Got my 3 Mobile Broadband stick today, to replace the Vodafone one work supplies which is frequently useless. Although it did manage to pick up enough 3G+ last night to send and receive a few mails; I was in the centre of Manchester near a window, so 1 bar.
Firstly they didn’t send the D100 Wireless Router, so will have to get on the phone to them about that. OK it was only ‘launched’ yesterday, but the on-line order said “Delivery Friday”, so where is it? Plugged it into the Macbook, it lit up & started flashing blue. That’s a good sign, we have pretty decent 3 coverage around these parts, although I’d normally just use the wireless. But nothing else happened. No CD image appeared on the desktop like the instructions said. This could be because I already had the Mobile Connect software installed from a E220, but I noticed that in the Network Control Pannel a Huawei Mobile (plus DIAG & PCUI) entry had appeared. So just click on that, or run the Mobile Connect software & away we go.
We browsing is slightly laggy, but not too bad. Chicken of the VNC connected on my non-standard port without worries. iTunes opens the store, iCal picks up my calendar, Cyberduck works, Skype logs in, MSN & iChat both connect (although I haven’t used them for ages), Software Update is OK.
Wow, I’ve run out of applications to try. Vodafone take note, this is how it should be. Getting about 200K down, which isn’t bad. 10K max up, which is OK but I’ll have to find something to test it & see if that improves. That’s 13Mb of 5Gb used up already 
Categorised in Uncategorized
Tags: 3, broadband, mobile, router, three
Spending a lot of time in hotels, there’s usually wireless of some sort or another. Most of the usual suspects have roaming agreements, but there are two that when I see the SSID I start searching for the broadband dongle in my bag (& take my chances with Vodafone) or the nearest McDonalds.
Swisscom seem to think we all have Orange France accounts, or are happy paying ~£12 for 24 hours. They used to allow iPass, but that stopped a while back. BT are going to start roaming with them by the end of the year, woo finally!
Spectrum can be found in most of the Premier Inns & some Travelodges, and at least allow you to reach the hotel home page so you can check & make bookings. Although they’re not as expensive, usually around £5/day, no roaming options.
The past couple of weeks I’ve been in Glasgow, staying in a Premier Inn with a McDs opposite. I’ve observed a couple of people walk over from the hotel with their laptops, and I’ve done the same many times. Plus the coffee’s good. Spectrum could have got a couple of pence per minute roaming instead of the £0.00. I’m not sure why The Cloud & BT have ended their agreement, but I hope that they sort out whatever the problem is soon.
Categorised in Uncategorized
Tags: swisscom, roaming, mcdonalds, wifi
My Morgan Stanley Dean Whitter credit card has been replaced by a Barclaycard. It’s been replaced, sold, renamed so many times it’s hard to keep up. MSDW->Morgan Stanley->Goldfish->Barclaycard, probably some others I didn’t pay attention to. But what is interesting (to me, anyway) is that it’s the first card I’ve had with PayPass integrated. They’ve got readers all over London, but who wants to go there?
Rather surprisingly, the first place I saw a terminal outside of the M25 was yesterday in the depths of Yorkshire. We had met up with my folks at Nostell Priory, about half-way & an opportunity to use the National Trust memberships. Plus the cakes in the coffee shop are usually good, plenty of space to walk the dog & one of the nicest historic houses - there were rooms where I actually thought “if I decorated my room like this, I could probably live in it”. Which doesn’t happen often, as they’re usually like Belton or Kedleston House.
And in the gift shop, they had a brand new Barclays PayPass/PayWave terminal. Unfortunately my card isn’t active until tomorrow & the PIN numbers only turned up when we’d returned home, so we weren’t able to try the new technology. Plus the staff weren’t fantastically competent with the till or Chip&PIN machine so it would have just confused them even more. I next expect the National Trust to announce something like they’re rolling out Wifi hotspots to all their locations, they’ve already got an excellent audio tour at Southwell & all the little ‘toys’ make the visit a bit more enjoyable.
Categorised in Uncategorized
As I’m doing a lot more travelling around the country (Glasgow one day, Southampton another), it’s become apparent how rubbish Vodafone’s coverage is. Work gave me a Vodafone Mobile Connect card & a work SIM (I chose not to accept the phone, as what use is a 6500 Classic to me?), and as I can’t get a usable Vodafone signal at home - 1mile from the A1 - I’ve only used it for the occasional call to a colleague. Everyone has my personal number, I had to use it for work so got a T-Mobile contract with lots of minutes which I’m nearly half way through. I regrettably stopped the £10 T-Mobile datacard contract, which was excellent. But Vodafone will be as good, won’t it?
No. No, it’s not. Not by half. T-Mobile seems to have 3G & HSDPA coverage *everywhere*, at least everywhere you’d like to go. There’s a mast on the Malthouse just over the road from my house, so when we were without broadband after moving in, it was good enough until BT sorted their arse into gear. Vodafone seems to have some coverage in some places, until you go indoors. I do prefer working inside, especially in an ‘English Summer’. Plus some of my VPNs don’t work, I can’t VNC into home, everything seems to be blocked. I can count on one hand the number of hotel’s I’ve been in where I can actually click ‘Connect’ and get a usable throughput.
