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I took my new laptop away at the weekend and tried to set up a new location for using it. Put in my host's landline number and got an assortment of error messages, Unable to connect - The modem is blocked from connecting - etc I had put in the land line number from which I was dialling and I thought that would be enough? It works OK back at home so I am a little puzzled. I am going away again in a couple of weeks and it would be useful to get on line while away from home. If I have the necessary vast password or key, can I get into my hostess's home wi-fi network, as an alternative to a dial up which seems a bit iffy? Thanks from a computer nerd/geek!
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Armitage,
huh? I'm rusty on dial up but you put in the number you're dialing to not from. Or if your host has broadband you just stick an ethernet connector in the back and say "thank you very much". If it's wireless you could spend a happy(?) hour getting all of the settings right.
JH
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Thanks both. I think my computer knows which Freephone numbers to dial for access, from anywhere in UK, but I thought that I had to tell it where I was dialling from ie create a location with a name and its phone number. Certainly for the initial set up at home (dial up) I had to say where I was dialling from with a number, did I have to put in a '9' for an outside line etc. More interesting than critical - I'd like to know how to do it but it isn't the end of the world if I can't!
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Are we talking about setting up a new dialing rule here, i.e. to help the PC decide if the include any prefix. But most ISPs use 0845 type numbers so I would have though no change was necessary at all.
Can you provide more specifics on what you were trying? You certainly do not put your numer in at home to dial the ISP but you might have specified your prefix (e.g. 0161) in a dialling rule.
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From what I remember of my former dialup service (Tiscali), you had to include "1470," (without the quotes) in the configuration before adding the dialup service phone number; the phone number being dialled varied according to whether it was Daytime only, AnyTime etc and the "1470," is the reverse of 1471 in that it indicated to the server the subscriber's home phone line.
This only applied to BT lines and only PAYG had a straightforward 0845 xxx xxx number; however, non-BT lines using PAYG required a prefix code before the 0845 xxx xxx.
The phone line you were using away might have been on a cable service or similar non-BT line.
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You could use a service such as:
www.freeukisp.co.uk/
Create a New ISP connection for it, but retain your proper version as the Default; to use the temporary version you use the drop down menu in the Connect To box.
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I remember form using tesco dial up, I had to put the area code of the number i was calling from, not the whole number though.
The '9' will only be needed if you normally need to dial '9' to get to the outside world.
----------------------------------------------
Aim low, expect nothing & dont be disappointed
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ignore the location thing unless the number you need to dial will be different - ie out of the uk so needing a prefix. as long as its always an 0845 or whatever location doesnt matter.
if the number to dial is always the same you are away.
problems may arise if your host has blocked their number being propogated (isps like to know where you are coming from - not sure if this is one of the bits of info they have to legally hold) or if your dial up service is tied to your own phone number (which many of the 0800 ones are)
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If you don't/didn't include both the prefix and full number of the telephone from which you are using the service, how does that square with the ISP taking a cut of the cost of the call from BT?
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The ISP cut is given automatically from the phone call charge, surely, because BT charges the phone line owner for the call and pays the cut to the called number owner -- the ISP.
As to having to pre-fix the dialed number with 1470, that is often not necessary, and I never use it from home because I do not hide my number.
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I'm aware that the ISP cut is provided automatically, just wondering how it would be done if the ISP wasn't aware of which phone number was being used.
Tiscali, for one, still requires the 1470, to be included in all but PAYG dialup calls - this is to ensure that another user doesn't use your DayTime, AnyTime or whatever monthly paid for service.
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|Tiscali, for one, still requires the 1470, to be included|
Not so. I have just checked mine and my modem is dialing 08440 575 000 and that has had casual use for a few years. May be it is only for more recent subscribers than me. Mine dates back to lineone days.
|ISP wasn't aware of which phone number was being used.|
I agree the ISP may have a verification problem in seeing it gets its full entitlement, if that is your point, but BT (or whoever) should be paying the cut to the ISP for the minutes the ISP line has been used.
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If you do not dial the right number, you do not get the ISP.
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i think some of you may be talking at cross purposes.
when you have a contract with an isp for a dial-up service, the service is set up to work from a designated land line only. clid (caller line id) is used to identify that you are connecting from the authorised land-line. if you have set your clid to be permanently blocked, then you need to use the prefix 1470 so that the number you are calling can tell which line you are calling from.
if armitage was trying to dial in to his personal dial-up isp account from his friend's landline, it will not work.
his solution is to use the broadband at his friend's house, via (as suggested earlier) a direct cable or a wi-fi link.
and yes is the answer to armitage's question: "can I get into my hostess's home wi-fi network, "
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if armitage was trying to dial in to his personal dial-up isp account from his friend's landline it will not work.
Why not? My old (free) Onetel dialup number works away from home. After all you need a password to use the account so it knows it's you. Nothing to do with the caller line id.
Of course the advent of open wireless makes it less relevant.
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Many thanks to all who have replied! I shall take it away with me and see what I can do. I am with AOL (don't laugh - I don't know any better!) - I pay a monthly fee and get connected on a toll free number. As I have had so say elsewhere in the forum - I am none the wiser but I am much much better informed!
