However, Google has now announced that it will be dropping support for Internet Explorer 6, starting with Google Apps as early as March 1st. Google Mail and their other properties will also phase out support shortly afterwards. This strikes me as the moment that Google has decided that IE6 market share is no longer big enough to allow it to hold back progress any longer. This announcement is big enough that it’s one of the top three stories on the BBC News homepage.

So one question comes up. Does this mean that we, as regular every day web developers, can finally drop support for Internet Explorer 6 in our own work? My site doesn’t work in the browser currently, but purely due to laziness on my part, can I now say that actually, it never will? It feels like it could be that moment.

Almost all of last week, our connection was terrible. We were getting cut off regularly, ping timeouts ( on 2MBPS! ) and generally slow connectivity. So I decided to call the Orange “support” line, in hope of getting an answer as to why. I didn’t mind if it was “We’re having some technical problems in your area, it will be x hours…”, I just wanted to know something was being done to fix it.

Upon calling, I was connected to a delightfully useless Indian(-sounding) lady. She confirmed our account details and after a record 18 minutes on the phone, she’d managed to put us in for a line test and had informed me of that around nine times. However, they weren’t going to call us about the results of the test, they wanted us to call them back! Slightly angered by her general uselessness and my connection trouble, I was complaining about it with some people in an IRC room, where someone told me to check out PlusNet. Their packages looked great, some of the features were the things we missed most from our current service and they were even cheaper! I decided then and there that we were going to switch.

“Sorry sir, we can’t discuss the account with anyone but the account holder.”

Saturday afternoon, I called to request our broadband migration code, the required code for transferring between providers. The assistant was actually pretty helpful, it wasn’t going to be a problem. She proceeded to ask me the “security” questions, which I answered – right up until “Can I take your full name please?”. Being the honest soul I am, I told them my name, but that the account was in the name of my father. Right then and there, the assistant ceased being helpful. The only answer I managed to get was “Sorry sir, we can’t discuss the account with anyone but the account holder. You’ll need to get him to call us back”. Now I can see the reason for this, but I have the account username, password, phone number, address and the birth date of the account holder… If I was looking to cause trouble, I would just cancel the account online, surely?

“Your migration code will be emailed to you within 24-48 hours“

Around 20 minutes later, my father called them back. After a round of security questions and attempts to persuade him to stay with Orange’s broadband service, they finally gave in and told him that “Your migration code will be emailed to you within 24-48 hours“. Satisfied, I went about my business for the next 48 hours, periodically checking my email for the migration code. Alas, it was nowhere to be found.

Now Tuesday, having not received the code, I called back. Once again answered several security questions and the assistant told me that we should have received it by now. He checked the computer using our phone number and username, “The code is on file”. However, once again, he couldn’t discuss account details with me, as i’m not the account holder. Being a logical thinker, my response was “Could you not just email the code to our account email address, like you told us you would? Apparently that’s too hard though, my father needs to call them back. Sigh.

“I’m not sure why you were told that sir, the code isn’t on file. It will be emailed to you within 48 working hours of the original request.”

My dad’s just called them back, once again went through their questions and requested that the assistant tell him the migration code. Except, it’s mystically disappeared. “I’m not sure why you were told that sir, the code isn’t on file. It will be emailed to you within 48 working hours of the original request”. So, not only has the code disappeared, but it’s now 48 working hours, not 24-48 hours. Using their logic, we should have the code by around 3:45pm today.

Back to the waiting game, I guess. Thanks for nothing, Orange.

Update ( 3:06PM ): Finally received the MAC code… No sign of the BT Product Key.

Update ( 3:20PM ): Managed to get hold of someone at Orange support with a brain, he found it out for me with relative ease. A movin’ I go!

Note: This has been reposted from an old, old blog. Hopefully it will show up in the right place!