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Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 12:43 pm
by Crash
Can you get fibre through O2 do you know or is it still BT and Virgin that have the monopoly on that? It costs a fortune but is not a remarkable thing on the continent.I probably said it on here but ADSL in the north-east is a joke - 1 mile from the exchange and 1,888 kbps downspeed.Hydraulics is ambitious for a machine like that. How far up against the weight limit was it? Didn't the heavyweight category start at 80kg limit and then get pushed to 100? It was a long time ago and I can't remember that well.

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Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 5:14 pm
by Shane
I've been sharing a Virgin fibre jobbie which knocks out a fairly poor 1.5MB down-speed, but I've managed very well so far, and at least it's unlimited.Just had another look at Vanessa's amazing poster, and I've noticed that by the side of each character there is a number that denotes their age. No surprises really, but good to have confirmation that General Kyle was 60; might be useful info for the fanfics.




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Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 8:43 pm
by Crash
How far are you from your exchange?TBH, the connection speed doesn't really mean very much. I'm just aggrieved that no-one gets synchronous broadband with the upload speed equal to the down.I don't honestly care about it for filesharing. I would just really like to be able to upload X-Bomber versions in less than an hour. It's quite disgraceful really because BT prevents you from uploading anything at speed just to frustrate the sharers.I mean any upload speed that my connection can put out (say 40-50KB/s) is easily accepted by the dreamhost servers.Having said that, in Germany we had 11Mb and we only had 70-something KB/s for uploading. So it's not just us.

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Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 9:10 pm
by Shane
I believe the exchange is a mile and a half away.Yeah, 1.5MB downloading is fine for me although Virgin are still cheeky beggars for promising much more than that in their sales blurb.Uploading speeds are always going to be on the slow side it would seem. Don't have to do much of that these day, but I can understand how frustrating it must be.

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Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 10:55 pm
by Crash
Time to invest in a corporate T1, or I could do it from University. This is assuming I decide to do the next course and can be bothered to carry a 5-kilo computer and PSU on the bus into Newcastle.I've decided against the course I'm actually accepted and signed-up for because the situation relating to training barristers is a complete shambles and a disgrace quite frankly.The new rules, cost of course and chances of securing pupillage are just impossible for anyone to seriously accept.The degree of competition is not a good thing because it rules-out even more good candidates than bad ones on any technicality that can be found.




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Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 12:51 am
by Vanessa
@Crash: QUOTEWell, that's the thing! The uniforms of the characters are brilliant but you never get a good look because they never stand/get shown full-length to avoid Thunderbirds floaty-walk syndrome.I love General Kyle's flashy trousers.Why do you do it all on your phone? If you paid £10 to a decent provider ontop of line-rental you could probably just about get unlimited broadband with O2 for example.If you have your mobile with them, you get a £10/mo discount on their broadband anyway.I agree, I love the costumes that the characters wear, they are lovingly crafted, even if they don't change much for the entire show (except Lamia's in the final EP).General Kyles coloured flares are straight out of the 70's I guess thinking about the time that the show was initially designed and created, that fashion was still around in it's death throes.I don't do any internet stuff on my phone (I can't as I only have basic PAYG calls only and the phone is too ancient anyway). It's all done on my Laptop (or occasionally at work during lunchbreak).I don't need unlimited downloads, but I do very much like having 100% mobile internet for my Laptop (not WiFi Hot Spots).@Shane: QUOTEI've tried to get an internet connection before, but you have to deal with so much BS from the major companies who blatantly lie and try to get you on long term contracts, that I'm happy with the mobile alternative; even though it's not great value.The Star Fleet puppets were beautiful and the stock images found on Vanessa's poster and magazine articles from the time really show this. I agree - General Kyle does indeed look rather dapper in his dancing trousers. I have to agree with your thinking about too much BS and blatant fibs from the mobile phone companies. I don't want a long term contract where I'm tied in to monthly bills. PAYG suits me really. And also, ever since a dispute I had with Vodafone, I've been blacklisted and can't get any contracts, even though it was all settled. They are a bunch of robbing so and so's. Hence it's PAYG for me.@Shane: QUOTEJust had another look at Vanessa's amazing poster, and I've noticed that by the side of each character there is a number that denotes their age. No surprises really, but good to have confirmation that General Kyle was 60; might be useful info for the fanfics.Well spotted! I hadn't actually noticed that. The ages given are Lamia:16, Shiro/Barry/John:18, Dr.Benn:50 and, as you already mentioned, General Kyle:60.It's interesting to note that no ages are given for any of the other characters on the poster. So, no ages for Makara or Orion or The Imperial Master, which is a shame.------------------I also think it's a shame that upload speeds aren't the same as download ones.The service providers seem to be able to get away with suggesting high speeds are available when in reality they aren't.Although I have no knowledge of the course situations of which you speak Crash, from what you say, it sounds quite a poor show.

