Well, supposed to. Ok, I’m awkward, I work in IT so I actually use this, but suppose someone rings me on my phone, I shove it on speakerphone, tap the home screen then go out to google, yup, you can do that, at least… you’re supposed to, in fact, you used to.

For whatever reason, I, my mother, my friends, and various other people who are on o2 can no longer get it. Case in point, today I made a normal phone call, in a 3G area (with signal) and wanted to check google, all of a sudden, BOOM, nope, can’t do it.

Ok, let’s make it clear just so you all don’t start ranting and raving here.
If you are in a 3G area or connected to WiFi this should work, if you are NOT in a 3G or WiFi area, this will not work

For the record, this DOES work in WiFi for me.

So, I called o2, guess what? No-ones ever heard of it. Some even claim that the phone technically cannot do it! so here’s a few facts for you.

This is the same phone that has been released in the US on AT&T who offer this as a feature, the phone is more than capable of doing this in a 3G area

and

From a technical standpoint, the 3G architecture that is used on the phone is more than capable of it

Ok, so that aside, maybe it’s just an o2 thing? Well,

Here is a link to the o2 help website that proves you should be able to do it. In fact, here are two links, I’ve not shortened them, and they link to the original page just in case. This post was written and these pages were present at 9:35 GMT on Thursday 17 2011

The first link is not iPhone specific

So, as you can see, o2 say that you can do it on a current, live page. And just so we are sure, here’s the link to the iPhone SPECIFIC page (you will need to click on the fourth link down)

http://service.o2.co.uk/IQ/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBCGI.EXE/,/?St=184,E=0000000002965095373,K=2583,Sxi=4,T=test_main,Problem=17348,varset_BBDISP=Internet%20help,question=ref(User):str(Mobile)

And so that we are clear once more, here’s a screenshot of the page…

And just so we know that this hasn’t been implemented in the last few days….

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ZtSOT4oCuPMJ:service.o2.co.uk/IQ/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBCGI.EXE/,/%3FSt%3D167,E%3D0000000002942652877,K%3D7443,Sxi%3D3,T%3Dtest_main,Problem%3D17348,varset_BBDISP%3DInternet%2520help,question%3Dref(User):str(Mobile)+can+i+make+a+call+and+use+the+internet+at+the+same+time+uk+iphone+o2&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&source=www.google.co.uk

And here’s a screenshot of the Google Cache that shows all of this…

So, what does this mean?

Well, o2 have advised me that this is incorrect, that this is not something that the phone is capable off (which we know factually to be wrong where it concerns the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 3G and 3G S model) and that o2 do not offer this service (again, we know this to be factually wrong based on their website stating very clearly that this can be done, and one of these links is specific to the iPhone). I have also been informed that the service is not available to customers and that this is not a technical issue.

In my case, I actively used the service up until about October last year, which is around the same time that o2 introduced it’s data cap.

o2 did not inform me (and I suspect a few others) that this service was not available.

So, where do we stand?

Well, in my case, I used it, so I noticed, other people might not, but what’s important to note here is that not only my contract says that I will be made aware of any changes prior to them being carried out (something that they did not do in my case) but that their own website still states you can do this.

I am now escalating this matter with them, because as far as I am concerned (and as far as my research tells me) this means that o2 is in breach of contract, breach of their own terms and conditions, and braking the Consumer Credit Act by not upholding their contractual agreements. There’s also the Sale of Goods Act section 13 and 14, as well as the Misrepresentation Act 1967. – On these, I’m quite happy to be proven wrong provided it’s backed up by evidence

The fact remains that I’m now being told that I am no longer able to use a service that I am paying for as part of my contract.

You may also be in the same boat, and I would strongly advise anyone on o2 with an iPhone to contact o2 and ask them why they can’t do it. How you proceed is up to you, and I would advise you to check your terms and conditions and get the facts right if you choose to make this formal.

