j-j.co.za
Sharing thoughts and ideas on business, security and photographyUsing your Windows 7 Laptop as a mobile hotspot #in
Posted on February 07, 2012Summary : This provides a way to share a connection (wired or 3G) from your laptop via wireless to other devices such as iPads, tablets or mobile phones.
Since I bought my iPad i don’t use my laptop (running Windows 7 Professional) as frequently, especially while travelling. I take the laptop with because there are some things that just don’t work as well on the iPad, but most nights the iPad allows me to check mail, read websites and just do enough of what needs being done. Both my laptop and iPad have a Cell C 2Gig / month prepaid card in them. As a result of the above usage patterns I am finding that in the last 2 months I have used up my allocation on the iPad by the end of the month while having unused bandwidth ”lost” on the laptop.
I started looking around for a way to be able to share the bandwidth between the two more dynamically. There are hardware options to get a mobile hotspot, and these are available for as little as R700, however, this is yet another device to carry around and I already have too many, so for now that wasn’t the best option.
Google pointed me to a few software hotspots, I downloaded a few, but they all had limitations (such as only the “Pro” version being able to share a 3G connection) or wanted payment, which for software I hadn’t heard of and couldn’t test I wasn’t keen on.
After a little more searching I found the good news that Windows 7 has the functionality built-in. The only downside is that there is no GUI for this functionality. It requires a couple of DOS commands to be entered at the command prompt. No worries though, they can be scripted into a batch file which you can keep on your desktop and then just run as required (though it must be run as administrator).
The specific commands required are :
netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=AAA key=BBB netsh wlan start hostednetwork pause netsh wlan stop hostednetwork pause
Note that the specific name of the connection you are creating must be inserted in the first line where I have AAA and your chosen key replaces the BBB.
Create a batch file (wifihotspot.bat) on your desktop, cut and paste in the above lines, edit the batch file, replacing the names with your choice. That is it. You should now be able to run the batch file (as administrator) and share your connection. To do so, just right-click on the batch file, select Run as administrator and away you go. Simple and effective.
The pause statements are to show you the status after the network is set up, and then to allow you to leave the batch window open until you want to shut down the network, press a key and it’s off. If you prefer you could split this into two separate batch files for an “on” and “off”.
On my machine I get the following responses when running the batch file:
C:\Windows\system32>netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=AAA key=BBB The hosted network mode has been set to allow. The SSID of the hosted network has been successfully changed. The user key passphrase of the hosted network has been successfully changed.
C:\Windows\system32>netsh wlan start hostednetwork The hosted network started.
C:\Windows\system32>pause Press any key to continue . . .
C:\Windows\system32>netsh wlan stop hostednetwork The hosted network stopped.
C:\Windows\system32>pause Press any key to continue . . .
Enjoy, and please share any enhancements, improvements or problems being experienced.
The Nespresso experience
Posted on December 29, 2011A month and a half ago I had the privilege of visiting Valencia, Spain. During the time there we drank a lot of coffee, and everywhere we went, including the hotel breakfast area, the places served Nespresso. The coffee had a nice frothy head and was consistently enjoyable. Some places had self-service and the machine was quick and easy to use. I decided I would get one. Conveniently there was a Nespresso shop located just behind the hotel so I popped over and bought some of the required coffee capsules. At this point I discovered that the “home use” capsules were little cup-shaped ones and different from the flat industrial ones. The sales person assured me the taste would be the same as all Nespresso machines used the same high pressure 19-bar pressure pump to produce the required high quality coffee experience. I purchased my first 6 strips (of 10 capsules each) of Nespresso coffee – having now bought into the programme.
When I got back to SA I went to my local shopping centre (Pavilion) and checked out all the options. I found the same pricing across all the stores, and although I could have saved a few hundred rand having it shipped from Amazon (UK )I was too impatient to wait. After trawling the mall between the various stores trying to figure out which was the right one for me, I finally bought the CitiZ (with Milk) from a very helpful sales lady at Boardmans (the only shop with someone who knew their product).
With the machine came a R350 voucher to be used for the purchase of coffee pods. Marvelous, well, except that they had no vouchers, but confirmed a few days later per telephone that I just needed to take my till slip down to Springfield (no address provided) and they would give me the voucher and let me buy some coffee.
Since I had the coffee I bought in Spain and the machine came with a starter pack (one capsule each of the 16 flavours in the range) it wasn’t too much of a problem.
