I’ve written a dirty little command-line application to merge two RoyalTS files. I couldn’t find anything for it on the interweb, and wanted something to merge two files daily, both maintained by different people.
Usage: RoyalTSMerge.exe <InputFile1> <InputFile2> <OutputFile>
Download: RoyalTSMerge
I can’t help but feel some serious sympathy for the chaps (and lady-chaps) of the BT board.
Up until 1984, they had exclusive rights to the British telephone network. For a good while after the Telecommunications Act, there were only a few minor contenders in the country e.g. Mercury. When the analogue cable providers turned up in the late 90′s, composite deals turned up. BT was forced to turn to cold-calling its own customers to stave off the exodus (*).
Nowadays, line rental is available from a good number of providers, and your phonecalls can be routed through one of dozens of companies, all vieing for your money, all promising to be cheaper than the standard – the standard of course being BT.
Recent numbers suggest that BT have lost around 1,000,000 customers. In response, BT have picked up the same old habit. I’ve recieved numerous calls attempting to sway me back to consuming BT’s services. Repeated attempts to explain why I don’t agree with their QoS practices or their throttling of all encrypted connections doesn’t seem to get through to the technically untrained callers. I don’t blame them for that. I do however blaim them for not removing me from their call list after requesting it with obvious reason.
My main grumble isn’t the nature of the calls. It’s the calls themselves. It’s just not the way to do business any more. We rely on BT to maintain the telephone network and to crack on with their implentation of the 21CN. If all 1 million customers have recieved 10 calls, and all calls last 5 minutes, that’s got to be at least £5m in labour costs alone!
BT should be spending their money on more innovative and desirable products. Ever heard of “build it and they will come”? You shouldn’t need to beg, and you shouldn’t be wasting your money on it, when you’re in such a position of responsibility.