Moreover as we can see from the website, it appears that other phones are capable of this as well, and provided you confirm that the phone is capable of making a 3G call and simultaneously using data at the same time, and it’s enabled, I’d probably be contacting o2 as well.

The reason for this post is simple. I don’t believe in accepting things when I’m not told about them, this may seem very small to you, but it’s something I use regularly, and moreover it’s principal, I am not getting what I pay for, so why shouldn’t I complain about it?

Of course, I may not be allowed to post any more on this, but If I can, I’ll keep you all updated.

Are you on o2? can you use the internet whilst on phone call using 3G? Let me know!

Disclaimer
All of the information I have given you here is readily available from o2′s website at the time of writing. To my knowledge I have not broken any law by making this post. I do not intend to cause malice or be detrimental to o2 or it’s parent company or associates and I will state that this is my experience and these are my circumstances. This post is present purely for those who are asking questions about this particular problem and to advise them that they should contact o2 who will advise accordingly. If this has happened to you and have questions on how to proceed, please contact your local Citizens Advice Beauro or someone who is qualified to answer these questions

UPDATE: I have just received a phone call from a senior individual in the retentions department and there is some good news!

They have confirmed 100% that you CAN AND SHOULD be able to do this in a 3G area with no questions whatsoever. They have also tested this with Five different phone units!



They have also confirmed that if you are not getting it, network services will need to investigate this.



So, if you are not getting this when you use your iPhone or other compatible handset, you need to make o2 aware of this!!

Fortunately I did, however the subject still remains very close to my heart and so I am writing this once more with a clearer head, but in a way that I hope will convey my true feelings and impressions on this subject.

There are three types of people. The thinkers, the do-ers and the wannabes. Sadly there are more of the latter than there are of the first two, and this also extends rather dramatically to art.

You cannot teach someone to be artistic.

There are so many people that I have met that say they can’t draw, they can’t think or write, and yet these people go to college and art schools in the sole belief that they will become better at these things that they have admitted themselves that ‘they can’t do’.

I should say here and now, I am not an artist. Whilst I have received many comments and compliments about my photography, I do not consider it to be anything beyond average. The reason I market it in the way I do, is because those compliments have come from people who have influence, and those who clearly see a market for the type of photography I do. Perhaps it “is” art? Perhaps it is nothing more than a collection of snaps that some people find appealing.

What I can say for certain, is that I am a photographer. That I am creative enough to get a different perspective on objects and people, and take a picture that is visually appealing. I am a photographer and a decent one at least.

You cannot teach someone to be a photographer.

The reason I say this with such certainty, and such profound exclamation is that a few months ago, I offered someone my services for free as a favour. The response that I got was less than complimentary.

“It’s ok, I studied photography in college”

I refrained myself from sending a response, knowing full well an argument would ensue, and having seen the quality of this persons photography, I knew that they simply wouldn’t understand. Mine alone, is near Da Vinci quality in comparison to this persons.

It irks me, frustrates me and downright angers me when people believe that going to college and studying photography will somehow make them a photographer!

You cannot teach someone to look at an object differently, nor can you really teach someone how to light an individuals face with a variety of different things. Sure you can teach them the focal lengths and best practices, but you never really find out unless you try it. A perfect example is when I shot on Casimir effect, and whilst you won’t see it, I actually didn’t use flash, nor did I use all of the regular lights, I used a penlight and a cigarette lighter in one of them, purely because it was the only thing that I felt would give an appropriate light to this persons eyes. They needed colour, not white, and whilst this persons face was lit perfectly, it was not even close to what I wanted to achieve.

You can’t teach that.

Photography is subjective and uniquely down to the individual, and it angers me that people believe they are photographers simply because they went to college.

If you have a talent, or a decent enough level, then of course, go, there are technical things that you can learn.

