Posts by Lee Sexton 14 publicly visible posts • joined 30 Apr 2007
Top Gear did make out the cars were very unreliable in the show so maybe they should get their fingers burnt? I was impressed and have been with the Tesla since I first saw it and Top Gear did kind of put me off with the references to the fact it was so unreliable, indeed they jibed about it's unreliability and thats got to be damaging....
I bought a laptop with Vista home premium installed, had so much bother with it I wiped it off and went to XP on the laptop (plus it certainly didnt have enough ram to run vista, 1gb). I vowed never to return again, but I bought a geforce 8800gt and decided to "upgrade" my main machine to Vista Ultimate X64 and chuck another 2gb memory in it (4gb now). I have to say it has never once crashed and has behaved impeccably, older hardware drivers are obviously a problem but apart from that, dare I say it, it has behaved even better than XP.
Sure I turned off the fast search and modded it a little for quicker system performance, but it has honestly been stable as a rock. Am surprised myself, but am gutted I fell into the hype (which is unlike me, cynical bas*tard!) of DX10 which was my main reason for switching. But it has been solid must say.
The real issue of shunting as many customers onto pipes and using "traffic shaping" is swept under the carpet, to me this is the real issue. This computer active campaign annoyed the hell out of me because I felt my petition addressed this issue more than speeds of up to did for adsl as you can quite easily find out what speed you are likely to get with bt broadband checker which is usually linked from the isp you are buying from. Another smoke screen. Throttling is the real problem and oversubscribing!!!
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/broadbandripoff/
please sign this one, still waiting for a response from the minister!!!
I think this statement shows why it isnt useless? "The price of existing 60GB PS3s will be reduced to €499 and "remain on sale until stocks run out"
In other words they are going to stop selling the 60gb version altogether in the uk/eu.
They should bite the bullet and reduce the cost of the full version console, lets face it, sony have egg on their face (and share price no doubt) after this whole fiasco. I knew they were a greedy horrible company but this whole PS3 thing took it to new levels what with a) the price of the units compared to elsewhere b) the fact that the backwards compatibility was emulated rather than hardware driven in the eu and uk (compared to japan and usa) considering the price differences and c) the utter refusal to reduce prices in the eu/uk without losing more of the already cut down features.
If I was Sony I would drop the price of the unit (the full version) and return the hardware ps2 chip as was originally designed and maybe treat their customers with a bit of respect and maybe sales will improve?.
Also this blu-ray player, does anyone really want one forced upon them? I'm sure costs could be cut down if they found an alternative solution? I mean theres no way these games need to be on 25gb disks?
Sony continually moan and compare XBOX 360 prices compared to the PS3, but at the end of the day they may be the same price when you buy the extras on the 360, the difference here though is we have the choice whether or not we buy the rubbish that is an optional extra, with the PS3 we don't.
Personally I dont see what the fuss is about with HD anyway, I don't think it's something that amazes, yes its a slight improvement over standard dvd films, but it certainly isnt worth the premium companies are asking for, and with the option of whether or not to buy into it would maybe have swayed me into buying a ps3 that didn't have a bluray player built in (as I did when I bought a 360 and never bothered with an HD dvd add on).
Of course we all know why Sony are insisting on bundling the blu-ray player, nothing to do with anything the customer wants, just to get a foothold in the market for their technology.
One day Sony might learn a lesson, but it isn't for a while yet, as always people still are fan boys (as with Apple), but keep pushing their own customer base with bad decisions, forced technology and restrictions etc and people will eventually switch off to Sony et al (one always hopes!).
This guy shouldn't be looking at overall speed and look at what the ACTUAL throughput we are getting with the majority of ISP's actually is. I'm sure he'd be even more horrified and could push even harder for more investment into the broadband infrastructure if he did this what with all the throttling going on.
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/broadbandripoff/
Please sign.
A law like over here where the bank has 6 months to notice the mistake and then the money is yours? I think it's in this country that rule applies, if the bank overpays you by an amount and only notice it after 6 months then legally they can do nothing about it. Might be wrong....
