…watching that thing all day long!

After many months of our satellite system not working, we finally managed to get someone to come over and take a look at our dish. The man (who arrived a few days, and several irate phone calls late) thinks our LNB is the problem, and if all goes to plan, we should get the channels back. We also need to decide whether to go for a second dish (and receiver) to pick up the NTV package of Russian channels for Ira, or perhaps the cable TV option around here (Alma TV), or just leave it as is for now. Anyway, the satellite man did not want to do the work today, as it is apparently too windy, and he didn’t have any medical supplies on him should the worse happen…

(To any non-native English speakers reading this, mothers always used to warn their children that they would get square eyes watching telly for too long - as our TV is widescreen, the saying needed a little amendment.)

The ISP we now have our internet connection with is called Megaline. Unfortunately, since swapping to their service, everyday sees some downtime for connectivity. Even when all is apparently working, packets are often lost, and I can no longer as open as many simultaneous pages, without time outs occurring. That said, it is a lot cheaper, and although only 1/2 the speed, I do get an allowance of 10Gb/month before they throttle me down to 32Kbit/sec, from 128Kbit/sec.
Anyway, we first have a report on the UK’s lagginess (puns will stop now, sorry), when it comes to very fast internet connection availability. This is no great surprise really, given our history with BT’s (formerly part of the GPO) previous monopoly at nearly all stages of communications. Great investment will be needed to push beyond the current 24Mbps ceiling, and even that sort of connection is only really possibly if you live on top of your local exchange. Until we drop twisted pair copper lines as acceptable, the days of fibre optics into every home are a long way off, unless someone like Richard Branson decides that it is economically viable in areas when other Cable TV operators have avoided.

On a more positive note, here we have an article detailing how broadband internet connectivity (even if it isn’t globally breath-takingly fast) has rapidly become the preferred speed, compared to just four years ago, when most people considered dial up speeds acceptable. No pretty table to illustrate the point this time, sorry.

Finally, on a semi-related matter, the BBC News site had details on how some European nation’s citizens are rejecting land lines altogether, in favour of mobile phones. Although this may sound surprising at first, if you take into account that some of the nations, that were unable to develop as quickly under USSR rule, never had high rates for phone lines into every house, and how competitive some mobile phone network companies are in these markets, to try and get, then keep loyal customers, you can begin to see why having no land line number is becoming more common in some areas. Whether these figures include those that only use phone lines for internet usage, and use mobiles for cheaper evening calls etc, I couldn’t ascertain.

Should you wish to spend your vacation amongst neon lights, gambling at your favourite game, hoping to beat the house, then you could always search for ‘Flamingo Las Vegas‘ online. You will find details of the amenities on offer. The room itself has internet access, a safe to store your winnings and cable TV. Of course, you will also discover all the games available on the casino floor.