If however, you have no talent, just a passing interest, then I don’t personally believe you should be going. You may learn the technical aspects of things sure, and who knows you might get taught a few things that you didn’t know, but to go there with some kind of misguided big headed delusion that somehow after your time in college you will emerge as the next David Bailey. You wont.

Build your talent, and build your interest, but don’t become another one of these ignorant people who firmly believe that two years in college will make you an artist unless you have SOMETHING there already.

I want to start by explaining my utter foul hatred of the UK post office, and the postal system. We are continually plagued with stories about postal workers striking, and more often than not, lost letters, and misdirected post. I’ve never been a fan of the post office, and there are a number of reasons for it, but primarily, my hatred is based toward the postal staff rather than the service.

I have never once been served by someone who is helpful, happy, or even just ‘content’. Moreover every time I have been served, It’s been rude, aggressive, and in some cases, violent. I must also stress that I am never rude or aggressive when dealing with these people, as my father taught me “you will never get anything by being aggressive”.

Take one example, last night. For the first time in years I was faced with such despicable service that not only was I left enraged, but I was left feeling like I actually wanted to punch someone. Again, I stress I would never do it. I’ll talk about it, I’ll go outside sit in the car and vent my frustration by repeatedly smacking the steering wheel, but I would never EVER become physically violent.

The example of the other night, was where I wanted to tax my car. Now the post office themselves say that they do not normally accept self printed insurance certificates, however a post office worker is allowed to use their discretion. So I decided I would go and try, since my certificate had not arrived yet. I used dayinsure, and printed a perfectly legal, valid certificate.

I went, I queried and was immediately met with a hostile, aggressive natured staff member who, with a loud smack on the desk as she slammed her palm on it, screamed out “Why the HELL don’t you read the signs, we won’t take it, not now not ever!” I would love to say this is a one off, but sadly it’s not, on other occasions where I’ve come to send a letter I’ve been met with a similarly hostile attitude…. more on that in a moment.

I’d love to say that I was able to respond in kind and get a tax disk, unfortunately it wasn’t the case. Again, I’ll point out that I wasn’t unhappy with being denied the tax disk, they have a right to use discretion and they denied it, seems fair. To do it in that way however, isn’t right. I politely asked if there was any other way as I would have to drive the car untaxed or pay for a low loader to take the vehicle from the garage to somewhere off the road, at which point several other staff members did, what I can only describe as, ganged up on me. Four female staff members then proceeded to quite literally, throw various pieces of paper explaining about printed documents, one pristinely laminated sheet hit me square in the face.

At which point I picked up the paper, pointed out the part about discretion and then left. Two of the staff members remained silent, the other two instead of saying nothing, shouted after me by simply saying “yeah well f*** you!”.

How wonderful that such a thing could happen. As I said before, this is not a rare occurrence. I had to send a package not that long ago, quite a large one, and so paid for the postage online. With the post office themselves, that explained I could take the parcel to any post office with the notes. I promptly did this, following all of the instructions and took it to the post office.

The staff there repeatedly tutted and sighed, before shouting at me for giving them this strange thing to process. One attendant, after I had explained that I had paid online and was instructed to take to the nearest post office, sighed loudly, shouted “F***ing hell” and then threw her pen at the window with such force that ink actually splattered the inside of the screen”. She then tried to charge me the full amount and only after requesting to speak to the area manager, did she give in, ‘read’ the details and then take the package.

I’ve witnessed other similar things happen to other people, recorded delivery is apparently not the norm, and neither is taking money out of the post office bank. One poor elderly lady was shouted out for being “so far f***ing past it” when she was having trouble with the PIN entry pad and being told to “get a f***ing minder”.

Even on collection of parcels, I’m met with a hint of discontent, and an attitude that would not look out of place wearing an Umbro hoodie and Nike trainers.

Post offices in the UK also have a wonderful thing of ‘half days’ on thursdays. We live now in such a 24/7 world that the post office lags behind dramatically. Why is it the Post Office needs a half day? Why on earth is it that I send a first class letter, that it can take up to two weeks to arrive? and why is it that around my area the postman simply fails to show up on occasion, not just my house, but the entire area.

