My very old Email address daisy.freeserve.co.uk will be no more in a few weeks. My ISP has decided to no longer provide a mail server.
So, since I already have a Google address Google it is.
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Showing posts with label orange. Show all posts
Showing posts with label orange. Show all posts
13 April 2017
06 December 2012
40Mbps!
The BT Engineer arrived to connect me up to Fiber Optics. It was quick and painless, and my black EE router now has a white BT modem next to it feeding it stuff. I went for a 40Mbps connection (could get more) and that's what testing says I'm getting.
Of course what I get back is unlikely to be that good!
Of course what I get back is unlikely to be that good!
12 November 2012
Is this Fibre at last?
Orange (or EE as they now are) ninja updated my router software with - goodness - a switch to fibre button. Could this be... I looked on the website. Yes, there were the pricing options, a speed estimate (72Mbps) and a number to phone.
And they hadn't told me. Nor have BT, though I'm on their register list to be informed. Grr.
I signed up anyway, and now await a BT engineer to update my connection. In three weeks? Sigh...
And they hadn't told me. Nor have BT, though I'm on their register list to be informed. Grr.
I signed up anyway, and now await a BT engineer to update my connection. In three weeks? Sigh...
05 July 2012
BT fail. Again.
Yes, it was time last week for BT to contact me and say superfast fiber optics were ready as they had promised three months ago. And yes, the promised date has been advanced another three months.
17 April 2012
Fiber optics - BT fail
British Telecom installed fiber optics at my local exchange 18 months ago. Since then, every three months they have been promising to actually extend it to my road. A couple of days before the deadline, they push the date forward another three months.
So I've given up and signed a new internet/phone/mobile deal with Orange. 3Mb speed is fine for me, I can wait for long downloads.
So I've given up and signed a new internet/phone/mobile deal with Orange. 3Mb speed is fine for me, I can wait for long downloads.
13 February 2012
Router change
My Orange Livebox has been suspect for a while, losing connection every couple of hours, so I replaced it with their new dedicated router, Bright Box.
Bright it is not - it's black! Also smaller, paperback sized. It connected up automatically once given my password and hasn't had a dropout yet.
Bright it is not - it's black! Also smaller, paperback sized. It connected up automatically once given my password and hasn't had a dropout yet.
30 July 2008
ISP, broadband update
My ISP (Orange) like most large mass market ones offer webspace as part of their package. However as they don't actually make any money out of personal websites their wonks keep trying to correct this. Their first attempt was an ad banner, easily circumvented by linking direct to index.html. Their latest is to delete my website, scrap FTP access and tell me to rebuild from scratch using a crap online editor.
Enough! I moved to the company (Freezone) that look after the Newsfrombree domain for me. They have the dreadfully old fashioned idea that providing services that customers want is a good way to run a business.
On the Broadband front however Orange are improving. I switched to their current package which comes with a wireless router though I'm using its Ethernet connection at present, and it has an automatic speed regulator that typically has me at 3Mb. Heh, right now it's 0.7Mb, it does wobble now and then but at least the connection rarely drops.
Enough! I moved to the company (Freezone) that look after the Newsfrombree domain for me. They have the dreadfully old fashioned idea that providing services that customers want is a good way to run a business.
On the Broadband front however Orange are improving. I switched to their current package which comes with a wireless router though I'm using its Ethernet connection at present, and it has an automatic speed regulator that typically has me at 3Mb. Heh, right now it's 0.7Mb, it does wobble now and then but at least the connection rarely drops.
24 March 2008
Stealth upgrading
Did I mention that the 2006 attempt to upgrade my broadband speed from 1Mb to 2Mb failed? The line was dropping too often so Silent Fred, the BT engineer who doesn't tell you anything, reset it back to 1MB.
Easter Sunday, with no warning, my connection went up to 2Mb again and this time it's holding steady without a single dropout. I can only suppose there's been an upgrade somewhere along the line.
It took me a long hunt on the Internet to find a webpage that explained with numbers how to check your own connection, so let me pass this on:
The two parameters that matter are Signal to Noise ratio (S/N, Margin) and Drop off (Attenuation). Both are measured in decibels (Db).
S/N is the difference in strength between the signal and the background hiss. It needs to be >10Db. Attenuation is the difference between the signal strength when it leaves the Exchange and when it reaches your modem, and the higher the speed the lower the limit for this. 1Mb requires lower than 60Db, 2Mb lower than 45Db.
