COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

[PanBiker]

The fibre cable doesn't go directly to the router. The input port (WAN port) on the router is CAT5/6 multi-core twisted pair copper. Armoured fibre cable from the nearest feed point (pole) will terminate in a 6" square low profile grey Open Reach box on the outside wall. Here it changes to more flexible internal fibre fed through the wall which again terminates in a small powered media change box which is about 3" square. This has a CAT5/6 socket on it which is then used to connect to the Router WAN port using a bog standard CAT5/6 patch lead. The length of this will determine how far away the router is from the powered media change box.

My install was very civilised and straightforward done in just over an hour hardest bit was the drop down of the armoured fibre from the corner of my bathroom down into the yard. Only complicated because the engineers are not allowed to walk on a flat roof. They had to employ a simon snorkel powered platform lift to run the cable over the kitchen roof to where it needed to be in the yard. The engineers are in contact with the different plant operators, it was on a job in Nelson and was called over as their next job. I had four Open Reach Engineers at one time. They installed the internal stuff while they were waiting for the cavalry with the lift.

If you look at the route of your existing copper service it will follow exactly the same to the first fibre box on your outside wall.

Don't vex about it too much Stanley the teams come fully tooled up to cover all eventualities.

[Big Kev]

Still no full fibre in Foulridge yet, I'm fairly close to the cabinet so the Fibre65 is doing the job.

[Stanley]

It was doing it for me also Kev. I never asked for the change but they told me that without it I lose my broadband..... Customer choice?
Let's hope it is quick and trouble free..... At least the engineer has a good day for the outside work.

[Stanley]

The BT man Hassan is here and we have agreed on a plan that means I will have full fibre and a working computer when he is done. I am gong to log off. Scrub that Hassan stays that I can stay connected almost all the time so I shall do that.

[Stanley]

PS. Hassan used the cord I laid through as it enables him to put the terminal box closer to the computer and he's also going to use the old Router as I told him I am not bothered about the landline, that way none of my passwords on the Freesat box or the TV need adjusting. It all seems to be falling into place.....
I think that's it so far. He is finished in the house and is working on the outside wire.....

[Big Kev]

Just out of interest, what pricing package are they offering for the full fibre package? What do you get for your money?

[Stanley]

This is all free Kev and I am now on full fibre.....I'm still on the old router so nothing else will have changed.

[Big Kev]

This is all free Kev and I am now on full fibre.....I'm still on the old router so nothing else will have changed.

Other than not being able to use a landline

How about the monthly payments. Was there a special offer?

[Stanley]

I wasn't using the landline anyway, I just ditched it. If ever I want it I still have the new router so I can swap iot if I want but not worth it as Freesat and smart TV still work but faster than ever,
No change to cost, I think I pay £30 a month, it's just gone up, used to be £24. As far as I can see I would be paying more anywhere else.....

[Big Kev]

That's not so bad, is it the fibre150? I have fibre65 (which uses copper from the cabinet) and that's £28 plus £7 for evening and weekend calls. That will be dropped soon as the WiFi calling, using our new mobile phones, is proving reliable.

[PanBiker]

I would swap out the router anyway as it's likely to be a later generation and will probably have later firmware. My Freesat box is hard wired on CAT5 so I didn't have to change anything there. Just the mobiles and the tablet but the router has the pull out card with all the details on so no real problem and only have to do it once.

[Stanley]

I'll wait until a competent person is visiting Ian, I just get into a fluster with anything electronic!

[PanBiker]

Have they asked for the old one back? They did when I upgraded as they have an electronic recycling capability.

Oh how fast is your connection.

Just try this link:

Speed Test

[Stanley]

No not asked and speed is 75 at the moment but they tell me it will rise.

[PanBiker]

They sent a pre paid and addressed bag out with my router. T'was in the box with a note to please return the old one for recycling.

[Stanley]

All still well, speed fluctuates up and down but this was war4ned about by Hassan. He said it would take about 48 hours for the connection to settle in. (At it's slowest is is almost twice as fast as the best it was before and is noticeable on both the computer and the smart TV.

[Stanley]

The download speed seems to have settled down at 75. That's twice as fast as it was before.... It'll do me.

[Stanley]

Firefox is playing a different little trick with me. When I refresh the page it asks me to resend the information. Does anyone know what's happening?

[Big Kev]

Firefox is playing a different little trick with me. When I refresh the page it asks me to resend the information. Does anyone know what's happening?

It depends on what you were doing just prior to the refresh. It may be that you'd just completed something on a secure webpage.

[Tizer]

We need a bit more info. What are you doing when it happens? Are you filling in a form or simply trying to refresh an OG page after you've left it for a while?

[Tizer]

Kev and I were writing at the same time!

[Stanley]

Thanks for taking the trouble. It went just as mysteriously as it came.
I have been wrestling with a different problem, Backing all my data up to external disks, two of them. I have managed in the end but only after doing it blind as I couldn't for the life of me fathom out how to split the screen and have one database on one side and the other on the other.
I couldn't tell you now how I did it but I did, I have checked by going back to the external drives afterwards and looking to see what has been transferred.
I can do without frustrations like that...

[Tizer]

how to split the screen and have one database on one side and the other on the other.

If by `database' you are simply referring to the File Manager window you can have as many of the windows open as you like. Click on the File Manager icon on the LH side of your screen and it will open. Now right click on the icon and it will open another. You can repeat that as many times as you like. When I want to back up to my external disk I first open the File Manager. Then I plug in the USB cable from my external disk and that brings up a message at the top of the screen which I then click and it opens the File Manager showing my back ups. I sit them side by side and then drag the appropriate folders and files across so they are all copied to the external disk.

At the same time I also back up my email and browser data by dragging copies of the .thunderbird and .mozilla profile folders to the same back up folder on the external disk. But to do this you have to click Ctrl H to reveal the hidden files, copy the folders over, then immediately click Ctrl H again to hide them. Don't do anything else in the hidden files mode! For all I know you may be backing up in a completely different way, for instance using a backup application. I prefer to keep it very simple!

[Stanley]

I prefer to keep it simple as well Peter. When I right click on the file manager icon it opens a menu, none of the options gives me a split screen. I did the back-up eventually by dragging the image of the folder I wanted to copy, last year's data, on to the tab on the header that gave the name of the external drive. I could tell when it had stopped transferring on the Samsung because the activity light on the front stopped flashing.
It's done now and it's a toss up whether I shall have to bother next year so I am not going to fret about it. The new data folder is working fine.....

[Tizer]

When I right click on the file manager icon it opens a menu, none of the options gives me a split screen.

But you don't need a split screen. Just do as I wrote above and open two File Manager windows on your PC, one for your Home/Stanley folder, the other for the external disk folder. Simple.

On the other hand, if by split screen you mean splitting the File Manager then open it, click on the top right icon (3 bar) which gives a drop down menu. The top line has three icons. Hover your mouse pointer on them and you'll see (from the left) the titles New Window, New Tab, New Folder. The L.H. one does the same as I've described above - opens a second File Manager window. The middle one perhaps does what you want - opens a new tab within the File Manager window so you're seeing your Home folder twice in the same window. Then you navigate in the 2nd one to your external disk. The R.H. one allows you to make a new folder.

I was confused by you asking for a split screen when I think you needed a split File Manager window.