Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 14th June 2026

14th June, 2026.

Right … 

I’ve had ongoing discussions with BT: about upgrading my internet connection.

Originally?

I’d put in a request on 28th May, when the company reminded me I was up for renewal.

Only to be told the upgrade was cancelled … as they thought I lived next door … !

It’s taken approximately two and a half weeks, and a lot of calls, for them to correct the mistake — if that’s the right word — upgrade the information on the systems, and name a date for the upgrade.

This coming Thursday, between 13·00 and 16·00 in the afternoon.

Here’s hoping the promised speeds are worth the ƒ®ç∞ïng wait … !

~≈🛜≈~

Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 15th February 2025.

15th February 2025.

Right … 

I’ve been doing this — writing this blog — for some time.

And, as part of that … ?

I’ve been opening emails … and pressing various button, to publish posts.

Except this morning.

As … ?

As, it turns out, BT’s email service is down.

Why?

I don’t know.

But it’s tempting to blame the current US president!

At any rate … ?

I get the feeling that — once the service is back up — my email client’s going to be swamped … !

~≈📧≈~

Hmmm … 

I’ve just noticed this piece on the BBC’s Red button service, telling us how a prisoner in HMP Peterborough has been given time for assault.

Telling us the inmate attacked a guard with sugar dissolved in boiling hot water.

Don’t ask how I know … 

But they used to call that ‘jugging’ … 

~≈♨️≈~

Digital Poverty — What One Man’s found. (Pt 3: Connections and Prices.)

22nd June, 2020.
Updates, 30th June, 2020.   (See below.)

Pt 3: Connections and Prices.

Foreword.

Hi: this is the third in a series about digital poverty.



If you’ve not read part one or two?

You can find Pt One, about schools, here, and Pt two, about job hunting, here.   Pt four, is now available, here.

~≈†≈~

Introduction.



Just to remind you?



My name’s Paul: I’m an unemployed former barman, call centre agent and dogsbody.



One trying to keep himself occupied in Lockdown.

The last of these pieces?

Told you about jobhunting with no internet connection.



This is the third in the series.

~≈†≈~

Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 21-2-2020: The Phone Book.

21st February, 2020.

You know BT — my internet service and phone provider — are wonderful.

Really.

They’re kind, warm and wonderfully fluffy, and you can pet them for hours.

He says, with his tongue very firmly stuck in his cheek.

On a more honest front?

They’ve decided to stop supporting desktop email clients.

Which means I can’t use Thunderbird or Mail to access my email: just the website.

Not something I’m happy with … 

~≈¥≈~

Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 31st January, 2019.

31st January, 2019.

Yes: I’ve got an eye test, today.

Relatively early, as well: which is why I’m up comparatively early.

Happily?

From what I gather, I qualify for a voucher that covers most of the cost.

Although, if I don’t … ?

I’ve just enough in savings to help pay for new pairs.

I hope I do get the help.

It means I can make my money go further.

~≈§≈~

Talking of money?   Or of earning it, at any rate … ?

I’m job hunting at the moment: as you may or may not know.

I got a call, last night: from British Telecom.

I’d put in for a job with them, a couple of months ago: and had endless trouble trying to log on to their recruitment pages.

So much trouble?

That I ended up emailing my CV, and the application for the specific job, over to BT’s Human Resources department.

They finally actually called at 19:34, last night.

Gave me the basics of the job, agreed I and my CV sounded suitably impressive … 

Then told me I’d need to do an online test: just so they could, you know, dot the i’s and cross the t’s.

And that they’d email over the link: so I could get working on the test as quickly as possible.

I told the chap about the problems I’d had, logging onto their system, originally: and was concerned I’d not be able to do the test, as I was on a Mac, and had issues logging on to their recruitment system.

(That system’s run by an Oracle-owned* company called Taleo: it’s a Software-as-a-Service business that hires out web recruitment services to various companies.)

His reply … ?

Was that I’d need to access the system on a Windows based PC, running Windows 7 or higher.

You can possibly imagine my anger.

I politely told the chap I would withdraw my application: none of my neighbours — or, at least, the ones I know — have PCs: they’re all using Macs or various shades of tablets.

Nor could I get to any of my PC-owning friends, easily.

NOR — as the chap seemed to be concerned to get me doing the test, quickly — would using the library’s computer be an option.

It would hold up the process.

That’s ignoring the fact that — in my original application — I could get as far as the BT’s recruitment’s login page: and have to try and reset my password.     I’d tried that, many times, and re-registering my account.   And NEVER got any emails from BT’s recruitment system to reset my password.