For the copper wire telephone lines we have in the UK, this equates to ~6km maximum for 1Mb and ~3.5km for 2Mb.
My Attenuation is a steady 40Mb so 2Mb is the most I can get. My S/N is 24Db at 1Mb but 17Db at 2Mb, still OK though it can fall to 10Db on a bad day. I suspect that it is S/N discrimination that has improved for me.
Easter Sunday, with no warning, my connection went up to 2Mb again and this time it's holding steady without a single dropout. I can only suppose there's been an upgrade somewhere along the line.
It took me a long hunt on the Internet to find a webpage that explained with numbers how to check your own connection, so let me pass this on:
The two parameters that matter are Signal to Noise ratio (S/N, Margin) and Drop off (Attenuation). Both are measured in decibels (Db).
S/N is the difference in strength between the signal and the background hiss. It needs to be >10Db. Attenuation is the difference between the signal strength when it leaves the Exchange and when it reaches your modem, and the higher the speed the lower the limit for this. 1Mb requires lower than 60Db, 2Mb lower than 45Db.
For the copper wire telephone lines we have in the UK, this equates to ~6km maximum for 1Mb and ~3.5km for 2Mb.
My Attenuation is a steady 40Mb so 2Mb is the most I can get. My S/N is 24Db at 1Mb but 17Db at 2Mb, still OK though it can fall to 10Db on a bad day. I suspect that it is S/N discrimination that has improved for me.
26 October 2007
Halloween updates
In a 26 October 2006 post I noted that an AVG anti-virus program update had fixed some Email problems. It just happened again! Spooky...
The latest AVG update (7.5.503) appears to have not only restored the Email scanner without disabling PGP but also cured the problem I was having with not being able to send Emails via my ISP's server, though weirdly the Google Gmail server was fine. I've had my Email accounts happily Emailing each other PGP encrypted messages anyway.
The latest AVG update (7.5.503) appears to have not only restored the Email scanner without disabling PGP but also cured the problem I was having with not being able to send Emails via my ISP's server, though weirdly the Google Gmail server was fine. I've had my Email accounts happily Emailing each other PGP encrypted messages anyway.
28 August 2007
Hello world
...or blog anyway.
Having acquired a camera/phone/txt/USB/blog/Email thing, I spend a happy weekend persuading it to do so, acquiring another pageful of passwords, secret codes and stuff along the way.
Facebook cleverly cross referenced my mobile number which it knew with the number of the phone that was calling it and linked up without needing confirmation. Clever but spooky as it didn't tell me it could do this.
Blogger wouldn't reply though. It seems Orange affix the international code when messaging abroad and then won't accept incoming messages using that code, which is dumb. I had to Email Blogger for help, which they quickly provided.
PC Interface OK, except that it wants to Synchronize with programs I don't use. Oh well, at least deleting messages is a lot easier on a PC monitor than on a phone screen.
Having acquired a camera/phone/txt/USB/blog/Email thing, I spend a happy weekend persuading it to do so, acquiring another pageful of passwords, secret codes and stuff along the way.
Facebook cleverly cross referenced my mobile number which it knew with the number of the phone that was calling it and linked up without needing confirmation. Clever but spooky as it didn't tell me it could do this.
Blogger wouldn't reply though. It seems Orange affix the international code when messaging abroad and then won't accept incoming messages using that code, which is dumb. I had to Email Blogger for help, which they quickly provided.
PC Interface OK, except that it wants to Synchronize with programs I don't use. Oh well, at least deleting messages is a lot easier on a PC monitor than on a phone screen.
27 May 2007
Desynchronized
I forgot to blog this, it actually happened last month.
After several lengthy cutouts my broadband connection finally went down altogether. The modem diagnostics program said I was 'desynchronized'. So I phoned the Orange call centre, and after the usual long list of irrelevant questions we came to 'do test'.
"The test says your connection is desynchonised'.
[Yes, that's what I said half an hour ago]
"I am going to ask BT to do an intrusive check. Please leave your modem plugged in and switched on but do not try to connect for four hours".
This worked fine, evidently the BT Engineer located the fault. Orange even phoned me the next day to make sure I was indeed synchronised again.
Call centres do work, you just need the patience of a saint.
