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[Site Updates] The New Year on GEEK!
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Orange really wind me up…
So as you probably know, I recently built my own computer. It’s all going brilliantly. Except from one thing…
Orange are a little bit annoying sometimes. In fact, they aren’t what you’d call an A* ISP. Their router is a little shabby (it can’t decide whether it prefers English or French, and it often forgets that it has ever been turned on), and their customer service isn’t brilliant either.
However, the one thing that annoys me most of all is the poor management of bandwidth usage. It’s a pain. I know that Orange seem to provide 40GB of monthly usage but they give you no means whatsoever of monitoring how much bandwidth you have consumed in one month.
Then, they say that if you use more than 40GB a month they’ll send you a warning and then cut your speed to 512kbps!! What the hell? They won’t let you monitor your bandwidth but they’ll send you a letter if you go in the slightest over 40GB.
And then if you fail to lower your usage after that, they’ll cut your connection!
Frankly, I’d rather pay a little extra per month than have my speed throttled if I go over my usage. Doesn’t that seem like the more sensible thing to do from a company point of view? They make a little more money rather than loosing a customer.
Honestly I think Orange are making big mistakes and ripping us off. Bethere do unlimited 8MB broadband for £13.50 per month on a shorter contract (12 months, compared to Orange’s 18 months) and there’s no set limit on how much you can use per month!
Come on Orange, this is rubbish!
My new homebuilt PC – is it worth it?
Well, after many months of wanting to do it, I have finally built myself my own computer. It was great fun – for a tech nerd like me – and it also saved me a lot of money!
Here’s what I bought myself:
- An AMD Entry Level Barebones PC kit costing £140 – that includes the case, motherboard, a dual core AMD processor and 2GB RAM
- A 512MB Gigabyte HD4550 graphics card costing about £35
- A 250GB hard drive costing about £25
- A DVDRW drive costing £18
- A 19″ LG monitor costing £92
- A Microsoft wireless keyboard and mouse set costing £17
That was it. If my calculations are right that comes to £327 and in my opinion that is a bargain. I’ve got a really good spec PC and a nice monitor and keyboard/mouse set to go with it. Perfect!
It does go to show how much cheaper it can be to go for the build your own PC option. It is much cheaper so is perfect if you’re on a tight budget, plus it can be really good fun if you enjoy working with computers.
I wouldn’t recommend this way of getting your hands on a nice new PC if you consider yourself a novice with computers. You do have to be careful – put the wrong component in the wrong place and you’ll be adding costs for replacements. Also, make absolutely sure that you have some sort of anti-static kit for your hands. Static electricity and internal computer components do not mix!
If you like a challenge and have a few hundred pounds to spare give this a go! You might be really pleased you bothered!
Skype launching Skype Access
Skype has recently made Skype Access available in its new Skype beta 4.2. With the new beta there are a few bugfixes (apparently), a new call transfer mode (which was apparently in previous versions of Skype but non existent since 4.0), and a new feature called Skype Access.
Skype Access allows anyone with Skype credit to be able to pay for public wi-fi access via Skype. You simply connect to a hotspot that is supported by Skype and then use Skype Access to pay, per minute, for the service. As far as I know, the service currently costs about 15p per minute.
There’s no contract or anything like that, and it is available whenever you need it as long as you are connected to a supported hotspot.
I think this is a really good idea – very handy if you’re in somewhere like an airport and you need to quickly check your email or your Facebook page. I’m guessing people with netbooks are more likely to use the service since netbooks are much easier to carry around.
Skype reports that the service can now be used at over 100,000 wi-fi hotspots (in the UK, I think).
For me I will enjoy it most when it becomes available on devices such as the iPhone or iPod Touch – which I’m sure it will do eventually – as that means I will be able to instantly get wi-fi in a number of public places.
Ah well, nice work Skype. This might actually pay off.
Sod the Digital Britain broadband tax – mobile broadband is the way forward
Earlier today I was thinking about the benefits (if any) of the 50p phone line tax. There clearly aren’t any.
And then it made me think. Why the hell is the government trying to make us pay phone line tax when it’s become very clear the way forward is mobile broadband – not landline broadband?
I only realised today, but the 50p phone line tax is a total load of rubbish, because statistics have shown mobile broadband is rapidly becoming more popular and at this rate mobile broadband will overtake landline broadband in a very small amount of time.
To be totally honest, I think the 50p phone line tax is a waste of money and it, frankly, will get the country nowhere. In ten years time I suspect our mobile broadband networks will be huge and everybody will be using their phones or minuscule laptops to browse the network wherever they are. Why should the government make us pay a tax that nobody seems to agree with? There’s no evidence whatsoever that the tax will get Britain anywhere and there are too many people who are against it. What is going on?