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Why not? My old (free) Onetel dialup number works away from home ..
the stated reason at the time (i have not used dial-up for yonks now so i do not know if most isp contracts do this or not anymore ) was that it was to stop "freeloading".
in other words, the isp wanted to restrict the contract to a particular landline.
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Dalglish: Sorry, only just read yours. I have never tried this rig on another line.
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I think I understand what you're asking.
You'll find that with AOL, if you pay a set amount per month, then as a security thing they restrict your connection, so that you can only connect from your accounts telephone number (i.e. I guess your home telephone number that you gave them when you first set it up).
Just a security thing so that more than 1 person can't connect when you're only paying for one account.
To get around this, when you create the new location at your friends house you should be able to choose to connect using a local area code (0845, 0844 etc) so that you're paying local call rate to connect.
Even better, as you mentioned, connect onto your friends wireless network and use a broadband connection rather than dial up. Connect to the wireless network first, then create the new location in the AOL software, so the AOL software will then connect using LAN (Local Area Network).
Chris
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These are the dialup numbers provided on the Tiscali website:
Here, type in the number you dial to call Tiscali. These are:
Anytime 1470,0808 993 3031
Daytime 1470,0808 993 3151
Daytime Plus 1470,0808 993 3057
ISDN** 1470,0845 661 4682
Offpeak 1470,0808 993 3050
Pay As You Go 0844 052 9009
Surftime 1470,0844 040 4102
50/100 1470,0808 993 3030
Then click OK to see the next screen.
**This number is only to be used for Pay as you go Access on an ISDN line, for subscription packages please use the relevant dialup number in this table
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>>These are the dialup numbers provided on the Tiscali website:>>
Just remembered that the 1470, is known as a CLI (Caller line Identity) - it's also the means by how you know is calling your mobile phone or the Caller Display feature on a home telephone.
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Hi,
I have lost my login details for the MSN group, I can login with my Office Live account however I cannot add to or edit stuff already on there, any ideas whether I can recover the login? I.e. is there an "i've forgotten my password function?
Thanks
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Cheddar,
I'm down as an assistant manager on the msn site. I can see your name there (that is if you're cheddar1962 ?), but cannot see any email address or password attached to it.
Whether or not Lee H has any extra admin rights that the Asst-managers don't, I have no idea.
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Thanks Dave, I will log onto the kid's PC (that I was probably using when I set up Cheddar1962) and see if I have saved anything on there. IIRC I set up a Hotmail address and password, I have not used the Hotamail account since though more recently have an Office Live account (posh Hotmail) which allows me to sign into the group though does not allow me to edit or add to Cheddar1962.
Lee?
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Hi cheddar,
Apologies for the delay in replying, have been away for the weekend.
There's no password as such for the MSN site, you use a Microsoft password to get to access to it. If you used a hotmail account to register, follow their lost password procedure to recover your password (or that for whichever account you used to register).
Alternatively, register using another account and once approved you're back onlne.
Lee.
-- Biggedy biggedy bong
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Question for the IT and electronics experts
my wife recently had a standby heart pacemaker installed
she wondered last night whether the wireless router we have at home could affect it
I am trying to find out via the manufacturer but wondered if any of the knowledgeable folks on here had any ideas
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Question for the IT and electronics experts my wife recently had a standby heart pacemaker installed
i am not an it nor electronic nor heart-pacemaker expert.
however i did read this report last week:
www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/10/ipods_break_heart.../
don't know if it may give you any useful leads/names to contacts for your specific question.
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Question for the IT and electronics experts my wife recently had a standby heart pacemaker installed she wondered last night whether the wireless router we have at home could affect it I am trying to find out via the manufacturer but wondered if any of the knowledgeable folks on here had any ideas
Thought you may find this useful - tinyurl.com/26344
It's a white paper from the Cisco website for Wireless LAN Equipment in Medical Settings
Also, this Google search may pull up something - tinyurl.com/3x2g6y
Hope this helps!
Chris
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which internet site can i use to download songs (preferably for free) onto my Zen MP3 player - am looking for an alternative to iTunes which can only be used with iPods.
Thanks!!
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Here's a summary:-
arts.guardian.co.uk/netmusic/page/0,,1127237,00.ht...l
Personally I'm not aware of a legal site that will let you download much music worth having for free; I use the Napster To Go service, which costs 15 quid a month, but I can download gazillions of tracks for that if I want to, as can my two daughters. Reasonable value for cost of acouple of budget CDs IMHO.
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My daughter keeps telling me to use this site - which she uses "all the time"
It's very cheap! And , she says, legal and she has had no problems. (But doesn't have a lot of Buddy Guy, BB King etc which are my taste!) Since I have an iPOD, I have stuck with them (and bought cds of Blues music to transfer!)
www.allofmp3.com/
My daughter is no youngster by the way (except when compared to me!!)
--
Phil
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"iTunes which can only be used with iPods. "
Not according to my son, who also has a Zen - will try to found out how he does it - but put it like this, I use iTunes and he has transferred some of my downloads to his Zen.
