SAYNOTO0870.COM - DigitalUK/Digital UK (SwitchCo) 0845 650 5050

catj Senior Member Offline Posts: 366	Re: DigitalUK/Digital UK (SwitchCo) 0845 650 5050 Reply #30 - Sep 10^th, 2011 at 1:15am International: +44(0)207 748 0098 This number should be: +44 20 7748 0098 (the news about the 'new' area code for London seemingly travels very slowly, it's only eleven years after the change.)
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bbb_uk

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Re: DigitalUK/Digital UK (SwitchCo) 0845 650 5050
Reply #31 - Sep 10^th, 2011 at 9:00am

Barbara wrote on Sep 6^th, 2011 at 12:07pm:

...it's very hit & miss whether digital on freeview will provide people with a satisfactory service or the channels & reception they had prior to switchover. This means that more & more people are going to be forced onto satellite, many very reluctantly, and this is something which was never made public by successive governments when forcing through the digital programme....

It get's worse for me because even though I now get a good signal and all channels (as far as I'm aware), things are likely to change in the future because the Governement is looking at selling off frequency spectrum for 4G mobile which runs near the higher end of Freeview channels in my area. This potentially means that I may lose some or all of my freeview channels due to interference with 4G mobile frequencies just so the government can make money selling off at an auction the 4G mobile frequency range. Sad

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Dave

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Re: DigitalUK/Digital UK (SwitchCo) 0845 650 5050
Reply #32 - Sep 10^th, 2011 at 9:23am

bbb_uk wrote on Sep 10^th, 2011 at 9:00am:

It get's worse for me because even though I now get a good signal and all channels (as far as I'm aware), things are likely to change in the future because the Governement is looking at selling off frequency spectrum for 4G mobile which runs near the higher end of Freeview channels in my area. This potentially means that I may lose some or all of my freeview channels due to interference with 4G mobile frequencies just so the government can make money selling off at an auction the 4G mobile frequency range. Sad

It is all about politics rather than common-sense engineering. The introduction of Channel 5 in 1997 was the first time we saw this.

The transmitter network was designed with each site having four frequencies (channels) in close proximity to one another (all broadcasting on the same power/strength).

The politicians had their way and Channel 5 was fitted in using spare channels, as well as two previously unused for TV. This created a fifth quasi-national network. Many viewers forked out for new aerials as a result just to receive this fifth programme channel. Some would have had to put up with a poor picture (or no C5).

Today, spectrum is a commodity sold off to the highest bidder with little regard to engineering issues and the consequences on the public.

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« Last Edit: Sep 10^th, 2011 at 11:15am by Dave »

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bbb_uk

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Re: DigitalUK/Digital UK (SwitchCo) 0845 650 5050
Reply #33 - Sep 10^th, 2011 at 5:02pm

Dave wrote on Sep 10^th, 2011 at 9:23am:

Today, spectrum is a commodity sold off to the highest bidder with little regard to engineering issues and the consequences on the public.

I agree. A little bit of forward thinking and they may have been able to play around with the frequencies of Freeview (ie digital) when they were deciding which freqencies to allocate for each multiplex before the digital switchover was announced to minimise/eliminate any multiplex being on frequencies close to the proposed 4G frequency.

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Re: DigitalUK/Digital UK (SwitchCo) 0845 650 5050
Reply #34 - Sep 12^th, 2011 at 6:39pm

bbb_uk wrote on Sep 10^th, 2011 at 5:02pm:

Dave wrote on Sep 10^th, 2011 at 9:23am:

Today, spectrum is a commodity sold off to the highest bidder with little regard to engineering issues and the consequences on the public.

I agree. A little bit of forward thinking and they may have been able to play around with the frequencies of Freeview (ie digital) when they were deciding which freqencies to allocate for each multiplex before the digital switchover was announced to minimise/eliminate any multiplex being on frequencies close to the proposed 4G frequency.

I have just found out that by the middle of 2009, Ofcom knew that the 800mhz range was being used for mobile services as agreed by major EU countries.

Dave, have you any idea when the first 'switchover' happened here?

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Dave

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Re: DigitalUK/Digital UK (SwitchCo) 0845 650 5050
Reply #35 - Sep 14^th, 2011 at 11:55pm

bbb_uk wrote on Sep 12^th, 2011 at 6:39pm:

I have just found out that by the middle of 2009, Ofcom knew that the 800mhz range was being used for mobile services as agreed by major EU countries.

Dave, have you any idea when the first 'switchover' happened here?

The pilot was in Whitehaven in 2007. The phased switchover of the whole country started in 2008 and is due to be completed by this time next year.

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Dave Global Moderator Offline Posts: 9,902 Yorkshire Gender:	Re: DigitalUK/Digital UK (SwitchCo) 0845 650 5050 Reply #36 - Sep 15^th, 2011 at 1:52pm This report may be of interest: West Dunbartonshire MP raises digital TV problems in parliament The discussion in Parliament referred to can be read here: http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2011-09-08b.533.7&s=gemma+doyle#g533.8
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bbb_uk

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Re: DigitalUK/Digital UK (SwitchCo) 0845 650 5050
Reply #37 - Sep 21^st, 2011 at 5:55pm

Dave wrote on Sep 14^th, 2011 at 11:55pm:

The pilot was in Whitehaven in 2007. The phased switchover of the whole country started in 2008 and is due to be completed by this time next year.

