telewest c/d + wireless internet connection

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Moving house this weekend from an 'NTL area' to a 'Telewest area' (has the country really been carved up by this oligarchy?). question 1) is telewest alright? 2) is anyone out there using one of those clever boxes which don't have any wires? Apparently, you just put it in your room and some 12 to 15 computers can have permanent superfast connection, by magic (or radio waves maybe). 3) Did I dream this?

― Daniel (dancity), Friday, 24 January 2003 17:10 (twenty-three years ago)

I had some fucking awful experiences with Telewest, but that was the phone bit that used to be part of Cable London rather than cable TV. I think they were understaffed but the customer service was dreadful. This was a year or two ago.

― James Ball (James Ball), Friday, 24 January 2003 17:18 (twenty-three years ago)

Not really after the TV thing, to be honest. It's the well-fast internet access that I'm mainly concerned with.

― Daniel (dancity), Friday, 24 January 2003 17:22 (twenty-three years ago)

2) is anyone out there using one of those clever boxes which don't have any wires?

I'm not sure if this is exactly what you're asking, but I'm using Apple's AirPort. It's cool.

― Sean (Sean), Friday, 24 January 2003 17:27 (twenty-three years ago)

"Not really after the TV thing, to be honest. It's the well-fast internet access that I'm mainly concerned with."

Yes, I realise you won't be getting the same services from them as I did, and I'm not sure if they're as incompetent in all areas as they were with the phones. It may be different divisions = radically different service levels etc or they may be shite all round.

― James Ball (James Ball), Friday, 24 January 2003 17:31 (twenty-three years ago)

Sean, does AirPort work with Windows as well as Apple applications? (What alliteration!)

― Daniel (dancity), Friday, 24 January 2003 17:34 (twenty-three years ago)

Telewest are ok as long as everything's ok. If technical problems start happening or they miss an installation date it can be hell. If you get a wireless node you will be able to get it to work with Telewest's cable modem, you just have to call through the MAC address which is easy to discover (it'll probably be written on the underside of the wireless router).

Wireless wise there are three standards:

802.11b which is the current standard it operates at 11mbps but in the real world more like 4-6 Mbps unless you're really close to the router. The original sirport was this standard and most of the kit out there is this standard. D-Link do Cable/ADSL to Wireless Routers for about £132

802.11a operates at 54Mbps but is not compatible with 802.11b the kit is still quite rare and expensive at the moment and has only just become legal in the UK

802.11g The new standard also operates at 54Mbps but is compatible with 802.11b. The New Airport Extreme works to this standard and I reckon it's the way to go. Even if you use a PC the airport extreme base station looks like a pretty good deal. It combines an ethernet port, a usb port for printing from the built in print server. its quite easy to configure and looks like a flying saucer. its £149 and its the only 54 mbps product availible so far.

The Airport products seem to work just fine with Windows.

― Ed (dali), Friday, 24 January 2003 17:49 (twenty-three years ago)

Airport Base Station Admin Utility for Windows

― Ed (dali), Friday, 24 January 2003 17:54 (twenty-three years ago)

Airport for Windows Discussion Forum

― Ed (dali), Friday, 24 January 2003 17:56 (twenty-three years ago)

Ed, that's terrific. You say that if I get a wireless node wecan use it in conjunction with the telewest cable modem. Have I understood this correctly? Is it possible to forget about telewest and just buy airPort?

― Daniel (dancity), Friday, 24 January 2003 19:18 (twenty-three years ago)

No, you still need the connection it doesn't matter wether its telewest or ADSL, some of telewest's phone deals are quite good so you might want to go that way. Before you jump it might be worth while checking some telewest user forums to see what experiences people have had, if any with telewest and Airport. I'd like to go wireless when I upgrade my computer.

― Ed (dali), Friday, 24 January 2003 19:24 (twenty-three years ago)

i have telewest broadband and its fine. i have nothing to compare it with though...

..but you're with cable&wireless/NTL who are RENOWNED for being the worst company in the country. they have a special category all to themselves. once telewest and NTL both overcharged the company i work for and i had to get the money back. telewest took just over 2 weeks. NTL? 14 months

― gareth (gareth), Friday, 24 January 2003 19:24 (twenty-three years ago)

Is the Telewest service still called blueyonder? I have heard generally good reports - it seems to be the best thing about their business (their digital TV is rub).

I am considering getting ASDL (or is it ADSL) broadband but don't know who is best. Does it all come down to cost or are some better than others (I presume they are all leasing BT lines anyway). I read somewhere that you can get if for as little as £20 a month, whereas the cheapest I've seen so far is One.Tel for about £25. Are they any good? Depending on my finances I may settle for a dial-up modem flat monthly deal instead. Any recommendations for that?

― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 24 January 2003 20:30 (twenty-three years ago)

i've been using Telewest's broadband service 'blueyonder' since March 2001 and its fine. although I'm still not sure it really qualifies as 'broadband' because theoptimum download speed is 64 kilobytes per second it seems (average would be around half that as the network's business is variable) - I find it satisfactorily reliable and affordable. In fact I would have got their 1 Meg connection if I wasnt planning to move out as soon as I got a new work contract.

― stevem (blueski), Friday, 24 January 2003 20:36 (twenty-three years ago)

Ed speaks truth. Only thing I would add is that 802.11a seems to have serious problems getting through walls because of its higher frequency (5GHz instead of 2.4GHz), so it looks like the best bet is 802.11g for the time being. I say this without having looked at any of the 11g products, though...soon that will be rectified.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Friday, 24 January 2003 20:40 (twenty-three years ago)

Is there something wrong with your connection, stevem?

Blue Yonder Users Group says here that the optimum download speed is 512kps (128kps for uploads).

― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 24 January 2003 20:48 (twenty-three years ago)

WOO HOO! I just got impatient and signed up to an unmetered (well, 42 hours a week, that should be enough..) dial up ISP. Fuck broadband - this is only £9.99 a month with no fixed contract. And it works with a Mac (though they scared me with some Windows download I have ignored). Hurrah for v21.co.uk. They do broadband for £19.99 a month too if I fancy it later.

― N. (nickdastoor), Sunday, 26 January 2003 18:24 (twenty-three years ago)

Now where does a Mac user go to steal MP3s?

― N. (nickdastoor), Sunday, 26 January 2003 18:32 (twenty-three years ago)

Get yourself a client for gnutella, I recommend Mutella but you have to compile that for OS X through the terminal using fink, I can send you instructions. If not go for Limewire but that does take up system resources somewhat. If you're running OSX's firewall you have to open up a port in the firewall or turn it off to get it to work.

If you do go for ADSL I'd go for zen, They're good because I've not had a single problem with them and when BT fucked up the line they arranged the repairs with BT.

― Ed (dali), Sunday, 26 January 2003 18:45 (twenty-three years ago)

hmmm, i reckon i'm being done up like a kipper by blueyonder then with regards to my download and upload speed - unless i've not done the maths properly...the question is can i be bothered to ring them and hold for half an hour or shall i risk an e-mail that will probably be ignored like my last one. their customer service appears to be inconsistent - sometimes good sometimes bad.

― stevem (blueski), Sunday, 26 January 2003 18:55 (twenty-three years ago)

Thanks to everyone who contributed. I think we'll go with blueyonder for the time being and go for something a bit more sophisticated in the fullness of time. No-one seems to have anything bad to say about BY, so that'll do for now, at least. Thanks!

― Daniel (dancity), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 18:38 (twenty-three years ago)

Limewire doesn't have 'Lonely Days' by the Future Bible Heroes.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 18:45 (twenty-three years ago)

Keep trying the network is like a pulsating blob.

Daniel I'd like to know how you get on with the Airport.

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 18:47 (twenty-three years ago)

But even if I put in like 'Blondie' I only get 54 hits. Am I doing something wrong?

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 18:49 (twenty-three years ago)

You need to let it build up a network. Gnutella (the network) is very clever, it has no central servers, but it does take time to build up. That's why I recommended mutella as it will search indefinitely. Its difficult to install but once you have you can operate it through your web browser.

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 19:06 (twenty-three years ago)

Broadband helps too.

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 19:07 (twenty-three years ago)

Ooh, random network question for Ed, or anyone else. My house has broadband but my room's not wired. I'm on the second floor and the hub is in the front room, but there is a connection to the room next to mine, so there's no need for another cable up the stairs. I can just put a cheap ethernet hub in that room to connect to mine, right?

― Graham (graham), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 19:11 (twenty-three years ago)

yes but you have to use a crossover cable between hubs if there's no uplink ports. The little netgear hubs are good value. Is your G4 working again?

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 19:15 (twenty-three years ago)

No, the screen no longer comes on, though it does seem to start up. I'm trying to persuade the insurance company they want to buy me (or give me money towards) a 12" PB G4, instaed of spending £600 or £1100 (depending on whether Apple decided to replace the screen) on a 2 year old computer.

― Graham (graham), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 19:19 (twenty-three years ago)

Well if I search on things that do get results the list builds pretty quickly, (though it then trickles to a stop, so maybe it is indeed giving up before it has a chance to find obscure things)
Regarding what you said about firewalls, I think one is included with OS X so I guess I have one running. I went to LimeWire preferences and under 'firewall' chose 'Force IP' (and each time I log on paste in the IP address that my ISP has allocated me). Is that right?
I have managed to download a couple of things so I presume it is. But when I chose 'monitor searches' it still says "Your client is a leaf node protected by an Ultrapeer (!!). You will see few or no searches in the monitor window". Well I do see 'a few' but I don't know if it's too few and if this is indicative of impoverished results from my own searches too. I am confused and your Mutella 'compiling' sounds scary.
You are right about Limewire being heavy on resources, too.