--
Phil
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www.allofmp3.com/ have been banned by Visa and MasterCard - as they are in dispute with the copyright owners over the content.
www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/19/allofmp3_attacks_.../
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The legality of allofmp3.com is, to say the least, hotly disputed by pretty much everyone outside Russia, but nobody's managed to get it shut down. I must admit I've used it a few times for stuff that isn't on Napster.
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"The legality of allofmp3.com is, to say the least, hotly disputed by pretty much everyone outside Russia, but nobody's managed to get it shut down. I must admit I've used it a few times for stuff that isn't on Napster."
You are probably right - sorry for what may well be a bad link - but then the "(preferably for free)" in original post suggests that this may not be a problem!
As I said - I continue to use iTunes because prices there seem reasonable given that the music provided is somone's living
--
Phil
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I'm far from being a technophobe, and I'd be the first to acknowledge that the aforementioned Russian site is superb, if you're not worried about the legalities and can find a way round the credit card ban. However, have you considered buying some good old-fashioned CDs?
Search for the music you want on Amazon (note that many sellers who sell through that site undercut Amazon's own price) and eBay, and you may find little or no price advantage in 'legitimate' downloads.
More importantly, most of the download sites still infect the music with digital rights management and encode it at a very low bitrate (small file size but poor sound quality). This means it can be difficult or impossible to transfer your music between computers or players in the future.
If you own the original CDs, you have the flexibility to rip them in any format, and at any bitrate, you like. If your PC blows up, or you lose your portable player, you can still return to the original disc.
I used to swear by a program called CDex but Windows Media Player does the job perfectly well. The latter also has the advantage of causing the CD cover to appear on the folder in Windows (and on the display of your Zen player) if you use it. Don't forget to use MP3 rather tham WMA: it may not be the best format but it does have the best compatibilty with different players.
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I agree Welliesorter, the pricing stucture of most 100% legal sites actually means there is little cost benefit to downloads versus buying CDs, plus the downloads are probably infested with DRM as well. That's another reason I use the Napster 'all you cane at' service.
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>>there is little cost benefit to downloads versus buying CDs>>
How many CDs have you bought that only have two, three or perhaps four tracks that really appeal?
Better to download the one that you actually want and save the cost of a CD.
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How many CDs have you bought that only have two three or perhaps four tracks that really appeal? Better to download the one that you actually want and save the cost of a CD.
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No, no, one of the great thinks of the album concept is that you buy one based on one or two tracks, you are not sure about the rest initially though after a few listenings it grows on you and is a friend for life.
One of the problems with the Ipod MP3 generation is that interest in music is superficial, top line, like reading a prece' and not the book.
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No, no, one of the great thinks of the album concept is that you buy one based on one or two tracks, you are not sure about the rest initially though after a few listenings it grows on you and is a friend for life. >>
I stand by what I said 100 per cent.
It's based on 57 years of buying music...:-)
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>No no one of the great thinks of the album concept is that you buy
>one based on one or two tracks you are not sure about the rest initially
>though after a few listenings it grows on you and is a friend for life.
Seconded. How good is it to put on an album bought several years ago just for one track and discovering that the rest of it is just as good.
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|it grows on you and is a friend for life|
No me it doesn't.
May be it depends on how long you have been listening to music. In my case, a very, very long time.
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My laptop recently had a technical glitch. I've had it repaired, but it involved a Data Recovery and Re-installation. I've re-installed Microsoft Office 2000 and have got all my Excel and Word files back with no problem.
I had to reset my e-mail accounts on Outlook as new accounts. I've received all new messages since the computer went down, but have no idea where the old messages before then might be. Where do I look? Or have they been lost?
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Outlook emails are stored in a single file normally called outlook.pst. Might be worth doing a search on your hard disk to see if your old email file is stored anywhere. However if you've re-installed Outlook it may be the old file has been overwritten.
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Thanks Ravenger. I've found the files but can't work out how to transfer them back to my Inbox and sub-directories etc. When I click on the file in Windows Exploere, it asks me what program I want to open them with. The options it suggests are:
Internet Explorer
Word
Notepad
Wordpad
OpenOffice.org2.2
plus a couple of obviously inappropriate ones.
The other question I forgot about is, what about my e-mail address lists? Are they in the same place and how do I restore them to Outlook?
I found the file in Local Settings/Application Data/Microsoft/Outlook.
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The outlook.pst file should contain all your messages, calendar items and address book entires, but this depends on the setting chosen when it was created.
To get the messages on to outlook do the following: Open Outlook > File > Import and Export > Import from another program or file > Personal Folder File(.pst). Then browse to your .pst file. Hey presto, everything should be back to how it was.
PS. You can create your own backup of outlook folders inc. addresses whenever you want by going to File>Import and Export>Export to a file>Personal folder file. Then select what you want to create a back up of. If you want to back up everthing (messages, addresses, calendar etc...) select the top item in the tree (Personal Folders), and make sure you have ticked the 'Include Subfolders' check box. Then save it somewhere.
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Hello,
I cannot remember the name or the URL of the independant Dell reseller who offer good pricing etc on Dell systems?
