Recag/C4_43 · Datasets at Hugging Face

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They just don't get it ?
4) Anything else bundled that obfuscates pricing while, presumably, raising the cost of provision.
While I welcome a price war within this otherwise cosy cartel. let's have a war about prices, not add-ons.
Re: They just don't get it ?
Your list is a bit too all encompassing and mixed loyalty bonuses (Orange Wednesdays) with service bundles, of which I suspect bundled sport is likely to be pretty popular. But in general I'd agree with you that most people are pretty meh about 3-play, though many will sign almost any contract to get a "free" new phone.
Things get more interesting when they get free wifi roaming on the back of, which is appealing to VMNOs as it allows them to offload data from expensive rented 3G and LTE capacity to the internet.
If you don't like the big ISP/Telco offerings why not try the smaller ones.
is a bit disingenuous, these channels are just the ordinary Freeview channels that everyone gets anyway.
That said, I'm already an EE mobile and broadband customer, and I'm in the market for a DVR, so a 4-channel Freeview HD DVR for free has certainly got my attention.
I am sure that the PVR won't be 'free' for long. EE will have to recoup its costs somewhere won't they?
Isn't Freeview in danger of being squeezed out by the 4th Gen networks? Don't ofcom want us to switch to Satellite/Cable thus giving them all that lovely terrestrial bandwith to flog off?
May I humbly suggest that (unless you want footie) you get a FreeSat dish installed and a decent PVR. No more monthly charges and being beholden to a Telco for your gogglebox viewing.
Not everyone gets all the Freeview channels. Outside of main transmitter sites the number of multiplexes transmitted drops from six down to three, so you end up with a very limited choice of channels.
At the moment I get Broadband from BT - basically the same people who manage the wires, the street cabinet and the exchange. It seems to work okay. Why add a middleman (EE) with no Broadband delivery experience?
I get TV from Freesat - plug it in and point it at the sky and it works. Why faff around with something more complicated. If I want to record stuff, I can buy a recorder. I don't, so I won't.
My TV already has a remote. Why would I want to faff around using a phone to control the TV?
Why would I be watching a programme on my phone when there's a TV in the room?
Freesat is arguably more complicated than Freeview, which works with the same aerial that's been on your house for decades.
Just because you don't want a recorder doesn't mean nobody else wants one.
That is a good question. Because many people already watch TV with a phone in their hand?
Because their isn't a TV in a different room?
Now you/your kids/your grandkids can watch TV from their bedroom / the garden / the toilet without needing to install another TV (along with aerial cabling etc) in those places.
I thought you were supposed to be listing the pros, not the cons.
....more complicated than Freeview, which works with the same aerial that's been on your house for decades.
Well, maybe not your house. But mine, certainly.
Monday 13th October 2014 12:33 GMT Chad H.
EE Have been delivering broadband for a couple of years now.
"At the moment I get Broadband from BT - basically the same people who manage the wires, the street cabinet and the exchange. It seems to work okay. Why add a middleman (EE) with no Broadband delivery experience?"
Actually, not really. Since 2006 BT has been split between BT Retail and Openreach (and a few other subsidiaries) - and they all operate as independent companies. They might all be owned by BT Group - but they are separate companies - not only departments. BT Retail is a customer of Openreach, just like EE or TalkTalk or any other broadband resellers. And no - that is not just in theory - when you are stuck with a sticky broadband problem and passed around all BT departments, and wait for days on end for the "test results" to be in - you find out soon enough that the days when BT was one entity that was your direct supplier, and managed the "wires" at the same time - are long gone.
Do EE have some new source of watchable TV programmes?
Standard Orange internet+tel+mobile (unbundled) is €60/month for what I have. I guess when you have prices like that, it is easy to have a price war. Might be time to investigate Sosh (which is Orange's cheaper incarnation).
Re: Price war in France?
It's a Faultline piece – factual accuracy is optional.
As you look around Europe, Orange or T-Mobile have been successful in most smaller markets with the exception of Italy, Spain and the UK.
The UK and Italy, and to a lesser degree, Spain are considered large markets in Europe. Add France and Germany (the home markets of Orange and T-Mobile) and you've go the largest markets in the EU.
The comparison with Sky is laughable: it's not about the number of households watching stuff they can get on DVB-T anyway but the number of them who sign up for added-value channels, which is Sky's main business.
Using BT wholesale service is an easy (and cheap) way to offer service consolidation. Fifteen years ago Deutsche Telekom and France Télécom were cooperating significantly then came the UMTS auctions. EE is simply the result of one not being prepared to buy out the other. Given that in other European markets the number of providers has been allowed to drop to 3 (merger of E-Plus and O2 in Germany is going ahead), there's no reason why that wouldn't happen in the UK, though there would then have to be some reallocation of spectrum. Presumably nobody's made the right kind of offer yet. Orange UK was large enough to be profitable so I EE probably is as well, meaning there is no urgency to sell.
