View Full Version : Highland Council signs up to Digital Participation
How very exciting, digital inclusion.
NOT GOING TO WORK until the whole county gets a decent internet speed
What is Digital Participation and what does it mean to sign up to it? :confused
What is Digital Participation and what does it mean to sign up to it? :confused
I see there's this newsy item doing the rounds which explains that Highland Council have 'signed up' to improve computer access to their services. The nub seems to be that HC will make efforts to train more of us to use computers, provide more forms that we can fill in on-line and persuade us to pay our bills to them that way also.
Very benevolent it appears but could this be code for......... we have the ultimate aim to gradually close all of our offices and get rid of nearly all of our staff until we have just the one person sitting in front of a computer in Inverness who runs all of the council services really cheaply on their ownsome?
Of course I'm joking. Am I? Perhaps I'm being a bit cynical tonight but veekay is right. How can this work when so many of us spend half our time on the computer watching that annoying 'buffering symbol' going around and around. Do HC offices have that problem? I've no idea. If I had to put a wager on it I would say that HC make sure they get priority with broadband speeds in their offices but maybe I'm being cynical again. Sadly, real people dealing face to face with other real people is a disappearing event and what's the result? Misunderstandings and mistakes become widespread. E-mails get sent to the wrong people. Dealing with staff who don't know or care about your area. The list goes on!
I wonder why I'm being so cynical tonight? Perhaps it's because Strictly's not on the box tonight and I feel like a good moan.
Do I feel any better? Nahhhh.:~(
Bill Fernie
10-Sep-16, 22:57
There is a lot of work going on to try to get more people on to Broadband services and councillors have brought it up at every opportunity in the last few years. Money has been and is being spent to try and get the numbers up.
There is huge complexity of projects covering many areas and of course our schools and business services that maintain council services.
For anyone who has time I add a few links here to give and idea of some of what we have been dealing with the work continues.
http://www.highland.gov.uk/download/meetings/id/70716/item_23_ict_projects_update
http://www.highland.gov.uk/download/meetings/id/70717/item_24_unified_communications_project
http://www.highland.gov.uk/download/meetings/id/69883/item_16_digital_connectivity_-_update
Many more links at http://www.highland.gov.uk/site/scripts/google_results.php?q=digital+inclusion+
Highland council online payments process has gone backwards...
Yes, the website does look a lot snazzier now but at the expence of slower load times...
& to make matters even worse, I used to be able to pay both my rent & council tax in one easy transaction. Now I have to pay each as seperate transactions going through the payment process twice.
As someone who's been waiting for four months for Openreach to get a basic phone line connected and activated (and we'res till no nearer that actually happening), any improvements to access to digital services needs to be a priority. And as a former HC employee, I can assure you that staff have rubbish IT and connection speeds in Caithness!
There is a lot of work going on to try to get more people on to Broadband services and councillors have brought it up at every opportunity in the last few years. Money has been and is being spent to try and get the numbers up.
There is huge complexity of projects covering many areas and of course our schools and business services that maintain council services.
For anyone who has time I add a few links here to give and idea of some of what we have been dealing with the work continues.
http://www.highland.gov.uk/download/meetings/id/70716/item_23_ict_projects_update
http://www.highland.gov.uk/download/meetings/id/70717/item_24_unified_communications_project
http://www.highland.gov.uk/download/meetings/id/69883/item_16_digital_connectivity_-_update
Many more links at http://www.highland.gov.uk/site/scripts/google_results.php?q=digital+inclusion+
I am sure a lot of time and hot air has been taken up with this issue Bill but is not really getting us anywhere is it. I don't have a lot of spare time but none the less thought I should read the information you provided links to. I had to give up as waiting five minutes to get just one to time out was just a waste of time. In answer to my asking 'when' Open Reach man shook his head and implied I shouldn't hold my breath
Bill Fernie
13-Sep-16, 00:15
Regarding co the Scottish Government has made an announcement - http://caithness-business.co.uk/article.php?id=6965nnections
It says
Procurement for delivering 100% superfast broadband access for Scotland will start within the next 12 months.