Early last week I was finally in Durban on a “working day” so I decided to try to find the Durban supplier. It wasn’t listed on the www.nespresso.co.za website at all, only addresses for Cape Town (at the Waterfront) and Johannesburg were supplied.
I tried calling them a few times (found the number on Google), only to get a recorded message suggesting I call Jhb. So I took a chance and headed down to what I though was the address (Google again) :
7 Springfield Ind Pk, 7 Willowfield Cres, Springfield Park, Durban (wrong)
I got there, no luck and no sign of the place. The security guard at the gate didn’t have a clue who or what Nespresso was. I sat in the car in the visitors parking and googled again. A few more addresses came up but none turned out to be correct :
Unit 28 Springfield Ind Pk 7 Willowfield Cres Springfield Park Durban (wrong)
13 Springfield Industrial Park, 9 Mahoganyfield , Springfield Park, Durban (wrong)
Taking a chance I put Nespresso into the TomTom. Big thumbs up to TomTom, they got me to the place.
Real Address : Unit 28 Springfield Industrial Park, 9 Mahogany Way, Springfield Park, Durban
When I eventually got there, the staff were friendly and helpful. I filled in two sets of forms, they then produced the magical voucher, took my order, which ended up being 10 strips at a total of R576 (Average of R5.76 per cup), less the R350 voucher for a pay in of R226. I was happy with my haul and we have been enjoying the coffee ever since.
By way of comparison, I bought my first 6 strips of capsules in Valencia, Spain, at 3.55 euros each. At an exchange rate of R11/Euro that works out at R39 a strip (R3.90 a cup), so we are paying a premium of 36% here in South Africa. Could be worse I guess, but makes me wish I had bought more over there.
The machine itself, I bought the CitiZ&Milk (the left one in the pictures above) which according to the detail on the European site seems to be made by DeLonghi (it has the pipe-like spout rather than the tear drop one). It works really well, the milk frother is great, though a bit of a pain to clean.
I am delighted with this coffee machine, the simplicity and consistency is just great, and each time I have a cup I am reminded of my time in Spain.
I know a lot of people have said that Nespresso is over priced, and that I could have bought a machine, which freshly grinds the coffee from the bean for each cup, for only a little more than the price of the Nespresso machine. Such a machine uses coffee beans which work out lass than half the price per cup. I looked (briefly) at that option. The machines had too many settings, buttons, nozzles etc (for me). The R5,70 odd per cup of Nespresso isn’t cheap but is a whole lot less than having coffee out at the local coffee shops, is just as nice, and I get to have it while waking up.
The Nespresso machine is great because it simply just works. You can’t really get it wrong and you consistently get that great cup of coffee. I am very happy with it and my guests have been too. It is really quick to make a cup of coffee, taking a minute or less to warm up from a cold start, and each cup you make thereafter takes only a few seconds. No mess, no fuss and easy to keep clean.
I am sold on the Nespresso experience and would recommend it to anyone.
Table of comparative pricing information (Europe to SA) below :
Life in the traffic (with TomTom)
Posted on December 10, 2011I travel frequently, so drive a lot in the major Metro areas, primarily in and around Durban, Johannesburg/Midrand/Pretoria and Cape Town. The last few months I have spent in Johannesburg, and have had the privilege of using a TomTom with GoLive HD traffic enabled.
The GoLive HD traffic service isn’t perfect. In fact, it has many flaws and I lose count of the number of times that I find myself crawling along while the device shows no traffic on my route. Regularly I would climb into the car, program in my route and find it clear, then be stuck in some kind of snarlup with no warning, making a mockery of the “estimated time of arrival”.
That said, there were a number of times when it did warn me well in advance of traffic problems, sometimes asking to re-route me around the problem, others giving me details of the estimated delay but indicating that alternate routes would be no quicker. At the time of some of the (in)famous Julius march from Johannesburg (halfway) to Pretoria I was in Bryanston needing to travel to the Carlton Centre. The TomTom warned me of road closures and routed me right around them. I was very grateful not to be caught up in all the activities.
Somehow, over the 5 or so months of using this service, the accuracy seemed to improve. Estimated arrival times seemed to get more accurate, and multiple problems en-route were detected.
I am using the TomTom GoLive 1000. This device is slimmer and lighter than the first device I had borrowed (Go Live 650), and the touch screen seemed a bit more sensitive. This isn’t a review of either though, but none the less, just to say the traffic service of both seemed the same and worked well.
The only catch is that you always need to let the device know where you are going so it knows the route. Once you are travelling between common places (work, home, OR Tambo, hotels etc) you can save them all as favourites and then on startup just select your destination. Quick, easy and well designed.
