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The grumpy thread


outlaw118

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Looks like I need to look for a landline provider and ISP- good luck finding one who doesn't want to tie you into a 393743297 year-long contract.

Post office?

 

3G wise, If you've got one of those old Huawei E220 modems, crack it apart and pop a proper antennae on it. Costs about a quid and made mine into a relatively stable connection whilst we waited for line+DSL in this place.

 

Take a look at Plusnet.

I have no grounds for recommending it but they come across quite convincingly.

 

You may have to move to Yorkshire of course but that can be seen as a bonus :)

 

My modem is a ZTE MF (how appropriate) 112, reasonably modern design. If anyone knows of any antenna-related mods, I'd be happy to do them because I really don't need a landline (I have a VOIP-in number for receiving calls, my sim-only contract includes unlimited landline calls, and my internet usage isn't much heavier than the 7GB allowed by 3 for £25).

 

Post Office sounds good- I was with them before, and they were quite pleasant to deal with so I guess that they'd be the best option if I had to get a landline, as long as they still allow the use of other ISPs.

 

I am in Yorkshire, and, in spite of the fact I only know a handful of people round here, a friend of a friend was involved in some questionable financial dealings in Plusnet a few years ago!

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I'll +1 on the 3 thing. They've really gone downhill in the last few years. Remember when the 'Free Stuff' included Angry Kid? Not any more, the free stuff, they couldn't pay me to take. There used to be a free forum called Kink, which was top stuff. Not any more.

I've actually stopped calling the call centre now, because every pathetic excuse for the signal (phone and data) dropout, is blown out of the water, by one simple fact. I can see their mast from my living room window.

To be fair, it's much worse during the day, when the local area is busy. So that's a clue. Doesn't explain why it drops off at about 2-3 am, when there's no-one around. Wonder what happened there? :roll: They're still better than T-Mobile (previous supplier, and lying bastards), so I'll stick for now.

I have a collection of Huawei modems! Apart from the aerial mod (yet to get round to on mine), the best thing to do is get them unlocked, and load in the Huawei software. It pisses all over 3's connection centre.

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Who there, hang on a minute: Is this the same '3' who started with mobile 'phones a few years back? The same '3' who made it virtually impossible to use said 'phones because the only bleeding shop that stocked top up cards was on the Isle of Skye and only opened between 00.00 and 00.01? And the same '3' that even if you ever managed to put credit on their crap 'phones made communications slightly worse than 200 miles of damp string and two plastic cups?

If so I'm utterly asatounded they lasted more than about three weeks in business.

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Who there, hang on a minute: Is this the same '3' who started with mobile 'phones a few years back? The same '3' who made it virtually impossible to use said 'phones because the only bleeding shop that stocked top up cards was on the Isle of Skye and only opened between 00.00 and 00.01? And the same '3' that even if you ever managed to put credit on their crap 'phones made communications slightly worse than 200 miles of damp string and two plastic cups?

If so I'm utterly asatounded they lasted more than about three weeks in business.

 

They're owned by a seriously loaded tycoon from Hong Kong, so no problems lasting even if they don't really make any money.

Their phone service has always been pants, but the mobile internet used to be the dog's bollocks until about 2009, and it's just bollocks nowadays.

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3 customer service once advised me to clean my SIM with a soft cloth when I phoned in to report that one of the buttons on my phone wasn't working - it didn't click, it didn't register. It was a broken button. They refused to assist any further till I wiped the SIM contacts.

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It seems that there is also a purpose for Twitter, that I can fathom as well. It's very useful for breaking news feeds. As a result, I now have an account.

Have you broken any news feeds? :wink:

 

No, but I've managed to piss off several thousand Man U fans.

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3 is a sort of 'arms length' part of Hutchison Whampoa, Whampoa being the tycoon referred to. They are/were more commonly known as Orange in the UK. What's going on with the whole thing, I know not.