I though I had them in My Favs though not so and quick Googling has not found them.
Any ideas?
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Excellent company and service at:
www.itcsales.co.uk/acatalog/Computer_base_units_an...l
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Anyone used pcspecialist.co.uk? Good price though I need to check out the monitor spec.
Any comments on the following?
INTEL® Core 2 Duo E6700 (2 X 2.66GHz) 1066MHz FSB/4MB L2 Cache
Memory (RAM) 4096 MB CORSAIR DDR2 800MHz (4x1GB)
Motherboard ASUS® P5B: DUAL DDR2, S-ATA II, x16 VGA, 3 PCI etc
Operating System WINDOWS® XP Professional (inc. Genuine CD & License))
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS (4 REAR + 2 FRONT)
1st Hard Disk 250GB SERIAL ATA II HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7200rpm)
2nd Hard Disk 250GB SERIAL ATA II HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7200rpm)
20x DVD±RW/RAM/Dual Layer + Lightscribe (48 x CD-RW)
16X DVD ROM WITH 48X CD ROM
256MB GEFORCE 8500GT PCI Express + DVI + TV-OUT
Sound Blaster® X-Fi? XtremeGamer 7.1:
56KBPS INTERNAL V92 MODEM
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (ETHERNET)
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)
500W (Peak) Quiet Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan
SUPER QUIET 19 dBA INTEL CPU COOLER
3 PORT FIREWIRE (IEEE1394) PCI CARD
19 INCH TFT Silver/Black 1280 x1024 8MS D-Sub, DVI, Audio
Logitech® Internet Keyboard + Hotkeys (Black)
Black Logitech® Premium Optical Mouse
CREATIVE ITRIGUE 2.1 3330 SILVER/BLK SPEAKER SYSTEM
Microsoft® Office® 2007 Small Business Edition (oem)
1 Year Return-to-Base incl 1 Year Free Collect & Return
Standard Insured Delivery to UK Mainland (Mon-Fri 8am-6pm)
Total order Price
£1245.00
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Not a bad price, but 4GB of memory is overkill, especially as XP won't recognise all of it. You'd need Vista to take advantage of it.
If you're going to use it for the latest games, then the graphics card isn't powerful enough, an 8600 GTS would be better.
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Thanks
XP SP2 should handle 4Gb memory however I am torn as to whether now is the right time to learn Vista or buy a turn-key XP Pro machine.
Not much gaming (though possible more in the future) so a 512MB RADEON X1650 PRO PCI Express + DVI + TV-OUT would perhaps be better that the 8500GT at a similar cost.
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I have recently changed job to an office based position.
I find that I am going to be communicating more and more via email and in some cases this would replace the "old style" letters.
So when I am sending an email, do I date it, dear Sir it, etc as if it was a letter, or do I go straight into
John, ref the above............
My email has a "signature" with phone numbers etc on it. Also do I finish with Yours etc, do I put my name on it or just leave the "signature" to take care of that?
Any help appreciated,
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AFAIK (and this is based upon three companies' policies)
They go:
Bobby,
blah blah blah,
Regards,
Vin
Telephone numbers, addresses, disclaimers, etc.
All I ask is that you don't get like most people who think an email sent is a problem solved. The phone is more effective in 90% of cases, as you find out something about the other person's reaction. Also, never assume an email is going to be read at all, so the action you're requesting may well not happen. Also, remember that en email will almost certainly be read in another tone from the one you thought you were using. Mild humour on your behalf may translate into crushing sarcasm in the mind of your reader.
My personal rule is: If a phone call can do the job then use the phone.
V
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I tend to agree with what Vin has said.
If there's something complex to discuss, I'll send the email with any explanatory documents attached, and also follow the email up, say, an hour later with a quick call checking that they have the email, and asking when the more complex technical matter should be discussed more thoroughly. You can't send someone a 50 page technical document and talk it through 10 minutes later and expect any meaningful decisions to be taken!!
I like using the 'phone though. You will sometimes get people confessing to, and agreeing to things on the 'phone that they would never set down in writing.
Number_Cruncher
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Bobby
I must disagree with Vin's use of commas after 'Bobby' and 'regards'.
Regards
Mapmaker
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I would agree with the comments to date.
I first started using email type messages in the late 1960s.
My communications were to close colleagues and customers in many different countries.
Quite a few of these were not native English speakers ( and Americans).
I tried hard to create clear communications but still confused things sometimes.
My suggestion are:-
Keep sentences very short to reduce confusion.
Keep the wording simple.
Avoid using words and expressions that may not be understood by the receiver.
Explain things if there is any doubt about your message.
Do not try any humour.
Do not have any messages after your signature except for the corporate type disclaimers and virus warnings.
It can be useful to send emails to avoid disturbing someone or if you cannot reach them by phone.
It can be useful outside normal working hours but beware sending them at a time that implies you work vast hours.
I hope you do not become a victim of, "I will copy a vast number of people so I can cover my rear and say I told you all".
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Another thing: What you say in an email is as binding as what you say in a letter, so beware.
