broadband connection to go with it.  Since I would want to take the machine to hospital in Liverpool with me, I was looking for a “Pay As You Go” Broadband Dongle that had coverage here at home and in Liverpool.  This narrowed the choice somewhat. 

The selection process was a little tricky.  Basically, my requirements were:

1. PAYG.  No Contract (I don’t need the dongle at home but would like to take it away in the Motorhome.  So I only need credit when away from home rather than all the time).
2. Coverage at home and in Liverpool but also good nationwide (Our Motorhome could take us anywhere).
3. Price.  This proved to be more confusing than I expected!

The short version of this tale is that only 3 fitted the bill.  So I didn’t really get a choice in the end!

PAYG

Mobile Broadband is available with a long contract (similar to a Mobile Phone), a short contract (one or two months) or Pay As You Go (PAYG).  Since I only need Mobile Broadband when I’m away from the house, I was looking for PAYG.

Not all operators offer PAYG, so I found I had a limited choice.  Both Vodaphone and O2 dongles were available from ASDA along the road and 3 have a shop not too far from home.  The other big operators (Virgin and Orange) only offer one/two month contracts.  I ruled these out for being too complicated!

Price

Here it got really complicated and care needs to be taken to get value for money.

I came across two different pricing models for Broadband Data.  You can either pay for a specific Time and get unlimited access during this period or you pay for the actual Data used.

You have to remember that any Unlimited package usually has a Fair Use Policy to go with it.  I found that these Fair Use Policies were actually quite restrictive.  O2 lets you buy a day, week or month with unlimited access.  However, according to their Fair Use Policy a month of unlimited access is actually capped at 1GB and the shorter periods are proportionately less.

To me, paying for the data makes more sense and is more transparent.  The more data you buy at a time, the cheaper it gets.  The downside?  The data allowance will expire after a fixed time period.

3 will let you buy data in blocks (1GB is the most popular).  If I bought 1GB today I can start using it straight away.  If I run out, I can buy more.  If I don’t use it all within 30 days, it expires and I lose the balance.  The trick is, to work out exactly how much data you are going to need!  The more you buy, the cheaper it gets but if you buy too much and lose the balance, it’s false economy.

Coverage

Of the providers that met my needs above, only 3 had coverage both at home and in Liverpool.  This pretty made the decision for me but I also prefer the pricing structure used by 3.

Result?

For some reason the 3 website wouldn’t play ball with my Credit Card so I popped in to one of their shops.  The dongle I bought came pre-loaded with 3GB of data which would last for 3 months.

The device is Plug and Play, it just needs to be connected to a USB port.  All the software needed is already on the Dongle, so it sorts itself out and lets you know when it is connected.

Coverage both at home and in Liverpool was excellent.

Perfect!

Related posts:

1. 3rd Time Lucky?
2. They Cut Off My Arm
3. Mobile Test Post

With all the fuss about Social Networking only getting bigger, I did a little research into the whole idea of Domain Shortening.  The idea is far from new now but there are lots of new thoughts about the best way to manage the process for your website.

I have never liked the idea of using a “faceless” URL shortening service like bit.ly and the rest.  What it the point of working at building your brand and then displaying all your links on someone else’s domain?  So when I came across YoURLS.org (quite by accident), I really liked the idea of trying to set up the service for myself.

Easy To Integrate With WordPress

The website is quiet straightforward, setting out how to install YoURLS on your own server either on your existing domain or on a short domain you have purchased for the purpose.  Once you’ve worked through the process, all you have to do is install and configure the WordPress plugin and you’re all set.

What To Watch For

The installation instructions are straightforward (although I’m willing to expand if necessary) but there were two errors that I made.

1. If you use the same domain as your WordPress blog, you have to install YoURLS in a sub-directory (I used /s/), this is because both WP and YoURLS need their own .htaccess file.
2. I ran into a strange problem when installing.  YoURLS said that “Apache Module Mod_Rewrite” was not installed.  I knew this was wrong but didn’t understand why I was getting the message.  It turned out to be a problem with .htaccess.  When I added the lines given by YoURLS for removing the www. from the beginning of addresses, all was fixed.

The Plan

I’ve had this system up and running for a while on Tintent.com but wanted to use this as a means of bringing all my domains under the one brand, so all  my shortened links will now appear under the Crafty Beggars shortener “CBeg.es”

Comments?

Related posts:

1. Tidy URLS – YoURLs
2. ELPsych Links Directory
3. YoURLs Plugin Back Again

Two years ago I had a Spinal Cord Stimulator implanted in the hope that it would help me cope with my chronic pain.  It worked very well…..For the first year.  During the second year it gradually got less and less effective and my pain rose to the level it had been before the implant was fitted.