Orange's DSL boxes are also woeful.
"Orange's DSL boxes are also woeful."
The Livebox (2, square one with cut off corner) is underpowered. I bought a spare one with the original firmware, it makes a reasonable DNLA streamer (so I can watch stuff on the tablet). It was intended to be a spare in case the rented Livebox had problems, but I'm too scared to connect it to the phone line as it will upgrade to the current firmware. You want woeful? Talk to me about a box that can no longer quite handle streaming 480P at high bitrate, or 720P at any bitrate (it used to). Talk to me about a box with a fancy web front end that isn't capable of correctly telling me what is connected. Orange tell me that resetting the configuration will cure this but I have not done this as I have several devices on a DHCP with fixed IP addresses, and guess what, that part of the settings doesn't work either.
Thanks Orange, but I didn't sign up to be an unpaid beta tester. I really wish there was a "notify, don't install" option on firmware updates.
Monday 13th October 2014 12:35 GMT Chad H.
Seems like this article is missing the "sponsored content" warning at the top. It smells of PR churnalism.
Just because it gets a mention here, if anyone ever has reason to order any services in Spain stay well away from Vodafone there. They took my broadband and phone line, gave it to another customer whilst still charging me, then outright lied to me repeatedly down the telephone when I raised a support case. "48 hours maximum" to resolve became 72 then 96 hours, then they just cancelled my support ticket and opened a new one in order to reset their clock when the problem still wasn't fixed. At which point I blew a fuse and told them to cancel the contract. Their response? They charged me a disconnect fee! For a line that wasn't by then even connected!
That might be a reason to avoid Vodafone in Spain if the rest had better customer service, but they're all about the same.
wtf this article is missing some editorial control the written English is appalling.
BT can afford to virtually give away their broadband service at a price no other ISP can sustain because the other bit of BT can keep jacking up line rent and the cost of accessing the local loop.
BT broadband can thus "pay" the same fees as other ISPs for running broadband over a phone line, make no profit and still claim they are playing fair.
The net result is that ISP margins are squeezed so much that their only way to actually make a profit is to sell all sorts of services on the top, whether VOD, music, DVR services etc.
The petition committee for the Referendum 2009 initiative is shooting to hold its desired referendum along with either the parliamentary or municipal elections scheduled for 2010 and have written to Slovak President Ivan Gašparovič on January 25 to that effect, the TASR newswire wrote.
The letter asks whether the president is planning to have the referendum questions assessed by the country's Constitutional Court, according to Richard Sulík, head of the petition committee and chairman of the Freedom and Solidarity party (SaS).
“There are two options. Either the president will not turn to the Constitutional Court, in which case we'll file a request for calling the referendum, along with submitting the respective signatures, on February 17,” said Sulik, a businessman and former finance ministry advisor, to TASR, adding that this would enable the referendum and the general parliamentary election to be held on the same day, likely in June.
Justice remains elusive for the family of slain Tanauan City, Batangas Mayor Antonio Halili even as the latter was already buried Sunday afternoon.
Mostly clad in yellow and white shirts, the family, friends, relatives, colleagues and constituents attended the of the slain mayor’s interment yesterday afternoon at the Loyola Memorial Gardens near Tanauan City Hall.
Prior to this, a “Walk for Justice” solidarity march was held by residents starting at Plaza Mabini which was attended approximately by hundreds of people.
Carrying placards bearing the words “Justice for Mayor Halili,” the people of Tanauan City were one in demanding authorities to expedite the resolution of their town mayor’s killing.
As the march proceeded to the mayor’s house at Josefa Village in Barangay Sambat, more residents joined the parade for justice until they reached Saint John the Evangelist Parish Church around 8 a.m. for the funeral mass.
The remains of Halili was then transferred to Tanauan City Hall at noon for a public viewing and necrological service before the interment.
As the weeping people of Tanauan accompanied their slain mayor to his final resting place, they also cried for justice for his death.
Police have yet to identify the gunman behind the grim incident although three persons of interest were already being investigated, two of them are linked to illegal drugs.
Senior Kyle Gilbert won't mind if she doesn't get much recognition for her role in the success of the Stanford women's volleyball team. She never much enjoyed being the center of attention.
Her Cardinal teammates understand her importance though, and will look to her and fellow senior Morgan Boukather for leadership as Stanford, ranked third in the nation and picked to win the Pac-12, opens its season Friday at Iowa State.