Also, if I am forwarding something to somebody and I want them to read a particular section, I change the font colour to red so that it stands out. Otherwise, you're effectively asking them to read what may be a long trail of emails and to understand which sections are relevant.
My record, when I worked for IBM, was an 84 page (yes, I counted) email sent to me with the message "Please see below and deal with it asap."
Guess how much attention it received.
V
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internet etiquette, informality rules. I have even read that it is bad form to correct typos in e-mails. So be it: I still correct them, and copy edit e-mails to make them read better. Not that the odd typo doesn't creep through though...
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Business e-mail is required to have senders name, company name, address, tel n.o and reg number (if LTD or PLC), how many actually do is another matter.
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Thanks for your input so far. I tend to use email where I want a written account of discussion or to file electronically in a folder to refer to later. I also tend to use it for non-important or non - pressing items whereby I am quite happy to await a response and don't want to phone and interrupt someone.
And no, I won't give up using the phone to speak to people!
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My record, when I worked for IBM, was an 84 page (yes, I counted) email sent to me with the message "Please see below and deal with it asap."
And I am still waiting for your bleedin reply
------------------------------
TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Unless you're familiar with the recipient, and unless they encourage familiarity, address them formally. Some people object to unwarranted familiarity ~ it's a business communication and the chances are you've never met them in person. Familiarity between colleagues ~ in the same company or in a sister company ~ is acceptable.
--
L\'escargot.
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If you want a definitive answer, ask your employer. You may well find that you don't have the authority to make a personal choice about how you conduct yourself when representing the company.
--
L\'escargot.
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An idea I have written about before, but which is now climbing my list of "things to do":
I have a fast home PC purchased specifically for use as a media centre including image rendering, video authoring, and "proper" (ie menu-driven) DVD construction; Intel Core2 6600 2.40Ghz CPU, 2.00 GB RAM, and ignoring HDDs used for backup purposes, two 320GB Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM HDDs partitioned as follows:
Disk 1
C: Operating System
D: Program Files
E: Documents
G: Audio Media
Disk 2
F: Games
H: Visual Media
( partitioning advice taken from the interesting pages at partition.radified.com/partitioning_2.htm )
I investigated the various RAID options and decided they were not necessary for my circumstance.
All video and audio source files required for a video authoring project (ie copies of the originals moved to a special project folder), all image rendering, and all DVD construction is currently undertaken in purpose named subdirectories within the H (visual media) partition.
I am careful to maintain a tidy ship that is free of clutter, supplemented by use of Diskeeper, CCleaner, and RegSupreme Pro, and performance remains stonking, but of course I always want more; I am therfore considering installing a 10,000RPM drive specifically for tasks where read/write speed is likely to be the significant constraining factor.
Knowing current spec, what the PC is used for, and the current partition structure:
a) am I likely to truly benefit from the proposed outlay?
b) how do I restructure to take best advantage of a new HDD? To my mind the logical way is to keep movie project audio files in the G partition of disk 1, movie project video files in the H partition of disk 2, and use the new high speed disk (disk 3) simply for all rendering, authoring, and DVD construction related activities. This disk will be wiped after each use and reformatted regularly.
Sensible?
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Hi Mods,
I posted in the wrong window of two that were open; result is that my thread is not "anchored" correctly.
Please feel free to move! ;-)
Thanks.
{Now sorted- DD}
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when planning where to put stuff, you need to consider the following. (I assume you have SATA? - )
Your paged OS memory needs to be on a different drive to your source or target media files.
Your source(input) and target(output) media files needs to be on different drives.
Esentially you are trying to keep head movement on any individual drive to a minimum. Transfer rate is never the problem, seek and find is.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Yup, SATA, ta.
"Seek and find / head movement" is actually one of the reasons behind current partitioning, including why I put the OS as the first partition on disk 1 (so it is closest to the outside edge and thus the "home" position of the head). The paged memory comment you make is also one of the several reasons why video source is on the second disk. The only "fault" I see with setup today is that I write video output with the same head that I read video input.
From your suggestions though, I take implied agreement with what I suggested; leave the OS as partition C on disk 1, start taking audio source from partition G on disk 1 and video source from partition H on disk 2, and perform both the temp file handling and resultant output against new disk 3?
Bearing in mind your transfer rate advice though, if the above idea is sensible, shall I buy a 10,000RPM disk or stick with 7,200 for new disk 3?
tvm, TVM! ;-)
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High speed (rotation that is) disks excell over slower types on large read and write files on a unfragemented disk. Given that it will make better use of the available bandwidth. The downside is they run hotter, use more power, and are more prone to retrys (resulting in more frequent operation stops to enable recalibration). Keeping drives at a constant temperature results in better performance, due to less thermal variations/resultant re calibration.
So a 10k rpm disk writing /reading big VOB's laid down on a freshly formatted disk will outperfom a 7.5k or 5k disk.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Oh and you really need 4 disks
1 OS, programe and virtual os memory. Remember that rendering video eats memory, as much physical memory as your system board can handle (64 bit windows xp & 16gb? 32 gb?) will leave you wide eyed in awe and wonder
2 Video source
3 Audio source
4 Output
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Four HDDS
An interesting thought. If this will give tangible benefit, then bearing in mind your comments about the more delicate nature of high speed drives and that I do not leave this particular PC running 24x7, I'll spend the dosh on a brace of 7,200 drives to take me up to four (excluding my backup drives), instead of one 10,000 drive. The mother board and bay cage can both handle this.