I read recently that TomTom is struggling, laying off a lot of people, and moving out of the personal navigation device market. This is really unfortunate, and I hope it doesn’t stop the development of the Traffic HD service.
The service comes for 1 year free when you buy an enabled device and then costs around R400/year thereafter. For just over R1/day I think once you start using it, it pays for itself in reduced frustration levels and time savings. TomTom have a winner here.
In conclusion, the fact that, despite knowing where I am going and not needing directions, every morning I diligently plug in the device and select a destination just to get the traffic information and route redirections, speaks volumes for how dependent I have become on a somewhat imperfect service, but one that is oh so much better than the alternates. Thinking of getting a GPS, choose one with traffic, you won’t regret it. The Go Live 1000 is around R3000 at Cape Union Mart and R2800 at Kalahari.net. I got mine from Cape Union as I wanted it on the day and they gave great service in store (Canal Walk).
P.S. I had a Garmin for a while, the traffic options works, but it isn’t as good as the TomTom, particularly in SA. The top end Garmin device seems better specc’ed and all around nicer than the TomTom, but for the traffic alone I went with TomTom. Some bad experiences with Garmin SA support in getting the traffic service activated also turned me off them a bit.
Updates to the “Unofficial DStv Drifta FAQ”
Posted on November 26, 2011There has been quite a bit of Drifta related news over the last while so I have added more questions and updated sections of the FAQ. The main changes have been :
- Blackberry availability
- Mac OS X availability
- Updates to Android compatibility list
- Walka handheld TV
DStv mobile streaming solution for MTN users (better than previous Vodacom one)
Posted on November 16, 2011Yesterday I received a press release from DStv Mobile about a new partnership with MTN to launch a 3G streaming Mobile TV Service. At first I wasn’t very excited about this, they have a similar product with Vodacom, which at first sounded interesting but was hamstrung by a ridiculous acceptable usage agreement which restricts you to 45 minutes per week (180 per month). That doesn’t even get you through a single T20 game, and hardly through two rugby matches. Crazy indeed.
On receiving the press release I immediately fired off a mail to Maiyo checking what the acceptable use of the new solution was. If it was the same (or similar) to the Vodacom one I wasn’t going to bother posting about it as it wouldn’t in my opinion be worth the subscription.
I am very happy to say that the response is a very positive one, no bandwidth / usage restrictions. You will use your own bandwidth to browse to the MTN Play website and get the video stream running, but you won’t pay for or be restricted in usage of the video stream itself. What a different that makes. For those who don’t want to buy a DStv Drifta, or have the hassle of carrying a second device (or don’t have client software available for their device) this is a really viable alternate. Well done to MTN and DStv mobile for improving significantly on the Vodacom offering.
I haven’t tested the service so can’t tell you how well it works, but based on the information provided it does look good. The FAQ on the DStv web site (link here) claims the service will work on most 2.5G or 3G cell phones (however it doesn’t work on the iPhone or a device only using the Opera Mini web browser). Still, that includes more devices than it excludes.
Press release below :
DStv Mobile Channels adjusted, premium package added
Posted on November 08, 2011I was sent a press release from DStv mobile today around some changes to their channels and packages. They have split the channels into three packages:
- Free : E! Entertainment, Channel O, SuperSport Blitz, The eNews Channel, CNNi
- R36/Month : SuperSport 1,2,3,4, AfricaMagic, M-Net Series, SONYMax, Cartoon Network, Discovery
- Premium : M-Net Mobile (Available only to DStv Premium subscribers at no subscription cost)
So the net effect is that Discovery has been added for all existing (R36/month) subscribers, and if you are a DStv Premium (R600+/month) subscriber you can now also have the new M-Net Mobile on your Drifta for free.
The M-Net mobile should be almost the same as the M-Net channel (except there will be no movies?), and will be available from 2pm to around 10:30pm each day.
There is no indication of whether M-Net Mobile will be available to non-premium subscribers for an extra fee at some stage.
The full press release is included below :
A new addition to the DStv Mobile lineup – the Walka Handheld TV
Posted on November 06, 2011Press release as received from DStv Mobile, I have not seen the device in person nor do I have any details other than what is below. It does however sound like a good product for those who don’t have a supported device. Sports lovers can rejoice with this nifty new device if it provides a decent picture (3.5″ is a bit small, but given the transmission resolution this should be ok) and has reasonable battery life. If anyone gets some hands on time with one, please send through your thoughts. This device could be great for those wanting a hassle free experience.
