[Lancaster] Connections ...

[Richard Robinson]

On Tue, Nov 19, 2002 at 01:37:35PM +0000, Martyn Welch wrote:
> Inline comments!

Likewise ...

>    > We have ADSL via Demon - nope, not slower than a modem. Even if the
>    > speed did drop, it's not paid for by the minute (or holding up your
>    > phone line) so it's not such a problem.
> 
>    That's true; and it's the permanence, and the freeing up of the voice
>    phone, that really attracts me, rather than super speed (though that
>    would be nice, too). Just wondering what to realistically expect,
>    really.
> 
> I'll give an example then - earlier I downloaded the java VM for Mozilla 
> (approx 14.5Mb) I think it took about 15min. Not as fast as the connection I 
> had in my room at uni (apparently 10Mb/s) but I don't usually see a huge 
> difference (E-mail/Web) maybe I just got used to the slower speed, but its 
> much better than 56K modem.

Cor. That's the sort of size I'd think twice about - I'm currently
reckoning about 12Mb/hour via modem.

What I had on my mind, I suppose, is a comment of my brother's, that if
you read the BT T&C carefully, you find a clause saying that the max.
they _guarantee_ is 4Kbs - which is fairly dire. But then, he lives in
Manchester and can get cable (1:1 contention, 20quid/month. Not that I'd
want to live in Manchester, mind you :)

>    > I think ADSL was the best we could get!
> 
>    It's the best I know of in this town, for sure. Better deal than my
>    current demon TAM, I reckon ...
> 
> Suppose it depends how much you use it/ want to use it and whether you will 
> paoss pay a little premium for permanent connection. I'd go for the premium, 

The odd thing is, it looks as though it wouldn't cost any more. I'm
currently paying 40-50 quid a quarter for the 'net fraction of my phonebills
+ 3*tenner-a-month to demon. Replace that with 3 * 25 to demon and the
total stays the same. I know there's a setup cost and hardware to buy,
etc, but I can ignore a once-off :) What modem/router/whatever do you
use ? I guess I'll go for an ethernet router with firewall, rather than
running the latter on the main box.

> I love my computer getting E-mail all day, almost makes it pointless to use 
> Instant messengers (Ok, it's quite a bit slower, but you don't have to sign 
> up to MSN or alike...)

Yeah. My phone bill's mainly hundreds of minimum-connect-charges,
because I like my email (and news) to happen quickly. And ssh'ing into
Leeds Uni to maintain my website there, I hate the way I can't forget
the bill clocking up while I'm debugging something. Realistically, it's
still cheaper to spend an evening doing that than going out the pub, of
course ... but, yeah, I want a permanent connection. Looks like the
thing to do.


-- 
Richard Robinson
"The whole plan hinged upon the natural curiosity of potatoes" - S. Lem