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Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 1:20 am
by Crash
I failed to notice the ages of the characters yeah, well spotted. Ages for the Imperial characters could be in the high triple figures for all we know. I also noticed that this m1730 has a sim card receiver tray inside the battery recess for mobile internet. I wondered for a little while what that was for. It's a beautiful machine and fast and every time you think you have it fathomed, you notice another thoughtful detail.But I also have a Dell Streak android tablet phone which is great for internet. It beats the iphone into a small, squishy pulp in my view.Which company had the gall to blacklist you? Sounds like a BT Internet job or possibly Talktalk or Tiscali. Those are the usual suspects. O2 are a very fair company although these days I admit I get a lot less in long-term-customer extras than I used to. I now seemingly have to pay for upgrades like everyone else and I only actually get the number of minutes on my tariff inclusive, (not four times that amount, like I used to). I've been with them over 11 years. I'm surprised that it's not just the North where you can be a mile from the exchange and less than 2Mb. It's just that the system was never designed to handle digital data back then and so the exchanges are daisy-chained in the most ridiculous ways so that it doesn't matter how far from the exchange you are, your data then gets routed through a dozen other towns on its way to the MAN centre (presumably in Newcastle here).----Up until last year the lack of pupillages was offset by the fact that the remaining 80%+, probably nearly 90%, of people who didn't get them could then apply for solicitor training contracts instead.Now you can do nothing of the sort, meaning a 10-15k course is completely wasted.They don't tell you this of course when you apply. I was very lucky to find that detail out myself. They're just happy to take your money even though, because of whatever vicissitude, it turns out you have no possibility of doing anything with the qualification.The situation wasn't perfect before because it obviously disadvantaged those who took the solicitors course but, to fix one injustice, they've committed another, 10 times greater.

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Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 4:28 am
by Mach1na

(Crash Override @ Jul. 12 2011,13:43)QUOTECan you get fibre through O2 do you know or is it still BT and Virgin that have the monopoly on that? It costs a fortune but is not a remarkable thing on the continent.I probably said it on here but ADSL in the north-east is a joke - 1 mile from the exchange and 1,888 kbps downspeed.Yes only Virgin and BT have fibre but IIRC Virgin is still copper from the street to your house. I currently live about 2-3 miles from the exchange and get 7880 kbps which is good considering my line only supports 8mbps. BT are slowly rolling out fibre but as you said Crash it costs a fortune but hopefully that will come down as it becomes the norm.
(Crash Override @ Jul. 12 2011,13:43)QUOTEHydraulics is ambitious for a machine like that. How far up against the weight limit was it? Didn't the heavyweight category start at 80kg limit and then get pushed to 100? It was a long time ago and I can't remember that well.Razer was right up against the 80kg limit. When they introduced the100kg limit it allowed Razer to address some of its weaknesses including wheel covers and a schrimech.
(Crash Override @ Jul. 12 2011,13:43)QUOTEBut I also have a Dell Streak android tablet phone which is great for internet. It beats the iphone into a small, squishy pulp in my view.I must admit I do like the iPhone but really want to get a HTC Andriod based phone so I can play with the operating system.
(Vanessa @ Jul. 13 2011,01:51)QUOTEI also think it's a shame that upload speeds aren't the same as download ones.I don't. The systems is configured so that you'll always get the highest download speed possible to reflect the data usage patterns of the majority of users.