During the summer I realised that the situation was only going to get worse, so I called the Walton Centre in Liverpool for help.  They arranged a clinic appointment for me and then a follow up appointment with my new consultant.

He was honest and told me that he feared the loss of efficacy was due to me becoming tolerant to the device but he agreed to upgrade the electrode I had implanted in my back.  He told me that I would be invited back in November to have the surgery I needed.

The Road to Theatre

Initially I received a letter asking me to attend on the 16th December.  However, this was changed to January after my consultant felt he wouldn’t be able to get me home for Christmas.

So, on the 20th January I wound my way back down the M6 to the Walton Centre.

It is worth pointing out once again that I have to take Warfarin.  Since this drug doesn’t go to well with surgery, my hospital stays have always been extended because I have to be taken off the drug before surgery and then re-started afterwards.  So on this occasion, I was to be admitted on Wednesday the 20th January for surgery on Monday 25th.

The admission letter I was sent asked me to call the Bed Manager before leaving the house.  It also said to call after 0830am but to report to the Ward at 10am.  Since I have a 5 hour drive to Liverpool, this was impossible, so I called on the Tuesday.

If you have a long drive, this is well worth doing.  I was told that there was absolutely no need for me to be in Liverpool at 10am and that I should call the Bed Manager again at 9 the following morning.  I did this and was told to make my way down.

Surprise

Since I had done everything asked of me, I was a little surprised to find that there was no bed for me when I arrived.  Apparently “Implant Patients” need to have a side room for infection control reasons.  There was a bed but not a side room.  A quick word with the doctor and it was agreed that I could stay in “The Hotel” for the night and my Warfarin could be stopped the following day.  This was OK but I could have been at home!

On Thursday I was forced to hang about until just before tea time.  With an apology, I was then given a bed on the Ward with a promise of a move to a side-room the following day.  As ever though, things worked out a little differently and I was moved to a side room later in the evening.

It was then a case of sitting and waiting for Monday.  If all went to plan, then the Warfarin would be out of my system and the op could go ahead.

Surgery

So Monday arrived and I was on the list for early afternoon.  I was seen by a Registrar and the Anaesthetist but otherwise there was little drama beforehand.  A nurse told me I would have to have my back marked, making me think I had to go for “Back Marking”, a procedure I had found particularly unpleasant the first time round.  Fortunately though, this time it consisted of the Registrar drawing two black arrows on my back with a marker pen!

I was taken down to Theatre and introduced to some of the nursing staff.  There was a short wait filled with plenty of banter from the staff before I was taken through to the Anaesthetist.  She put a cannula in the back of my hand and injected the drug to put me to sleep.  I remember her telling me it might be unpleasant and I agreed with her but after that…..I woke up in Recovery!

Afterwards

They seem to like me in Recovery.  For some reason I always seem to be the last to leave.  There was some confusion about the amount of Opiate medication I usually take and how much I should be given now.  I’m positive I created the confusion by telling them half a story before falling asleep again!

Eventually though, I was taken back up to the ward attached to a PCA (Patient Controlled Analgesic) machine.  This is basically a button attached to a syringe of Morphine.  When needed, the patient presses the button and a dose is administered.  I think it usually allows a dose every five minutes or so.

My back was sore but I was reasonably comfortable.  I was given some tea and toast during the evening but in the main, I just slept.

Stimulated?

The Stimulator was turned on the following morning and I was pleased to report that I could feel it in the correct area of my legs.  My Consultant came round shortly afterwards and I was a little disappointed to hear that he had not been able to upgrade the electrode, just swap it for a new one.  But, it was definitely reaching the pain better than the old one so it seemed that it had all been worthwhile.

Although my back was sore, it was not as bad as the last time.  Once I was taken off the PCA machine, I was able to move about and get up to the loo etc.  In fact, I would have been quite happy to make the journey home on the Wednesday or Thursday of that week.  This was not to be though.

Waiting for Warfarin

The initial estimate for discharge was Friday 29th.  Unfortunately though, the Warfarin did not play nicely and I didn’t get home until the Thursday of the following week (4th Feb), meaning I had a very quiet Birthday on my own in Liverpool!  The Warfarin took longer than expected to get back up to my target level and I just had to sit and wait for that to happen.  On the plus side though, I was forced to rest for a few more days and I certainly feel the difference now that I’m home and moving about more.

Conclusion

So, I first had my Spinal Cord Stimulator implanted in 2008 and it worked well for a year.  During 2009 it became gradually less effective so it was suggested that I should have the electrode upgraded.

I had surgery to upgrade the electrode but the surgeon could not fit the larger, upgraded model.  Instead, he replaced the existing electrode with a new one just the same.

So far, three weeks after surgery, it seems to be working well.  Fingers crossed it continues!

