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| Thread ID: 38116 | 2003-09-27 22:52:00 | wot is the definition of broadband? | jackyht (3685) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 178472 | 2003-09-28 04:46:00 | As far as I know, we haven't contacted Mercury Energy yet. I don't know why, but it didn't have a daunting effect because of several reasons - including because it was between 10:00am and 11:00am, and they probably expected most people to be at work. However, the matter might have been complicated because the power meter for the entire section is on the front house - I'm not too aware of how the situation with the land is, but I know that the back house and our house share the same water meter (proving eventful when a water pipe burst on the back house), and the situation stands where we would have to pay to get these separated. Or something like that; I just pick these things up from listening. |
agent (30) | ||
| 178473 | 2003-09-28 05:11:00 | This is a bit off topic, but one of the worst cases of failure to conform to standards where safety was of extreme importance was the scandal of the Italian made Bogap CNG gas cylinders. The feature of these cylinders was a thinner wall thickness enabling a slightly larger volume of gas and lighter weight. An NZ importer had been conned by the Italian manufactures to buy up about $1 million worth of stock, so there was great incentive for them to be approved and passed by the then Ministry of Transport, and sold to the gullible public. The first major fault was that the taper threads at the bottle necks were so oversize and way out of standard, that certified taper gauges nearly fell right through into the bottle, no exaggeration. The manufacturers and importers were able to persuade the MOT official to accept this dangerous feature. Now Im not saying back-handers were involved, but you may well think that!!!!!!!!!! It must be also recognised, that backhanders are a way of Italian business life, this from experience of selling in Italy and having Eyeti agents to deal with. AS DSIR representative I expressed by total disgust and disagreement and walked out on the approval meeting. Basically the valves were only held in by gross overuse of sealing tape. Remember CNG cylinders are pressurised to 2500psi (in real understandable units). Then there was a failure, and subsequent pressure cycling fatigue testing showed that these cylinders were extremely dangerous, and even the MOT were then forced to gazzette them to be removed from all cars. The moral is, as has been said, standards are there for good reasons; safety, interchangeability, etc etc. Ignore standards at your peril. Structural nuts and bolts, are another area where cheap asian imports have caused widespread failures, not only in NZ, due to non-conformance |
Terry Porritt (14) | ||
| 178474 | 2003-09-28 05:18:00 | How about leaky buildings, wasn't that because of standards? | agent (30) | ||
| 178475 | 2003-09-28 05:28:00 | Dont understand, because of? Or in spite of? Also what standards, International Standards? Or builder Joe Bloggs standards? Or some crummy local standard written by manufacturers seeking greatest profits? Im talking of real standards here. |
Terry Porritt (14) | ||
| 178476 | 2003-09-28 05:44:00 | I wasn't sure, which is why I didn't say. However, I would say it is because of standards - didn't someone approve not having the overlapping window things? I'm way out of my knowledge depth here... |
agent (30) | ||
| 178477 | 2003-09-28 06:22:00 | I think the leaky building syndrome was more due to ignoring good and tested codes of practice, fancy architects designs, a shortage of traditional skilled tradesmen, so-called "tradesmen" whose primary skills are in the use of the glue gun, cost cutting, all this rather than not conforming to National/International standards. I dont think this example is relevent to say el cheapo non conforming modems or fax machines etc causing line problems. |
Terry Porritt (14) | ||
| 178478 | 2003-09-28 06:51:00 | I can imagine the pressure bought to bear on the gas cylinder issue. Its interesting to look at the influence manufacturers are able to exert on Standards overseas, there is quite an interesting subculture. Its not dishonest or anything, its just how companies have managed to have standards written around their product, to the partial exclusion of other equipment. Fortunately we don't see that here, but thats more a sign that we don't manufacture much. Also the manufacturers here have not traditionally taken an active role in the standard setting process. |
godfather (25) | ||
| 178479 | 2003-09-28 07:40:00 | It's not broadband til you can do what you're supposed to be able to do with it. Eg, streaming media. | -=JM=- (16) | ||
| 178480 | 2003-09-28 07:50:00 | always on and not to charge the customer every byte he/she is over the limit. | nomad (3693) | ||
| 178481 | 2003-09-28 07:58:00 | Ah, JM has brought the thread back on track. Well, I dont despise Jetstream Starter, 128k is not too bad, very much better than 56k dialup, and it has 10GB cap with Paradise. I get all the streaming audio I want and it works well. OK it isnt broadband, same speed as ISDN, but not having experienced anything faster it is broadband enough for me :) |
Terry Porritt (14) | ||
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