DStv Mobile unveils the Walka Handheld TV
Another innovative product is about to be released by DStv Mobile. The Walka Handheld TV is a slim, lightweight device with a 3.5” viewing screen providing digital visual and audio quality. Its introduction gives DStv Mobile subscribers even more ways to access mobile TV on the go, anywhere, anytime.
“We are proud to introduce South Africans to the Walka device which is designed to further enrich the mobile TV viewing experience” explains Mark Rayner General Manager DStv Mobile, “It’s a must have, mobile TV viewing can begin the moment you switch it on.”
Previously released devices; the Drifta and the Drifta USB; give access to mobile TV across a wide range of devices such as PCs, laptops, tablets and smartphones. This is done through pairing the viewing device with the Drifta or connecting the Drifta USB. The Walka is a portable TV with no other devices required to view.
After activating the Walka through the MultiChoice call centre it connects to the DStv Mobile DVB-H broadcast signal, giving access to 16 great DStv channels in the genres of sport, music, news, cartoons and general entertainment. The content line-up includes the two brand new channels that were recently added; magical channel M-Net Mobile and the informative Discovery channel.
The same great channels are available across all DStv Mobile capable devices for the same subscription of R36 per month. DStv Premium subscribers pay no subscription to access DStv Mobile.
“Our research has shown that there is interest in a dedicated mobile TV viewing device to ease accessibility and improve usability of the mobile TV service. We anticipate that the Walka will be well received by the market and hope our subscribers find it as another useful way to stay in touch with DStv channels.” said Rayner.
The Walka will be the third device (after the Drifta and the Drifta USB) to be released by DStv Mobile since commercial launch in November 2010. The device will be available at MultiChoice centres and select retail outlets from 1 December 2011 at the recommended retail price of R649.
DStv Mobile coverage is available in the 9 major cities of South Africa. For network coverage, and further information visitwww.dstvmobile.com.
Issued by:
Maiyo Simapungula
Public Relations and Communications Manager
DStv Mobile
Maiyo.simapungula@dstvmobile.
Tel: 011 289 4214
Cell: 084 824 7757
Blackberry Bold 9900 – Welcome back old friend
Posted on October 17, 2011In February of this year my trusty old Blackberry 9000 died a sad and final death. The inhouse IT department couldn’t do anything with it, the blinking lights suggested the motherboard was friend and the external repair party wanted R600 to look at it. They also admitted that if it was motherboard it was uneconomical to repair. Eish. With 6 months to go to renewal the device was temporarily replaced by the 8520.
An aside on the 8520, there is very little that the top models can do that the bottom don’t. Sure, the screen isn’t as nice, the keys are smaller, it doesn’t have GPS. It does do twitter, bbm, mail, browsing, Kindle, mxit, whatsapp, and pretty much everything a smart phone should, a little slower yes, but it does work.
After 6 months of the 8520 the upgrade finally happened. Choice 9780 with no pay in, or the 9900 with a R1000 paying. Newer OS, touch screen, bigger keyboard, sold on the 9900.
The most immediate feeling on unboxing and typing in a few setup details, welcome back old friend. My I have missed the keyboard. Blackberry bold 9000 had the best keyboard on a mobile device, ever. The 9900 is the true successor to the 9000. The others were just pretenders.
The new OS is pretty. Still not up to iOS or Android, but is still Blackberry and is an improvement
The new browser is much quicker, renders better, and nicer to use. Big plus here.
The keyboard is great (as above).
The touchscreen. Its there. I use it from time to time. It works well and is unobtrusive. Sometimes navigating is a whole lot quicker touching a few icons, othertimes scroll pad and keys are the thing. You definitely get the best of both worlds, I like.
The trackpad replaces the old track ball. The only thing I disliked about the Bold 9000. It used to get dirty quickly, then get stick and partially work. Ugh. Replaced it after a year, that worked better for 6 months. The trackpad avoids all of that. No moving parts, nothing to get dirty inside. The 8520 had the same and it worked well. Only problem, with my big thumbs from time to time I catch the bottom of the touch screen when scrolling and the cursor jumps. Long term problem or more care needed I’m not sure. Maybe a software fix that disables touch screen while you are scrolling.
I loaded my normal set of applications. Twitter BBM facebook all preloaded just needed updates. Blackberry Travel, Google Sync, Word Press all work great.
Amazon Kindle. Does not work, won’t load as it isn’t compatible. Damn. There has been much talk of the Blackberry platform dying. Amazon doesn’t support the flagship device with the new OS. That is sad, and perhaps an indication of developers abandoning the platform. I hope not, and that Amazon prove me wrong, but in the meantime no catching up with those few pages of my latest novel while standing in the queue at the airport, shopping centre or other stolen moments.
