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http://www.twitter.com/computeractive13STAR LETTER
Views expressed don’t necessarily reflect those of Computeractive
The Star Letter writer wins a Computeractive mug!
Broadband firms ‘over-charge’ to
cope with customers leaving
There’s a crucial
flaw in Hyperoptic
asking Ofcom to investigate
broadband providers who
include mid-contract price
rises above the rate of
inflation (‘Question of the
Fortnight’, Issue 630). If
Ofcom does this, it will
just force the companies
affected to find other
ways to pass on costs to
us.
As you mention in your introduction
to the piece, industry regulation can
backfire. Any company faced with
the prospect of not being able to
increase its bills in line with inflation
would simply increase the amount
you have to pay at the beginning of
your contract, or charge more for
installation. Hyperoptic seems to be
saying that to counteract regulation
you need even more regulation.
My own experience of working in
the broadband industry is that
providers know they are so vulnerableto people haggling that
they have to ‘over-charge’
for their service to protect
them from losing
customers. I retired about
six years ago, but worked
for one of the bigger firms.
We didn’t mind regulation
because we knew we’d be
able to cope with it better
than smaller firms chasing
our business. Also, we
always knew we could keep increasing
prices, as long as our policy on haggling
was flexible enough to keep customers
who were looking to switch.
As a businessman, I accepted the
inevitability of regulation, and even
welcomed it sometimes. But now I’m
just a customer (albeit with industry
background), I see little reason for it. It
may seem counter-intuitive, but price
rises will only decline when regulation
eases and companies are allowed to
compete more dynamically
with each other.
David Thomsonone folder to another. For some reason
the computer decided to copy and move
everything it could find. Nevertheless,
over a month to do that seemed a bit
excessive, even then!
I did stop the transfer, so I can’t say
how long it would have taken had XP
been allowed to carry on with its
self-appointed job.
Angela Thornebased in Russia, and
therefore pays taxes to Russia
too. These taxes help to
support the war effort
in Ukraine.
My wife and I cancelled
our subscriptions to
Kaspersky for these reasons,
and I hope others will
follow our lead.
Les Lewis34 hours to transfer
a single photo!
I don’t think we really appreciate
how good we have it nowadays,
as you can tell by the photo (pictured
above) I’ve sent you (the reason it’s not a
screenshot is because I didn’t know how
to take them back then). The photo, taken
many years ago when I used Windows XP,
shows my PC taking 34 hours and 10
minutes to transfer a single photo fromebook, it might damage your Kindle, but
it won’t ruin the pages. Retailers can, in
theory, sell it again as brand new. But this
is totally beside the point. When you buy
a digital product, the process of ‘using’ it
is to consume the content (watch a film,
read a book) or download it to your
device (software, app). Once you’ve done
that, you’ve lost the right to a refund
unless the product was faulty. You may
not enjoy a specific ebook, but how can
you say it’s faulty?
By the way, at the time of writing this
email to you that petition you mentioned
(www.snipca.com/41542) has 44,
signatures – just 6,000 short of its target.
I’m sure Computeractive’s not
inconsiderable readership could help it
reach this.
Phyllis EdmundsAdverts work better in
serif fonts
I was interested to read William
Jackson’s advice in Issue 630
(page 40) that his optician recommended
switching to a sans-serif font from
Times New Roman to cope with his
deteriorating eyesight.
That advice may well work for William.
But David Ogilvy, founder of the Ogilvy
and Mather advertising agency, thought
differently and proved it. He was a great
believer in testing the effectiveness of
advertising and reported many of his
findings in his book Ogilvy on
Advertising, which is still available on
Amazon (www.snipca.com/41728).
Among his findings was that customers
responded in significantly greater numbers
when advertisements used serif fonts
rather than sans-serif. He also reported that
reverse colour (ie, white print on black
background) dramatically reduced legibility
and comprehension compared with
normal black print on white background.
Tony CaterKaspersky’s taxes help fund
Russian war effort
I’ve used Kaspersky for years and
have recommended it to many of
my friends. It’s an excellent anti-virus.
But Eugene Kaspersky failing to condemn
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was
disappointing, though expected.
What I believe everybody is missing is
that because he’s a Russian citizen, he
pays taxes to Russia, which come from
the income he makes selling his anti-
virus to the West. Also, his business isIssue 631 • 11 – 24 May 2022