COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

[Tizer]

Now our largest mog has taken up residence; will the router still perform perfectly?

Probably, but you might have to pay extra for streaming music while the cat uses the router as an Ipod!

[Stanley]

It will marginally raise the operating temperature of the router and could cook the components! So yes, it can only cause trouble!
See this LINK for confirmation that Face book have bought 'what's App' for $16billion plus $3billion in shares. There was an interesting piece on World Service about this deal this morning and evidently Face book needed a messaging app to reinforce their offer. Mind boggling figures.....

[Stanley]

60mb of new Thunderbird and Firefox downloaded. Thanks Lads!

[David Whipp]

Tom's PC build is working well and has become the main family machine.

He's been given a better graphics card by a friend but it's too big to fit on his motherboard without removing other stuff.

We've decided to use his motherboard and CPU as the basis of a new machine for me, with Tom getting a larger motherboard.

Off the peg looks a lot cheaper!

[Pluggy]

2 big advantages to self build, you know exactly what's in them and they don't come pre-installed with enough cr*pware to sink a battleship.

[Big Kev]

Upgrade to Stanley's old Flying Machine arrived today, a 3TB HDD to supplement the 2 x 1TB drives. That'll keep me going for a bit...

[Stanley]

Nice to hear the FM2 is alive and well and getting even more capacity..... FM1 is on Doc's boat.....

[Pluggy]

Old desktops go on a long time, usually replaced when obsolete, and top end machines hold their age well, because they've 2 or 3 years start until new mid end machines overtake them and maybe 6 years before a new low end overtakes them. Most laptops don't get old, they get dropped, broken or like in the one someone brought to me last week, "water" damaged. Dunno what the liquid actually was but it had despatched a near new laptop.......

[Tizer]

Dunno what the liquid actually was but it had despatched a near new laptop.......

Must have been Theakston's Old Peculiar!

[David Whipp]

Fibreoptic cable in the manhole outside Bankfield on Skipton Road (the black coil with a yellow tag).

The guy linking the new cabinet to the old one thought they'll be hardpressed to meet the 31st March deadline for Barlick's installation; a lot of engineers have been abstracted to repair storm damage in Wales.

[Stanley]

Got a spam email this morning from 'phpBB Host' with attachment. I didn't open it of course, just deleted it but watch out.....

[hartley353]

Virgin is putting up my broadband to 50Mb, Bet I won't be able to see a difference, I have no problems at the present speed.

[Big Kev]

My VOIP phone stopped working, it would appear that EE no longer support VOIP traffic so it's tough. Goodbye EE, let's hope Sky make a better job of it.

[Gloria]

I have just had 48hrs offline. Rang up and got a foreign lady from a foreign country who struggled to understand me!!!! There was a fault in our area and was being dealt with, it would be fine within 24hr---NOT---rang again today, got another foreign lady in a foreign country who managed to sort it even though we struggled to understand each other. Hopefully now okay for another 12 months or so when I shall get severly stressed again.

[Stanley]

Annoying isn't it Glo. Touch wood Talktalk is stable.....
Kev, what's a VOIP phone?

[David Whipp]

what's a VOIP phone?

Voice Over Internet Protocol; a way of making phone calls to others who are enabled without paying call charges.

[Pluggy]

VOIP can be used to make and receive calls to/from anyone, although it does tend to be be free to others on the same system. My business line is VOIP ( http://www.vonage.co.uk ), I'm on EE, mine is still working. Its a lot cheaper than having a second line and it keeps my business calls away from my house phone. The downside is if my internet goes down, so does the VOIP line. There are many different VOIP systems, Kevs must be a different provider, because his is down and mine isn't.

[Big Kev]

Mine is a Mitel set up as a teleworker. EE appear to be restricting the incoming SIP traffic, after being put on hold and then disconnected, twice, a very knowledgeable and articulate gentleman advised me that "they no longer supported VOIP and if I couldn't get it to work they couldn't do anything". It was then we parted company. The Mitel controller, at my office, sends data to my phone over a specific port, it would appear this is now blocked. We'll see how Sky perform. 16mbps unlimited, anytime calls to 01, 02, 03 0870 and 0845 numbers and line rental for £25 a month.

[Gloria]

Stanley, I find it really frustrating. A few years ago I got in touch with them to opt out, saying I struggled when ringing up, they offered me a cheaper service and an english phone number to ring in case of problems. Magic, I thought, until I tried ringing it, no answer, ever, and no explanation when asked why. I am with orange/EE whatever it is called now.

[Stanley]

That was what happened to me on Orange Glo. I put up with it for almost two years because I don't like changing providers for anything. However, I listened to Doc and followed him to Talktalk. Touch wood they have done exactly what they said they would do and my telephone calls are cheaper as well. Looking at the explanation of VOIP I can't help reflecting that when I was a lad you got a phone from the Post Office and paid the bill. End of story! Of course everything is whizz bang now and I wouldn't swap back but you can't help wondering at the complexity of things these days. Or perhaps I'm just showing my age......

[Gloria]

And on talktalk do you have to ring a foreign country or are they based here? I know we have been down this route before but I believe one of the provider's help line is based in Sheffield.
I have only ever changed once and I am not comfortable doing it, definitely an age thing, shouldn't keep blaming that, should just get on with it.

[Tripps]

" I believe one of the provider's help line is based in Sheffield." that's Plusnet.

"Good honest broadband from Yorkshire"

I must say I was disappointed when I discovered recently that they are a subsidiary company of BT, but I've had no communication difficulties when calling them. In fact one lady once apologised for having a Surrey accent rather than Yorkshire. For interest I've had my monthly bill today - for unlimited B/B and phone calls (about !0Gbs) and line rental I will be paying £26.26. I don't think that's too bad.

[Tizer]

Gloria, like Tripps I too use Plusnet - in fact I've been using them for about 8 or more years and have never had any serious problems and hardly ever been cut off. We both had the usual situation a year ago when they put up our charges and we threatened to leave. They immediately offered a better rate and they haven't done it again this year (at least not to me). But then all companies try that trick these days. They are in Sheffield and you can understand what their staff are saying - although I have to admit I've only had to contact them a few times in the 8 years! The spam filtering is very good and spam is almost non-existent now for Mrs Tiz and me.

[Gloria]

We pay £20 per month for unlimited broadband and anytime calls, which I think is a very good deal. It was put down to that the last time I threatened to jump ship.

[Pluggy]

In my experience they are all pretty much as bad as one another, Plusnet do have UK call centres which is in their favour, but I was sorting out a broadband issue for a customer a while back and and I was given a real run around by a 'Jobsworth' at Plusnet because the customer couldn't remember her password.

Most of the others have call centres staffed by blokes called John with thick Indian accents......