BT Internet Broadband Service

[DaveB]

Hello Mate

You're a star I'll take a look at those 3 and no more Are you happy with the Garmin you have?

The term 'The Midlands' covers a multitude of sins doesn't it. I took a few shots over the common with the phone some months ago and showed them to the girls here at the pub.. they couldn't believe it. 'I thought you lived in the Midlands' they said I don't know what they expected to see but I can well imagine
The common area to the rear of Woodlands Crescent has changed much since I was a boy. What was left of an old rail line ran down to the canal and either side of it lay the remains of what used to be holding areas for barges. On the other side of the canal was Pelsall Coal and Iron Works!! I don't remember that as it closed in 1892 The 2 holding areas were pretty much overgrown with bulrushes and contained little water by the time I used to play 'War' over there as a kid. Some years ago now.. just before I left Senior School, the council decided to spend some money and fill the holding areas in, landscape the entire area and plant baby saplings. Over the last 30 odd years, these have grown into nice wooded areas and the other side of the canal is now a nature reserve. The whole area is patrolled by a Ranger He doesn't care for motorbikes over there but I don't think he'd tick you off (or I for that matter) for riding a pushbike
I've had the folks ashes mixed.. half in a scattering tube and the other half in a casket. The casket will be interred with dad's mom and dad at Ryecroft in Walsall and the rest will be scattered over the common.. a place they both loved and where we all spent a lot of family time before I left home and joined up
The white van on the next door drive isn't there anymore btw. It belonged to 'young' Norman, a chippie, who ended up with the house when his folks died. He still owns the house (he couldn't sell it despite it being fully modernised and kitted out as only a chippie can) so rents it as he lives down on the South Coast somewhere. The neighbour on the other side has been there for 40years and goes to the house every day to close the curtains and turn the upstairs light on and again every morning to open the curtains and turn the light off. She's everything you'd want a good neighbour to be and then some

Dear me.. I really have dragged this off haven't I!! Still, I know a lot more about BT broadband services now.. which ISP's I might go for and those I won't plus.. I'll have a Which? recommended satnav soon. You don't get this service on every thread

ATB
DaveB

[speedbird591]

You don't get this service on every thread

No, I'm exhausted, now. I'll have to go and have a lie down

Yes, I'm very happy with my Garmin but on the other hand I've never had a satnav before so I've got nothing to compare it with. I went with Which?, of course! I always seem to end up where I wanted to go so I suppose you can't ask for more than that

I'm very happy for you with your move, it seems so right in every way. It brings you back full circle to your home and I'm really happy for you that you're able to take your family back with you. Your old folks are still nearby and you've done right by them - it's a good story and I wish you every happiness.

Ian

[Paul K]

Dave B, all the very best in your move. Its not something I would relish, so I hope it all goes very smoothly for you, and that you soon find an occupation that suits you.

[DaveB]

That made me laugh Ian and I'm still sniggering now

I'm wondering if getting a Garmin with Free map updates for the life of the unit isn't worth rather more than the sale price but as you'd imagine.. looking at places like Halfords (for want of somewhere else to look) they don't have those particular Garmins for sale.. wouldn't that always be the case They have the TomTom but at £4.20 more than Amazon and currently unavailable for home delivery. It will be one of the 3 I'll choose.. probably the TomTom as that came out best but I'm still lured by the 'name' Garmin which encapsulates everything we know and understand about SatNav.

Paul.. thanks VM for that. I don't envy my position either but it's very much a rock and a hard place. Leave a lovely village in Berkshire for a great deal of uncertainty in the Midlands or stay and suffer the obvious 'known' consequences. I'm not and refuse to be the Captain of Titanic, standing on the bridge as the ship sinks beneath me.. there is more to life than that. Time to jump into the sea (more step into it) and hope I'm picked up Whatever happens, I'll get online again and come and hide here.. one of the few places in the world I feel comfortable and among friends

ATB
DaveB

[Filonian]

Sorry to hear you are having to move on Dave, but I wish you and yours every success for the future.

Graham

[Dev One]

Hope every thing goes well with the move & that you can keep this site rolling!
Your home will be less than 10 miles from where I lived for a short while during WWII when my father worked at Pendeford/Fordhouses repairing Maggies & Tigers. We left at the end of '43 when he joined ATA. I remember the new houses being built along Probert road in Oxley which is where we lived.
Good luck & hope a good job comes your way very quickly.
Keith

[ianhind]

Blimey, this thread went all over the place!

I'll start with the GPS. My first (and only so far) was a TomTom. Very pleased with it and the "intelligent routing", or whatever it's called, means that it devises different routes based on time of day/day of week since it uses a database of likely congestion. And the estimated time of arrival has always been pretty accurate. However the updates cost! But they seem to be offering 6 x quarterly updates these days for a reasonable price - well at least it has so far stopped me from dumping this one and buying a new one.

The "Live" version of the TomTom has the ability to pick up live traffic info and can work out new routes "on the fly" if the original route will now take longer than alternatives. But you have to pay for that facility (without checking, I can't remember if first year is free).

When Infinity arrives here, I expect to be paying the same as my existing Option 3 as the prices seemed to be the same. Is that a free upgrade or have I been paying too much previously .

The FTTH roll out is going slower than expected since getting that fibre into homes along existing channels has been reported as troublesome. You can understand why the FTTC option is going to be the simpler option! And looking at Dave's new home, are those overhead telephone cables? No FTTH there then?

Ian

[speedbird591]

... And looking at Dave's new home, are those overhead telephone cables? No FTTH there then?

Telephones? In the Midlands? I wouldn't have thought so

Pricing for FTTC is correct, Ian. It's the same 'product' as the ADSL broadband except faster. One of the Openreach engineers explained to me that the 'free' upgrade gives BT two things. You sign up for another 18 months contract and you get a download speed that enables you to 'benefit' from their cable TV package which they are desperately trying to market. So they move you into a captive target market and let the marketing people loose on you! I've already had a call from them asking if I'd be interested in BT TV and they're very disappointed to hear that I'm already (over)committed to Sky

Ian

[ianhind]

Telephones? In the Midlands? I wouldn't have thought so

Of course , those are the bits of string connecting the tin cans.

I'll have to have another look at BT TV. Although I don't watch enough to make it worth while (12 hours a week?), SWMBO might find it useful.

Ian

[DaveB]

They certainly look like overhead phone cables don't they. Funny you know.. I've not noticed them for years Despite the 'backwardness' of our GPO setup, the street is cable enabled.. the local service being Virgin Media. If ultimate speed is what I go for, there's little option but to go for that. However, with BT and Plusnet showing a good average speed of 4.5-5mb on the line checks I've done, I'd be happy to go with either. I think I mentioned somewhere here that looking at the area service information, there are no plans to roll out Infinity.. at least no plans at the moment. Ironic that we have a lot of underground BT cabling here in Streatley (it's all underground) but we don't have cable.. not that this matters to me now

ATB
DaveB