Yet again OFCOM going where they're not needed or wanted
TUC
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Here we go again. Yet another year when the UK is the only country who cannot vote by text. Will everyone please bombard these prats at Ofcom (who seem incapable of being an effective regulator on anything that really matters) until they get it in their heads that this is 2014 and we do not need then acting like texting is something that they need to protect the UK public from doing.
Shout it out loud to Ofcom. Stop interfering. We do not need you.
Shout it out loud to Ofcom. Stop interfering. We do not need you.
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Yes, ludicrous isn't it?
"Text voting cannot be included in the Eurovision Song Contest UK vote due to the relatively short periods in which the vote is open and during which the result needs to be provided and verified. There is the risk of potential delays within the mobile networks at busy times which could result in text votes not being received within the period the vote is open. With a phone call, if the exchange is busy you will hear an engaged tone, however with text/SMS you would not know if there is any late delivery of your vote (causing it to not be registered). There are no such potential network delays with Mobile Short Dial Codes other than busy tones at local exchange level with heavy traffic.
In addition, call attempts to Mobile Short Dial Codes outside of the vote open period, or to numbers no longer in use, are non-chargeable to callers, unlike text where charges may still apply.
The advantage of using telephone calls for voting rather than text voting is that the caller knows at the time of the call that their vote has been counted and also that they have been charged for their vote. They will also know from receiving an engaged tone if they did not get through and that they can then just press redial to try again. The same is not true of text voting as the texter has to wait for a confirmation message back from their mobile network operator which may take some time to arrive or which may not arrive at all."
Seems sensible to me.
Besides which, think about the above. Why should any of that be anymore of a problem for the UK than for any other country?
This is 2014, not 1974.
We know it IS a problem in the UK as witnessed by many text vote problems on various TV shows. Perhaps other countries don't care about ripping people off?
In 1974 there was no voting by the general public. The voting to choose the UK song was done by postcard!
But that's address by having correct procedures, not by avoiding text voting. Besides which, most people have text packages which are either unlimited or are 2000+ texts a month. If something went wrong with their text vote it would have cost them all of 1p at most. Somehow I think mostpeople couldn't care less about 1p.
I think you're taking me a little too literally. I was making a point about just how common texting is today.
Pray tell, What are the correct procedures for ensuring that ALL SMS messages are delivered at ALL times within a short fixed timescale? Put another way, how do you guarantee no traffic congestion, ever?
And, as you are well aware, if you know as much about text voting as you claim, many such numbers do not fall within the package allowances in the network operators' tariffs so additional charges are incurred. Text messages outside of a package allowance are a minimum of 10p in the UK, special numbers such as those used in competition voting are several multiples of that.
I come back to, why should that be more of a concern for the UK than anywhere else? Its really not the end of the world if your vote doesn't arrive. Its just a song contest.
Oh Dear God! Why don't you just go and educate yourself!
Try Googling "Photo-Sensitive Epilepsy" and see if you think being warned that you might have a seizure triggered by the flashing lights is a good idea or not.
I bet you're one of those idiots who zig-zags round level crossing barriers because you think "interfering busybodies" have no business warning you that you might die.
Read my post again. I'm well aware of photo-sensitive epilepsy. My point is that UK citizens with epilepsy are hardly in more need of a warning that any other country.
Besides which, there are two situations on TV where common sense should tell anyone that flashing lights are likely-live concerts and news programmes.
If other technology is available to every other country why not use it here too? The explanation posted above from the BBC website reflects issues that only obsessives or geeks would worry about.
Exactly, so why bother about not being able to text?
But it has been the end of the world, inasmuch as there have been text-voting controversies of various flavours in the last few years, about which more than a few people have got worked up.
That being the "state of the art" the current strictures remain in place. Until the operators of the vote can ensure that every Text is delivered, and every Text counts, it won't happen (I notice you didn't proffer a solution when invited to).
As to why the UK and not elsewhere? Perhaps they've neither had the SMS-vote problems we've had, or more pertinently, a rabid and trivia-minded tabloid media that has blown it up into a big fuss demanding that "something must be done"?
Essentially we (collectively) have made it a big deal, because that is the sort of thing we (collectively) get in a (media-manufactured) tizzy about. In places like, for example, Ukraine, Turkey or Greece they have other things to worry about.
But this is one of these things where organisations such as Ofcom need to learn to have a level head and to take action that are rational, not driven by paranoia or media pressure. In terms of programmes that were manipulating text voting or competitions, all that was needed was a clear 'cease and desist' statement. In terms of the technical limitations that mean that a small number of votes near the end of a voting session may not get through, as long as that's made clear, that's all that matters.
Because it makes us look like a backward and/or paranoid country.
Try telling that to the Daily Mail when they'd run a front page story about the BBC conning money out of viewers. The BBC then having to issue refunds and the Director General having to resign!
That's why there is a need for a level head, rational decisions and really effective communicators who defend those decisions and demolish wrong-headed ideas.
What on earth... So no one uses a phone to ring people? Are you on drugs? What is so old fashioned about picking up a phone to vote ? It is easier to count and quicker isn't it anyway, last series of BGT they cancelled the mobile vote due to problems IIRC.