Where does that expression come from? Saints were often irritating, impatient and eccentric people who annoyed the regular clergy no end.
After several lengthy cutouts my broadband connection finally went down altogether. The modem diagnostics program said I was 'desynchronized'. So I phoned the Orange call centre, and after the usual long list of irrelevant questions we came to 'do test'.
"The test says your connection is desynchonised'.
[Yes, that's what I said half an hour ago]
"I am going to ask BT to do an intrusive check. Please leave your modem plugged in and switched on but do not try to connect for four hours".
This worked fine, evidently the BT Engineer located the fault. Orange even phoned me the next day to make sure I was indeed synchronised again.
Call centres do work, you just need the patience of a saint.
Where does that expression come from? Saints were often irritating, impatient and eccentric people who annoyed the regular clergy no end.
22 March 2007
Vista modems
The saga continues...
I have an old 'green frog' Speedtouch ADSL modem that is not going to have Vista drivers as part of the 'throw away your old junk, buy our new junk' drive. So I bought a cheap Zoom ADSL and downloaded their just out of Beta Vista driver. The install notes were long and if followed exactly worked.
Except that the line kept dropping. I tried this and that and the other, until one day I plugged into a different USB port... and the dropouts stopped.
I poked around in Device Manager. There are two USB Hubs on my machine, one 'full speed' the other 'high speed'. That must mean 1.1 and 2.0 USB. I'd switched to 1.1 - the slower connection!
The Data Rate meter says I'm not losing out, so I plain don't understand this one. I have the current Speedtouch modem on its way and its Beta driver ready and waiting, but I may have wasted my cash on it.
So all I need now is... more memory. 1Mb plainly isn't enough, Civ IV and Vista start to fight over memory around 1950 game time. Eve isn't bothered, it used to memory leak but this has been stamped out.
I have an old 'green frog' Speedtouch ADSL modem that is not going to have Vista drivers as part of the 'throw away your old junk, buy our new junk' drive. So I bought a cheap Zoom ADSL and downloaded their just out of Beta Vista driver. The install notes were long and if followed exactly worked.
Except that the line kept dropping. I tried this and that and the other, until one day I plugged into a different USB port... and the dropouts stopped.
I poked around in Device Manager. There are two USB Hubs on my machine, one 'full speed' the other 'high speed'. That must mean 1.1 and 2.0 USB. I'd switched to 1.1 - the slower connection!
The Data Rate meter says I'm not losing out, so I plain don't understand this one. I have the current Speedtouch modem on its way and its Beta driver ready and waiting, but I may have wasted my cash on it.
So all I need now is... more memory. 1Mb plainly isn't enough, Civ IV and Vista start to fight over memory around 1950 game time. Eve isn't bothered, it used to memory leak but this has been stamped out.
17 November 2006
My two days on the help lines
I asked my ISP if it was possible to upgrade my Broadband connection. I'm a long way from my local Exchange, so I wasn't surprised to get an Email back saying it wasn't possible yet.
Two days ago, I got a 'wrong Username or Password' message. In successive phone calls, we established that
The connection was OK.
My account was still active.
Then I noticed that my diagnostic program was saying I was connected at 2Mb.
Next phone call, we found that the engineers had retested my connection, switched me to 2Mb but not told me.
Finally we deleted my connection, carefully reinstalled it, and everything was fine. The only difference I can see is that I am now connected to a different place - 'bb4' instead of 'bb3', so either that or the reinstall was the solution.
Oh, and the next day my phone calls prompted the independent call centre assessment people to call. Did I think my ISP had responded well? I gave Orange 8/10, though if I hadn't been a geek it would have been 0/10 as I'd still be disconnected.
Two days ago, I got a 'wrong Username or Password' message. In successive phone calls, we established that
The connection was OK.
My account was still active.
Then I noticed that my diagnostic program was saying I was connected at 2Mb.
Next phone call, we found that the engineers had retested my connection, switched me to 2Mb but not told me.
Finally we deleted my connection, carefully reinstalled it, and everything was fine. The only difference I can see is that I am now connected to a different place - 'bb4' instead of 'bb3', so either that or the reinstall was the solution.
Oh, and the next day my phone calls prompted the independent call centre assessment people to call. Did I think my ISP had responded well? I gave Orange 8/10, though if I hadn't been a geek it would have been 0/10 as I'd still be disconnected.
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