Lastly, Google Sync. As the owner of any smart phone do yourself a favour, install this product. It backs up your contacts and calender to the cloud and synchronises it between devices. My Blackberry, Nokia E71 and Android HTC Desire all share a common address book which is also available in Gmail. Perfect. Get a new device, plug in the credentials your address book is there waiting for you. Perfect use of the cloud, just love it.
Battery life is adequate, seems better than the HTC Desire and the 8520, not up to the levels of the E71 (which I hardly use for online access anymore) but for a fully featured smartphone the 9900 seems to have more than decent battery life.
The device is thin and sleek, wide to allow for the screen and the bigger keyboard, not bulky to worry me in my pocket. The build quality seems solid and has a nice sturdy weight and build to it. Not heavy.
In conclusion, yes, iPhone and Galaxy S II are better, but if you want BBM and mail and uncapped internet and a device which just works, or your organisation says Blackberry is your only choice then this device is a really good choice. Loving it.
(Pictures to be added)
** review typed while waiting in the boarding queue, this keyboard really works well 
Must have iPad applications : radio : TuneIn Radio
Posted on October 15, 2011TuneIn Radio (by Synsion Radio Technologies) is great internet radio streaming application, has many stations, including nine local stations, with 5fm ECR and Radio 2000 amongst them.
The app does what it needs to, and well. It has the schedules so you can see what’s on and what programming is coming up next. When music is playing it displays the details of the song and artist when available.
A key feature is the time shift recording, the applications keeps recording as you are listening so you can pause and rewind if you miss something and fast forward to get back live. This feature works well. If you pay for the pro version you get to save recordings instead of just doing time shift.
I have mostly used the application to listen to sport. Once your channel is selected and you are listening can switch to another application and keep listening. The multi tasking is a real boon, unlike the DStv drifta application which doesn’t multi task and dies as soon as you switch away. A real pain if you are wanting to check something on the net while listening to the game.
The professional version is just $0.99 and allows you to save the recordings. A worthwhile addition.
Download it here (iTunes SA) or here (iTunes USA).
Last chance to get your Cell C 3G prepaid bundle at a good price
Posted on October 12, 2011When Cell C launched their 3G network last year they had some awesome “launch specials” the best 2 of which I considered to be the 2 gig and 5 gig specials. As a reminder, you pay either R1000 or R2000 upfront and then get either 2 gig a month or 5 gig a month, every month for the next year.
I purchased a 2 gig sim for my laptop last year, it expires this month. I have also put one into an Android phone, and into my iPad. Do the maths, that’s 6 gig of mobile data across 3 devices for about R250 per month. No other service provider comes close (yes 8ta does have their contract option R199 a month for 10 gig a month, also a great deal, just can’t split that easily over my devices). I have recommended this Cell C deal to friends, family and the like over the last year and all have been delighted.
Those introductory special offers now come to and end in the next few days, the price goes up significantly as at the 1 November, but the current deals won’t be available after the weekend. So look air it carefully, if your current sim expires in the next month or 3, it will be worth getting another now, or if you are in the market for a new data hungry device (tablet, iPhone, android device) do yourself a favor and get one now.
Once you have made the decision don’t forget your Rica documents and then be prepared to have a little patience, these babies are hard to find. Phone a few Cell C shops and track them down.
Yesterday I spent an hour in the Cell C shop in Carlton, they were so helpful. They had one left in stock, did the sim swap to microsim for the iPad for free, and hunted down a second one. They phoned about five or six other shops to find it, and then did a sim swap from that shop to theirnso I wouldn’t have to go anywhere else, this was customer service above and beyond, they delighted me and deserve much credit for doing good for their brand.
Good luck in hunting down your deals, it is worth it and you won’t be sorry. If you get some spotty cell c coverage, just remember what you would be paying for that same data on Vodacom or MTN, and remember they have their fair share of problems.
