Stop Unwanted Sales and Marketing Phone Calls in the UK

How many times have you sat down to dinner with your family, or settled down to watch your favorite TV program only to be interrupted by the telephone ringing?

Frustrating at the best of times, but then you get up to answer the phone and it is yet another unwanted sales call. You calmly and politely explain to the caller that you are not interested but they still persist in trying to tell you about their product or services.

Staying calm, you politely tell them that you are not interested for a second time and, again the salesperson continues with the sales patter. Frustrated you just hang up.

What if there was a way that you could stop receiving all those unwanted sales calls.

Well, you can. The telephone preference service (TPS) operates in the UK, with just that aim in mind.

Paid for by the direct marketing industry in the UK, the TPS allows individuals in the UK to register their wish to opt out of receiving unsolicited sales and marketing telephone calls. It is a legal requirement that companies do not make such calls to numbers registered with the TPS.

Registering with the TPS is completely free of charge and you will stop receiving unsolicited calls just 28 days after registering your number.

If you should receive unsolicited calls after this you can visit the TPS website again and make a complaint against the company that called you.

Dish Network Outperforms the Competition

When you compare Dish Network with other television service providers, both satellite and cable, it becomes clear that Dish Network does a better job at delivering more programming than anyone else and at a lower cost.

The best example of this is High Definition Television. High Definition Television, also known as HDTV for short, is widely regarded as the future of television. It's already very popular in Japan and is poised to take off in the United States over the next three years. You can instantly tell the difference between it and standard definition television by the fact that it has a wider viewing area by about thirty percent, and a much higher resolution for a clearer more detailed picture. Because of the wider viewing area and higher resolution, High Definition television is much more data intensive than standard definition television which presents certain problems for transmitting it. Most cable TV systems can only provide one or two channels of it. Other satellite providers only offer about twenty HDTV channels, but High Definition Television is a breeze for Dish Network. Dish Network offers twenty five channels in High Definition- more than any of the competition- and that's just in the entry level Bronze package. Once you get up to the Platinum package, you can have twenty nine High Definition channels along with two hundred and forty standard definition ones! No cable provider can provide this many channels in standard definition, let alone with some of them in High Definition!

Even if you're not ready to take the leap into the world of High Definition Television, Dish Network can still give you plenty of options with standard definition programming. Dish Network provides programming packages designed for economy, maximum selection, and everything in between. Dish Family has forty channels including Angel One, Food Network, Animal Planet, TV Land, and Discovery Kids. It's designed to keep families entertained and connected to the outside world while saving them money. America's Everything Pak has one hundred and eighty of America's favorite channels plus movie packages from HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, and Starz, for a total of two hundred and ten channels.

Most households will want one of the packages that fall in between the two extremes of Dish Family and America's Everything Pak. America's Top 60 Entertainment Package provides sixty channels of movies, sports, news, cartoons, comedy, educational programming, as well as channels dedicated specifically to the needs of men, women, and children respectively. America's Top 120 Entertainment Package adds sixty more channels to America's Top 60 Entertainment Package. America's Top 180 Entertainment Package adds another sixty channels. If you decide to get America's Top 180 Entertainment Package, you should have plenty of channels to meet the entertainment needs and appeal to the interests of everyone in your family.

Dish Network also offers entertainment packages with mixtures channels in Spanish and English for Hispanic and bilingual households. Dish Latino Basic offers thirty channels for Spanish speakers, while all of the other Dish Latino packages provide combinations of channels in Spanish and English. Dish Latino packages are a source of entertainment, but also a great way to learn either Spanish or English.

If you want even more choices, Dish Network has sports, foreign language, and local programming that can be added to any entertainment package to customize it for your needs. With all of these great choices, there's no reason not to go with Dish Network right away!