Thanks for that.

I suspect that Ofcom had an idea back in 2008 that the 800mhz range may get used for mobile but it didn't occur to them that if they did decide to go ahead with it then let's try and sort the digital switch over now so there wouldnt be a problem later (ie re-sort the frequencies so in the end there isnt a relay/transmitter using the frequency around the 800mhz range).

This may not actually be possible for reasons like all frequencies are accounted for or that there would be intereference even after all relay/transmitters have switched over to digital.

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bbb_uk

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Re: DigitalUK/Digital UK (SwitchCo) 0845 650 5050
Reply #38 - Nov 5^th, 2011 at 8:45pm

Dave wrote on Sep 10^th, 2011 at 9:23am:

Today, spectrum is a commodity sold off to the highest bidder with little regard to engineering issues and the consequences on the public.

Kind of related but just read this Quote:

'As part of the merger of Orange and T-Mobile to create Everything Everywhere, we are required to sell some 1800MHz spectrum, for which we pay £33 million in license fees to government each year.

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Re: DigitalUK/Digital UK (SwitchCo) 0845 650 5050
Reply #39 - Nov 5^th, 2011 at 8:48pm

bbb_uk wrote on Nov 5^th, 2011 at 8:45pm:

[quote author=57726576130 link=1126902078/32#32 date=1315646590]Today, spectrum is a commodity sold off to the highest bidder with little regard to engineering issues and the consequences on the public.

Kind of related but just read this Quote:

'As part of the merger of Orange and T-Mobile to create Everything Everywhere, we are required to sell some 1800MHz spectrum, for which we pay £33 million in license fees to government each year.

If that is how much Orange/T-Mobile pay for just their 1800MHz range then just how much do o2 and Vodafone pay for the 900MHz nevermind their 1800MHz they also have!!!???!!!

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« Last Edit: Nov 5^th, 2011 at 8:56pm by bbb_uk »

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Re: DigitalUK/Digital UK (SwitchCo) 0845 650 5050
Reply #40 - Nov 8^th, 2011 at 8:56pm

bbb_uk wrote on Nov 5^th, 2011 at 8:48pm:

bbb_uk wrote on Nov 5^th, 2011 at 8:45pm:

[quote author=57726576130 link=1126902078/32#32 date=1315646590]Today, spectrum is a commodity sold off to the highest bidder with little regard to engineering issues and the consequences on the public.

Kind of related but just read this Quote:

'As part of the merger of Orange and T-Mobile to create Everything Everywhere, we are required to sell some 1800MHz spectrum, for which we pay £33 million in license fees to government each year.

If that is how much Orange/T-Mobile pay for just their 1800MHz range then just how much do o2 and Vodafone pay for the 900MHz nevermind their 1800MHz they also have!!!???!!!

Just remember the combined spectrum that O2/Voda hold at 900Mhz & 1800Mhz is actually less than the 1800Mhz alone that Orange/T-Mob hold...

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JamesEB Junior Member Offline Posts: 88	Digital UK Advice Line Reply #41 - Mar 16^th, 2012 at 1:35am Please can anyone help me with a geo number for the Digital UK Advice line 08456 505050 Thanks James EB
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Dave

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Reply #42 - Mar 16^th, 2012 at 8:45am

JamesEB wrote on Mar 16^th, 2012 at 1:35am:

Please can anyone help me with a geo number for the Digital UK Advice line 08456 505050

You may not be surprised to learn that we have looked at this one before and I have joined your posting to the current thread.

If you are looking for advice on digital TV, may I suggest you go to ukfree.tv which is an independant site? Or if you post your query here, I may be able to help you.

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JamesEB

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Re: DigitalUK/Digital UK (SwitchCo) 0845 650 5050
Reply #43 - Mar 16^th, 2012 at 10:59am

Dave I'm sorry I did a search before posting and nothing came up.

I had not appreciated that Digital UK were to do with the switchover and we are not due ours until next month.

It was suggested I ring them about an error message on our screen No Audio/Video.

Regarding the switchover, I see a previous poster included a freephone 0800 519 2021 for the overs 75s. In the info our 87 year old received there is another one 0800 4085918.

Thanks for help.

JamesEB

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Re: DigitalUK/Digital UK (SwitchCo) 0845 650 5050
Reply #44 - Mar 16^th, 2012 at 11:33am

JamesEB wrote on Mar 16^th, 2012 at 10:59am:

It was suggested I ring them about an error message on our screen No Audio/Video.

The first thing to look at is the instructions for the model in question. It should explain what each message means. Another source of information is the internet; others may well have encountered the same thing with the same model (or make). User manuals can often be found online.

If there is a separate set-top box which is being used to receive Freeview (at the time the message comes on), is the message been generated by it or is it coming from the TV? One way to tell might be the font/style it's displayed in; they may both be different.

What is the make and model of the TV? And, if applicable, what is the make and model of the box?

JamesEB wrote on Mar 16^th, 2012 at 10:59am:

Regarding the switchover, I see a previous poster included a freephone 0800 519 2021 for the overs 75s. In the info our 87 year old received there is another one 0800 4085918.

I think that the best thing to do is not list these 0800 numbers as they are for the Switchover Help Scheme only. Thanks for posting the number, all the same.

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« Last Edit: Mar 16^th, 2012 at 11:50am by Dave »

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