He was saddened … 

But made no mention of how this could be countered, or remedied.

~≈§≈~

As you can possibly imagine?

I’m angry about that.

I’ve lost out on a potential job.

They’ve lost a potential recruit.

Yes: it could well have been remedied, if I’d owned a PC in the first place.

Why should I?

You see, BT — and whoever BT uses to run their recruitment services — could have made resetting a password is easy.

And made sure their recruitment webpages work with whatever browser, on whatever operating system — macOS, Windows, Android, Linux — and whatever device — tablet, desktop, laptop, phone — a potential recruit uses.

Just like their customer facing ones do.

~≈§≈~

Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 6-1-2017,

Oh, they’re having puppies … !

You’ll recall that — on Tuesday night — my internet connection went down: seeming as a result of an outage BT were having.

By Wednesday?

This still hadn’t corrected itself: and that I was told — on Wednesday — the problem was my router.   I was also told I’d be getting a new one: free of charge.

By today, at the latest: but by yesterday at 6, at best.   Indeed, BT sent me a text message to say so.

I rang them to chase this up.

And … ?

It turns out the relevant routers were out of stock: and that a replacement would be with me … 

By Monday … 

By … soddin’ Monday … !

Can someone ask BT to get a bloody GRIP … !

~≈Ê≈~

Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 31-8-2016

Oh, now, wouldn’t you know it … !?

Recently?

I’ve been sent a replacement router by BT: as the old one occasionally reset itself.

I got the new one, on Saturday, had it set up on Monday … 

And, by Tuesday — last night, in fact — guess what had happened?

The shiny new router … had reset itself … !

I give in … !

~≈Ç≈~

In OTHER news?

I’ve just noticed — courtesy of Facebook’s Trending feature — there’s some TV news.

According to The Sun, there’s plans to have a celebrity special version of The Crystal Maze: hosted, notionally, by David Tennant.

Weirdly?   Well, weirdly, I was only thinking — yesterday — that Robot Wars has had a welcome return to our screens.

And that The Crystal Maze would be perfect accompaniment.

Frankly?

I hope it does get revived.

That’s something I’d happily watch … 

I wonder … would anyone like to put a team together … 

~≈Ç≈~

House of Cards — Series 4: Episodes 6, 7 and 8. (Chapters 45, 46 and 47)

Oh, you are kidding me, surely?

As you may or may not be ware, I managed to replace a BT HomeHub 3, this week.

Where the old one would — seemingly at random — reset itself.

Basically switch off, and then back on again.

The new one turned up, on Saturday, I got it set up on Monday night, and the OLD one sent back off, this morning: via BT’s free returns service.

I sat down, tonight, to watch more episodes of the rather good fourth series of House of Cards.

Only to have this new shiny router/hub … 

Reset itself … !

Ye GODS, BT, what HAVE you fobbed me and many other customers off with?

~≈É≈~

At ANY rate … ?

At any rate, And all annoyance aside, tonight’s a free evening: one I wanted to spent, happily … 

In front of the TV set.

With more episodes of House of Cards fourth series.

Yep … 

I’m binge watching a good one.

You can tell, can’t you … ?

~≈É≈~

The Daily Teaser — 1-1-2016: New Year’s Day

Well … The new year’s started … 

But old year issues have cropped up.

Frankly … ?   Having not heard from CBS, I’ve decided to take don’t the video from Penny Dreadful that we’d been discussing.

To be honest.   I rather wouldn’t have.

I personally feel I had not: as I believe posting it to YouTube counted as Fair Use, under the relevant countries laws.   And, as you can tell from the rest of the videos on my ‘Disputed’ playlist?

It’s not something the BBC have a problem with.

~≈É≈~

On top of that … ?

I got a letter, yesterday.   From BT, my Internet Service Providers.

Remember, I upgraded my contract, recently?   Mostly where I was having issues with the 40GB cap trying to work out why I was going over it.

BT, sent me a letter, which I got, yesterday: one they’d written before I’d upgraded.

Telling me they were going to double my cap from 40GB to 80.

Thanking YOU, BT … !

Happy bloody New Year!

~≈É≈~

The Daily Teaser — 23-12-2015

Hmmm … 

Well, that’s BT sorted … possibly … 

But not CBS …

I’ve mentioned, over the past few days, about how I’ve been having some form of problem with my Broadband usage.

Well …

Which BT could only solve … ?   By offering to upgrade my call package.   OK, It’s only a few pounds dearer: and it means I’ve now got no problem about downloading anything.