New Android manufacturers and devices supported on Drifta
Posted on October 05, 2011DStv Mobile have announced that some new devices are supported by their Android client, interestingly enough, this covers 2 previously unsupported manufacturers in LG and Motorola. Hopefully this is the start of something. Here is the list of new devices:
- LG Optimus Black (LG P970)
- Motorola Defy (MB 525)
- HTC ChaCha
- HTC Desire HD
- Samsung Galaxy Tab (7″ All models including GT-P1000, GT-P1010)
Running the standard Android Drifta app on non-standard phones
Posted on September 27, 2011Before the hacked version of the DStv mobile application surfaced people were looking for ways to get the standard application to work on devices other than those supported, as well as on rooted devices. That playing around stopped with the hacked version. Now that DStv has taken to asserting their copyrights to the application a lot of people have not been able to get hold of the hacked application. The same outcome can be achieved without needing to infringe DStv’s copyright. Below is the short and more detailed version of this :
- If your device is not supported, you can change your device’s identity so that it looks like a supported device.
- If your device is rooted, you can temporarily unroot it using OTA Rootkeeper.
That’s it. Simple, yes?
Below is Johan’s feedback and instructions (edited a little with links added to make your lives easier).
Designed to fail – when things that should work just don’t #dstvmobile #fail #android
Posted on September 21, 2011In some ways this could be considered a followup post to the one I did last week on “A week with the DStv mobile Android application, the good and the bad” (link here).
Let’s start with the purpose of the DStv service, the Drifta and the supporting applications. At it’s most basic level, the purpose is to let us (the consumer) watch tv, and to let DStv earn revenue from providing us with that service.
Our obligation is to pay the initial fee for the device, and to pay the monthly service fee. DStv’s obligation is to provide a working service that allows us to watch the broadcast when we choose to do so, in the advertised areas of coverage, on the advertised devices.
This morning, that service failed me. How? Well, I have my paid for Drifta, have paid my monthly subs, and have the DStv mobile application loaded on a legitimate (non rooted, supported) device.
I turned on the Drifta, it connected to the DVB-H signal. I turned on my HTC Desire, connected to the Internet, loaded up the application. Up came the “authenticating” message, which then stayed on screen for a while before a message came up to the effect that the authentication server was unavailable, please try again later.
I tried many times over the next few minutes, each time with the same result. All the while the game I was wanting to watch was carrying on, without me watching. In frustration I tweeted out “Aargh. Drifta has DVB-H signal and is connected. HTC desire says Unable to reach authentication server try in few minutes. #norugby #fail“.
A colleague has an iPhone, which also has the application loaded on it. He came over to my desk and we tried to connect it to my Drifta. It first tried to connect to the last Drifta it had been used with, when that didn’t work it did a re-scan and connected to mine. It worked. First time, no problem, and the game came up. I got to see around five minutes for the second half before he needed to leave, and sent out a second tweet “Any Android users managing to watch Drifta? Authentication server wl.dstvmobile.com seems to be down. Working fine on colleagues iphone 
“
I received a reply shortly after “@jjza The Android Auth server ISP is experiencing connectivity issues. Techs working on the problem. Will keep you updated. #Drifta“. Replied “thanks Neil. Not happy but appreciate the feedback.” and two hours later received the update “@jjza #Drifta #Android Auth server connection should be back up. Please try again.” An hour later I tried again, it worked, and I replied to that effect.
Fine, it was working again, but I had missed the game. DStv had failed to deliver the service I was paying for. #fail
I am unhappy with this situation. Not because DStv messed up and didn’t provide the service. We all mess up from time to time and nobody can expect 100% perfect service. However, why should it work on one device and not another. There is no mention of this in any of the advertising or product documentation.
In introducing the Android application, DStv mobile have, by design, introduced an added level of complexity, and an additional point of failure, which can (and does) seem to fail often. Why is it that an iPhone can use the service without needing to authenticate (every time) to the DStv servers yet Android cannot have this same luxury. What possible reason is there for punishing Android users in this manner?
The only reason given is that the application is authorised (by DStv mobile) to work on certain Android devices (and not others – the logic behind that we will leave for another time). So whenever we load the application it checks to see whether it is “allowed” to use the application. This seems like a reasonable step, but is it really?
The idea behind this was to allow DStv to control the Android devices on which the application will work, and allow additional devices to be added without needing to release a new version of the application each time. The authentication information is anonymous, so of course it is not being collected and being used for any purposed other than authentication (such as usage statistics, device usage patterns etc) as that would be unethical, and quite possibly in terms of the upcoming Protection of Personal Information Act would be illegal too.
One can safely assume also that if a device is added to the “white list” of supported devices that it would then be allowed to used on that device and that privilege would not be revoked.
Surely then this authentication could be a one-off process. You download the app from the store, it is a “virgin app”. It phones home, sends through the device (not user, network, location and other) details, confirms it is allowed to work, and then is permanently activated. If the device is not on the white list, and error message can be displayed and the software remain inactive. The user can then try again in a week or two. If the application was really smart, it could then even do a push notification when the device was finally whitelisted, but let us not over complicate the situation.