Memory
Another interesting thought. I originally wanted to buy 4GB RAM, but I was advised to stick with 2GB as "this is more than ample for what you want to do". If this was duff advice, then for the relatively low cost that it now is, I'll upgrade the RAM too (after checking what combination of boards I have today)
Cheers
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>> Memory Another interesting thought. I originally wanted to buy 4GB RAM but I was advised to stick with 2GB as "this is more than ample for what you want to do".>>
IIRC you are using Windows MCE, I am not sure if it supports 4Gb, officially Pro is the only version of XP that does and it is seemingly questinable as to whether 32bit Pro addresses all 4Gb. Yes MCE is based on Pro though as I say only Pro offically handles more that 3Gb. if you have four slots and only 2 x 1gb currently you could fit 2 x 512 and have 3Gb, should be OK though make sure you get the same spec memory, i.e. 533, 667 Mhz etc.
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As per a previous thread I am looking at the same type of issues.
I would stick with the same spec H/Ds though if you are going to use a whole H/D as some kind of swap file perhaps install a 7200 rpm 40Gb or 80Gb Bara of the same generation which will be faster read / write than the 320. So end up with 3 x 330 and 1 x 80.
Re memory I am contemplating 2Gb or 4Gb on XP Pro 32bit (due to driver issues), however there are mixed views on whether XP 32bit actually recognises the full 4096Mb, or Vista Business which is more memory intensive.
I will probably end up with 2Gb of 667 0r 800Mhz memory on XP Pro (2 x 1Gb) with two spare slots to upgrade as required as memory prices fall.
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>>Re memory I am contemplating 2Gb or 4Gb on XP Pro 32bit (due to driver issues), however there are mixed views on whether XP 32bit actually recognises the full 4096Mb, or Vista Business which is more memory intensive.
Oh yes; I forgot this, cheddar.
When I was given the "2GB is ample for whay you want to do" advice, I was also told "there are circumstances with 32bit XP where anything over 2GB will not be utilised as expected and others where going over 2GB actually degrades performance due to XP memory handling design".
I have no clue how accurate this statement was, but settled for 2GB on the "ample" basis.
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I have no clue how accurate this statement was but settled for 2GB on the "ample" basis.
AH media edition! stick 4mb in it and try the /3 switch anyway.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Just done some research to ensure that when I order the new HDDs I order them from the same Seagate Barracuda family, and learned that there are in fact at least two Barracuda ranges; in simple terms "normal" and "higher performance".
The current brace of HDDs in my MESH computer are model ST3320620AS and fall in to the higher performance category utilising perpendicular recording and native command queueing. From servers I am quite familiar with the latter principle of allowing multiple HDD commands to be outstanding at the same time and for the HDD to decide the most appropriate sequence to execute them in (to minimum read/write travel), but the former was completely new to me so I did some browsing.
I found this review of my current HDDs interesting, and it also explains the principles I just mentioned, so share it for those of like mind: tinyurl.com/3aparn
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I am specifying a new PC, I have ruled out the following for the stated reasons:
Mesh ? inflexibility on h/d options.
Dell 9200 ? RAID 0 only except for basic unit that is expensive when speced up.
Evesham ? not enough PCI slots.
The following are two system options, the Dell E520 is pretty much top spec, cant specify a faster CPU or better graphics card (limited by power supply I guess), also the 4Gb memory is 533Mhz as opposed to 667 or 800, could go for a more expensive monitor.
I dont know too much about pcspecialist.co.uk.
Budget around £1250 inc vat and Office 2007 SBE, any thoughts?