I’m very sorry to say this, but with the spate of post offices that are closing I can only say good riddance. Not only are they almost permanently vacant, but the staff are so foul and rude that the office is uninhabitable on account of the lack of space for you and their ego’s.

I know there is a valuable need for post offices, but please, I think it’s time a private service took over, one that isn’t afraid to discipline wildcat staff.

If we move back a week or so, the BBC got wind of the Apple iPad announcement. True to their current form not only was the announcement inaccurate but potentially misleading for potential buyers, here’s the catch line
If you want to view the article, click here. First of all, where did they get this piece of nonsense? and second of all, No it does not have iPhoto. Amongst other things iPhoto is an image editing suite as well as a gallery collection system, it syncs with most cameras, and includes the ability to work with and edit RAW files and pictures. The iPad version is nothing like that. It’s simply a gallery which supports GeoTagging and Facial Recognition. That isn’t iPhoto.

However the latest one is of course the computers in cars article. Which implies, amongst other things, that cars have about 9 computer units scattered throughout the car, see diagram below

What utter idiot came up with this diagram? First off, cars do have computers, but usually a limit of two or three. A car will consist of having an ECU, or control unit for the cars engine, and second of all internal electronics such as airbags, electric windows and locking, ABS, wipers and climate are controlled by an electrical control computer. Granted parking assistance may be controlled by a separate unit however this is usually controlled by the main electrical control unit as well.

I’m sorry but this ludicrous string of false information over and over and over again is getting ridiculous. I know i’ve only posted about two BBC news articles but please Fire your tech editor now! and recruit someone who actually knows what the hell they are talking about!

ARGH!

Alas most of this hasn’t happened, we’re still stuck largely where we were at the end of the 1980′s in terms of the actual world we live in. We still drive from A to B, flying is still prohibitively expensive for some and whilst advances have been made in your Television and Telephone, if you took the TV and mobile phone changes out, the most significant change over the last 20 years is the fact we no longer carry around a Sony Walkman cassette player for our music needs.

Of course I am being cynical, there have been a great number of advances in technology, I just can’t help but feel they have been significantly slower than they should have been. I once remember a child in my school, back when I was 10 or even 9 years old, saying “they would probably have flying cars by the time you learn to drive”. Whilst that might have been a bit ambitious for a 7 or 8 year time gap, if you think about it, we all really thought something like that would happen. Remember the Slug concept car? Apparently by 2001 we were all going to be driving these. Homes would be knocked down and rebuilt with new ultra modern, low cost eco friendly buildings with mountains of technology in them.

Fabulous blade runner esq high rise buildings for people rich and poor containing hi tech homes and doors that opened with speech recognition and the whole world would either be covered in a dense smog like in Blade Runner, or as clear as the air inside the dome from Logans Run.

Yet despite this, despite the hope that we would move with the advances of technology, I still come home to a sixty year old house, with the same plugs, the same wiring and even the same door locks as we had then. The technology has advanced, but not quite in the way we’ve hoped. I have a computer sat on my desk, it just happens to be more powerful. I write letters with it and play games, like most people. We did this 20 years ago with the ZX Spectrum or the Atari ST, just now we do it in richer colour and slightly faster. I pick up my iPod instead of a walkman and watch television that comes through a cable instead of an arial. Yes the advances are there, but they are all just, minor upgrades. The same as twenty years ago I could buy a cassette that was 70 or 90 minutes long. The technology is the same, but just, a little bit better, more convenient.

