anyone stuck still using dialup networking knows just how irritationg slow connexion rates are. now picture this:

you pay a hefty sum to get a second line installed, specifically for use on the internet. an engineer comes, fiddles around, and says "voila". so now you have a dedicated internet line. right?

nope. a wonderful little box called a DACS is all you have. this wonderful piece of kit takes a line, and splits it in half. you have a second number, but you sure as hell don't have a second line. remember, half line equals half bandwidth. 28.8kbit/sec.

simple. phone up and bitch at them, you think. tried that. 26 times. until an engineer came and said "hmmm... the problem here is that you have a DACS" (duh.), the best i'd gotten was a letter addressed to "Mrs Shields", saying that since nobody who intends to use the internet in the UK uses a regular landline, i'd have to pay them for ISDN if i want real connexions.

[rant]
WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH THESE STUPID SONS OF BITCHES? COULDN'T THEY EVEN TELL I WAS A BLOKE AFTER OVER 20 CALLS TO THEM? DID IT EVER OCCUR TO THEM IT WAS CHEAPER TO DO WHAT THEY SAID THEY WOULD AND GIVE ME A LINE RATHER THAN EMPLOY 20 PEOPLE TO FOB ME OFF? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!
[/rant]

--directhex

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The master has no need for money. And yet he sits and counts it. As a meditation.
-The Book of Cataclysm

BT should be shut down forcably for those commercials with ET in them as well.

And the fact that as they dominate so much we still don't have DSL over here.

There's no cable anyway in nearly all of britain, so cablemodems arn't an option yet.

BT ISDN lines are expensive n'all.

And we have to pay for local calls. In the US they are free.

God damn.

The first trials of DSL services have started in london and another big city (i forget which one) but it'll be next year before widespread unbundling of the local loops takes place.

Until then britain is starved of bandwidth.
I suspect cable television will never really take off in this country to a great degree, our television viewing is more satellite based..

*fume*

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99.9\% of lam0r's problems:
CTKI
Chair to Keboard Interface

--directhex

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The master has no need for money. And yet he sits and counts it. As a meditation.
-The Book of Cataclysm

He got the line installed, no problems, he got the modem online on it, no problems, he didnt disconnect the modem at all, no problems, the telephone bill arrived, PROBLEM.

His dad went apeshit when he saw the bill for over £3500 of solid net usage and complained to BT, they told him the line had been installed legally and that his son (my friend) had given them authorisation on his (fathers) behalf.

His dad then wrote to the chairman of BT, explaining that his son had no authorisation to have the second line put in, and that his son was only 17 when he did it.

The chairman went down to the BT office, stormed into their manager and proceeded to sack him on the spot for installing a line on the sole word of a 17 year old that wasnt legally allowed to have one put in anyway.

The bill was thrown out, written off, but the line was never removed or cut-off, and he still hasnt paid for a pennies worth of calls on it yet..

The line's been there for 5yrs, and its cost nobody anything

Now THATS what I call funny.

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As for BT, they suck, I use Localtel (now World Online Telecom) and I dont get charged for net access at all, free 0845 24/7, no banners, nothing. And its not that slow either, considering i get dialup connexions of 56,000bps every time and download speeds in excess of 5k/sec regardless of where and when I'm downloading from.

Just goes to show what you CAN get for nothing

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When darkness calls and the pain and suffering begin again, you can guarantee that I shall be the instigator.
-
Kevin "Kayy" Beadle, The Proprietor and Innovator of Kayyos-Vx WebDesigns.