Any Questions?

Please feel free to ask.

Related posts:

1. Back In Hospital
2. Stimulator Assessment 2
3. Stimulator Fitting

I knew when I went into hospital that I was going to have a wait until my Warfarin levels were back to normal. That’s why I had put so much thought into keeping myself busy before I set off for Liverpool.

The set up was perfect, a nice compact Eee PC and a Wireless Broadband Dongle from 3. I was prepared for problems with the Dongle, there are complaints about coverage etc, but everything was perfect. It worked a charm and was actually fasterthat I expected.

So, before the Op was fine. Lots of surfing done. I was a happy boy.

After the Op, the plan went skywards. I had a project and because everything had worked so well I was looking forward to getting stuck in.

On went the computer and up popped an error message. The SIM card in your Dongle is either missing or not inserted correctly. Connection cannot be established.

Buggar. I now had the prospect of another 4 days in hospital without my connection.

A call to 3 got me nowhere (post to come). So I’ve written a couple of posts to be published but just this evening I found TBlogger, a little app that lets me publish from my phone. This post is the result. If it works, I’ll be back with more details.

Related posts:

1. 3rd Time Lucky?
2. Mobile Broadband

I must admit that, up until now, the concept of offline blogging confused me a little.  I could see the point if you were in a place that just didn’t have a connection, but if you can connect, why not use the facility?

Well, I’ve just ‘Gone Mobile’ and realised that this presents two problems.

1. The first is that my bandwidth is limited.  I’m paying for my data on a ‘Pay As You Go’ basis and this makes me much more aware of the cost.
2. The second reason kind of relates to the first.  It’s all about distraction.  If I’m online, I do a lot of research that often just turns into surfing!  This is not good when you’re trying to do something specific but it’s also not good when you consider point 1!

Therefore, I thought it would be logical to look for a client that I can use offline and then upload to my blog.

Hardware

I’ve just managed to treat myself to an Asus Netbook (despite Asus saying today that the Netbook is dead!).  I bought it to replace a broken laptop but also because I wanted a very compact machine I could bring along to hospital (That’s where I am now!).

I’m very pleased with the machine and it’s certainly doing it’s work keeping me entertained whilst stuck on this ward.  More on that later!

Software

I then researched the offline blogging tools that are available.  The result was a little surprising.  Despite being a recent convert to Ubuntu Linux on my Desktop machine, for the moment I’m opting to keep my Netbook running on the Windows XP it came with.  I would normally do all that I could to find an open source solution to my problems but since many of the reviews pointed to Windows Live Writer, that’s where I headed for first.

I have to admit that, so far, I like it!  It’s nice to have a WYSIWYG editor that actually imports the theme from your blog – a little surprising too considering my blog sits on WordPress and not a Microsoft product.  Live Writer also gives you many facilities not immediately available in WordPress like tables and some rich formatting options.  Of course, these options are available through WordPress but they are not so readily available without digging into plugins or writing your article in HTML.

Experiment – Success?

It’s probably fairly obvious that I’ve only just started playing with this programme.  Really, I wanted to publish an experimental post to see if it would publish first time with the ease I would really like from my software.  If you’re reading this, it worked and I’m really chuffed!  Expect to see more articles written directly with Window Live Writer.

Related posts:

1. Posting to Posterous
2. Mobile Posting
3. Quickbooks and Linux

Well, haven’t I had a really exciting couple of days?  I was due to be admitted into the Walton Centre on Wednesday so that my Warfarin could be stopped ready for my Op on Monday.  The letter said get here by 10am but it also said to speak to the Bed Manager before you leave (but after 0830hrs).  Well, of course, it’s a 5 hour drive from home to Liverpool so this was a problem!

I phoned the Bed Manager on Tuesday and explained the situation.  She said it was not necessary for me to be there by 10am and suggested I call her back at 0930 the next morning

When I called on Wednesday morning they said  “Come Down!”

So imagine my surprise when I arrived at 2pm to the news that there were no beds! Mmmm, I was not Mr Happy.  Luckily there’s an ‘in house’ hotel within the hospital complex down here so it was easy enough to get me a bed, the problem was that the Doc didn’t want to stop my Warfarin when I wasn’t on the ward.  He decided it would be OK to stop my it the day after, so the problem was sorted but since I didn’t stop the Warfarin, I could have come down a day later instead!

A Bed At Last

I was finally booked into a bed last night and immediately give a Heparin jag to replace the Warfarin that was now stopped.

Everything settled down quite nicely, the ward was quiet and the staff very friendly.  Apparently the hospital policy for my type of surgery says that I should stay in a single side room to cut any chance of infection.  The problem had been that there were no side rooms available and rather than put me on the open ward, they preferred the idea of me staying in the hotel.