So what would the benefits of this be?
- Activation would be one-off
- No internet connection would be needed every time you wanted to load the application
- No dependency would be created on an ISP to make sure the authentication server is up
- No dependency would be created on the cellular service provider to make sure their service is working
- You would not have to check both the DStv and Cell provider websites for coverage to see whether you can use your device
- No nagging suspicion would be created that just maybe DStv are collecting more information than they say, more often than they say
- I would have been able to watch the game
Let me repeat that last line, I would have been able to watch the game that I paid to watch.
So the ISP let DStv down. What was their Business Continuity Plan to make sure that this newly introduced (just for Android users) point of failure had redundant controls? There are so many more questions that could be asked here, the answers of which could affect whether their product offering complies with the Consumer Protection Act. Instead let us just ask, what is the solution.
In my mind, it is quite simple. Fix the application. Allow the authentication to be one-off (monthly if you must). And while you are at it, remove the Drifta BIOS update from the application, we don’t have to carry that around on the phone with us all the time, space is precious, and a bloated application double the necessary size is not welcome.
DStv, I really like the idea of the service, I recommend it to lots of people, in person and on twitter. I am an evangelist for your product, but I am also honest and a realist. Your Android application sucks, but is easily fixable. I can no longer recommend to anyone that they purchase your service to use on an Android device, you have designed it to fail. Please fix that so I can enjoy the product as it should work, and let your customers get the service they pay for (or would pay for).
A week with the DStv mobile Android application, the good and the bad
Posted on September 15, 2011I gave now spent just over a week with the DStv mobile application, had some time to play with it and get my thoughts together around it.
Firstly, I am very grateful to have the application. After more than 5 months of waiting (impatiently) I was starting to lose hope. On reflection, it is sad that I am grateful to an organisation for providing me with a service which I paid for, and was paying for while it wasn’t being delivered. Still, I do like to be able to watch the sports channels while on the move.
There are some good and bad points. Let me start with the bad.
- The application is huge. The largest application I have installed on my phone at almost 20 Meg. My phone (HTC Desire) has limited memory, so in order to install the DStv mobile application I had to uninstall Google Plus, the Google Maps updates, Facebook updates and the 360 Panorama tool. That really burns, I have now lost a whole lot of functionality on my phone to have this application. After some poking around I discovered that the entire Drifta update ROM/BIOS is stored in the application, and this takes up more than half of the space. Whoever came up with that idea was clearly not thinking straight. It is a one-off upgrade I would happily have done via my PC now I have to give up so much Android space and functionality (10 Meg).
- The application doesn’t allow itself to be move to the SD card, or for any part of it to be moved (as App2SD and similar tools do). I am not sure what changes need to be made to the app to let it move to SD, but do it guys. Either that or remove the Drifta BIOS from the application. If 15 Meg of that 20 Meg could be stored on the SD card I would be smiling.
- It works on very limited devices still. I include this one because of all of the complaints I receive daily, not because it affects me anymore.
- The application authenticates to the server EVERY TIME you load it. What a pain. Sometimes I have perfect DVB-H (Drifta) signal but lose Cell phone signal (one client I work at has really really bad Cell C signal) and then I can’t watch the mobile TV. Throw the device over the desk divider to a mate with an iPhone and he seems to be able to use it just fine, no authentication. Why the discrimination against Android users? I don’t know. This again seems to be a badly thought out ploy. Let the thing authenticate weekly or monthly if need be, but please for the sake of all things good cut out this nonsense of having to start from scratch every time. Not only that, but when I bought the device it was made clear that NO internet connection was needed to use it. To introduce these unnecessary additional steps at this late stage of the game is really unacceptable. It would probably fall foul of the Consumer Protection Act if I hadn’t bought it in December last year.
- The application is unstable! How unstable? Well during the USA vs Russia game this morning it crashed twice and on a third occasion rebooted my phone. That really isn’t good enough. The game was tight so I didn’t miss any key scoring moments, but still. It could have been a minute or two downtime at a crucial moment.
- Ok this is a repeat (in a way) of point 4. Every time I load the application I have to first make sure wi-fi is off (otherwise it automatically connects to the Drifta) or the Drifta is off (so it can’t connect). Then load the application, let it authenticate to the internet (if available) and then go into system settings to turn wi-fi back on again, then click re-scan, then let it connect. When the application is quit, it switches wi-fi off regardless of whether wi-fi was on or off before the application was started. I find this whole process cumbersome and painful, needing to switch backward and forward between the system settings and the application just to get it to work.