But it’s not my preferred solution.

~≈Ê≈~

THEN there’s CBS!   I said, yesterday, I’d had an email about the clip from Penny Dreadful that I’d posted to Youtube: as part of a review.   CBS, protecting their property, want it taken down: but offered a compromise: I take down the appeal, they’ll remove the block

I’ve sent them an email: basically to ask for written assurances that that’s what’ll happen.   Here’s hoping!

~≈Ê≈~

The Daily Teaser — 17-12-2015: Vogue

Hmmm … 

You know, my on-going broadband situation … is on-going … 

Which you’d probably worked out, hadn’t you … ?

But, just so you know … ?

Last night, I’d had two conversation with someone from BT: about trying to turn off the BT Fon feature on my router.   Something I’m told can be of benefit.

The FIRST call … ?   Was frustrating, and got me no-where.

The SECOND?   Was EQUALLY frustrating: the woman I was talking to told me that, as I had no-way of accessing the feature, she would turn off BT FON, from her end, and that it would take about an hour.

The screen shot — taken this morning — of the web-page that allows me to tinker with the router’s settings will tell you everything you need to know, I think.

It’s still active.   What’s more, last night saw the usage monitor BT provide us with, went down.   Which I thought was … well, SLIGHTLY suspicious …

At ANY rate … ?

I really am getting frustrated about this.

And wondering what on EARTH’s happening!

~≈†≈~

House of Cards — Series 2: Episode 8 and 9

You know, I THINK I’ve had a stressful day off.

No, really.

OK, I’ve little more than write Teasers: but I’ve ALSO been waiting for a call.

From BT, would you believe.

My broadband user seems unusually high: and NOT dropping, despite my efforts to keep an eye one these things.

And today has seen me trying to get BT to turn off a feature built into my router: that I can’t otherwise access.

It’s Wednesday.   ALSO know, to some of my fellow Twitter users, as Hump Day.

The fact the feature concerned still isn’t deactivated … ?

Means having the hump is putting it mildly … 

~≈‰≈~

The Daily Teaser — 16-12-2015: Arthur C Clarke

Right … I now have … a day off … !

Frankly … ?   It’s one I’m hoping to write a few Teasers on: as well as make the associated videos.

It MIGHT not go that way, though.

Remember me saying that my broadband usage seemed suspiciously high, over the past few months?

Well, BT are due to phone me, today.   One of my neighbours has suggested I turn off the BT Fon feature — that let’s people use the BT Wi-fi service — as doing so had helped her in similar circumstances.

Hopefully … ?

They’ll be able to talk me through the relevant procedure.

Although, to be frank … ?

I’m starting to wonder how much help it CAN be … ?

I’m not losing hope about the situation.   But I AM feeling mildly cynical about the whole thing.

~≈Â≈~

House of Cards — Series 2: Episodes 4 and 5

You know, I have to confess to being in a funny mood, today.

I’ve spent some time on the phone to BT, this morning, complaining about my broadband usage, has left something of a taste in my mouth.

Basically?   Basically, my broadband usage seem suspiciously high for the past couple of months: and as part of trying to deal with it?

My internet service provider has help me change passwords on my router, today: to see if that helps stop any potential hijackers.

On top of THAT … ?

Time Machine, my back up programme … ?   Told me it couldn’t fit anymore back ups on to the internal drive I use as my back up drive.

Leading me to about it on Apple’s support communities.

Hopefully … ?

Someone will be able to make a suggestion or two.

At any rate … ?   Having the day off, I felt I deserved a treat of some description.

Even if it is a couple of episodes of a TV show.

And, yes, since you ask.

Yes: it WAS two episodes of the second series of House of Cards … 

~≈É≈~

A BT Spam Warning

OK, SLIGHTLY weird experience, here.

I’m actually using my SPARE machine: a late 1990s vintage G4 Mac, running Tiger.

JUST in case you’re interested … !

Not that that’s why I’m writing.

I actually thought it best to let you now I’ve had a spam email.

Yes, I know, happens all the time.

But this one in particular … ?

Claimed to be from my broadband, BT provider.

Thankfully … ?   Well, thankfully, I’d made sure I’d kept my last BT billing mail: I’ve had one of these emails, before, and kept my genuine bill, so I had something to compare any more fakes to.

I’m ALSO thankful Safari has a rather good phising filter: which warned me that the link in the mail was a dodgy one.

At ANY rate … ?

At any rate, I thought it best to put up a screen shot: just to let my fellow BT users know: “Keep Your Eyes Peeled … !”   And ALSO let you know, you can forward the spam to abuse@bt.com.