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Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 9:56 am
by Shane
QUOTEI have to agree with your thinking about too much BS and blatant fibs from the mobile phone companies. I don't want a long term contract where I'm tied in to monthly bills. PAYG suits me really. And also, ever since a dispute I had with Vodafone, I've been blacklisted and can't get any contracts, even though it was all settled. They are a bunch of robbing so and so's. Hence it's PAYG for me.I had a problem with BT once, where I moved into a new flat and contacted BT to reconnect the land line. Lo and Behold when the first bill arrived it was accompanied by another bill for £250 which was the balance due from the previous tenant who had failed to pay. Thoroughly Peed off, I then had to go through hours upon hours of trying to find someone to talk to about the situation on their useless helpline. Despite my best efforts I never got the money back and refused to have anything to do with BT again, hence why getting broadband internet can be a problem.Now I know it could be seen as BT just getting what they were owed from a flat number, regardless of who the current tenant was, but it's that blatant corporate mentality of treating you like a number and having no interest in the fact that I was a new tenant and shouldn't have had to pick up the tab for someone who had done a runner!Virgin are similarly bad. I phoned them up last year to try to get fibre-broadband installed, as I knew my area was fibre-ready and my flate-mate had it up and running in the next room. The guy on the phone said unfortunately my area was not fibre-ready and I would have to purchase a full media package from them, including land line, which would mean dealing with BT again. Basically I called the guy a bloody liar and mentioned that my flate-mate had fibre-optic broadband installed in the next room! After some embarrassing um-ing and arr-ing from the guy on the other end I just gave up and chipped in with my flat-mate next door to share her broadband. It was actually the best solution to the problem really. It has worked out well, but could get a bit slow when we were both using it. It's good to hear others' views on the subject. I think I'm going to be a bit stuffed getting decent broadband without a BT line though, but I won't back down.  




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Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 1:10 pm
by Crash
You can't bill one person for another's usage. You didn't sign the guy's original contract. The words 'privity of contract' obviously mean nothing to them.Anyway, there are tonnes of people with the same problem.Loads of companies therefore will sell you broadband with line rental included in the price (and it's far from exorbitant either). It'll still be a BT line but you don't have to deal with them directly. The ISP just buys the line rentals in bulk and then passes a cut of the internet charge to BT... 'cos otherwise BT wouldn't be able ... wipe their backsides with the £ notes or whatever they do.I went with the ladyfriend to see if O2 would give her a better deal on a Samsung Galaxy S2 and they kept humming and harring over "Well, it's such a new and sophisticated phone it might not work with the cheaper internet bolt-on. So you should get the more expensive one to be sure"... I mean what!? Really? They must think we're idiots.I heard from someone on another forum that their grandmother or whatever had been conned into buying a bluray player rather than just a DVD player "because the bluray players were harder for hackers to break into".... WTF??? And these people are for real.I admire the Iphone from a hardware perspective but I have no love for Apple. They're all about restricting what you can and can't do with the phone, which for some people keeps them from doing something stupid. But to my mind I see it as a smartphone for beginners; for people who want a flashy thing but don't *really* want/need a smartphone to an extent.I went to Android from Windows 6.1 and Android is about the perfect balance. It does pretty much everything for you but it also lets you do what you want as well.---I would agree more readily with the notion that upload speed limits were to optimise performance if the upload speed was scaled to an 'optimum' proportion of the download speed (ie 25% or 50%) but it isn't.Here in Ashington, our downspeed is 1,888K and the upspeed is 448K. At St-Andrews (same BT package) we get ~7,888K down but still ~488K up. So it's not an optimal proportion, it's a global, fixed value. That strikes me as an unnecessary and artificially-low constant because the network identifies filesharing traffic (very accurately) and de-prioritises it in the evenings. I think the general consensus is that, far from pure network optimisation, such harshly fixed-limited upload speeds are to stop people hosting websites on home servers.