A Prior Information Notice (PIN) has been published on Public Contracts Scotland to provide potential suppliers with information on the project, with the intention to start procuring these contracts early next year.
Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Connectivity Fergus Ewing said:"As announced in the Programme for Government, we are putting digital connectivity at the heart of our agenda and delivering 100% superfast broadband for Scotland by the end of the next Parliament is one of our priorities.
So some will have years to wait yet.
Faster broadband is available in many areas but not everyone has signed up for it. I am not sure everybody realises you have to sign up for faster broadband and that it will not happen on its own. I expect most of you reading this do know this but I have met some who do not thinking it will somehow be automatic.
Might be a different thought but how long did it take for electricity to arrive in all areas - rural areas were much later than urban areas.
Telephone took over a hundred years to reach most homes.
Television took many decades. Colour TV took a few years to reach all. And can you remember how long it took to get 4 channels to every area.
Cell phones came faster but still took years for most to have one.
The internet has been around for only a short time and changes in demand and downloading have seemingly gone up and up.
There is a lot happening to try and get the speeds we all want but it is going to be a few years yet until everyone is connected to superfast broadband. I only wish they had never began calling it superfast when so many are still on superslow.
norma stewart
13-Sep-16, 07:11
They better hurry up and sort out the speed of broadband in reay.you can't get great internet between 5pm till 7pm.as everyone on Internet and jams the exchange
They better hurry up and sort out the speed of broadband in reay.you can't get great internet between 5pm till 7pm.as everyone on Internet and jams the exchange
There is a fibre broadband cabinet in service and taking orders in Reay. Try one of these links to check if fibre services are available to you via that cabinet
http://www.homeandwork.openreach.co.uk/when-can-i-get-fibre.aspx
https://www.scotlandsuperfast.com/
If you are unable to access broadband speeds of at least 2Mb per second, it may be worth considering applying to the Digital Scotland "Better Broadband Scheme"
https://www.scotlandsuperfast.com/where-when/the-programme/better-broadband-scheme
This may help you to access a basic broadband service that will offer speeds of at least 2Mb per second
norma stewart
14-Sep-16, 16:07
I checked one of the links and it says your cabinet is enabled for superfast fibre. however you're not able too order fibre just yet. this might be because the line is too long to get superfast speeds. looks like bt are looking for another excuse not too give us superfast broadand in reay. why I should I pay too et better broadband scheme. I pay my provider enough as it is to provide a service. without paying someone else too get somethig everyone should get from there provder
Does Thurso have 4G? Or even good 3G?
I can't live without my 4G. I need it to navigate my Nimbus 5000 GTI. :)
I think Bill makes a great point, do you spend a lot of money to give 1 or 2 houses superfast broadband or for the same money give 500 houses superfast?. I don't know many of the orgers but suspect that the ones complaining about slow speeds etc will be living outwith the major areas of population in Caithness and are probably a long way from the nearest exchange/cabinet and therefore it will be very expensive to get them the service they want. This is unfortunately the joys of living in the beautiful Caithness countryside with lots of space/ no neighbours or whatever other reason you moved there for, downsides are you have a septic tank, no streetlights, more power cuts and slow Broadband. If BT are so bad shift to another service provider and see what they can do for you! at least BT are working towards getting everyone a better service and not just cherry picking the big cities. Physical line length/ distance is still the biggest issue being faced by communication providers. There are still people living so far away from the exchange/cabinet that they cannot get broadband at all.
Does Thurso have 4G? Or even good 3G?
I can't live without my 4G. I need it to navigate my Nimbus 5000 GTI. :)
I have read on other threads that Thurso has little or no 3G coverage and definitely no 4G. Is this correct? Which networks do have 3G in Thurso?
What about Wick? I have memories of 3G on O2 near the airport but what about other networks and the rest of the town?
What is the point of having a smartphone if you don't have at least 3G?
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