topic Re: Community Spotlight: Welshsteve76 in Welcome & News

Community Spotlight: Welshsteve76

Martin-O2 — Fri, 26 Jul 2019 13:40:00 GMT

Hey everyone,

It's Friday and what better way to see in the weekend then a community spotlight! This time around the spotlight is on @welshsteve76! Welshsteve76 joined the community back in 2012 and he's kindly agreed to answer a few questions for the spotlight.

Check out his answers below and feel free to ask any follow up queries you may have!

What’s your name and where are you from?

Steve. Originally from South Wales (about 17 miles west of Swansea). Moved to Cheltenham (uni) before moving to Leamington Spa nearly 20 years ago now.

Why did you join and stay in the O2 Community?

Initially joined back in 2012 to find out why I had no mobile signal at the time. Took a look around the forums and decided to get involved in other discussions. I sporadically used it on and off since, before becoming more regular in recent years. Unlike many other forum boards around the Internet, where the regulars and admins can be, shall we say "abrasive", and unhelpful, the O2 community regulars and admins are very helpful and friendly, and instead criticising somebody's post for not being in the "correct format", they go out of their way to assist.

What was your first mobile phone and which phone do you currently have?

Nokia 5110 (the one you could replace the fascias and buttons). I currently have a Huawei P20 Pro.

If you were CEO of O2 for a day, what would you do?

Allow free upgrades for anyone with a Huawei device plan

Seriously though, the huge drop off in customer service in recent years needs addressing (it was the very best of all industries until a few years ago in my opinion). It's still better than EE & Vodafone though. The customise your plan isn't flexible enough (you should be able to select data packages 1GB at a time). But one thing I think would really help customers is to make O2 recycle clearer and fairer. If you have a device plan and wish to trade in, there should be a minimum payment amount you get which equates to premiums paid.

Favourite movie/TV show/actor?

Movie = Back To The Future or The Shawshank Redemption

TV Show = Quantum Leap (all time), Supernatural or Lucifer are my favourite current TV shows.

Actor = David Tennant

How do you take your tea/coffee?

Tea = Strong, no sugar, drop of milk

Coffee = Strong, sometimes half a brown sugar, shake the milk so it froths up.

Do you have any pets?

No. I do get a robin coming down to my back door regularly every day asking for food though (some of you may have seen the pictures I have posted on the community).

Which future development in tech are you looking forward to?

Quantum Computing becoming the norm.

If you could have a conversation with any famous person, dead or alive who would it be and why?

Brian Cox (scientist). He just makes difficult things sound so simple.

What's your dream house like and where would it be located (if you could choose anything!)?

I'm not really into huge with 10 bedrooms etc. As long as it was reasonable roomy with a couple of guest rooms (3 or 4 bedrooms in total). I'm more about outside space. That would do me. It would have to be detached without any noisy neighbours and far from a busy road. However ( ), I'd love it to have a cinema room, games room (snooker, pool, games consoles), swimming pool and a small gym (rowing machine, exercise bike), tennis court, nice garden with flower beds etc. I wouldn't want it to be in the UK though. Probably Lanzarote.

Any hobbies besides the Community?

Music is a big love of mine, and I listen to and collect a lot of music, as well as going to gigs whenever I can (it's expensive these days). I can also play guitar, although I don't get it out that often these days (I used to play in bands). I like to play snooker, and used to run the local snooker league and was a team captain for over 10 years. Although since I stopped playing in a team I don't play much anymore.

Thanks for sharing a bit about yourself Steve! Much appreciated!

Re: Community Spotlight: Welshsteve76

gmarkj — Fri, 26 Jul 2019 13:50:27 GMT

Good spotlight @welshsteve76 and nice to know a little more about you.
Wonder where the username came from....

Re: Community Spotlight: Welshsteve76

welshsteve76 — Fri, 26 Jul 2019 13:52:00 GMT

@gmarkj wrote:
Good spotlight @welshsteve76 and nice to know a little more about you.
Wonder where the username came from....

LOL

Re: Community Spotlight: Welshsteve76

Cleoriff — Fri, 26 Jul 2019 14:03:15 GMT

Hi @welshsteve76

I know of your love of music. Favourite band Altar Bridge?

Thanks for introducing me to them. They are a great band.

You say you used to play in bands. What type of music did you play?

If I had to guess I would say Heavy Metal......??

Great spotlight by the way.

Re: Community Spotlight: Welshsteve76

Glory1 — Fri, 26 Jul 2019 14:29:52 GMT

Excellent spotlight @welshsteve76 and good to learn a bit more about you.

Interesting to see you like Lucifer and Supernatural, favourites of mine as it happens. And The Shawshank Redemption, along with A Few Good Men, is probably my favourite film of all; particularly love the ending.

You mentioned Lanzarote as a place to live. Is there anywhere else in the world you'd like to call home, if you were given the opportunity?