The Wii is so popular, I bought one last week as I am completely bored with the 360, the games on the 360 are pretty poor showings, very very dull, yes some of them look pretty but I've never been one for FPS' on console (thats what my pc is for, could never get to grips with controllers!) coming from the old days of home computing, never really been a console fan. The PS3 for me is a no way hosay! This is due to price, poor games and I just really am not a fan of Sony (even though I own a psp!) due to their very high prices, generally poor quality (on a price vs quality basis!).
So I bought a Wii for the innovative controller, the fun factor that consoles are missing and I am very very happy with it, I wiped myself out buying it until the next payday so am stuck with Wii Sports for now but I love it, the GF loves it, people round for drinks love it and generally I think it's a winner.
I think the Wii will show that companies should be investing in gameplay rather than pretty gfx with dull short-lived games that cost a fortune, maybe it's going to be the kick up the backside they need? I'm bored with pc games, bored with the 360 (and hugely disappointed, seriously thinking of selling it), hardly turn the PSP on except when in bed and cant sleep and for me the Wii is a breath of fresh air.
Well done Nintendo.
Okay, I signed the last petition and knew that it wasn't the correct way to go due to the wording. I have created one for the actual throttling of the service, this is not the same as "unlimited" in the fact that most ISP's are throttling people REGARDLESS of useage at peak times (anywhere from 4pm to 1am) and therefore there is no get-out for them to say it's an ASA issue because this isn't an advertising issue, this is theft as far as I am concerned. Imagine your SKY only showing BBC1 during peak time even though you are paying for everything? I think it's the same issue, and seeing as how the other peition was rendered useless I think this is another angle to pursue, they can't bury their heads in the sand on ALL issues!
I have also written to my local MSP and MP, the MP has written to the minister in charge (Margaret Hodge) who has now written to OFCOM demanding some answers, of course OFCOM bury their heads in the sand over this one (as detailed on their website - "complain to your ISP"). I have mad it abundantly clear that I don't know any ISP that isn't throttling, so we can't all complain to each and every individual ISP, this needs intervention by the government.
It is of course going to affect business in the UK, my business connection at work gets throttled down to stupid speeds, even though we use vpn and remote desktop we struggle with our speeds, this is during the day too which is not on. If it continues at the rate it is going things are going to get worse.
So anyway, thats my rant, I don't expect a miracle from this one, but just because the government buries their head in the sand doesn't mean we should too, thats not the answer :)
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/broadbandripoff/
Please sign.
Are you kidding me? I was lucky and ordered bt broadband but had a router sitting here to connect, so before it was "officially" enabled I could connect, trying to download some games (Metaboli, legal download of latest games Paul, we don't all pirate) was going at a whopping 24kb/s until 1am when it hit it's true speed, this was before any so-called "fair use" kicked in, an instant throttle. All the ISP's are at it, they throttle regardless of useage. Cut a long story short, 24kb/s was beyond a joke, I cancelled before it was enabled and got out of there (thankfully!). My current ISP of course throttles too, but not on the same ridiculous speeds as BT.
ISP's want to stop oversubscribing, they are seriously underestimating the bandwidth that current internet offers and will only grow. What happens when the rest of the UK wants in on the broadband "bandwagon", are we going to see throttling 24/7?
I have set up a petition, the amoutn of throttling going on is beyond a joke, speed DOES matter, and 24kb/s, 100kb/s (any throttling whatsoever) is simply unnaceptable, stop milking us with oversubscription. What do you get a pipe for? £7.95 per user last time I saw something. Theres plenty of scope to make money without oversubscribing, especially when you use Indian call centres for non-existant tech support.
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/114516/bandwidth-throttling-petition-launched.html
Please sign, I have also contacted magazines and MSP and MP, my MP is going to write to the minister in charge of all this so hopefully the state of UK broadband and the underhand tactics of ISP's ripping us off will be highlighted, this is a blight on business, education and us ordinary users, we are taking broadband further and further back in technological terms, not forward. 56k anyone?