So you know.

Argh ... !

JUST in case you're wondering ... ?

I've got to confess, I'm up at Brentwood library, posting this up.

Seemingly ... ?

Seemingly, it seems that my Internet Service Provider - Brtitish Telecom, in case you DIDN'T know - dropped the signal.

And were experiencing an outage they EXPECTED to last for up to eight hours.

Saying that ... ?

I've just had one of my neighbours phone me to tell me it seems to be back on.

I hope it stays that way ...

Blogging through a Windoze machine is NOT my first choice ... !

About the Router ... !

Now ...

I'll be frank, but the text on this post is possibly going to look a little stranger than usual, until I get home and do some copy editing.

Over Mother's for dinner, don't you know ... ?

But at ANY rate ... ?

I thought I'd briefly let you know I'm due a visit from a BT engineer, tomorrow, about my connection.

Seemingly, it's not necessarily the router that's causing the problem.

No ...

It's Signal Interference, between the analogue phone line ... and the broadband line.

Hence the dropout, apparently.

I'm not the only person to seemingly suffer with this, either.

Bless him, I know Kevin D's had it, as did former Councillor, Karen Chilvers, until she switch to their fibre optic connection.

And I ALSO know it's something one or two of my other neighbours has suffered with.

As soon as he's been, tomorrow ... ?

I'll let you know what happens!

About that Router … AGAIN

Hmmm …

I’ll be a TOUCH vernacular, if I may … ?

But RIGHT at the moment, I’m a touch annoyed with British Telecom, at the moment.

The Eternal Problem with the Home Hub 2, unfortunately.

To use an old clique … ?

If it’s not one thing, it’s another.

Having seemingly solved — or worked around — the BT Fon problem, a few weeks ago, I’ve NOW got the problem of the actual broadband line, itself, playing up.

I’ve now got the f¶#k∞ng thing next to Bruce, and hooking me up to the ’Net through an old fashioned ethernet cable, rather than the usual WiFi connection.

Mostly because router seems to be losing a signal from the line … !

Understandably … ?

I am MIGHTILY hacked that the signal — from BT’s end — seems to keep being lost, even though I’m up to date with my bills*, and have both a fair end-user’s working knowledge of both his OS of choice, and the USUAL steps I need to take to re-start the router itself.

Pain in the proverbial bum … ?

You betcha … !

All I can hope is that BT offer SOME sort of cashback, considering the amount of sheer frustration this has caused … !

* I try and make sure of that.

Newzbin: Breaking News

Hmmm …

I’ve got to admit, I’ve a BIT of news, I’m going to share, that’s been on both the BBC News channel …

And on their website.

But I’ve got to admit, I’ve just had the rather sad news an old friend has died: of pneumonia, arising from a complication of cancer.

From what I’m told … ?

From what I’m told, it was actually mercifully quick: something the family concerned are grateful for.

Knowing the person concerned, they would have hated a slow and debilitating death.

The irony is … ?

Literally, I’d just had a phone call to tell me I’ve an interview, tomorrow.

And to find out that, then of a friend’s death … ?

Well …

You have to assume they’re funny.

You really do.

Because you’d be crying even harder, if you didn’t … … … …

So …

This one’s for Jen: hoping she’d’ve appreciated it.

»»·««

Lets get moving on, shall we … ?

Before I get too depressed … !

At ANY rate, I do know I managed to see this article go past on the BBC’s news-site, this morning, informing us that the British government were being officially ripped off by its various IT suppliers.

Surprise, surprise … !

Now, in spite of the amount of support that George Osbourne gave to the open source movement whilst in opposition, I’ve a funny felling they won’t be switching en masse to Ubuntu.

And I’m also going to point out that Labour weren’t the only ones to spend serious cash on IT.

Look around Nik Nak’s Old Peculiar for anything to do with Eric Pickles, MP for Brentwood, and have a read about the £7500 Laptop.

»»·««

The OTHER bit of news doing the rounds on the BBC’s news channel* and website … ?

Is the news that a High Court, today, has ordered British Telecoms — BT, in other word’s, Britain’s biggest Internet Service Provider — to block access to file sharing site, NewzBin.

And I’ve got to admit, I’m thinking I’m … hmm …

Well, annoyed is possibly one way of putting it.

Because I’m thinking this has implications.

Lots and lots of implications: probably than just one layman can come up with.

But there’s one that springs to mind, here: or possibly several.

Now, I’m quite happy to admit that I’ve used peer-to-peer BitTorrent clients in the past.

