u/Delicious-Driver6187

Its that time again, to renew my contract. Two years ago when I renewed, Virgin Media had just built their fibre product in the area but due to the persistence and dishonesty of their sales people I refused to switch to them. I was hearing noises about Openreach being available "within the next year" so I let my current provider, PlusNet, renew my contract for two years with the proviso that when Openreach completed their fiber network I would be automatically switched over to fiber. Well two years have come and gone and no Openreach network. Their was a flurry of Openreach engineer activity in the automn of 2025 and I ask one of the engineers when full fibre will be available and he though in the spring of 2026, yet here we are and no further activity and nothing heard from Openreach. Their checker is still stating "building within the next year".

So I have the same dilemma as I had two years ago - go with virgin media or stay with PlusNet on the FTTC "fibre" product. I spoke with Ofcom who could not give me any further information. They did point out that I was already on FTTC so not a priority, which was being given to copper customers. I was then given the usual advice to speak with my provider - who could only tell me as much as the Openreach checker was telling me. I got a distinct "not our problem" vibe.

I guess I can understand the reason for priorities, but it misses the point: do I lock myself into an inferior FTTC product for another two years or run with a company that has given me good reason not to trust them. A dire choice and that's before I even look at reviews.

Why is there no one I can talk to to get a more definite timeline?

I am wondering whether any one has used one of these and how they found it?

I came across one at my local Lidl that had been reduced from £12.99 to £10.39. I had read dual probe thermometers were generally more accurate than the standard thermometer built into the lid. The box was still sealed so I could be confident that there were no missing parts so I figured that for a tenner it was worth a try.

I didn't use it during our BBQ at the weekend as its still early days and I am still focusing on things like controlling the temperature and getting the cooking right.

However, at £12.99 this is very cheap especially when compared to the £110.49 that one would pay for the Weber iGrill. As expected it does have a somewhat cheap feel and the receiver is a bit "chuncky", but does seem reasonably well made for the price. The transmitter and receiver both run on 2 x AAA batteries. Once the probes are connected, the temperature appears on both units.

I have not played with the settings yet to see how they work although undoubtedly the other pricier options e.g. ThermoPro have better features. One immediate observation is that the magnets seem a little weak, but they do seem to hold.

https://preview.redd.it/jvqq1c20qiwg1.jpg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c5a130fcd821fb0a2e44f7fb3d1b481bc588c540

With my Weber 5750 I received a metal plate attachment that allows you to mount their iGrill and the transmitter unit does fit on that. How does one normally route the probe wires? Do they just run between the lid and base?

We had our second BBQ this weekend with the Weber 5750. Following some of the advice learned from this previous post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/UKBBQ/comments/1sive7u/comment/ofrsin3/?context=1

In summary,

• place charcoals on one side to create a sear and cook zones
• open one vent fully and control flow (and temp) with the other one
• allow coals to smoke out for at least 30 minutes
• use as full starter chimney of charcoal, not 2/3rds
• no cast iron utensils

The ambient temp was still around 10-12deg, but without the chill from wind that we had last time around. After following the advice, the cooking went a lot better and I think I have started to understand more about temperature control. I used the existing supermarket charcoal stock we had as I wanted to use it up before moving onto the Weber charcoal. We also stuck to cooking burgers for now.

I left the coals to smoke out for around 30 minutes this time. After the smoke had pretty much gone, there was a flame. I wasn't sure whether I had to wait for the flame to die down? We didn't get a flame last time. I left it flaming for a few more minutes, but then tipped the charcoal into one side of the 5750, placed the grilles and cover on with the fully open vent on the opposite side and bottom vent fully open s well. The temp rose to 300deg and would have kept going - which it never did last time - at which point I gradually closed down the lower vent until the temperature stabilized to just under 300deg.

Once the temp had stabilized we put the meat on to the direct side to sear for a few minutes, which it did nicely, and then moved it over to the indirect side. After opening the lid to do this, the temperature had dropped a little, but came up again and stabilized at around 250deg where it stayed for most of the cooking time. We then added onions and mushrooms and wedges on the baking tray and corn on the cob which we had buttered beforehand directly onto the grille. We managed to keep most of it off the direct side. I had also lightly saute'd the onions and mushrooms beforehand. The mushrooms, corn on the cob and the burgers turned out nicely. The cooking time must have been around 20-30 minutes. I think if I had left things in much longer, the burgers would have gone a bit dry

Unfortunately, the onions were still a bit crispy and under-cooked. The wedges were just cooked unevently and were not crispy although overall not quite as bad as last time. They were on the side of the tray closest to the direct side which might explain why some had burned sides while others were only just about done. I probably need to get one or more of those Weber trays? I notice they have holes in the bottom like air fryer trays.

So overall this worked out much better, but still some questions:

• was the initial searing temp too high?
• was my cooking time long enough?
• what can I do to cook the onions better and get crispy wedges?

The BBQ temp remained stable and hot (+200deg and lid hot to the touch) for at least an hour or more afterwards after which it gradually died down so I think the charcoals worked a lot better this time.

Incidentally, with the mention of lumpwood charcoal in the other thread, I noticed that my local co-op sells lumpwood charcoal and wondered whether it was worth trying once my existing stocks run low?

I still have enough supermarket charcoal for the next BBQ with possibly needing to top it up with the Weber branded one. After that I will probably have enough for one more on the Weber branded stuff so after the next one would perhaps be a good time to try some lumpwood.