Direct TV Has Continued To Take Advantage Of New Technologies As They Come Out

Direct TV is a full service satellite television provider which takes advantage of satellite technology which is the brainchild of science fiction legend Arthur C. Clark and was developed as part of the Cold War Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union. When Direct TV was founded back in 1994, the cold war was over, the Iron Curtain had fallen, and satellite technology had reached new heights. The recent revolution in satellite technology produced a number of innovations that made satellite television accessible to a much larger part of the populations. The satellite dishes got smaller- eighteen inches as opposed to ten feet- and the service got cheaper. New data compression technologies suddenly enabled a much larger number of channels do be delivered virtually anywhere, and digital television provided a much clearer picture and sound quality than any cable television company could manage at the time.

Now, twelve years later, Direct TV is still using the same technology in order to deliver the best possible service to its customers. The ranks of subscribers has grown to fourteen million, making Direct TV the largest television service provider in the United States, and the selection of channels has grown to eight hundred and fifty total channels of audio and video. While eight hundred and fifty channels obviously offers a huge amount of selection, it's generally understood that no one could possibly use that many channels, so they've been divided up into smaller programming packages.

A great example of how those eight hundred and fifty channels are divided up into programming packages can be seen in Direct TV's Total Choice series of programming packages. For example, the entry level package- Total Choice- still has an impressive number of choices at one hundred and fifty five channels. Those one hundred and fifty five channels include all of your local channels and a wide range of the most popular channels available today including favorites like Animal Planet, MTV, Comedy Central, Turner Classic Movies, The Discovery channel, and many more. Total Choice Plus adds another thirty channels to the mix created in Total Choice, and Total Choice Premier brings the total number of choices all the way up to two hundred and fifty channels. Total Choice Premier is a good option if you're a sports nut or a movie buff. A variety of regional sports networks along with plenty of other sports channels are all included with Direct TV's Total Choice Plus. When it comes to movies, Total Choice Plus provides variety by incorporating four different major movie packages into its ranks. Movie packages from Cinemax and HBO are complimented by the Starz Super Pack and Showtime Unlimited.

Direct TV has continued to take advantage of new technologies as they come out. For example, you can subscribe to a variety of HDTV channels the run the gambit from sports and movies to educational programming and major network programming. High definition television programming takes full advantage of the wide screen and high resolution of HDTV sets.

You can also get special Direct TV satellite receivers with built in digital video recorders. A digital video recorder is the high tech replacement for the now obsolete VCR which will allow you to record all of the programs that you love, but can't watch when they come on because of various real life obligations. A digital video recorder is easy to program and can record up to seventy hours of programming.

Dish Network Embodies Innovation

Dish Network is one of those rare companies that embodies the spirit of true American innovation. It's attracted the loyal allegiance of over 11 million subscribers, and won accolades and respect from the rest of the television industry. It's done this through a two pronged approach of providing entertainment packages designed to appeal to a variety of people and supplying it's subscribers with the best television technology currently available.

The technology that Dish Network utilizes has been truly impressive from the beginning. All Dish Network programming is delivered in one hundred percent digital format. This means that it's free of all but the worst interference for a crystal clear picture and great sound quality. Digital television also makes it easy for Dish Network to provide extra features along with the programming. For example, the Dish Interactive Electronic Program Guide displays all of the shows available to you in the form of a table just like you'd find in your local newspaper. Each cell in the table is occupied by a show and has information to help you decide whether or not you'd like to watch it. You can scroll up or down through the channels, or left or right to see different time slots. Some receiver models let you see what's scheduled to be on up to nine days in advance. Dish Interactive also brings you information about the weather along with online games that no analog signal can provide.

More advanced technology is also available. Dish Network can provide receivers that can sent two separate television signals to two TV's. This way one person can sit in the living room and watch one program, while someone else can sit in a bedroom and watch a completely different program without the added complication of having more than one receivDish Networker. This is accomplished by the remote that goes with the second TV operating on a UHF frequency which can not only penetrate walls, but is also very different from the IR frequency used by the one in the living room, so that the receiver doesn't confuse the two.