Of course, this also led to problem with the Warfarin, so in the end they had to compromise and put me in a quiet corner of the ward.

All Change!

When the night shift came in, they decided to put their own stamp on proceedings.  They had an emergency coming in which meant they needed my bed space.  I had to be moved.  Guess where to?…….  A single Side Room!!

So here I am.  Sitting in peace and quiet, with nothing much to do.  I have to wait for the Warfarin to get out of my system before the Op can go ahead.  At the moment this is planned for Monday.

Related posts:

1. Spinal Stimulator version 2
2. Stimulator Assessment 2
3. The Day My Life Changed!

There has been very little happening on this site for the last couple of weeks and I really am feeling bad for letting it fall by the wayside.  I have made a number of changes to the back-end.  Tidying up some of the plugins I’m using and adding the Intense Debate comment system.  I think I’ve just about finished ‘tweaking’ for the time being, so I’ll get down to the job of adding some proper content to my sites.

Treatment (New Stimulator)

Next week I’m heading back down to Liverpool to get my Spinal Column Stimulator fixed.  Hopefully this will improve the gradual loss of sensation I’ve experienced over the last year or so.  The surgeon has suggested the problem could be caused by me building up a tolerance to the stimulation.  If this is the case, the op won’t work, so fingers crossed!

Google Wave

Despite doing everything I can to get rid of the invites I have, I still have a number available to anyone that wants one.  Just post a comment to this post and I’ll add you to my invite list.  Unfortunately, no-one that I’ve given an invite to has come back and told me how long it took.  I’m sure it shouldn’t take that long though.

Future Posts

As I said up above, I’ve been messing with plugins again.  I’ll write a few thoughts down soon.  I’ve also got a review of our New Year trip to the Macdonald Highland Resort in Aviemore.  We stayed in a fabulous wooden cabin over the New Year period, enjoying food and entertainment provided by the resort whilst we were there.

More Soon!

Related posts:

1. Google Wave Invites Here!
2. Good Christmas?

As of this morning I have 22 Google Wave invites to give away.  All I need is an email address to add to my invite list.  These invites are offered on a “First come First Served” basis.

Click HERE to access the comments for this post.

Comment Luv

I’ve added the Comment Luv plugin to this blog recently.  If you give a URL when commenting on a post, the plugin will try to pull a link to your latest post into you comment.  Please feel free to give it a go, but please don’t spam.  I will delete adverts, anything not suitable for a family audience or comments that are meaningless and offer nothing of value to the blog.

If you don’t have a website, try adding your Twitter id.

Click HERE to COMMENT!

Related posts:

1. Google Wave, Interested?
2. Google Wave Invites – Up For Grabs!
3. (Google) Waving Yet?

RGT Accessible Britain 2nd Ed.

Updated for 2009

This is the Second Edition of the Rough Guide To Accessible Britain.  The first was published in 2008.

There are several striking differences between the two editions.  The first is size, the new book being a much more regular A5 and having many more pages (192).

The second is colour.  The first book was colour throughout.  The second has a coloured introduction and the rest is black and white.  This is not a criticism though, the book is well presented and FREE!

New Layout

Probably the biggest difference is the way the book has been split into sections.  The first edition concentrated on the type of activity (Family Fun, Parks and Gardens etc), this time the sections are ordered by Region.  Obviously there are pro’s and con’s to both but now it’s certainly easier to find attractions according to where you are in the country.

The Cities and Towns section has disappeared completely.  I suppose the section was always a bit of a gamble.  There is no way you can describe how accessible Edinburgh is in just 2 paragraphs.  A valiant effort was made but it didn’t really work!

What’s New

The emphasis is on attractions with a common style throughout the book.  Each attraction gets three paragraphs.  The first indicates a geographical location with a fact about the area.  The second is more specific giving information about the attraction it’s self and the third comments on disabled access.

Above each entry is a row of symbols giving specific information about on site facilities.  This includes whether a wheelchair user will need assistance, is there a hearing loop, are the toilets accessible etc.  The key can be found inside the front cover and is easy to use.

There is a good selection of new attractions in this second edition and these are joined by updated versions of reviews from the first.  As before, the articles are short but informative and easy to read.  As a Rough Guide it is perfect although there may be more specific questions that are not answered.

Worth The Money?

It’s free!! So Yes!!

As with the first edition, the second is free to Blue Badge holders.  If you are not a Blue Badge holder, the guide price is £6.99.  I’m not sure I would pay the cover price but for free it is a very well presented, good quality guide.

Check out http://www.accessibleguide.co.uk for your copy.

Related posts:

1. The Rough Guide to Accessible Britain
2. Alton Towers (Mobile)
3. Dalkeith Country Park