Dell E520
Intel® Core? 2 Duo E6600 Processor (2.4GHz,1066MHz,4MB cache)
Microsoft Windows® XP Professional
4096MB 533MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [4x1024]
Dell? 22" Black Wide Flat Panel (E228WFP) - UK/Irish
256MB ATI® Radeon® X1300 Pro PCI Express graphics card
500GB Dual Hard Drive Non RAID (2x250GB - 7200rpm)
USB: 8 Ports (2 Front, 6 Back)
PCI: 2 Slots
PCIe x1: 1 Slot
PCIe x16 (Graphics): 1 Slots
305 Watt DC Power Supply
Internal 13-in-1 Media Card Reader
Dell? v92 Data/Fax Modem
16x DVD +/- RW
16x IDE DVD ROM Drive
Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music Sound Card
Dell? A525 Speakers with Subwoofer
2 Year On-Site Service
IEEE 1394 Firewire PCI Adapter card
Microsoft Application Software Microsoft® Office 2007 Small Business - English
Price £1132.77 inc vat & del
pcspecialist.co.uk
INTEL® Core 2 Duo E6700 (2 X 2.66GHz) 1066MHz FSB/4MB L2 Cache
2048 MB CORSAIR DDR2 800MHz (2x1GB)
ASUS® P5W DH DELUXE: DDR2, x16 slot, Intel 975X chipset, 3 PCI
WINDOWS® XP Professional (inc CD)
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS (4 REAR + 2 FRONT) AS STANDARD
2 x 250GB SERIAL ATA II HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7200rpm)
20x DVD±RW/RAM/Dual Layer
6X DVD ROM WITH 48X CD ROM
512MB RADEON X1950 PRO PCI Express + DVI + TV-OUT
Sound Blaster® X-Fi? Xtreme Gamer
56KBPS INTERNAL V92 MODEM
Onboard Wireless 54 Mbps LAN (802.11g) & 2 x Gigabit LAN Ports
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)
500W (Peak) Quiet Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan
SUPER QUIET 19 dBA INTEL CPU COOLER
ONBOARD 1394 FIREWIRE PORT
WIDE 22 INCH TFT Silver/Black 1680 x1050 5MS D-Sub, DVI
2 Metre DVI Cable
CREATIVE ITRIGUE 2.1 3330 SILVER/BLK SPEAKER SYSTEM
Microsoft® Office® 2007 Small Business Edition
Warranty 1 Year Return-to-Base incl 1 Year Free Collect & Return
Price £1341.00 inc vat & del
Or perhaps the latter without a monitor at £1142 and this at £136.23 inc vat & del:
www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?quicklinx=45K7&InMer...1
total £1278.36.
Thanks.
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My own similar purchase recently came down to a toss up between Evesham and Mesh. IIRC I bought a E6700 dual core system with 2x400gb RAID drives and 4gb of 8/900mhz memory.
If HD is the only limitation with the Mesh, why not get an external drive or two to increase your overall capacity and store older/archive/backup files on those? A terabyte of storage can be added reasonably cheaply.
Both Evesham and Mesh seem to allow greater flexibility in configuration than Dell and charge less of a, erm, premium.
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Both Evesham and Mesh seem to allow greater flexibility in configuration than Dell and charge less of a erm premium.
Mesh will only supply a single 500Gb h/d or 2 x 500, I would rather have 500 as 2x250, Evesham are very flexible in this regard though are limited by expansion.
Phoned Dell today, they can be pretty flexible on spec via the phone and flexible of price.
Its a toss up between a Dell 9200, high spec, E6700. 4Gb ram, 2x 250Gb lots of expansion possibilties, or a similar spec system by pcspecialist.co.uk*, high quality Asus mobo Intel 975X chipset, better graphics card that the Dell.
*who I have never heard of?
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Does anyone else on the 02 mobile phone network use this website, and if so are you also having problems logging in?
Whenever I have tried this week all I keep getting is the message:-
"The Password can not be requested more than three times within a period of seven days.
If this restriction is exceeded then access to your account is automatically barred.
Please e-mail customer services at the address below"
I haven't once requested the password as I know what it is, and have not previously had problems logging in - albeit the website was always temperamental.
I have tried emailing the address provided ( selfcare@O2.co.uk ) but I just get a bounce back message saying "Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender - email address unknown"
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Just logged in no problem Dave.
Has someone maybe been trying to log on with your details and thats why its been revoked?
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Has someone maybe been trying to log on with your details and thats why its been revoked?
Not that I know of Bobby. I'll have to see if I can find another email address for them. No good phoning 02 about it, because when I've previously spoken to them about the account management website, they have told me that I would need to speak to such and such. I get put on hold, then the line goes dead!
Thanks for confirming that the website isn't the problem though.
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PPurely by chance I discovered that I have a folder on my computer called "My Message Logs" which is split by month and lists logs of conversations had on Messenger.
Now as a responsible and caring parent I have had a wee look through these to see what my 9 year old son and 12 year old daughter are up to. My son's conversations are on it but my daughter's not - why would that be, does anyone know if the user can opt to change that setting?
Maybe I should just ask my daughter!!
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yes its an option that can be set by the messenger user.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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My current internet provider runs out in a few weeks. At the moment with Tiscali I pay £17.99 a month for unlimited access/download.
What are the best deals going aroung just now? Anywhere cheaper than this or is the a mobile phone deal on where you get free internet, or internet with a free ps3, anything like that?
Thanks for any help.
{Moves from IHAQ to Computer related questions - DD}
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See tinyurl.com/yvk5av
--
L\'escargot.
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(I thought I'd posted this yesterday, so apologies if this is a double posting, but I'm sure it's not.)
I was a little upset to discover that headline prices don't include any software. I need Excel, Outlook, Word and Powerpoint. So what level of MS office do I require? Alternatively, what about Open Office? Which of course is free...
Secondly, can anybody help, please with Dell laptop screens - as obviously you cannot view them before buying. The last laptop I had use of, a c2002 (manufacture date) Toshiba , had an abysmal screen - dull and impossible to read. More up to date laptops appear to have *much* better screens. Is anybody please able to decipher for me the meaningless list of Ws Xs As and Ss that describe a screen?
Thirdly, is there any sort of translation of chip power? In the really good old days you knew that 128k RAM was twice as good as 64k, which was 64 times as good as 1k of RAM. In less old days you had a 386 or a 486 or a Pentium, and it might have a speed in Hz next to it, so it was pretty easy to rank different chips. Now it's much less easy, with many descriptions. eg...