So I’ve found myself spending more time in the vacinity of the Golden Arches. I haven’t actually just pitched up in the car-park and got my laptop out, I do go in & buy a drink at least or a meal. Spend £5 in Premier Inn on WiFi, or £5 for a sandwich & drink? It’s not a tough choice. Hotels should also provide free WiFi, or at least an option to roam from any other provider - I’d go out of my way to stay there.
Categorised in Uncategorized
Tags: cloud, mcdonalds, vodafone, wifi
After doing the same job for over 3.5 years, it’s finally time to depart NSN & start working for the company that employs me. So if you’re not upto much on the 24th July, then why not join me for a quiet evening out - location TBA? If there’s more than a couple of buttons & a 4-shillings in the kitty, might even be able to get the boss to buy a few drinks! They say a change is as good as a rest. We’ll see…
Categorised in Uncategorized
When we moved to our current abode, we decided not to bother with Sky. Stupid builders put the phone socket on the other side of the room to the TV point, and it was easier to lash an aerial in the loft with a few bits of string & just use Freeview. Plus Lovefilm DVD Rentals, and the odd bit of BitTorrent - 50/60Gb per month
But I’ve been longing for a bit of HD action, and the choices were:
- AppleTV. I of course love all things Apple, and it was tempting to get a box while in the US. But it’s films only, and a couple of quid per chop.
- Xbox360 & HD-DVD Drive. Sounds like a hairdryer, although the prospect of Command & Conquer (aka Hot Firey Death), is rather tempting, but until they come out with a BluRay drive it’s not going to happen. Lovefilm has a good HD-DVD selection, but not many new releases will be on an effectively dead format.
- PS3. One of the best BluRay players with a console tacked on. Lovefilm has a great selection. But I hardly get chance to play on the Wii, there’s no C&C & it’s £300!
- BitTorrent. 720p TV shows are about 1.2Gb, and while I enjoyed watching one episode of Lost, they take forever to download & the Mac Mini struggles a bit to play them.
- SkyHd. It’s £250, plus install, plus another £10/month.
So when the evil Murdoch empire offered a discounted box, discounted subscription & even the missus said she missed Sky, it was time to get some holes drilled in the wall. To the installer’s credit, he did make a really neat job, put the dish on the chimney so you can barely see it. As for the phone, well strung it across the room to do a callback & then he left.
So now I scour the HD Channels listings for anything interesting, especially episodes of Air Crash Investigation that I’ve not seen. Sky Movies doesn’t seem to be too far behind DVD Rentals, and we’ve watched a fair few films again just to see what they’re like in HD. The Italian Job was great, and one evening we did both parts of the Andromeda Strain. Gladiators looks amazing, especially compared to a bad quality rip. BBC HD is probably the most disappointing ’channel’ as there’s nothing on, but I’m sure that will change later in the year once summer is over.
Categorised in Uncategorized
Tags: skyhd
Good meal out with the wife, couple of celebratory drinks. I feel old(er)!
Categorised in Uncategorized
Tags: birthday, happy
Off to see Spamalot tonight, staring ‘Jim Robinson’ from Neighbours (Alan Dale) who seems to be in everything at the moment - Lost, Torchwood, 24 etc.. Can’t blame a guy from earning an honest living. Typically a couple of people have dropped out, but there always seems to be someone else who wants to go. Not the sort of show I’d normally go see, I like Monty Python but it’s a bit weird at times & probably would change the channel if anything better was on. But it’s a lad’s night out, get a few beers before someone around Leicester Square & might manage a quick diversion down Regent Street to the Apple Store
Categorised in Uncategorized
Tags: london, monty python, spamalot, west end
It was the wifey’s Birthday, so played the good husband & got her a card, flowers & an Eeyore Cake. Out for a slap up meal, and thought The Gregory in Harlaxton would be a good choice. Got there a little early, had a drink at the bar & perused the menu. It was Steak Night, £25 gets you two chunks of cow & bottle of vino, which seemed a popular choice. But we went for the main menu, and the food was spectacularly good. The portions were appropriate so you felt fulfilled, but not stuffed. Belly Pork with mustard leek (what an idea!) was delicious, and the missus seemed to enjoy her Black Pudding salad starter (eugh!). All food locally sourced, so that cow in a field by the A1 might be on your plate…
Categorised in Uncategorized
Back from holiday, a mostly relaxing week. Hotel was OK, not quite as good as it looked in the brochure. Good food selection, bar was well stocked & the cocktails had a bit of a kick. We spent most of the time sitting by the pool reading books, was a bit cold to go swimming. For once I didn’t burn, just got very slightly tanned. And I got through a pile or reading material; Terry Wogan, two Jeremy Clarkson, The Accident Man by Tom Cain (excellent first novel, look forwards to the next one due out in summer) & The Good Guy by Dean Koontz (not as good as Velocity, but still worth reading).
Nearly missed the flight, as we were sat in the Salsa VIP Lounge who decided not to tell us our flight was boarding. So we ended running from one end of the airport to the other. Although there was one person who arrived after us, so we didn’t feel too bad about it. Earthquake had slightly moved the bathroom mirror, but the boiler had locked down so the house was freezing when we finally got home. I wouldn’t go back - it was full of old people, and there wasn’t much to do on an evening if you didn’t want to drink & smoke all night.
Categorised in Uncategorized