Digital Video Recording is also built into some Dish Network Receivers. Digital Video Recording lets you record the programs that you want to watch regardless of whether or not your home, so you can watch them when you want to. A Digital Video Recorder is far superior to a VCR because it doesn't use tapes and you can tell it what you want to record quickly and easily using the Dish Network's Electronic Program Guide.

Of course, Dish Network provides hundreds of channels of great programming so you have something to use all of this great technology for. Dish Network's entertainment packages range from hundreds of channels down to forty channels with plenty of options in between. America's Top 60, 120, and 180 Entertainment Packages provide a wide range of options for households with a range of needs and budgets. These entertainment packages feature great channels that the whole family will enjoy like ESPN, Animal Planet, the Sci-Fi Channel, the Speed Channel, American Movie Classics, TNT, the Independent Film Channel, the Discovery Channel, and many more.

Dish Network also provides HDTV packages that beat the competition in number of High Definition channels offered with it's entry level package and only improve form there.

No matter what entertainment package you decide to go with you can feel confident that you're getting the best service possible from an industry leader.

Comcast Can Provide You With Digital TV-High Speed Internet, And Digital Telephone Service

If you've been looking around for the cable TV provider that can also take care of all of your telecommunications needs, then look no farther than Comcast. Comcast is the telecommunications company that can provide you with hundreds of channels of digital cable TV, high speed Internet access, and digital telephone service all rolled together in to a single low monthly bill.

Digital TV is one of the many recent improvements in the field of television technology, and nobody does a better job of taking advantage of it than Comcast. Digital TV provides an incredibly crisp clear picture and CD quality sound that's unmatched by the older analog signal that many other cable TV companies still use. Digital TV also makes it easy to for a TV service provider to include various kinds of interactive features with the regular TV programming. For example, Comcast in provides access to an on screen program guide in order to help its subscribers sort out which TV shows and movies they want to watch, without the inefficiency of channel surfing. Each programming package also comes with Parental Controls which can be customized to keep you're kids from accessing material that you consider inappropriate for them to watch.

Another type of TV that Comcast in does a good job of providing is HDTV. HDTV is basically a more advanced version of digital TV. HDTV features an even clearer picture than normal digital TV because it has a much higher resolution. It also features a wide screen format just like major motion pictures, and an unbeatable sound quality that comes from Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound.

With the rate of technological progress that's occurred over the past few years, high speed Internet is also a very useful feature to be able to take advantage of in your home. Comcast does an excellent job of providing high speed Internet to its customers along with cable TV, and with download speeds up to one hundred times faster than dial up, this service will allow you to take advantage of the best of what the Internet has to offer right now. Streaming video, Internet Radio, the latest software updates, digital music, and even movie downloads are all right at your fingertips with this kind of speed.

Comcast in can also provide you with all of the hardware that you need to bring the Internet into your home. For example, you'll get a cable modem and a wireless router at no extra charge. The cable modem is needed to bring the Internet into your home to begin with, and the wireless router allows you to use it with multiple computers and other devices. That means your entire family can surf the Internet all at once on their own computers, smart phones, and other WiFi devices!

The phone service that Comcast provides is also world class. That's because, with this company, long distance charges for calls made to numbers in the United States and Canada are things in the past. With this phone service, you'll receive the same flat price whether you're calling Fairbanks, Alaska or Falls Church, Virginia. You'll receive even more value by not having to pay extra for the convenient features that you use the most. For example, not only will you receive your own voice mail account, but you'll even be able to access the messages over the Internet! Features like caller ID, call forwarding, speed dial, and call waiting will all be yours to enjoy as well.

In addition to all of these other features, Comcast offers you the convenience of only having to pay one very reasonable bill for all three of these services. When it comes to getting the connectivity and entertainment you need, Comcast is the only name you need to remember. Start Now. Switch to the top cable provider in .

Daylight Savings Time Chaos Could Rival Y2K

Call accounting, Move, Add and Change (MAC), traffic analysis, call center, auto attendant, voice mail and many other communication management software tools may all be impacted by the upcoming earlier spring forward time change. Any software that utilizes a date and time variable to compute billing records, process date sensitive statistics or trigger tasks at a specific time will be impacted.