Gilbert plays the libero position, a somewhat misunderstood spot on the court. Not just a defensive specialist but also not one of the bigger scorers, Gilbert is athletic enough to play any position but she's not tall enough to play the front row.
"The libero has changed the game," Stanford coach John Dunning said. "It's a difference maker. The libero has to be aggressive by nature because her game is hustle. She has a huge leadership role."
The libero came into existence internationally in 1998 and was accepted into the collegiate game in 2000. For the first few years at Stanford, players shuffled in and out of the position until Gabi Ailes, who had the advantage of playing it at the club level for a few years, arrived.
"I've always liked Gabi," Gilbert said. "She's a solid, strong player whom everyone had confidence in. She plays with class and humility. I would hope I play with the same kind of class and steady play. I try to stay under the radar, but I can bring energy when it's needed."
Gilbert starts the season with 1,410 digs, 737 behind Ailes' school record. She probably won't make it to the top but she'll likely end up in second, pretty close to 2,000 if she stays healthy.
Numbers don't mean much to Gilbert though, unless it's the end of the season and the Cardinal comes out No. 1. She thinks about how to make herself better every day.
"We've grown to ignore the expectations but not in a negative way," she said. "We set our own goals and are always striving to be the best. We want to win the Pac-12 and we want to win the national title."
The Cardinal has reached the Elite Eight in each of the past two seasons, a sign of success for most programs but not at Stanford.
"Our goal every year is to get to the Final Four and win a national championship," Gilbert said. "We were bummed about last year. It feels fine this year. We have a big junior class and it's helped we've grown up together, matured together and learned how to play together. We have a ton of experience."
Gilbert was not obsessed with volleyball growing up. She just enjoyed playing.
"I started as a setter, then moved to outside hitter and opposite hitter," Gilbert said. "Everybody started passing me in height so I was switched jerseys. It was hard at first because I enjoyed hitting. After a while, I started enjoying defense and it became one of my favorite things."
She didn't get much coaching at the club level. After all, it was still a new position and not many coaches had grown up playing it.
At Stanford she grew into the position, crediting then-senior Hannah Benjamin with her development.
"Playing behind her for a year was so beneficial," Gilbert said. "I learned a lot from her. She had played at that level longer than I had and put in a lot of effort. She was key for me."
"If you want to maintain a rally you better control the ball," Dunning said. "Kyle not only has to receive the ball, but get it to the setter in a way she had handle it."
Gilbert and Boukalter, who saw limited action last year, both will play important roles for the Cardinal.
"Morgan and Kyle are very mature," Dunning said. "They know what they want, they've worked hard and they are motivated. They are learning how to step into the leadership role and they are very good at what they do."
What helps is having four returning starters around them, including first team All-American middle blocker Inky Ajanaku, All-American setter Madi Bugg and All-American outside hitter Jordan Burgess. Junior outside hitter Brittany Howard was an All-Pac-10 pick.
"They are working hard to do more to be better as a team," Dunning said. "We have motivated people who want to get on the court. There is a lot of competition in the gym."
The junior class, which also includes Megan McGehee, was the top recruiting class in the nation. The current sophomores were among the top five recruiting classes.
Grace Kennedy and Kelsey Humphreys, who played on the U.S. Junior National Team last summer, each saw some action as freshmen last year. Ivana Vanjak, a 6-foot-4 outside hitter, and 6-8 middle blocker Merete Lutz, Humphreys teammate on the junior national team, each used their redshirt years.
Freshmen Sarah Benjamin, Hannah's younger sister, and Sidney Brown are also in line for playing time.
"Sidney and Sarah have added a lot," Dunning said. "I'm surprised how well they fit in."
Gilbert and the four returning starters will carry a heavy load for the Cardinal, and they are all capable of putting up big numbers.
"It's how we inspire each other in a team setting," Dunning said. "We are trying to motivate one another to play at a higher level, to care more and to work at a higher level."
Stanford plays at No. 7 Nebraska on Sunday before returning home to host defending NCAA champion Penn State and No. 11 Illinois next weekend.
Stanford is one of three Pac-12 teams ranked in the top five and four overall. Washington is fourth, USC is fifth and Arizona State is at No. 25.
In addition, Oregon, California, Arizona, Colorado and Utah made it into the NCAA tournament. With the exception of the Sun Devils, who lost in five sets, every Pac-12 team won its first-round match. Washington beat USC to reach the Final Four. Penn State beat Stanford in five sets to reach the Final Four.
Friday at Iowa State 5 p.m.
Sunday at Nebraska 11 a.m.
Sept. 5 vs. Penn State 6 p.m.
Sept. 7 vs. Illinois 11 a.m.
Sept. 12 vs. Duke 7 p.m.
Sept. 13 vs. Penn 11 a.m.
Sept. 13 vs. Santa Clara 7 p.m.
Sept. 18 at San Diego 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 19 at E. Washington 5 p.m.
Sept. 20 at CS Northridge 11 a.m.

