Tell us what’s on your mind
Stop using Facebook for news
To answer the question you posed in Issue 667 (page 8) – no, I never use Facebook as a source of news, and I wish other people would stop doing so. It sounds as if Facebook agrees, because it has now deactivated the News tab in its app (pictured above right).
I’ve been using Facebook for 15 years, and have seen it evolve from a service for keeping up with friends to a globally huge multimedia beast that tries to be everything to everyone. I hadn’t even noticed the News tab, so I won’t miss it.
When I sign into Facebook, it’s to share a joke, an old photo or an interesting link with my close circle of friends and family. It has never occurred to me that news posted on Facebook would be reliable. I grew up with newspapers of all political persuasions, along with the traditional broadcasters. They’re not perfect, but I still get the news straight from them rather than second-hand through the likes of Facebook.
Claire Henderson
I regret signing up to 500Mbps broadband
I was interested to read that 52 per cent of UK homes can now get full-fibre broadband (Issue 667, page 9). I’ve made the leap to full-fibre, but only because it was cheaper than sticking with a fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) package. I switched from a TalkTalk service offering less than 50Mbps to a 500Mbps service from a small local firm in Hampshire. When I queried how this could be cheaper, they said that as a small firm they have lower overheads than the major providers.
However, despite the good deal, I regret upgrading to 500Mbps. In hindsight, I should have chosen 150Mbps. The kids have left home now, so only my wife and I use it. We’ve never got close to needing 500Mbps, and I doubt we ever will. When my contract expires, I will ask about downgrading to 150Mbps and paying even less. I’m prepared to be persuaded that I need 500Mbps though. I’d like to hear from other readers who have a similarly fast internet connection and think it’s essential.
Clive Jones
With Freely I can chuck out my dish
Freely sounds like a great idea (Issue 667, page 6), and I’m glad the BBC and ITV – plus those other two channels that I never watch – have got together to agree on an app. I currently use an ageing Freesat box that’s painfully slow. I also have a satellite dish that was in its prime about 15 years ago. It can’t cope with bad weather, so when it rains I can barely watch live TV.
But while my TV setup is rooted in the stone age, I