This whole situation is becoming a disgrace. Yet again "pirates" are being blamed for oversubscription on the networks. ISP's really need to be investigated, I have set up an epitition about this *still waiting for it to be okayed, now a week*. ISP's need to realise that with faster connections higher bandwidth services are inevitable. It's not just people "stealing" software and games that is causing the congestion, there are on demand movies, games, music etc which all use the p2p technology, it's getting ridiculous now and I am eagerly awaiting some of these companies starting to sue the ISP's for loss of business due to the throttling, after all, why should I pay £8 per month for on demand games when I cant actually download them? Theres also the green issue coming into play here, your pc needs to be on 24/7 for a few days at a time wasting energy because your speeds are so slow.
If airlines are getting into trouble for overbooking why are ISP's getting away with it? They need to seriously look at their estimates of bandwidth use, are they still basing it on 56k useage? They need to wake up before they completely obliterate the already laughable state of UK broadband.
How can people here be telling us that the bandwidth cable buys is expensive? Cable OWN the pipes and lines. Didn't NTL buyout C&W? Don't C&W own the pipelines anyway (the major ones) and NTL own all the infrastructure within Britain? So how can you try and compare it to ADSL companies having to buy pipelines from BT etc?
It's simply not the same or am I missing something?
Anyway I got rid of NTL (I wont call it Virgin as it simply isn't, it's a rebrand nothing more) this month finally, fed up with the the modem and interactive dying every 30 mins or so and having to constantly reboot everything. Engineers couldn't solve the problem, they could only say it was a known fault in the area and do nothing about it (last place I lived up the road was excellent, never had any problems). So after a year of this I finally got the problem solved, the service was removed.
Can't say I'll miss it. As for the throttling, I think it's pretty shameful the way they are doing it.
If their userbase is going down then in theory you should all have more bandwidth to play with and no need for throttling, recent figures are showing that people are pretty much leaving in droves, so why are they feeling the need to throttle so harshly? They are punishing everyone and yet they have less customers, I think NTL wants to implode.
People need to stop comparing bandwidth on adsl with cable, it's completely different, there are middlemen in adsl situations, none with NTHell.
And the ADSL situation is just a joke anyway, instead of upgrading the infrastructure they throttle everyone with the excuses of illegal downloading, heavy users etc (*place your excuse here) when in actual fact its people using the internet normally for a fast 8mbit (or whatever they have) in todays environment with movies and games on demand services where they have simply oversubscribed on the line. It's called greed and I think something should be done about it. Put it this way, it's going to come to the point where all these companies offering on demand services (music, games and video) are going to sue the isp's because they are going bust, why would I pay £10 a month for games that I can't download? So the whiners about illegal downloading, stop spouting the rubbish the isp['s are feeding you, metaboli is an on demand games service, they have games available that are up to 4gb in size, there are video services that download movies that are up to 3gb in size we aren't all illegal downloaders.
And what happens when MS get their way with .net? The days are coming when ALL your software will be streamed, Adobe are doing it, MS are doing it with some things already and it's set to happen all over. ISP's need to stop milking customers and over subscribing, the airlines are overbooking and getting into trouble for it, why aren't ISP's?
For one thing, don't be fooled by the rebranding shenannigans, it is still NTL who have cable, they just paid to use the Virgin brand name. Secondly, I think that cable have scored a huge own goal, I think they were looking for public sympathy like Branson got against BA etc and it has severely backfired. For one thing, NTL's customer service is absolutely shocking, no amount of rebranding will change the fact it is still as bad and will continue to be. Another point is that when NTL started using the Virgin name your bill went up by an extra £5 per month, so in effect you were paying for the rebranding and indeed this would have covered the cost of the extra Sky wanted to charge.
Personally I have had enough of cables poor service, have switched to Sky and have just switched to a BT line and am in the process of getting ADSL, my account was so bad that NTL were giving me basic digi tv, telephone (unlimited calls anytime and international discount and mobile discount too)and broadband for £19.99 a month, I'm so fed up with it I dont mind paying the extra just to get rid of them. Never again. And no, I'm not a fan boy of any of these companies, they all want your cash end of story, but I have to say that Sky is a better customer experience in my opinion with better content and a very reliable service. But I do think NTL have a cheek fighting Sky, they got an extra £5 per month when they rebranded from everyone without their consent and they still have Sky Sports and Movies.
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