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(SP title)
Heres my situation:
at the moment, the 2 Pc's in my house (family downstairs and mine upstairs) both share an AOL account, ie. both have internet access for £15 a month. My Mum pays the line rental for my bedroom PC.
I want broadband. I've decided Pipex is the best option, so will have that installed on my upstairs PC. However, as my family PC will now not have net access, my Mum is withdrawing the line rental. I cant afford £34 a month!
The options as I see it are:
Wireless network? A wire network would be very difficult, as my 2 Pc are in completely opposite corners of the house, and one is up, one downstairs.
Extension of my line downstairs? Could we then connect an ADSL modem to each line extension, and both benefit from ADSL?
Cheap net access? Know a very cheap (but reliable) dial up service I could use downstairs? As long as its cheap, my Mum might still pay my line rental.
Any ideas? I really want ADSL :)
Heres my situation:
at the moment, the 2 Pc's in my house (family downstairs and mine upstairs) both share an AOL account, ie. both have internet access for £15 a month. My Mum pays the line rental for my bedroom PC.
I want broadband. I've decided Pipex is the best option, so will have that installed on my upstairs PC. However, as my family PC will now not have net access, my Mum is withdrawing the line rental. I cant afford £34 a month!
The options as I see it are:
Wireless network? A wire network would be very difficult, as my 2 Pc are in completely opposite corners of the house, and one is up, one downstairs.
Extension of my line downstairs? Could we then connect an ADSL modem to each line extension, and both benefit from ADSL?
Cheap net access? Know a very cheap (but reliable) dial up service I could use downstairs? As long as its cheap, my Mum might still pay my line rental.
Any ideas? I really want ADSL :)
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I have four computers :D
I have them all linked up via network conection. But it is the old type connection (not the one that looks like a phone cable, the one that looks like a TV arial socket).
This is better, as I can have one cable from the downstairs PC, going along the floor, into the under the stairs cuboard, and straight up. I then link this cable to my PC. Then link a cable from My PC to my sisters PC. Then one from the downstairs PC, going to my Laptop.
If I used the newer cable, I would have to have two wires going upstairs, instead of the one.
I also have another PC (!) linked to the network, which acts as a server. This PC dials up to the internet, and provides access for the other 4 PCs. When I get broadband, I will simply connect the broadband modem to this PC and voilla! Instant broadband access to all 4 PCs!
It's not simple, but it's by far the best (and cheapest) way of doing it. In my opinion.
I have them all linked up via network conection. But it is the old type connection (not the one that looks like a phone cable, the one that looks like a TV arial socket).
This is better, as I can have one cable from the downstairs PC, going along the floor, into the under the stairs cuboard, and straight up. I then link this cable to my PC. Then link a cable from My PC to my sisters PC. Then one from the downstairs PC, going to my Laptop.
If I used the newer cable, I would have to have two wires going upstairs, instead of the one.
I also have another PC (!) linked to the network, which acts as a server. This PC dials up to the internet, and provides access for the other 4 PCs. When I get broadband, I will simply connect the broadband modem to this PC and voilla! Instant broadband access to all 4 PCs!
It's not simple, but it's by far the best (and cheapest) way of doing it. In my opinion.
Nah, they're all like that, shouldnt be a problem.
As for distance, I'm 5.4km away, how releaved was I..
As for distance, I'm 5.4km away, how releaved was I..
Sorry Dan, Jess appeared. Right, contention ratios; Yes, BT use 50:1, so in the worst case scenario your connection could drop to 10kbps...however, that would require 49 other people in your immediate area to be downloading at the same time, so it's not too much of a problem at the moment due to the small number of people with ADSL. BT say this will be fine, but as broadband becomes more widespread, they may change their mind..
Noy sure what cable is, someone said 15:1 - I've never had problems with slow connections, really, as long as the server is up to it then my speed stays about 70k/sec. Then again, I do live in a town where 80% of the population seem to be over 70 years pld..
Noy sure what cable is, someone said 15:1 - I've never had problems with slow connections, really, as long as the server is up to it then my speed stays about 70k/sec. Then again, I do live in a town where 80% of the population seem to be over 70 years pld..
Whoooo! Come back, get on MSN!
What do you think of the 50:1 contention ratio? Sounds worrying to me?
I have to phone BT soon to fins out if I'm less than 5.5KM from my telephone exchange
Lets all keep our fingers crossed for me?
What do you think of the 50:1 contention ratio? Sounds worrying to me?
I have to phone BT soon to fins out if I'm less than 5.5KM from my telephone exchange
Lets all keep our fingers crossed for me?
We have 4 computers networked in the house at the moment. A PC, a quite old PC that dosn't get used much, my brothers laptop and my laptop in my room. The three downstairs are close together but my room is upstairs, but nothing a bit of drilling couldn't solve :-)
I think we are getting a NTL cablemodem soon, hopefully anyway as 56K is really annoying at times.
I think we are getting a NTL cablemodem soon, hopefully anyway as 56K is really annoying at times.
PIPEX!! YAY!!
Get Pipex. Actually, if more people get it, it'll be slower for me, so..
Don't get Pipex. Or else.