Re: Community Spotlight: Welshsteve76

welshsteve76 — Fri, 26 Jul 2019 14:47:42 GMT

@Cleoriff- Alter Bridge and Metallica are probably my joint favourite bands. I love them both. And you're welcome

I played rock music, not heavy metal. Stuff like like Stone Roses, Oasis, The Who, Primal Scream, Stereophonics etc. I wrote my own music as well, which ranged from acoustic ballads to punk

@Glory1- yeah I love Lanzarote. I've always wanted to visit Canada and New Zealand, which are interestingly two countries where the company I work for has offices, so you never know, I may get to visit them someday

The reason I picked Lanzarote is because its warm all year round, the people are nice and I've loved my holidays there. The crime rate is virtually zero too. Everyone is just happy

Re: Community Spotlight: Welshsteve76

Glory1 — Fri, 26 Jul 2019 14:52:14 GMT

Lanzarote sounds absolutely ideal @welshsteve76. If I was a lot younger than I am, I would love to visit. It's supposed to be beautiful there too.

Re: Community Spotlight: Welshsteve76

welshsteve76 — Fri, 26 Jul 2019 14:56:40 GMT

If you do go @Glory1 I would highly recommend taking a trip to the Timanfaya national park. It's an active volcano. Incredible sights! At the top they cook chicken on large skewers over a well in the ground it's that hot

Re: Community Spotlight: Welshsteve76

jonsie — Fri, 26 Jul 2019 15:48:52 GMT

Great spotlight @welshsteve76

Your ideal home sounds exactly like the one I would have if possible although I coud downsize and do without the tennis court. On the other hand I could replace that with a nine hole golf course

Ideally though in Thailand not Lanzarote

Re: Community Spotlight: Welshsteve76

Glory1 — Fri, 26 Jul 2019 15:55:00 GMT

@welshsteve76 wrote:
If you do go @Glory1 I would highly recommend taking a trip to the Timanfaya national park. It's an active volcano. Incredible sights! At the top they cook chicken on large skewers over a well in the ground it's that hot

That is making me very hungry and sounds fantastic @welshsteve76

Re: Community Spotlight: Welshsteve76

TallTrees — Fri, 26 Jul 2019 18:14:29 GMT

Hello @welshsteve76

Thank you for your spotlight.

Liked your vision of "dream house"

Re: Community Spotlight: Welshsteve76

sheepdog — Fri, 26 Jul 2019 19:21:45 GMT

@welshsteve76 you need to do Canada at least twice: once in the summer & once in the winter. Once you try a winter in Canada, you'll just laugh at the pitiful moans about UK winters. Well worth going from Alberta through to Vancouver around the Rockies (we did by car) though you won't be disappointed by Toronto/Ontario (recommend you do that first).

Re: Community Spotlight: Welshsteve76

pgn — Fri, 26 Jul 2019 21:33:32 GMT

I think being able to chat with Brian Cox would be ace! Brian Cox *and* Quantum Computing...

Re: Community Spotlight: Welshsteve76

Mi-Amigo — Sat, 27 Jul 2019 09:24:21 GMT

Great Spotlight @welshsteve76 .

It is nice to learn more about you and your interests - particularly your taste in music and bands.

Re: Community Spotlight: Welshsteve76

Anonymous — Mon, 29 Jul 2019 06:49:34 GMT

Wonderful spotlight @welshsteve76

You say you'd like to live in Lanzarote

I too like the Canary Islands ... & ... understand why you like Lanzarote ... the climate & outdoor lifestyle

Re: Community Spotlight: Welshsteve76

welshsteve76 — Tue, 30 Jul 2019 08:34:16 GMT

@sheepdog- Drives me nuts when people complain about the weather. It's too hot, or it's too cold etc. There's quite literally nothing anybody can do about it LOL

@pgn- yeah that would be awesome

@Mi-Amigo- I have a varied taste in music, although the vast majority of the bands and artists I listen to are heavy rock/metal

@Anonymous- It always just seems so chilled out there. I love it. I've never been to any of the another canary islands though. Just Lanzarote

Re: Community Spotlight: Welshsteve76

jonsie — Tue, 30 Jul 2019 14:03:41 GMT

I've been to all 4 main islands and I've always favoured Tenerife. Try the island hopper that a lot of the local travel agencies do in Lanzarote on a three day excursion.

Re: Community Spotlight: Welshsteve76

Glory1 — Tue, 30 Jul 2019 19:33:49 GMT

I've also been to Tenerife and loved it. Also, while I was there did a day trip to La Gomera which, at the time, was unspoilt and beautiful. Never made it to the other islands, unfortunately.

Re: Community Spotlight: Welshsteve76

Cleoriff — Tue, 30 Jul 2019 21:43:19 GMT

I went to Gran Canaria about 35 years ago with my youngest son. Unless it's changed dramatically, I hated it. The apartment complex had a pool, other than that there was nothing in the way of entertainment close by. All shops etc were in small complexes.

With hindsight I should have booked into a hotel but money was short so I did things on the cheap.

The beach was a long way from the apartment.

I expect it has changed now, although I have no wish to return.

Re: Community Spotlight: Welshsteve76

jonsie — Wed, 31 Jul 2019 00:06:54 GMT

No, I wasn't impressed with Gran Canaria nor Fuerteventura. Lanzarote we went to in January, two months before my wife passed away so I look back on that holiday with sadness as she wasn't well at the time. For that reason I wuld never go back there.