The horror of the slowband...

Since the 4G was turned off, we have been using our old Pipex/Tiscali/Talk Talk ISP connection. Although the max speed is around half a meg, the problem is actually the random disconnections and ridiculous slow downs from time to time.

For example, tonight I decided to post about the subject here on Blogger. I ended up closing the browser tab and attempting again a few minutes later. Not once, but several times did I do that - just to get onto Blogger and make a posting!

I intend to get the MAC and move to another provider soon.  Back when we signed up to Pipex, they gave up unlimited downloads for our 512kb connection. Although it is slow, I often downloaded .iso files of new Linux distro releases - either to work on them or to test and review.
Each successive buyout - from Pipex to Tiscali and from Tiscali to Talk Talk - brought more problems.
Talk Talk reduced our service from "unlimited" to 10Gb per month and increased the cost from 20 quid to £25 per month. Yes, I know those of you with cable will be laughing as you suck up your unlimited downloads, TV and phone for £15....

Although I hate BT with a vengeance (they raped their customers by sticking them through Phorm), they offer the same download allowance (10Gb) with their Openzone wifi use out and about for £13 and some free months to start you off...
They also reckon (as they di when "broadband" first arrived here) that we can get better general speeds (750kb - 1Mb).

Although I really find it frustrating to pay the same as someone getting 8Mb or more, I will probably end up going to BT.

Totally cheesed off with the whole internet rip off at the moment. 

PS - this took about 10 minutes to actually post. I had to attempt it several times. And this is after midnight in the UK, so hardly peak times....

Wireless

Wireless in Linux is one of my pet hates. On my laptop (which doesn't have built in wireless) I have a choice of two external wireless connections - one a PCMCIA card, the other a USB wireless dongle. Both are pretty poor when it comes to remaining connected. Likewise, my EeePC 701 with Ubuntu installed is much less reliable when it comes to the wireless (Atheros) than the bog-standard Xandros cutesey interface.

I am currently trying to discover exactly why the wireless support in Ubuntu is so poor when it comes to my specific devices and I think I am slowly making inroads. Nothing certain as yet, but I have a few little ideas which seem to have improved my issues with the main laptop - fingers crossed!

Tonight, I am using a different laptop - this is a Lenovo machine and the wireless seems to be working fine with the live Ubuntu 10.04 disk. Which seems to suggest it is certain modules rather than a generic "wireless" issue....

But the problem of poor wireless connectivity is a very common problem on Launchpad - so the problem affects a lot of Linux users. It is a shame, because wireless is a very popular method of network connecting, yet Linux still struggles when it comes to many of the popular chipsets.