- The picture isn’t full screen, it puts some bars down the sides. Sure this keeps the aspect ratio correct, but there could have been an optional zoom to fill the screen.
- There is conflicting information as to whether the anonymous authentication is really anonymous or not depending on who I speak to (this is still to be cleared up). My view, collecting / sending unique information back to the server while displaying a message saying it is an anonymous authentication is dishonest, bad business practice and potentially will be illegal when the Protection of Personal Information Bill is promulgated, and is probably also falling foul of the Consumer Protection Act. (I am not a lawyer, so I cannot give anything but an informed lay man’s view on that).
Enough griping, now for the good.
- The application works (mostly)
- I get to watch mobile tv on the move as I should have been able to since the start (when I have Cell phone signal)
- The interface is easy to use and the picture quality is nice on the small screen
- I am getting to see some of the Rugby World Cup I wouldn’t have otherwise
- Coverage is fairly good and stable. This morning I drove from home (Dawncliffe, Westville) to the office (La Lucia Ridge past gateway) and there was no signal drop on the entire trip. I was listening rather than watching so can’t be sure picture didn’t freeze but audio was stable. The application crashed when I drove into the parking lot, but otherwise was all good. (Added 16/9/2011 based on a Twitter question posed by @Mateewis)
- The subscription is relatively cheap (R36/month)
In conclusion, I am very happy to have the application and be able to watch some of the Rugby World Cup, but the size of it, the lack of stability and the ridiculous authentication system is significantly dampening my enthusiasm for it.
Please share your thoughts and experiences, I am particularly interested in hearing the views of people who have used both the iPhone and Android applications.
Guest review : Using the Nokia DVB-H adapter with the E7
Posted on September 11, 2011Johan posted this fairly lengthy comment in response to my post “A most interesting hour with DStv mobile team” . It makes good reading and deserves better exposure than languishing within the comments, so with his permission, a mostly unedited version is presented below. I have included a few of my own comments (all italicised).
I am using the Nokia DVB-H adapter with my Nokia E7 and must say I am really happy just carrying 1 device with the benefit of “using” Internet on the device (when you switch to the mobile TV app it does stop, but downloads are not interrupted in the background when watching DSTV). For all Nokia’s “faults”, true multitasking and excellent hardware have kept me on the platform. My N900 did unfortunately pack up, but the E7 has been a worthy replacement (for me at least).
The wifi drifta is however a more “versatile” device. It can now be used with PC, iOS, “Android” (currently 6 devices) and hopefully soon OSX (although the Drifta allows only one device to connect at a time).
In terms of the Nokia Mobile TV software it does have some benefits over the Drifta software. A really nice feature is the REMINDERS functionality (only for the next 18 hours for which the EPG is displayed for). Once set, the reminder pops up even if you do not have the dvb-h headset connected. 1 click and you can watch the program (once you connect the headset).
My main gripes are (mostly Nokia specific – I don’t have a Drifta)
- The E7 can only be charged via USB, but the dvb-h adaptor takes that spot – so you can’t charge and watch at the same time. But I have watched about 4.5 hours on a full charge. The older N8 can be used for longer (has older charger plug allowing charge and view) but the “pop-up” screen of the E7 does make it easier to view…
- You HAVE to “subscribe” via 3G / Wifi EVERY month (only takes 5 mins, but it is a pain)
- SuperSport 4 just would NOT want to work. Says loading but nothing. Lots of fiddling and then SS4 now working (after resetting Mobile TV from within the app). It then re-scans for channels. You have to then “purchase” again, but it remembers that you already have a subscription and within a minute you can watch the channels again.
- Could for the life of me not get it to work in Strand, Stellenbosch, Blauwberg, SomersetWest end last month. Just kept saying no signal… But when I landed back in Gauteng worked instantly… (Coverage across the broader Western Cape does seem a bit spotty. This is reflected on the DStv Mobile coverage map on their site.)
But overall I think it is a great service (yes “better” channels would be nice, but for R36 per month you get SS1 and SS2 “always” with you.
Thanks Johan. Great to get some insight into other options. You certainly seem to be getting a better battery life than what I get with my wifi Drifta, or my HTC Desire. And between them they have two batteries (which both have to be charged). The reminders feature is one that is sorely missing from the Drifta.
The all in one option of the E7 with headset seems like a great alternate, especially if you have a compatible cell phone.
What people say
Close block