BT Broadband

[Mark Snowdon]

XP pro or home ?

I have no problems using xp pro on the laptop, however I have heard that there can be probs with XP home - What are you running ?

[ScotsPine]

XP pro or home ?

pro on all machines

[AtW]

Re: XP pro or home ?

make sure you dont have some firewall that denies access - zonealarm might not consider internal network as Trusted by default and will just reject connections so its impossible to set shares etc

my setup here is router connectd to cable modem + wifi access point, my 2 mates use WiFi to access I use cable on my desktop and Wifi on laptop. Works like a charm.

[ScotsPine]

Re: XP pro or home ?

got it. the tcpip settings on the network card were still configured to a static ip address although my modem/router gives dhcp. but i also had to tweak some firewall settings in line with what you mentioned atw, so ta. the boxes upstairs are wired, only the laptop is currently wireless but that will change.
must remember to set up mac restrictions though...i remember mark mentioning this about a year ago and i wondered what on earth he was talking about! how could you find out if somebody was hijacking your internet access?

[AtW]

Re: XP pro or home ?

good for you. to be sure reject unspecified MAC's on router - bear in mind that if you using WiFi access point connected to router then anyone who hi-jacks it will have legit access - so use security option on it.

its well pleasing to use wireless on laptop - had great time reading book on bed while still being online to chat to people - best of both worlds!

[Earl Fint]

Re: XP pro or home ?

I use BT and had a nightmare getting going. The customer service had me pulling my hair out. Since that it has been ok but I am still considering switching and the one I would switch to is pipex - heard nothing but good reports about them.
Cheers
Earl

[Vetran]

Re: XP pro or home ?

Plusnet are OK been using them for 2 years,


had a little hiccup a month ago with IMAP (I now use another ISP for mail) , once I got through 1st line 'support' which took a couple of weeks and threats of a compensation claim I was sorted pretty quickly.

Nice reliable service on the whole, support used to be very good, since my last problem though I'm not so sure.

[RobAnt]

Re: XP pro or home ?

No "in-house" email for BT Broadband anymore - you have to pay for it as a separate item, or use something like hotmail. I was amazed when I discovered that after visiting a clients site, who claimed he couldn't get his email sorted! Now I know why.

They supply the modem, but charge quite a lot more than most other suppliers, and when you consider a modem can be bought for roughly £30 now it's a bit of a swizz.

ADSL is ADSL, so the quality of the connection is the same as any other, really. It is the provision of value added services where BT fall down, badly.

3/10 for effort, in my view.

[fiddleabout]

Re: XP pro or home ?

> ADSL is ADSL, so the quality of the connection is the same as any other, really

From the exchange to ISP maybe but if the ISP has cr@p connectivity it will be slower than one who has invested in decent kit and connections.

[RobAnt]

Re: XP pro or home ?

Point taken, and I have witnessed some ISPs losing connectivity to the Internet from time to time.

But my experience is there is little to chose between them on the whole. Except for price and in-house services offered.