OFCOM

[#1]

I thought it might be interesting to see if OFCOM is held in high regard or not.

[#2]

Come on, confess, you know who you are. What reasons are there for voting yes?
Toothless and largely ineffective about so many issues, e.g.
BT Monopoly services answerable to no-one in the real world in real timescales
The shambles of unwanted sales/scam calls and non-control of them, originating in the UK or elsewhere.

[#3]

I had a phone line fault on Monday - phoned BT and the engineer was here first thing yesterday. Unfortunately, there's an underground issue so he has had to pass it to another team.
Sales/scam marketing calls I thought come under the ICO? The solution should be very easy though - the government should introduce a law banning such calls with large penalties to the companies/directors if they fail to adhere to the law.
I think the main issue with OFCOM is the length of time they take to actually take action. It seems like a very long and drawn out process for changes to be introduced.

[#4]

If OFCOM had been effective in enforcing reinvestment in the UK broadband infrastructure, then I believe more cost effective and wider reaching ways of upgrading exchanges and lines would have been found, rather than the inefficient and unfair manner that the BDUK scheme is going about things currently.

[#5]

Quote from: AndyH

I think the main issue with OFCOM is the length of time they take to actually take action. It seems like a very long and drawn out process for changes to be introduced.

...add to which they need EU approval to dictate BTOR performance standards - it's all totally broken and not fit for purpose.

[#6]

Quote from: AndyH

Sales/scam marketing calls I thought come under the ICO?

It's not entirely clear, OFCOM has a complaints page which does reference the ICO for some situations: http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/complain/phone-and-broadband-complaints/privacy/

[#7]

well here is the issues with ofcom.
part of their remit is to ensure the companies they regulate remain profitable, this is in direct conflict with its other powers.  This is why I feel so often whenever it makes new rules it seems to deliberately leave loopholes to be exploited so companies can keep their profits.
their rule changes are 90% wholesale only, such as the recent change to contract lengths and migration charges on FTTC, the retailers have kept the status quo, meaning no gains for the consumer.
It takes them about 3-5 years to go from the drawing board to an announcement and then after the announcement they often allow 1-3 years for companies to comply.  This is notable on legislation that is their to help consumers directly rather than the pro compteition stuff which they take more seriously.
They discourage contacting them, on their website most of their links take you to other agencies, and the one or two that allow you to fill in a form to contact ofcom make you jump through hoops, the quickest way to contact them without BS is the phone.  But even thenthey have a policy of not acting on individual complaints, instead they just log and tally them, although occasionally they will act if they see a company is in clear breach of a rule.