The Trouble with Orcon

I note that many people are reading my blog about Orcon and the trouble I have had since I signed up, so I feel obliged to give you an update.

Things have improved to some degree, I frequently have days where my connection only drops out 1 or 2 times, but I am still experiencing dropouts, disconnections this week:

• Saturday 16
• Sunday 31
• Monday 27

I also noted that people have found me when searching about the 2 for 1 movie tickets for a year that were promised as part of the connection deal. Well I signed up 4 months ago and still haven’t seen them. If they do arrive, I hope they will still be valid for 12 months and not the remainder of the year. But at this stage I’m not holding my breath on ever seeing them.

I don’t know if it is because of the interleaving, but our Caller ID doesn’t work on the phone about 50% of the time, which is annoying.

My wife wants me to go back to Telecom and thinks I’m an idiot for putting up with Orcon’s poor service. As a footnote, Orcon did come up with a $100 credit for my troubles. Funny thing is that a couple of weeks ago, even though my payment is made automatically by direct credit from my American Express Card, and I had the $100 credit, I got an email saying that my account was overdue and asking me to do something about it urgently. I was tempted to send one back saying that their service was overdue and could they give me a reliable connection urgently.

So, the bottom line? Still having plenty of disconnections, no 2 for 1 movie tickets as promised, intermittent caller id and no satisfaction. Should I be calling Fair Go?

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Even before the official exhibition opens at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco we can see the big them of mobility going around. Below are just a sample of the devices I could see when entering the main event centre hall.

All those devices are based on Intel Atom:





Lenovo Ideapad U8 (above), running Linux, 512 MB RAM, 8 GB SSD



Asus R50A (above), running Microsoft Windows Vista, 1 GB RAM, 32 GB SSD



Clarion MiND (above), running Linux, 512 MB RAM, 8 GB SSD



Aigo P8880 (above), running Linux, 512 MB RAM, 4 GB SSD



USI MID-150 (above), running Linux, 512 MB, 8 GB SSD

Below you see a video with Ultra Mobility Group Uday Keshavdas showing three Intel Atom-powered devices that will be on hand this week at IDF San Francisco, including the special Oylmpic edition Lenovo ideapad.

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So it appears that the petition which was calling for a referendum on the "anti smacking bill" (which was very poorly named so by the media, if it has been called the "anti whacking kids so hard it causes injury bill" not many people would complain I'm sure) was verified as achieving the level required to trigger a referendum.  That's great and all, democracy in work, I don't need to agree with the premise to agree with your right to be heard.

BUT

Am I the only person to see the serious flaw.  Here's the question that the petition, and apparently the forthcoming referendum will  pose:

"Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?"

Seems innocuous enough you say.  But let's break it down...

If you say "Yes it should be illegal" to on the face of it indicate that you are "anti smacking" then by the terms of reference you are indicating that you think that "good parental correction" should be criminal. 

The question has asserted the answer it wants, it states that "a smack [is a] part of good parental correction" before it even gets to asking the question about that!

So it puts anybody with half a mind in a real quandry when this referendum (which appears will be a postal ballot next year) arrives, at least if you are opposed to phyical discipline.  I think I'll simply return the ballot voided to indicate that the question is invalid.

Now, I don't know the rules regarding referenda, but if the government is not bound to use the same question as was posed in the petition, then perhaps somebody in government could come up with a fairer question to ask,

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