Tell us what’s on your mind
No excuse for YouTube adverts being so intrusive
YouTube might justify its crackdown on ad-blockers by saying that adverts pay for people to place videos on the site, but that doesn’t excuse the adverts from being so intrusive (Issue 671, page 7).
I’ve just finished an evening of watching several YouTube videos covering a variety of topics, and every one had adverts every five minutes or so. These ads burst on to the screen with no warning. Wham, bam, give us your money!
Nobody questions that ITV needs adverts to survive – without them, just imagine how much more the TV licence would cost. But they don’t interrupt your viewing every five minutes. You also know roughly when they’re coming, particularly if you spot the cue marker dot in the corner.
Until YouTube realises that it should treat viewers with more respect, I’ll continue to look for ways to block adverts. Like Gordon Johnston (Issue 671, page 41), I’ve found that watching YouTube in Brave’s incognito mode (pictured below) seems to block them. If that stops working, I’m sure clever developers elsewhere will find workarounds.
Pete Corbin
Broadband jargon pays – so it’s here to stay
Regarding jargon that broadband providers use to confuse customers (‘Question of the Fortnight’, Issue 671), Ofcom shouldn’t bother tackling the difference between fibre and full-fibre. Most people don’t understand the physical difference between broadband cables – and why should they be expected to? What matters when advertising a package is speed, not the material used to deliver it.
The only problem with focusing on speed is that many people don’t fully appreciate the difference between, say, 100Mbps and 500Mbps. The way around this is for companies to state clearly how quickly you can download something.
There needs to be a universal download standard, such as a 90-minute film. But providers won’t want that because it’ll reveal that the speed benefits of 500Mbps aren’t great enough to justify charging as much as they do. If anything, stating the speed differences might lead to people switching to a slower but cheaper service. So, in short, jargon pays – and therefore is here to stay!
James Humphrey
Five full-fibre networks caused hellish roadworks
As a Braintree resident I read with a wry smile that some households in the town can now take their pick from five providers of full-fibre broadband (Issue 671, page 7). I don’t live in one of these ‘lucky’ h