They just don't get it ?

4) Anything else bundled that obfuscates pricing while, presumably, raising the cost of provision.

While I welcome a price war within this otherwise cosy cartel. let's have a war about prices, not add-ons.

Re: They just don't get it ?

Your list is a bit too all encompassing and mixed loyalty bonuses (Orange Wednesdays) with service bundles, of which I suspect bundled sport is likely to be pretty popular. But in general I'd agree with you that most people are pretty meh about 3-play, though many will sign almost any contract to get a "free" new phone.

Things get more interesting when they get free wifi roaming on the back of, which is appealing to VMNOs as it allows them to offload data from expensive rented 3G and LTE capacity to the internet.

If you don't like the big ISP/Telco offerings why not try the smaller ones.

is a bit disingenuous, these channels are just the ordinary Freeview channels that everyone gets anyway.

That said, I'm already an EE mobile and broadband customer, and I'm in the market for a DVR, so a 4-channel Freeview HD DVR for free has certainly got my attention.

I am sure that the PVR won't be 'free' for long. EE will have to recoup its costs somewhere won't they?

Isn't Freeview in danger of being squeezed out by the 4th Gen networks? Don't ofcom want us to switch to Satellite/Cable thus giving them all that lovely terrestrial bandwith to flog off?

May I humbly suggest that (unless you want footie) you get a FreeSat dish installed and a decent PVR. No more monthly charges and being beholden to a Telco for your gogglebox viewing.

Not everyone gets all the Freeview channels. Outside of main transmitter sites the number of multiplexes transmitted drops from six down to three, so you end up with a very limited choice of channels.

At the moment I get Broadband from BT - basically the same people who manage the wires, the street cabinet and the exchange. It seems to work okay. Why add a middleman (EE) with no Broadband delivery experience?

I get TV from Freesat - plug it in and point it at the sky and it works. Why faff around with something more complicated. If I want to record stuff, I can buy a recorder. I don't, so I won't.

My TV already has a remote. Why would I want to faff around using a phone to control the TV?

