Need some help from some Brits re: Ceefax

[TiggrToo]

So, many many years ago (before the turn of the century) I left the shores of blighty and headed for international shores anew.

One service I remember well was Ceefax and ITVs equivalent, Oracle.

Now, I get that way back in the early days of the great Analog switchover that those respective services were shutdown. My understanding from subsequent conversations with her is that other services were launched in its place and thus the idea continued.

My mum, being a bit of a technophobe, loved the service because she was able to keep up with current events armed with nothing more than her TV and antenna. No smartphone, no broadband, just Teletext (that she still calls Ceefax).

So today when speaking to her on the dog n bone, she asks me to find out if this replacement service has been discontinued because she's not been able to use it since the New Years.

I've not been able to ascertain anything concrete from my various searches on the intertubes so now I'm reaching out to any Brits in the UK to see if any of them can help me answer my mums question?

Anyone able to help me, and ergo, me mum?

 

[Apple fanboy]

So, many many years ago (before the turn of the century) I left the shores of blighty and headed for international shores anew.

One service I remember well was Ceefax and ITVs equivalent, Oracle.

Now, I get that way back in the early days of the great Analog switchover that those respective services were shutdown. My understanding from subsequent conversations with her is that other services were launched in its place and thus the idea continued.

My mum, being a bit of a technophobe, loved the service because she was able to keep up with current events armed with nothing more than her TV and antenna. No smartphone, no broadband, just Teletext (that she still calls Ceefax).

So today when speaking to her on the dog n bone, she asks me to find out if this replacement service has been discontinued because she's not been able to use it since the New Years.

I've not been able to ascertain anything concrete from my various searches on the intertubes so now I'm reaching out to any Brits in the UK to see if any of them can help me answer my mums question?

Anyone able to help me, and ergo, me mum?

Nothing on ITV, but still on BBC.

I've just tried it and it's probably the first time in a decade.

How about an iPad with a BBC news app etc. that's what my old mum has learnt to use.

 

[TiggrToo]

Nothing on ITV, but still on BBC.

I've just tried it and it's probably the first time in a decade.

How about an iPad with a BBC news app etc. that's what my old mum has learnt to use.

She has an Android tablet that my sister gave her and set up a broadband connection for, however after heavily using it for one month, it now sits idle, still powered up & plugged in 'making silly noises several times a day annoying me'.

This from a mother who originally wrote code for an Elliot-803 in the 1950's and who even found out one of her code books is now part of the collection at the National Museum of Computing in Bletchkey Park!

I'll let her know it's still active and she probably needs her grandson to kick it back into life.

Thanks!

 

[Nermal]

If I'm understanding Wikipedia correctly then Ceefax disappeared a few years ago but was replaced with "Red Button" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Red_Button). It seems that Red Button still exists.

 

[TiggrToo]

If I'm understanding Wikipedia correctly then Ceefax disappeared a few years ago but was replaced with "Red Button" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Red_Button). It seems that Red Button still exists.

Yeah, after @Apple fanboy replied I called her up and she confirmed it was the Red Button she was using (when you are an old school Ceefax user then I guess no matter what it's still Ceefax to you). Apparently she was last able to use it just before midnight on New Year's Eve but not since.

She's going to get my sister, her husband or her grandson to look into it this week.

Guess I'm old school as well as I still remember the Pages From Ceefax that the Beeb broadcast at the dawn of the service!

 

[Nermal]

Guess I'm old school as well as I still remember the Pages From Ceefax that the Beeb broadcast at the dawn of the service!

We had a similar service over here, simply named Teletext. We didn't have a compatible TV when I was a kid but I remember seeing it at a friend's place and being fascinated by it; this would've been before the Internet was commonplace.

The service actually survived the digital transition here but the bulk of it eventually disappeared due to lack of use. I think it still technically exists to this day but is only used for subtitles.

 

[NeilHD]

http://teletext.mb21.co.uk/