To me, Aertel/teletext services were basically a direct precursor of the internet. Page 100 was the homepage, instead of following hyperlinks you just tapped in a page’s number (address) to get to the content you want.

I don’t know if I’m unusual in doing this but often if I’m looking for Lotto numbers or GAA results, I’ll actually be more likely to load the Aertel website and go to page 150 or 202 instead of going to the actual Lotto or GAA websites…

its no good for porn to be fair

My dad lives on aertel. He cant use a computer and doesn’t have Internet on his phone so he uses aertel for news and weather (even for the tide). Also where we live there is no facility for sky or digital TV (saorview also not so far accessible in area) so he uses it especially for UK football results and would often just watch the blank screen and upload the pages!!

I’m surprised that Ceefax is gone, I know that analogue TV is on it’s way out, but there’s an advanced version of Aertel available on Digital TV. I believe the standard is called MHEG-5.
Does anyone remember Aertel Interactive ( P.777)? You’d call up a freephone number and input the code from the screen into your dialpad, then everyone else who was on p.777 could see what you were looking at, I think it was for train timetables.

I use it online. There are particular pages I find very handy, the one that lists all the movies being shown on terrestrial channels, the one that shows what’s on now and next as well as some of the sports pages for fixtures. And there’s always a nice competition or two going on there. My aunt won a car from it! And my Mum still uses it as her source of news, and this is a woman with an iPad and an iPhone like.

Sports results & tv listings, sometimes cinema listings.

Christ I remember following Cork City matches in their entirety on the thing. Simpler, simpler times.

I suppose with iPhones and the like there’s no need for it anymore when you have all the information you’ll ever need in your pocket. It’ll always be fondly remembered though.

Anyone remember playing Bamboozle on the C4 teletext??

The main body of Aertel users do not have Internet access and will not be able to vote in this poll. I think a lot of the older generation and people with no broadband access still use Aertel, I know my mam does. Also, I think RTE are switching to a digital version of Aertel soon.

Of course it gets used, I use it morning and night for news and sport.. The reason is it’s quicker and more concise than online sites.. Not just for old people..

Aertel is the internet for OAPs!

I love aertel, it reminds me of playing with my Atari and Commodore 64.

Ive stopped using Aertel since I got a Sky HD box. Aertel isnt available over a HDMI connection

I use to play Bamboozle on Ch4. :)

TV listings for what’s on now: Aertel 180. Pretty handy.

Very handy for the sports results and cinema listings. Thats all I use it for though.

I use it most days for news headlines lotto results, airport arrivals. my husband uses it for football. its a lot less hassle(simple format no links etc) than the internet and less chance of wasting time surfing.

Cinema listings, sorted

I didn’t even realise it was still available!

Aertel is great! Use it all the time!

We still use it in the house. As Maurice said the football scores were always very slow to update and I think that was it’s only negative. My mum will use it to look up arrival times at Dublin Airport when we’ve family heading over. There was a Kids Page with competitions that was very popular in our house. It’s nice to see that it’s still there, a bit like a time capsule and I will be sad to see it switched off.

I have faxed you my response. The telex was out of diesel.

Yep my parents and uncle still find aertel much better for GAA results than GAA or lotto website- and they are able Internet users.

Yes,everyday and very handy

Use it everyday. Great service

I used to use it all the time, lotto, sports results, news etc. now I get it all on my smartphone or desktop pc.
Can’t seem to access it since I got my sky box either.
It’s outdated, not worth keeping for the few that use it.

Before the days of sky digital and UPC when I had cable link I always checked page 180 to see what was on Telly now and next.

Still use errortel the odd time. As any league of Ireland fan would tell you though it’s not the most reliable or up to date service :-)

Should see a reduction in the telly tax.

Not in my own house, smartphone is far too quick and convenient, but when I’m visiting family in rural Galway and can’t get a signal it’s priceless, no footie scores without it, that said I tend to use the red button on bbc instead of aertel.

Can anyone remember interactive aertel? You rang a dublin phone number, allocated a personal page and from them on controlled the service via your phone. It gave access to games etc?

Your asking the wrong crowd. People using the journal.ie are not your typical teletext demographic

Used to use it every day but now I have the wonderful Journal.ie, ha ha

used to be a big fan but the Saorview version is poor eg the time shown is always one hour slow and RTE seem unable to fix it.

I used to use it to check cinema listings, but now I just use the internet…

I use an Android app called TV Listings. It is excellent for what is on now. I dont use Aertel anymore. I was only thinking about it the other day. Stuff like the Airport info is handy. Didnt know that.

airtel is grandma’s internet

Not much of an Aertel user back in the day except for TV listings.

But I read Digitiser on Channel 4 teletext every day (even though it only updated 3 days a week)

moc-moc-a-moc.

Press Reveal-O for Morse and Lewis.

Used to use it a lot to get soccer scores on a Saturday (another Leeds fan like the lad above). With the dawn of Apple & Android apps its become less relevant and I’m usually close to a PC anyway. On an aside the RTE news app will now refuse to work on anything less than iOS4 so my old 2nd-Gen iPod Touch will not get it (so much for this new Media-Charge being because everybody has a device that can receive RTE hey) . The Journal app still works thankfully!

I still use Aertel everyday, my bookmark for RTE’s website is the Aertel online page even.

http://www.rte.ie/aertel/100-01.html

I will miss it a lot as it’s often much easier to find what you’re looking for on there than online (ie, tv listings, film previews, timetables, etc)

I got a great deal from aertel page 500 for a last minute holiday. this was about 2 weeks ago and Im just back.
Its a great service, particularly for late holiday offers.
Its still very much alive and well.

Aertel is completely changed with the digital signal, has the author of this article used it?
Even the picture represents analogue teletext.
Major fail.

It always has been a load of crap, the new service is not much better, ask any soccer supporter here.

Yes, I use it to check programme times. But it’s not always accurate.

Don’t have a television, and never used it even when I did have one.

Been trying to find the answer to this question on Aertel these past 15 hours. Page still loading…

I would probably use it for checking cinema tv and flight schedules, but it doesn’t work on skybox. Anyway it was always a bit slow

Hardly ever used it. Never had a TV signal strong enough – letters and words were always missing. Haven’t watched RTE for years so haven’t missed it and won’t miss it when it goes.