Why would I be watching a programme on my phone when there's a TV in the room?

Freesat is arguably more complicated than Freeview, which works with the same aerial that's been on your house for decades.

Just because you don't want a recorder doesn't mean nobody else wants one.

That is a good question. Because many people already watch TV with a phone in their hand?

Because their isn't a TV in a different room?

Now you/your kids/your grandkids can watch TV from their bedroom / the garden / the toilet without needing to install another TV (along with aerial cabling etc) in those places.

I thought you were supposed to be listing the pros, not the cons.

....more complicated than Freeview, which works with the same aerial that's been on your house for decades.

Well, maybe not *your* house. But mine, certainly.

Monday 13th October 2014 12:33 GMT Chad H.

EE Have been delivering broadband for a couple of years now.

"At the moment I get Broadband from BT - basically the same people who manage the wires, the street cabinet and the exchange. It seems to work okay. Why add a middleman (EE) with no Broadband delivery experience?"

Actually, not really. Since 2006 BT has been split between BT Retail and Openreach (and a few other subsidiaries) - and they all operate as independent companies. They might all be owned by BT Group - but they are separate companies - not only departments. BT Retail is a customer of Openreach, just like EE or TalkTalk or any other broadband resellers. And no - that is not just in theory - when you are stuck with a sticky broadband problem and passed around all BT departments, and wait for days on end for the "test results" to be in - you find out soon enough that the days when BT was one entity that was your direct supplier, and managed the "wires" at the same time - are long gone.

Do EE have some new source of watchable TV programmes?

Standard Orange internet+tel+mobile (unbundled) is €60/month for what I have. I guess when you have prices like that, it is easy to have a price war. Might be time to investigate Sosh (which is Orange's cheaper incarnation).

Re: Price war in France?

It's a Faultline piece – factual accuracy is optional.

As you look around Europe, Orange or T-Mobile have been successful in most smaller markets with the exception of Italy, Spain and the UK.

The UK and Italy, and to a lesser degree, Spain are considered large markets in Europe. Add France and Germany (the home markets of Orange and T-Mobile) and you've go the largest markets in the EU.

The comparison with Sky is laughable: it's not about the number of households watching stuff they can get on DVB-T anyway but the number of them who sign up for added-value channels, which is Sky's main business.

Using BT wholesale service is an easy (and cheap) way to offer service consolidation. Fifteen years ago Deutsche Telekom and France Télécom were cooperating significantly then came the UMTS auctions. EE is simply the result of one not being prepared to buy out the other. Given that in other European markets the number of providers has been allowed to drop to 3 (merger of E-Plus and O2 in Germany is going ahead), there's no reason why that wouldn't happen in the UK, though there would then have to be some reallocation of spectrum. Presumably nobody's made the right kind of offer yet. Orange UK was large enough to be profitable so I EE probably is as well, meaning there is no urgency to sell.

Orange's DSL boxes are also woeful.

"Orange's DSL boxes are also woeful."

The Livebox (2, square one with cut off corner) is underpowered. I bought a spare one with the original firmware, it makes a reasonable DNLA streamer (so I can watch stuff on the tablet). It was intended to be a spare in case the rented Livebox had problems, but I'm too scared to connect it to the phone line as it will upgrade to the current firmware. You want woeful? Talk to me about a box that can no longer quite handle streaming 480P at high bitrate, or 720P at any bitrate (it used to). Talk to me about a box with a fancy web front end that isn't capable of correctly telling me what is connected. Orange tell me that resetting the configuration will cure this but I have not done this as I have several devices on a DHCP with fixed IP addresses, and guess what, that part of the settings doesn't work either.

Thanks Orange, but I didn't sign up to be an unpaid beta tester. I really wish there was a "notify, don't install" option on firmware updates.

Monday 13th October 2014 12:35 GMT Chad H.

Seems like this article is missing the "sponsored content" warning at the top. It smells of PR churnalism.