And so this is my problem, on coming into 2010, instead of creating new technology, instead of ploughing through and improving everything we already have, inventing new things and new technologies we’ve bumbled around with silly things. Take climate change for example. We’ve been focusing for years on how to reduce the buildup of climate change by adjusting the things we use in the home, like light bulbs. Instead of perhaps doing that, or even tearing down the old unfriendly things in favour or rebuilding it with clean new eco friendly things and then inventing a machine that cleans the air for us so that the eco change is really reversed. Why I ask, even now are we still not considering blasting things into the sun? The ultimate waste disposal and it provides our sun with fuel?

Oh I know I am being cynical and perhaps even very unfair, but if someone asked me where we would be in ten years time, I would probably say exactly where we are now. Perhaps my phone will be the size of my thumbnail or even implanted into my ear. Maybe there really will be a rapid change in technology so fast that we enter a real space age, that we start entering a massive form of silicon revolution, the same way the industrial revolution of steam changed the world in only a few years. It has happened before and it can happen again, but I have to ask why it hasn’t happened yet.

And so I leave this slightly longer than usual post aimed toward you, the readers. I ask you to be open, and honest, and to think just totally about this subject and whether it is really fair, what your thoughts are on the next year and indeed the next ten years. I invite you as the readers to indulge me in this article or brush it aside as cynicism or nonsense. But never forget, I love the technology we have now and truly admire the work that has been done, and I see huge potential for the technology we have in ways I can’t even begin to describe but I am disappointed, annoyed and even angry, that we have not pushed ourselves as a race to become more than we are and push the boundaries every day, so I ask you the readers to turn around and put me in my place, put me down, put me out, put me up but most of all just to think about the things you have already and what they have done for you.

Indulge me. I’ll be waiting.

So naturally being a complete tech geek, I found this out whilst ‘Googling’ for the Out Of Hours information. Did I find it? well, no not really. The problem with technology these days, is that we become so reliant on it that we forget about the other simpler means of finding information out. Like picking up the telephone for example.

Here’s what I did to try and work out what was going on with my ear. It’s a long list but I need to illustrate something, just be patient.

1: Google for symptoms
2: Google for possible home remedies to said symptoms
3: Google for “out of hours doctor cardiff”
4: Panic because I can’t find anything other than medicare insurance plans
5: Resort to trying said home remedies and thus making the problem worse
6: Call my GP, get their out of hours number ring said number, be told I have to call a cardiff GP surgery because I was out of catchment area
7: Google for my mothers local Cardiff surgery
8: Panic because I can’t find it
9: Resort to calling any GP, getting the generic number, making emergency appointment and forgetting to tell them I am a visiting patient
10: Go to appointment, panic, complications, get some sort of prescription

This, is not really how it should have been. Here’s the process as it should have been.

1: Call my GP, be told I am out of catchment area and call Cardiff GP
2: Pull out phonebook
3: Call GP get out of hours number, call it and make appointment
4: Go

Of course, something as simple as pulling out a phonebook never occurred to me, because of course I’ve become so reliant on technology, I forgot such a thing exists. So I ended up spending hours trawling through the websites. I eventually found the page I needed which told me everything I needed to know far too late, the service I have called tonight.

And then of course there is the problem of self diagnosis. I was able to find out that my symptoms could be any number of things, from a simple ear infection, a perforated ear drum, to massive disfigurement, brain tumour or worse (although whats worse than a brain tumour I will leave to your imagination).

Now, I’m going to be hypocritical here and say “I do have enough common sense to know I shouldn’t self diagnose” and I had enough ‘common sense’ to only try the home remedy of getting sterile olive oil in case it was a wax buildup. But then, I didn’t have enough common sense to check the phonebook for local listings before trying the internet.

I’ve done this in the past as well, gone looking for so much information that I’ve ended up never finding what I need, looking for parts, looking for electronics stores, looking for stockists of various things. I’m often left wondering just how much time I’ve wasted, and indeed how much stuff I’ve missed out on just by not pulling out the phonebook. Indeed now I have I find a page in there entitled “NHS OUT OF HOURS SERVICE CALL THIS NUMBER”. That would have saved so much time.