Telecom managers should ensure that their communication facilities have the proper patches or can manually be adjusted to report the right time. Failure to establish a proper strategy before March 11 could mean disruption and/or chaos depending on the critical nature of the system.

Telephone switches and computers should be synchronized in order for call detail records to be assigned the right date stamp. This will ensure that call records are reported accurately and tariff information is properly applied. Companies that use call accounting for cost allocation, rebilling and real time billing will be most affected.

Microsoft is warning that older operating systems including Windows XP SP1 and Windows NT4 will require manual setting. The company website provides detailed instruction on their various products and patches are furiously being created and distributed. Microsoft recommends that customers should not assume that everyone has made the proper updates. On their website they state "users should view any appointments that fall into these date ranges as suspect until they communicate with all meeting invitees to make sure that the item shows up correctly on everyone's calendar both internally and externally."

"If they're running systems that are not auto-updated, they'll have to be cognizant to make those changes themselves," said Mike Wendy, a representative for the Computing Technology Industry Association. "That will involve a modicum of some sort of education to the community to ensure that that occurs."

Resource Software International Ltd. (RSI) spokesman Steve Cummings explains "our software solutions utilize the date and time provided by the hardware manufacturers. Our applications will continue to function without the adjustment but could report erroneous tariffs. Customers are advised to contact their equipment vendors to ensure that the daylight savings time is accurately configured."

Comcast Will Provide You With Lots Of Bonuses

When cable TV technology was first introduced a few decades ago, it didn't take long for it to become the TV service of choice. Since then, cable TV technology has only improved and now, one company has embraced all of those changes in order to provide the best service possible. This company is Comcast, and the services that it offers in have expanded to include high speed Internet access and telephone calling plans, as well as digital cable.

The high speed Internet access is perhaps the most noteworthy addition to Comcast's services just because of the options that it can open up for the people who use it. Anyone who has been using dial up Internet access will be amazed by what they can do with the high speed Internet access that they can experience over a cable connection. Websites that used to take forever to load are suddenly right there on your screen! Software updates that you had never even thought about downloading will be yours for the taking! All of the streaming audio, like form Internet radio stations, will fill your computer's speakers! Even online video- in the form of TV shows, news clips, amateur movies, and even full like feature films- will all be within your reach to enjoy!

To make its high speed Internet service even more attractive and user friendly, Comcast will provide you with lots of bonuses that will make using the service even more pleasurable and safe. These bonuses include special Web content like Internet radio streams, CNN News Clips, and coverage of Nascar races. You'll also have access to online games, music, and digital photos.

In addition to things that are fun to look at and do online, Comcast will also provide you with plenty of security features to keep your family, your identity, and your computers safe from the threats of the Internet. For example, you'll get access to McAfee VirusScan software for the duration of your Comcast subscription. You'll also have the option of installing a firewall to protect your computer from malicious software intent on stealing your personal information, or just being a nuisance.

The phone service provided by Comcast will also be a huge improvement on what you've been using. That's because this particular phone service provides you with a lot more than traditional phone services for an equivalent amount of money. For example, instead of having to pay extra fees for useful features like caller ID, speed dialing, call waiting, and voice mail; you'll get all of those features and more at no extra charge. Most of your long distance charges will also become ugly things from your past. That's because every call that you make through Comcast within the United States and Canada, no matter how far away that call is, is included in your flat monthly fee. That alone offers an incredible savings compared to your old phone company.

Of course one of the best things that Comcast still offers is digital cable TV. While digital cable TV technology is related to the cable TV that we've been enjoying since the eighties (and since the seventies in some areas) the digital cable TV provided by Comcast is a huge improvement. There are two reasons for this. First, there are many more channels than there used to be - over two hundred and seventy five to be specific. Second, the fact that all of those channels are digital means that they come though much more clearly than the analog signal that was used in the past.