All I know is that the phones were, and always have been good up here, and as far south as the M62 (which is usually as far as work takes me) line. It's always been good in the common dead spots in the A69 corridor, Borders, Highlands and Aberdeenshire.

The mobile broadband coverage used to be pretty much as good, even in 1.3G mode: now it's just rubbish.

Funnily enough, it started to go south ( :lol: ) when the 'improvement map' showed them getting round to London and the S.East. Given the number of 'server not found' messages I get, I reckon they stuck a load of masts up, but didn't really up the servers at the same time. Still, as far as the web is concerned, I'm in Bolton... :lol:

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^I don't honestly know! In the start, 3 was a result of Hutchison splurging loads of cash on a spare 3rd Gen license, presumably with the intention of growing it, and selling for a tidy profit. Since then, the spider's web of investments/takeovers has passed me by. Does seem unreasonably complex, tho'.

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Orange is now part of Everything Everywhere, which includes T-Mobile. Eventually Orange and Magenta will merge and you'll get that weird grey that you get when you mix all the colours of plasticene together.

It does mean I can roam for free onto Orange though which is nice.

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Orange is now part of Everything Everywhere, which includes T-Mobile. Eventually Orange and Magenta will merge and you'll get that weird grey that you get when you mix all the colours of plasticene together.

That was part of my confusion. That and 'Everything Everywhere' resuming chasing me for a debt of £64 to T-Mobile, which they were told at the time, they could go whistle for. It was for the service I didn't get, which caused me to leave them, btw.

At primary school, a few friends and I tried to invent a new colour. That's what we got. We called it 'Ghoulash', 'cos Stuart said it looked like something his mum had made for tea, once.

And yes, the UK government's made a packet out of licensing phones. Every time a new format becomes viable, the whole merry-go-round starts anew.

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3 is a sort of 'arms length' part of Hutchison Whampoa

 

Hutchison also own the Port of Felixstowe, So technically i work for Hutchison, the whole phone network at work is powered by 3 and is pretty useless, and as a employee of Hutchinson I'm entailed to large discounts on there mobile services, no one bothers those as they are shit and those who did take up the offer have left them now anyway.

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While I'm sure that a diverse portfolio, which can be cross-fertilised is a must for any mega-corp; I had no idea Hutchison owned Felixstowe! You learn something every day, they say. The day's less than 10 mins old, and I've learned something. I'm gonna spend the rest of the day being bloody ignorant. Sorted.

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I think the tycoon's name is Li Ka-shing, which is quite appropriate. Asian conglomerates, be they Indian or Chinese, seem to be much better than the Europeans and Americans at operating in a number of different sectors, which makes quite a mockery of the fact that a lot of Asians go to the US, the UK and the rest of Europe for their management education.

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I'm glad you feel learned CJ! Hutchison own several ports across the world, in Britain alone they own Felixstowe, Harwich and Thames Port, Their yearly turnover must be billions.

 

 

We should get 3 Minis, a Land Rover from AlbertRoss and a coach, go to Triggers work, and do "The Autoshite Job". We'd get caught when the Minis broke down..... I could do the computer-thing like Benny Hill. As some of you know my surname really IS Hill! We could have Pete-M to look intimidating, and Cavette to tell us to "c-c-calm down, eh?" when it all gets a bit busy. See? I have thought about this. :D

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ggrrrrrr

 

i went to local market this morning and spotted a lovely lathe, complete with tools and 3-phase convertor, i checked it over and agreed a price.

Went to the ATM about 500 yards away and when i returned with the cash someone was loading it in a van, having offered more money than me :evil:

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Think someone is posting up too much flam and waffle? Solve the problem by simply putting a load of posts up yourself, grumbling about it. That will make it better and enhance the forum enormously.

 

DX--Cocks--professional-wrestling-112851_456_352.jpg

DX--Cocks--professional-wrestling-112851_456_352.jpg

DX--Cocks--professional-wrestling-112851_456_352.jpg

DX--Cocks--professional-wrestling-112851_456_352.jpg

 

Etc? Like that you mean?

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