My memory fails me

Merlin · Post by **Merlin** » Sun 30 Dec, 2007 9:25 pm

Using the following

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/

I am now getting only 1.6Mbps download. It is raining.

Go figure that one.

Ormond... that is 1600Kbps...

osgood · Post by **osgood** » Sun 30 Dec, 2007 9:54 pm

John,
What speed do you normally get?

There are faster speeds available down here than what I am currently on, but the cost of ADSL is exhorbitant compared to some other places in the world. We know we are being ripped off but unfortunately Telstra owns all the phone lines so all the other ISP's have to buy from them.

It's like many other products such as TV glass, mats, fuel, that we have to pay through the nose for!
I guess it's part of the price we have to pay for living in the best country in the universe!

markw · Post by **markw** » Sun 30 Dec, 2007 11:33 pm

osgood wrote: Mark,
What exactly is 8 meg referring to?

My ADSL accounta at home and at work are stated as '1500/256kbps'. 1500 is the download speed and 256 is the upload speed. I don't know how fast that is compared to your 8 meg, but for file downloads I get around 150k/sec and last week I was downloading some large video files, four at a time and was getting more than 300k/sec in total.

1500 Kbps = 1.5 Mbps or in my simple reference 1.5 meg.
We tend to be offered relatively high download speed - the reality is very far from whats advertised. Many of our European neighbours get much bigger bandwidths.

I stayed with BT when my last contract period came up - they promised that I would achieve at least 4000mbps - my local exchange runs at 8500kbps.

Roboframer · Post by **Roboframer** » Sun 30 Dec, 2007 11:33 pm

w00dward wrote:A tent eh.. Tempting... The Scout in me is fighting this one. Need to restrain him again.

I was hoping for this actually.

With my offer you can loiter within tent!

Mrs R used to run a nursery in a previous life - not small children - selling fuschias to the trade.*

On wheelbarrows ..................

One day a guy comes up to her and says "My wheelbarrow is going 'squeak! ......... squeak! ................... squeak!' ........"

"You are FIRED" says Mrs R

"WHY?" says the guy

"Because" says Mrs R ...............
..... "It SHOULD be going 'SQUEAKSQUEAKSQUEAKSQUEAKSQUEAK"

(* This bit is true)

markw · Post by **markw** » Sun 30 Dec, 2007 11:41 pm

Merlin wrote:Using the following

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/

I am now getting only 1.6Mbps download. It is raining.

Go figure that one.

Ormond... that is 1600Kbps...

John - doesnt take much to bring the speed down according to my friend in Mombai - damp connection box would be enough.

Spit · Post by **Spit** » Sun 30 Dec, 2007 11:59 pm

I've only ever had a 1Mb connection here, but then we only have a 2Mb exchange, as far as I'm aware, and I'm 2 miles away from it, so no chance of anything better anytime soon.

Having said that, I've never suffered much from slower speeds or dropouts, but then I chose to go with a more expensive ISP, ZEN. With ISP's you get what you pay for as with anything else in life. One 1/2 hour dropout in nearly four years isn't a bad record!

osgood · Post by **osgood** » Mon 31 Dec, 2007 1:37 am

markw wrote: 1500 Kbps = 1.5 Mbps or in my simple reference 1.5 meg.
We tend to be offered relatively high download speed - the reality is very far from whats advertised. Many of our European neighbours get much bigger bandwidths.

I stayed with BT when my last contract period came up - they promised that I would achieve at least 4000mbps - my local exchange runs at 8500kbps.

Wow.......... 8500kbps isn't even in the language down here! I bet you pay a mere pittance for it too!

markw · Post by **markw** » Mon 31 Dec, 2007 9:57 am

osgood wrote:
Wow.......... 8500kbps isn't even in the language down here! I bet you pay a mere pittance for it too!

My 8 meg work connection costs me £12.50 a month.

osgood · Post by **osgood** » Mon 31 Dec, 2007 10:27 am

My 1500kbps costs me $69.95/month (that includes a $10 discount) and it includes 12gigs data transfer, then after that the speed slows down to 64kbps.
Is that expensive or what???

markw · Post by **markw** » Mon 31 Dec, 2007 1:05 pm

1.5 meg for £30 - That sounds like a total ripoff. We went through that stage a few years ago - then BT controlled everything - They (British Telecom) were forced to unbundle exchanges and let in the competition - If you live in the right places you can get broadband free - along with your phone and TV - (you pay for those bits, but its still only about £30) - I live in a little village in the Cotswolds so we dont get cable (Woodward mentioned 50 Mbps via cable)- and will probably have to wait for the next phase of high speed stuff thats on its way.

kaptain.kopter · Post by **kaptain.kopter** » Mon 31 Dec, 2007 1:08 pm

I've been with Plusnet for the last 5 years. They give you the fastest connection that your exchange can handle.

I'm fortunate to have 8 meg and have never been bumped off.

I currently pay £14:99 a month. I know there are slightly cheaper tariffs out there but figure that the service I receive is worth it.

Roboframer · Post by **Roboframer** » Mon 31 Dec, 2007 7:14 pm

Well I've got really brave now - went around the sales today and came home with one of these TVs.

Pause & Play built in - 160 GB hard drive - blah blah.

I'm becoming a geek

markw · Post by **markw** » Mon 31 Dec, 2007 8:16 pm

beware of geeks bearing gifs

Roboframer · Post by **Roboframer** » Tue 01 Jan, 2008 9:24 pm

Well I got brave today - selected 'my documents' and pressed go.

It flew through the files and then suddenly slowed down at 'my videos' - it was stuck on just one video for 4 hours - so I stopped it, went to 'my videos' and after a brief discussion with Mrs R - deleted the lot.

Pressed 'go' again and in just a few minutes the backup was complete.

(Note to self - store all videos on disc from now on - better still replace my old camera with one that records straight on to disc - not that I use video that often anyway)

Roboframer · Post by **Roboframer** » Wed 02 Jan, 2008 12:29 am

markw wrote:beware of geeks bearing gifs

Bugger me (not in the biblical sense of course)

I thought you'd made a typo

http://www.google.com/search?source=ig& ... define+gif

Roboframer · Post by **Roboframer** » Thu 10 Jan, 2008 9:25 pm

Well, the original problem has an easy solution - right click on image and go to 'Open with'

Irfanview, which I have re-installed is one of the options.

Post by **prospero** » Fri 11 Jan, 2008 1:54 am

Re Irfanveiw.

Options -> Set File Associations

Roboframer · Post by **Roboframer** » Fri 11 Jan, 2008 7:33 pm

Thanks for that - I ticked everything and now all photos open in Irfanview.

(Was that the idea?)

So - if I use this for commercial purposes I'm supposed to pay for it - anyone know how much?

osgood · Post by **osgood** » Fri 11 Jan, 2008 9:17 pm

John

http://www.irfanview.com/

If you go to the 'SupportIrfanview' link it says 10Euro or another amount. I wonder how many people actually contribute to such software sites when it is not mandatory?

There are also a number of plugins available at: http://www.tucows.com/preview/415586

Post by **prospero** » Fri 11 Jan, 2008 11:06 pm

Robo. Yes it just makes Irfanveiw the default veiwer for whatever file types you select. Most of the time you will probably only use *.jpg *.gif *.bmp. The icons for these types will become squashed cats.

Irfanveiw is a very neat bit of kit. It was even more useful before XP when the only way to veiw pics was in IE.

Have you tried the slideshow feature?