I WANT MY NAPSTER BACK.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 19:20 (twenty-three years ago)

I seem to have foxed Graham's HTML checker so I guess I'm not a total incompetent.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 19:22 (twenty-three years ago)

Graham: Why've you had such bad luck? My G3 soldiers on. Apple really ought to completely replace computers rather than repair them. Everyone who's had one repaired under warranty has had a catalogue of errors.

N. Yeah that's right you can alternatively go to system preferences click on Sharing then the firewall tab. Click on new and set up a new open port at port 6347. Alternatively download a programme called Brickhouse which has all of this info pre programmed and is easier to set up if you use more unusual things like gnutella.

Are you prepared to set out into the UNIX unknown and install mutella?

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 19:29 (twenty-three years ago)

It sounds fearsome. Am I really likely to get lots more hits?

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 19:31 (twenty-three years ago)

Or just indie nonsense ha ha.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 19:32 (twenty-three years ago)

Broadband will improve your chances as you can let the gnutella net build you in over time, you'll be nearer the centre with broadband anyway. Mutella is unobtrusive compared to lime wire and I find that Limewire will not stay up for more that 20 hours or so.

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 19:35 (twenty-three years ago)

Well, the first one was entirely my fault. The plug came off the power supply (which is their fault), but then I tried to improvise, and blew up the charging circuit.

This time it probably comes from carrying it in a rucksack everyday with nothing to protect it but a few bits of cardboard, and quite often I'd get it trapped in springy doors. I did get a case eventually, but I guess it was too late.

― Graham (graham), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 10:27 (twenty-three years ago)

Those power supply plugs have been shit for years. I've had one new power supply for this PowerBook. It sucks about the rucksack thing though. Momus has the perfect rucksack for carrying his iBook about but it looks a bit expensive. Not that his is a proper computer bag, but proper computers bags are damn expensive.

― Ed (dali), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 10:32 (twenty-three years ago)

Oh while I remember would it be possible to code a watch thread button? Something that would make the bullet point red on the new answers list.

― Ed (dali), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 10:34 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm on my third now, one of the white ones, and they seem to have fixed the strain-relief design and it doesn't look like it'll break, at least not in the same way as the last two did. I have a custom fit Willow design slip case now. It's very nice.

Can you make bullet points red? I guess it wouldn't be that hard to code though.

― Graham (graham), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 10:35 (twenty-three years ago)

you just give them FONT Color attributes. I don't think bullet point thingies work on IE at all though. (I use omniweb and Safari)

― Ed (dali), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 10:51 (twenty-three years ago)

I got it back! Wow! £680 in all. It looks brand new! (except same screen, so sane scratches). The ports line up with the holes in the case! (not true of motherboard #2, which had a v.wonky monitor port).

Maybe I should sell it now.

― Graham (graham), Tuesday, 4 February 2003 19:09 (twenty-three years ago)

Ouch. If you sold it would you go 12", 17" or wait for new 14"? Please for my nerves sake buy a case for it.

For anyone still interested in wireless networking I saw 802.11b cards for £29.99 in Maplin's today.

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 4 February 2003 19:17 (twenty-three years ago)

I might have eBayed myself a CDWriter by the end of the week so I could sort you out with jag and DW.

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 4 February 2003 19:19 (twenty-three years ago)

12" definitely, and I can sell some accessories (spare battery, v.v. posh Sony USB CD-RW, iMic etc) and get pretty near the price.

Thanks in advance if you get me those CDs.

― Graham (graham), Tuesday, 4 February 2003 21:16 (twenty-three years ago)

Oh, and I have a v.v.nice solid case I made for my Duo which should fit the 12" well enough.

― Graham (graham), Tuesday, 4 February 2003 21:17 (twenty-three years ago)

No problem. cross body parts for ebay win. If not I'm gonna have to get someone to bring me one from NYC. Is a cheap firewire cdr too much to ask.

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 4 February 2003 21:20 (twenty-three years ago)

Any ideas for good bidding strategies?

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 4 February 2003 21:24 (twenty-three years ago)

Wait until the last minute. Unfair on everyone, but totally the way to go (NB requires fast internet connection and a reliable computer)

― Graham (graham), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 01:08 (twenty-three years ago)

Bid early and regularly. That way you won't get it but you'll make the last minute fuckers pay more.

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 01:40 (twenty-three years ago)

I didn't win. Not at a fast connection so lost at the last second.

― Ed (dali), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 22:55 (twenty-three years ago)

Anyone know where I can get an external firewire CD Writer cheap.

― Ed (dali), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 23:08 (twenty-three years ago)

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