Intel Core Duo (T2400) 1830MHz; Intel PM 2GHz; Intel Centrino 1.3 GHz Mobile
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Alternatively what about Open Office? Which of course is free...
Good call. Unless you are doing very fancy complicated stuff indeed, then open office fits the bill admirably. The user interface is a little different if your an experienced and power office users, but on the whole......Go for it.
Secondly can anybody help please with Dell laptop screens - as obviously you cannot view them before buying. The last laptop I had use of a c2002 (manufacture date) Toshiba had an abysmal screen - dull and impossible to read. More up to date laptops appear to have *much* better screens. Is anybody please able to decipher for me the meaningless list of Ws Xs As and Ss that describe a screen?
Dont worry about it. All laptop screens (including dell) are sharp and bright these days. You may find howver that the native resolution on the bigger screens means minute text and icons will have you reaching for your cheap boots reading glasses.
Intel Core Duo (T2400) 1830MHz; Intel PM 2GHz; Intel Centrino 1.3 GHz Mobile
Centrino is a chip set, includes bluetooth and wireless. the speed is an indicator you would expect
Dual core duos are as it sounds - (in effect) twin CPU's. so they can be slower clock speed then Intel M's and Centrinos, but are actually faster (not by double tho!) The T number indicates its speed and cache.
Dont bother with M cpu's unless its really cheap.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Thanks
>>Dont bother with M cpu's unless its really cheap
So the Intel Centrino 1.3GHz is better than the PM 2GHz?
As for Ts... Is that the first digit indicating a speed, and the last three the cache?
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Dont worry about it. All laptop screens (including dell) are sharp and bright these days.
Is that right? Maybe things have moved on dramatically, but the screen on my 12mth old Dell laptop is pretty dire. Dull, fuzzy and terrible viewing angles. I wouldn't want to have to use it for more than a few minutes at a time. It's not a one-off bad example either, others around the office are just as bad. Current Sony and Toshiba laptops are vastly better.
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Well the last Dell D600 I evaluated had an Ok screen. Nasty horible plastics tho, and felt cheap and flimsy.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Well the last Dell D600 I evaluated had an OK screen. >>
I reckon they are all very similar, probably from the same suppliers, just check if you want a shiny "Crystalbrite" type screen or not, they are fine for DVD viewing though not so good for general use where light might fall on the screen, I bought an XP Pro Core 2 Duo Acer with a conventional screen, so far so good.
www.dabs.com / quicklink: 4BLBDM is a good price, just add an extra 512Mb.
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>>probably from the same suppliers>>
Only a comparatively small number of specialist manufacturers turn out laptops (or virtually any other computer piece of equipment or component for that matter) and the rest of the world rebadges them under their own name.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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>>Alternatively, what about Open Office? Which of course is free...
I have no regrets.
In fact, I'll go further; I am delighted.
When I purchased our MESH PC without MS office I installed Open Office on the recommendation of some in the Backroom as it was free and I was intrigued; if it failed to impress I would remove it and purchase MS Office. It turns out that it works so well - and has some nice features relevant to typical things I need to do - that I continue to use it despite my employer paying MS to extend licenced MS office usage to employees' home computers.
For e-mail I use Outlook Express (part of the XP Operating System, not MS Office), but for "written" documents, spreadsheets, and presentations I use the Open Office equivalents to Word, Excel, and Powerpoint.
Try it; you are unlikely to be disappointed.
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If further support were needed, I agree that Openoffice is well worth a try.
I have been using Openoffice for writing technical documents, with lots of tables, pictures, graphs, and links to spreadsheets. I have written some large and complex documents, and I haven't had any problems with crashing or any silly bugs.
I've also began to use the built in variables to ease the management of header and footer information, to avoid faults like pages 1 to 10 saying issue 1, while pages 11 to 20 say issue 0d1. This works really well.
For me, the big problem is with the bibliography. It's a bit clunky, and having learnt the hard way, I would say check, check and check again that your reference is all spelled and laid out correctyl before using it in a document, because if you update the reference infomation, it's difficult to get your document updated to reflect the change.
I enjoy the ability to create pdfs - now with some security options available (I like to prevent people from mucking about with any official documents I write)
Number_Cruncher
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My mate has moved to France (La Rochelle) and is wanting to get ADSL set up. He tried Orange but had a very bad experience. It never worked right and he had to pay premium price phone calls for support. He cancelled that and sent back their modem. Has anyone here got any recommendations for which French ISP offers good service and support?
I can't help him because I live in Australia.
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Expat. I have e mailed a friend who lives near La Rochelle to ask what ISP he uses. I know he finds it satisfactory but I think it may be AOL which might put people off. Please e mail me, (thru my profile) and will reply to you direct when I have his answer
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I am not sure that I understand the answer but, my friend in France says
"AOL is good for us, but can occasionally be problematic for receiving. Something to do with Franco-American co-operation we hear. Most people in France use Wanadoo with Orange as the ISP.
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