[Pekkerhead]

Okay - perhaps an oxymoron to most people but I just had to post this as I have no idea what happened.

Started getting some problems with NowTV, the screen pausing and jumping about and sometimes not connecting at all.

I made to call the hotline and got as far as where they say you need the account holders ID number to continue, so I hung up as it's in the wife's name and I can never remember her ID#.

Next day a chap comes around and says he's from PCCW. He comes in, goes straight to the modem and starts fiddling around (with the modem, I mean). At this point I am waiting for the hard push salesman to come in after him (as posted many times on this forum). No one appears.

Then I ask him if he is doing any other flats in the area and he says 'no'.

To cut a long story short he finds the problem is a new phone plugged directly into the wall socket without a 'filter' - he gives me a new filter, and then leaves.

By this point I had just assumed my wife had phoned in and reported the problem, but I phone and ask her and she says 'no'.

So what is going on? How the hell did they know? I figure they could get my phone number from a call log and trace the address, but how did they know I had a problem with my line without me telling them? Can they remotely trace these things?

I'm well impressed.

[PDLM]

Yes - it's very possible to work out that you have a problem with your TV service if the streaming is continually stopping and starting (this is a feature of it being a streaming service rather than a broadcast one). I too am quite surprised that PCCW monitors it though: I suspect the reason may be that if the stream is continually stopping and starting then it puts significantly more load on their servers and has the potential to affect the service of everyone else on the same server so it's worth watching for and doing something about. But that's just my guess.

[KnowItAll]

Way too spooky.

[PDLM]

PCCW also presumably has a list of exactly what channel was being streamed to your box at any given time. Apart from anything else they would need something like this at an aggregated levels for audit purposes with the companies supplying the content.

[KnowItAll]

only thing I can think of, is perhaps (and I cannot think how), the lack of a filter was somehow affecting someone else.

the other thing i could think of is the customer service rep or the system somehow initated a remote diagnostic on your modem.

[Alby]

Pekkerhead next time I have a problem and get PCCW to get up off their bottoms to do something .... I am calling you to call them .... apparently PCCW likes you and may actually realize that you are a valuable customer that matters.

[Pekkerhead]

Originally Posted by PDLM

PCCW also presumably has a list of exactly what channel was being streamed to your box at any given time. Apart from anything else they would need something like this at an aggregated levels for audit purposes with the companies supplying the content.

It was Disney, so they obviously realised the sh*t would hit the fan if it wasn't fixed

Anyway, I guess the moral is, if you need them around, just stick a phone directly into the wall and wait for the knock at the door.

Hey, we could even do this collectively next time they annoy one of us, we could bring the whole system down...bruhahhahahaha!!! (erm, that's a maniacal laugh by the way).