This of course, is the problem of simply Googling things. Perhaps we all need to downgrade a little. So, next time I need something or, if you need something, check your phonebook first.

Update: Just to let you know I was fine, severe ear infection that’s going to be treated with a huge dose of antibiotics and an antibiotic ‘wick’ (Google said nothing about one of those! but most of the symptoms were right for some of Googles results)

It’s a strange experience really being sat in public with a thirteen hundred pound laptop and a three pound bottle of beer with the capacity to kill it if one of the locals gets rowdy.
?However, the funky buddah does not have the joy of free wifi. although the downside is that BTOpenzone is available. Why is that a downside? Well with the number of places that are offering free wifi or minimal cost wifi options, BTOpenzone is a frustratingly expensive product, especially for it being a 512kb connection and horrendously slow and notoriously buggy.

In fact my own experiences of BTOpenzone were that it failed to recognise I had disconnected and proceeded to use all of my minuets and money in one fell swoop when I had actually only gotten about 30 second use off of it.

But is wifi now at the stage that it’s a neccesity rather than a luxury or gimmic? With more and more phones using wifi I really do wonder how many people find themselves checking their facebook or twitter or indeed any other webpage on their phones when they are out. I know I do, but then I am indeed a bit of a geek.

Now notwithstanding the potential for people and students with laptops and students and all of the other people that actually need wifi. I for one am starting to think that it’s now a requirement that places offer free wifi, especially as social networking gets bigger and better.

I am of course sat here now waiting for the next item of technology to break, but it does raise an interesting point about reliance. All too often in my job I hear the phrase “You don’t realise how much you need something until it breaks” due to people becoming reliant on technology, It’s an expression I never believed until recently, or at least, never half believed.

Of course with the camera being irreparable without prohibitive cost, this leads me with the option of having to replace my darling little baby 30D and insuring it. My iPhone breaking means it has to go off and be replaced / repaired as I can’t repair it myself, and of course my car has “a fault”, meaning that no matter how hard I try to diagnose, I can’t find it, and I’m reasonably competent with engines and electrical systems. If I could repair each and everyone one of these myself (and I stress that I probably could repair my camera, if I ordered the parts, tools, and had an antistatic clean room to do it in) it wouldn’t be so bad. I wouldn’t “miss” it as I would know that I could repair it.

In the case of my iPhone, it’s gone off somewhere in Tamworth, leaving me completely cut off from the rest of the world when I’m out, although this is a slightly pathetic thing to say, I need my e-mail on the move. I really do! Not having access to emails is stupidly prohibitive and I will firmly maintain that once you get a smartphone that is capable of receiving email, you will never ever go back to a regular phone.

And now we’re onto the camera. Do I loose it for a month and get back a camera that, whilst repaired, will never function in quite the same way? Yes I know that cameras are supposed to be resilient et al but the last time my camera went in for repair, it came back with a new pentaprism, but has under metered the light ever since, meaning I have to slightly over expose every image. When the camera comes back, I can be assured that I’ll be able to see out the viewfinder, but it means that there could be another issue. Similarly the replacement camera is £635 and of course I was too stupid to insure it when I got it.

I’ve become so reliant on these bits of technology that I cannot bare to be without them! True I should have insured certain things, and for me and photography, having a “spare body” is always worth having. The trouble with technology I guess is that we use it. I know it sounds silly but we really do use it. A Phone now is never just a phone, it has apps and email and extensions and things and doo dahs etc etc . A car is no longer merely a form of transport, it now has electronics, entertainment, it becomes a central part of our lives where we can get angry, relax or enjoy ourselves, and of course, a camera is not just a camera, for me it’s a livelihood, it gives me pleasure, it stops me spending a lot of money on other things and gives me great opportunities, it’s not just a camera, it’s my night out or weekend off.

The trouble I have with technology, is that I use it for exactly what it’s intended, and I get so used to having it.