In fact, I occasionally still do.

I’ve always encouraged people to experiment with various different operating systems: mostly various different distributions of Linux.

And I’ve usually used a BitTorrent client called Transmission to do this.

Even with the broadband download limit I have through BT, using peer-to-peer technology.

It takes longer to download a file, like this, but doesn’t chew up as much bandwidth.

So I can’t help but be interested in this sort of thing.

Interested …

And worried …

You see, it strikes me that insisting an ISP automatically blocks a website?

Is understandable, given that Newzbin seems to be devoted to illegally file-sharing copyrighted materiel: after, I think I’d want to keep out of trouble, in their situation.

Possibly.

But I’m also wondering why on earth it’s BT’s job to police the internet: in what seems to me to be the first step on a long slippery slope towards censorship of the ’Net.

When the various movie studios could be doing something a touch radical.

Like …

Oooooh …

Maybe give their movies away?

After all, for anyone with a DVD or PVR hooked up to their TV, and a way of getting them to their computers …

That’s what they’re effectively doing, already …

* Just who ARE the newsreaders, today … ? They aren’t the regulars, I know that … !

Fraud, Copyright Fraud, and the Digital Economy …

This is just going to be quick …

Or, at least, I think it’s going to be quick …

Or, at least my intention’s that it’s going to be quick …

I’m burbling, aren’t I … ?

At any rate, I’m just going to repost a couple of bits of news I’ve seen, whilst I was writing up today’s Teaser.

Let’s get the quickie done first, shall we … ?

Yes …

The first bit of news I happened to spot was the news I noticed — a day or two ago, now — that both BT and Talk Talk are to challenge the Digital Economy Act: an act passed with minimum debating time in the last days of the last Labour government, only a few months ago, now.

The actual Act, itself, allows for all sorts of things, but a couple of provisions do stand out: one allows copyright holders to block websites that host illegal — copyright infringing — material, whilst another allows for the disconnection of “persistent file-sharers”.

An act that provoked quite a bit of controversy, as it — as I’ve already pointed out — went through with minimal debate or scrutiny.

What’s more, the current provisions mean that only larger ISP’s — those with 40, 000 or more subscribers — have to enforce the “Three Strikes and Your Details Are Sent To Copyright Holders” policy.

Which is what BT and TalkTalk are complaining about: they both feel that they, along with other large ISP’s, will suffer an unnecessary loss of business in a potential rush to switch service-providers.

‹‹‹•›››

Now, I’m not sure how I feel about that.

Like many of us, I’ve been tempted to use peer-to-peer file-sharing to download in these financially tough times. After all, many peer-to-peer software applications — the older ones worth their salt, like Vuze or Transmission — have methods of anonymizing any given set of downloads.

I’ve even used it legally : from what little I know, peer-to-peer bit-torrent technology is one of the back-bones of the iTunes store*.

But I don’t think that’s BT and TalkTalk’s issue, here.

They, like other large ISP's have to bear the brunt of the enforcement provisions in the act.

But that loss of business, though ... ?

That’s more what they’re worried about, I think, rather than enforcing anything.

‹‹‹•›››

Actually, now I’m ON the subject of iTunes …

The other bit of news I saw this morning was worrying, and ALL about iTunes.

Or , about the iTunes Store, I should say.

It seems that Apple have banned Vietnamese developer, Thuat Nguyen, from the iTunes store for fraudulently pushing some 42 of his comic book apps into the Top 50 book applications.

By hacking the credit card details of some 400 or so of the 150 million iTunes account holders.

Now, I personally use the iTunes gift cards to make purchases on iTunes.

Not so worrying, you might think.

But I’m also very aware of the fact that, as part of the registration process to use the store, I had to provide my details.

That is a bit worrying!

I can only hope Apple clear that up, quickly.

‹‹‹∞›››

Actually, while I’m on the subject of music …

You remember I told you about a friend of mine, Kelly the Charmer?

I’d installed Ubuntu on her laptop, a little while ago, and she’s mostly been happy with it.

Apart from one small thing: she’s not been able to access her favourite internet radio station, Saint FMº, either through Firefox, or Ryhthmbox.

So, what I’m going to ask you is, if no have any idea of how to work around this, feel free to let me know!

* I’m thinking it’s like blanc cassettes, video tape, or optical media. They’re not illegal, in and of themselves: it’s the usages you put them to, that are legal or not.

º You can usually find them, here: but depending on what OS you’re using, you might have to use this media URI: mms://saintfm.stpetershigh.essex.sch.uk:8134