Just because it gets a mention here, if anyone ever has reason to order any services in Spain stay well away from Vodafone there. They took my broadband and phone line, gave it to another customer whilst still charging me, then outright lied to me repeatedly down the telephone when I raised a support case. "48 hours maximum" to resolve became 72 then 96 hours, then they just cancelled my support ticket and opened a new one in order to reset their clock when the problem still wasn't fixed. At which point I blew a fuse and told them to cancel the contract. Their response? They charged me a disconnect fee! For a line that wasn't by then even connected!

That might be a reason to avoid Vodafone in Spain if the rest had better customer service, but they're all about the same.

wtf this article is missing some editorial control the written English is appalling.

BT can afford to virtually give away their broadband service at a price no other ISP can sustain because the other bit of BT can keep jacking up line rent and the cost of accessing the local loop.

BT broadband can thus "pay" the same fees as other ISPs for running broadband over a phone line, make no profit and still claim they are playing fair.

The net result is that ISP margins are squeezed so much that their only way to actually make a profit is to sell all sorts of services on the top, whether VOD, music, DVR services etc.

The petition committee for the Referendum 2009 initiative is shooting to hold its desired referendum along with either the parliamentary or municipal elections scheduled for 2010 and have written to Slovak President Ivan Gašparovič on January 25 to that effect, the TASR newswire wrote.

The letter asks whether the president is planning to have the referendum questions assessed by the country's Constitutional Court, according to Richard Sulík, head of the petition committee and chairman of the Freedom and Solidarity party (SaS).

“There are two options. Either the president will not turn to the Constitutional Court, in which case we'll file a request for calling the referendum, along with submitting the respective signatures, on February 17,” said Sulik, a businessman and former finance ministry advisor, to TASR, adding that this would enable the referendum and the general parliamentary election to be held on the same day, likely in June.

Justice remains elusive for the family of slain Tanauan City, Batangas Mayor Antonio Halili even as the latter was already buried Sunday afternoon.

Mostly clad in yellow and white shirts, the family, friends, relatives, colleagues and constituents attended the of the slain mayor’s interment yesterday afternoon at the Loyola Memorial Gardens near Tanauan City Hall.

Prior to this, a “Walk for Justice” solidarity march was held by residents starting at Plaza Mabini which was attended approximately by hundreds of people.

Carrying placards bearing the words “Justice for Mayor Halili,” the people of Tanauan City were one in demanding authorities to expedite the resolution of their town mayor’s killing.

As the march proceeded to the mayor’s house at Josefa Village in Barangay Sambat, more residents joined the parade for justice until they reached Saint John the Evangelist Parish Church around 8 a.m. for the funeral mass.

The remains of Halili was then transferred to Tanauan City Hall at noon for a public viewing and necrological service before the interment.

As the weeping people of Tanauan accompanied their slain mayor to his final resting place, they also cried for justice for his death.

Police have yet to identify the gunman behind the grim incident although three persons of interest were already being investigated, two of them are linked to illegal drugs.

Senior Kyle Gilbert won't mind if she doesn't get much recognition for her role in the success of the Stanford women's volleyball team. She never much enjoyed being the center of attention.

Her Cardinal teammates understand her importance though, and will look to her and fellow senior Morgan Boukather for leadership as Stanford, ranked third in the nation and picked to win the Pac-12, opens its season Friday at Iowa State.

Gilbert plays the libero position, a somewhat misunderstood spot on the court. Not just a defensive specialist but also not one of the bigger scorers, Gilbert is athletic enough to play any position but she's not tall enough to play the front row.

"The libero has changed the game," Stanford coach John Dunning said. "It's a difference maker. The libero has to be aggressive by nature because her game is hustle. She has a huge leadership role."

The libero came into existence internationally in 1998 and was accepted into the collegiate game in 2000. For the first few years at Stanford, players shuffled in and out of the position until Gabi Ailes, who had the advantage of playing it at the club level for a few years, arrived.

"I've always liked Gabi," Gilbert said. "She's a solid, strong player whom everyone had confidence in. She plays with class and humility. I would hope I play with the same kind of class and steady play. I try to stay under the radar, but I can bring energy when it's needed."

Gilbert starts the season with 1,410 digs, 737 behind Ailes' school record. She probably won't make it to the top but she'll likely end up in second, pretty close to 2,000 if she stays healthy.