Nah, joking. I got my lil router thinghy in the post this morning and I've spent all day playing :)
My line should be enable within 7 working days, initial estimate is Wednesday 10th April.
Everything I've heard about Pipex is good, go for it.
As for wireless, it's one of the things I'd like to do (being able to surf the net from the laptop in the garden would be very cool!) but the prices are very high, around £800 to upgrade my network.
Cable networks are easy and cheap to do, if its two PCs you can get away with a cross over cable and 2 NICs, that'll cost you about £25ish for the lot.
I also doubt there's going to be another price drop for a very long time, as it took all this time to get the first price drop..
Get Pipex. Actually, if more people get it, it'll be slower for me, so..
Don't get Pipex. Or else.
Nah, joking. I got my lil router thinghy in the post this morning and I've spent all day playing :)
My line should be enable within 7 working days, initial estimate is Wednesday 10th April.
Everything I've heard about Pipex is good, go for it.
As for wireless, it's one of the things I'd like to do (being able to surf the net from the laptop in the garden would be very cool!) but the prices are very high, around £800 to upgrade my network.
Cable networks are easy and cheap to do, if its two PCs you can get away with a cross over cable and 2 NICs, that'll cost you about £25ish for the lot.
I also doubt there's going to be another price drop for a very long time, as it took all this time to get the first price drop..
Darkness_2K wrote:
> I still have 9 months minimum contract on my phone. If I cant find a way round,
> I simply cant have ADSL, or I have to pay the line rental. Remember, I'm 15, so
> my Mum still has parental control of my bank account.
If we could get rid of
> my line, we would, have an extension of the main phone line put in my room and
> voila!
BUT, minimum contract period with BT :(
i don't know if this is any help, but i think the minimum contract on a standard BT line is 3 months. I had a new line put in last July and was told by the nice lady on the phone that i had to keep the line for a minimum of three months.
I spose it might be different now, or when you signed up, but i think they keep it low to encourage people to change.
if you did want to ditch the line it'd proly be worth giving them a ring and asking.
> I still have 9 months minimum contract on my phone. If I cant find a way round,
> I simply cant have ADSL, or I have to pay the line rental. Remember, I'm 15, so
> my Mum still has parental control of my bank account.
If we could get rid of
> my line, we would, have an extension of the main phone line put in my room and
> voila!
BUT, minimum contract period with BT :(
i don't know if this is any help, but i think the minimum contract on a standard BT line is 3 months. I had a new line put in last July and was told by the nice lady on the phone that i had to keep the line for a minimum of three months.
I spose it might be different now, or when you signed up, but i think they keep it low to encourage people to change.
if you did want to ditch the line it'd proly be worth giving them a ring and asking.
I have NTL broadband cablemodem access, 512K connection, and my speed has never dropped much below 50 kilobytes/sec, apart from on sites which were always slow even on my 56k modem.
Remember that 512k connections are kilobits, not kilobytes - so the download speed is actually around the 64 kilobyte/sec area!
The speed is largely unaffected, even at evenings/weekends. But then, the 50:1 contention ratio is only your immediate area - so it depends how many others in your area have broadband. It could just be that in my area there are few people that have broadband.
Even so, slow broadband is still quicker than a full-speed 56k modem, so you can't really lose!
Remember that 512k connections are kilobits, not kilobytes - so the download speed is actually around the 64 kilobyte/sec area!
The speed is largely unaffected, even at evenings/weekends. But then, the 50:1 contention ratio is only your immediate area - so it depends how many others in your area have broadband. It could just be that in my area there are few people that have broadband.
Even so, slow broadband is still quicker than a full-speed 56k modem, so you can't really lose!
My Mum has approved it! Who says moaning wont get you anywhere. The family dont use the net too much, so they will pay 1p a minute dial up.
I'm thinking of going with Pipex, because of their backbone network, I've heard good things about it from reliable sources.
However, ALL home ADSL 512k products have a contention ratio of 50:1. On a 512k connection only, this sounds very bad. Anyone got ADSL that can give me info on this?
I cant get it, but cable always has a d/l speed of at least 256k (or so blueyonder claim) however many users are online at the time. 50:1 on 512k would surely be slower than this?
I'm thinking of going with Pipex, because of their backbone network, I've heard good things about it from reliable sources.
However, ALL home ADSL 512k products have a contention ratio of 50:1. On a 512k connection only, this sounds very bad. Anyone got ADSL that can give me info on this?
I cant get it, but cable always has a d/l speed of at least 256k (or so blueyonder claim) however many users are online at the time. 50:1 on 512k would surely be slower than this?
I'm also in the same position. One computer upstairs, one down.
I have broadband upstairs, and the downstairs PC was on a free connection, but they've just started to charge 1p a minute.
A wire network is out of the question, really, because it means drilling holes in the floor/ceiling or wall, which we're not happy to do. However a wireless setup would cost around £300 - so it's catch-22 at the moment.
I have broadband upstairs, and the downstairs PC was on a free connection, but they've just started to charge 1p a minute.
A wire network is out of the question, really, because it means drilling holes in the floor/ceiling or wall, which we're not happy to do. However a wireless setup would cost around £300 - so it's catch-22 at the moment.
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