1 (edited by HBRG Data Manager 09-08-2016 15:52:29)

Topic: ALS and Broadband

At various points in this discussion (and in relation to G5) mention has been made of slow broadband speeds. These may be behind some (but certainly not all) of the problems we have experienced with G5, and if ALS is to replace G5 we don't want the problems to be retained.

The map at http://maps.thinkbroadband.com/?#!lat=5 … t-notspots makes clear the position as regards most of Scotland.

If sites work quickly and efficiently in most of England, that is no guide to how they will work in the 'not-spots' in Scotland - the place for which ALS is designed, the whole of the country, not just the Central Belt. I am sitting in one of these 'not-spots', and if I get 500Kb/s it is a good day. That is why I would far rather have a site which ditched all the digital bling and just gave me a page of (useful and informative) text and a static OSGR-based grid map. Others in even-less-well served parts of Scotland would sell their kids for 500Kb/s.

To the IT team, please:

1 - be aware of the technical environment that potential users of ALS are working in;

2 - throughout the site, assess whether any content will perform adequately in these conditions;

3 - redesign the content appropriately, and ask those of us who live and work in rural Scotland if it works for us;

4 - acknowledge that these points have been logged for action;

5 - post here when any changes have been implemented.

M.

2

Re: ALS and Broadband

Many thanks for your comments and suggestions.  These will be logged and feedback will be taken into consideration.

Regards

NBN Support

3

Re: ALS and Broadband

Thank you again for your comments on the Atlas, which have been logged and will be actioned.

However, may I once again remind you that the Atlas of Living Scotland is still very much in the development stage and we are aware that it does not function as well as we would all like it to. We are aware that there are currently deficiencies in the atlas and we are working on improvements, based on the user feedback. Your comments are not the only feedback we are receiving and they all have to be logged, assessed and put forward for action based on priority. Furthermore, we, and the development team, are working on a number of projects, therefore, there will be a delay between issues being reported and it being actioned.

We do very much appreciate the interest you show in the Atlas, however, as I have stated before, the Atlas isn't currently at the stage where it can deliver all the functionality needed. We are happy to consider suggestions on changes to functionality, but all of the final decisions on development are made by the steering group and the NBN Trust. In future, please could you phrase your comments as suggested changes/fixes as no one user has the authority to demand that a particular action is taken. Providing suggestions would also make it easier for these points to be assimilated into our action logs. At the moment we haven't had time to implement the improvements we intend to action. However, we will be providing regular updates on action taken through the forum and Network News in due course. Once improvements have been made, we would very much value your continued user testing and feedback.

Kind Regards
Jo Judge

4

Re: ALS and Broadband

Thanks, Jo.  You will see that I edited the post to place the word 'please' where it should have been, before the colon and so referring to each of the five points.  Therefore, these are requests, not demands.

The recent NBN News stated 'Indeed, the NBN Atlas of Living Scotland is already live and is continuing to be developed, much of the development being as a result of user feedback'.  I am unaware of any changes that have been implemented, not even the point I made in an email in the spring, long before the launch of ALS was even announced, about the lack of OSGR and determiner names in the download files (I checked earlier today).

If there have been changes to ALS as a result of user feedback, it would be helpful (as I have suggested in other posts) to be told about them in this forum.

Murdo

5 (edited by chrisjohnson 10-08-2016 08:59:29)

Re: ALS and Broadband

When ALS was first made available, I asked my colleagues to look at the site and submit their comments as feedback. Several of our recorders noted that they had problems with the site because of their slow broadband speeds and this was duly reported at the time.
Many of us will continue to experience problems because for the forseeable future there will be no improvement in our broadband service, despite the much publicised promise of the delivery of highspreed broadband to the Western Isles. In UK terms we may be a very small minority, in rural Scotland less so. We would therefore respectfully ask your site designers to bear this in mind and to reduce the non-essential features which add to the down-load time to an absolute minimum.
To quote one of my colleagues
"We are not interested in "the expansion of the technological functionality". What we need is a simple to use working gateway with good quality determined black and white records."
Thank you for your attention

Christine

P.S.  We also live in a technology blackhole when it comes to mobile phone signals too!