Numbers don't mean much to Gilbert though, unless it's the end of the season and the Cardinal comes out No. 1. She thinks about how to make herself better every day.

"We've grown to ignore the expectations but not in a negative way," she said. "We set our own goals and are always striving to be the best. We want to win the Pac-12 and we want to win the national title."

The Cardinal has reached the Elite Eight in each of the past two seasons, a sign of success for most programs but not at Stanford.

"Our goal every year is to get to the Final Four and win a national championship," Gilbert said. "We were bummed about last year. It feels fine this year. We have a big junior class and it's helped we've grown up together, matured together and learned how to play together. We have a ton of experience."

Gilbert was not obsessed with volleyball growing up. She just enjoyed playing.

"I started as a setter, then moved to outside hitter and opposite hitter," Gilbert said. "Everybody started passing me in height so I was switched jerseys. It was hard at first because I enjoyed hitting. After a while, I started enjoying defense and it became one of my favorite things."

She didn't get much coaching at the club level. After all, it was still a new position and not many coaches had grown up playing it.

At Stanford she grew into the position, crediting then-senior Hannah Benjamin with her development.

"Playing behind her for a year was so beneficial," Gilbert said. "I learned a lot from her. She had played at that level longer than I had and put in a lot of effort. She was key for me."

"If you want to maintain a rally you better control the ball," Dunning said. "Kyle not only has to receive the ball, but get it to the setter in a way she had handle it."

Gilbert and Boukalter, who saw limited action last year, both will play important roles for the Cardinal.

"Morgan and Kyle are very mature," Dunning said. "They know what they want, they've worked hard and they are motivated. They are learning how to step into the leadership role and they are very good at what they do."

What helps is having four returning starters around them, including first team All-American middle blocker Inky Ajanaku, All-American setter Madi Bugg and All-American outside hitter Jordan Burgess. Junior outside hitter Brittany Howard was an All-Pac-10 pick.

"They are working hard to do more to be better as a team," Dunning said. "We have motivated people who want to get on the court. There is a lot of competition in the gym."

The junior class, which also includes Megan McGehee, was the top recruiting class in the nation. The current sophomores were among the top five recruiting classes.

Grace Kennedy and Kelsey Humphreys, who played on the U.S. Junior National Team last summer, each saw some action as freshmen last year. Ivana Vanjak, a 6-foot-4 outside hitter, and 6-8 middle blocker Merete Lutz, Humphreys teammate on the junior national team, each used their redshirt years.

Freshmen Sarah Benjamin, Hannah's younger sister, and Sidney Brown are also in line for playing time.

"Sidney and Sarah have added a lot," Dunning said. "I'm surprised how well they fit in."

Gilbert and the four returning starters will carry a heavy load for the Cardinal, and they are all capable of putting up big numbers.

"It's how we inspire each other in a team setting," Dunning said. "We are trying to motivate one another to play at a higher level, to care more and to work at a higher level."

Stanford plays at No. 7 Nebraska on Sunday before returning home to host defending NCAA champion Penn State and No. 11 Illinois next weekend.

Stanford is one of three Pac-12 teams ranked in the top five and four overall. Washington is fourth, USC is fifth and Arizona State is at No. 25.

In addition, Oregon, California, Arizona, Colorado and Utah made it into the NCAA tournament. With the exception of the Sun Devils, who lost in five sets, every Pac-12 team won its first-round match. Washington beat USC to reach the Final Four. Penn State beat Stanford in five sets to reach the Final Four.

Friday at Iowa State 5 p.m.

Sunday at Nebraska 11 a.m.

Sept. 5 vs. Penn State 6 p.m.

Sept. 7 vs. Illinois 11 a.m.

Sept. 12 vs. Duke 7 p.m.

Sept. 13 vs. Penn 11 a.m.

Sept. 13 vs. Santa Clara 7 p.m.

Sept. 18 at San Diego 7:30 p.m.

Sept. 19 at E. Washington 5 p.m.

Sept. 20 at CS Northridge 11 a.m.