• Lego (unregistered) in reply to beh
    beh:
    The amazing WTF is that he managed it at 500 kilobits per second.
    Data compression?
  • (cs) in reply to Lego
    Lego:
    beh:
    The amazing WTF is that he managed it at 500 kilobits per second.
    Data compression?
    Nah, they just used a smaller font.
  • (cs) in reply to beh
    Pim:
    TRWTF is that David could transfer a 40 MB file over a 500 KB/s line in less than a minute.
    Big deal. David is just using longer minutes.
    beh:
    The amazing WTF is that he managed it at 500 kilobits per second.
    Way longer
  • Skeptical Cat (unregistered) in reply to Here ya go
    Here ya go:
    amischiefr:
    Another skeptic:
    MrsPost:
    (And I'm sorry to dispel the myth that there are no females on the interwebz. The 'Mrs' is true. I'm ~gasp~ female.)

    I don't believe you. Pics or it's not true.

    If I don't see tits, I call bullshit.
    (.)(.)

    This is the 21st century. Unless I see a genetic analysis, I call bullshit.

  • Thom (unregistered) in reply to bramster
    bramster:
    Anonymous:
    Anyone who receives broadband over an aging copper wire network (that's most of the UK) will know all too well the effects of localised environmental changes. Too hot = crap connection, too cold = crap connection, spot of rain = crap connection. Still better than our resident cable monopolists, though.

    Are your automobiles on the network too? Too hot -- won't start -- too cold -- won't start. Spot of rain -- won't start

    Sigh

    Sounds like my girlfriend is on the network. Too hot -- won't start -- too cold -- won't start -- too much of about anything -- won't start. I thought I'd get lucky once with too wet, nah, -- started without me -- and finished too.

  • e (unregistered) in reply to MrsPost
    MrsPost:
    shenanigans:
    MrsPost:
    I call shenanigans.
    Yes?
    You sir are my hero for the day.

    (And I'm sorry to dispel the myth that there are no females on the interwebz. The 'Mrs' is true. I'm ~gasp~ female.)

    No you're not. I can tell because you pointed out that you are.

    Captcha: facilisis. Did you mean facilities?

  • captzimmo (unregistered) in reply to Lucus
    Lucus:
    Best. Comment. Ever.

    Reminds me of the old joke: Q: Why can't the British make computers? A: Because they could never figure out how to make them leak oil.

    And this one from a bumper sticker in a race engine shop: "Long live Lucas, father of the intermittent windshield wiper"

    Lucas, Prince of Darkness

    Lucas, the only company with electrons that go on strike

    Why do the English drink warm beer? They have Lucas refrigerators

    I used to drive (and fix and fix and fix) an MGB

  • Mr.'; Drop Database -- (unregistered)

    kb = kilobit kB = kilobyte KB = kelvinbyte

    Now if only someone can explain what a kelvinbyte is...

  • (cs) in reply to kastein
    kastein:
    oh hey, what's your callsign? (W1KAS here, didn't think there'd be any other hams on this site...)
    M0FFX of course! I'm not very active though. A few SOTA trips a year, and sometimes chatting on the local repeater (GB3PY).
  • (cs) in reply to Mr.'; Drop Database --
    Mr.'; Drop Database --:
    kb = kilobit kB = kilobyte KB = kelvinbyte

    Now if only someone can explain what a kelvinbyte is...

    It measures the properties of some strange substance whose data capacity varies by temperature.

    KB/s is exactly what we are discussing here: change in bitrate per degree Kelvin.

  • Charles (unregistered)

    Moisture on my line usually follows a download of porn.

  • The Dark Messenger (unregistered)

    One Summer a friend of mine could not make or receive calls between about 11am and 7pm. The "strange" thing was that the phone line had been working fine for about 20 years. It turns out that over those 20 years the 1km of underground cable had been heated and cooled enough to expand and contract in such as way as to loosen the screw holding one of the wires to the point where the insulation could now fit between the screw and the other other side of the connector, so when the line expanded in the heat the insulation would do exactly what it was designed for, when it cooled down in the evening the line would contract and the wire would make contact with the connector. The solution, strip some more insulation and tighten the screw. I just hope they stripped enough to account for global warming...

  • (cs) in reply to Bobbo

    If only there was some way that two parties could enter into some kind of agreement or 'contract', stipulating the obligations of each party...

    Okay, fine.

    The other party says "Our position is that we are in fact providing the service stipulated in our contract. If you don't agree, sue us. And if you stop sending payment, we will consider you in breach of contract and seek recompensation, by suing you if necessary. And regardless of who wins in court, your contract with us shall not be renewed at the end of its current term. At that point, please have fun trying etc...."

    Never get in a contract dispute with a company that (a) you depend on for critical business needs, and (b) is a monopoly.

  • David (unregistered) in reply to MrsPost
    MrsPost:
    shenanigans:
    MrsPost:
    I call shenanigans.
    Yes?
    You sir are my hero for the day.

    (And I'm sorry to dispel the myth that there are no females on the interwebz. The 'Mrs' is true. I'm ~gasp~ female.)

    I call shenanigans.

  • Rhywden (unregistered) in reply to Rootbeer
    Rootbeer:
    If only there was some way that two parties could enter into some kind of agreement or 'contract', stipulating the obligations of each party...

    Okay, fine.

    The other party says "Our position is that we are in fact providing the service stipulated in our contract. If you don't agree, sue us. And if you stop sending payment, we will consider you in breach of contract and seek recompensation, by suing you if necessary. And regardless of who wins in court, your contract with us shall not be renewed at the end of its current term. At that point, please have fun trying etc...."

    Never get in a contract dispute with a company that (a) you depend on for critical business needs, and (b) is a monopoly.

    I think what you're defining here is "extortion" and not a contract. And I think that courts frown on that.

    Probably just me, though.

  • (cs) in reply to Mr.'; Drop Database --
    Mr.'; Drop Database --:
    kb = kilobit kB = kilobyte KB = kelvinbyte

    Now if only someone can explain what a kelvinbyte is...

    All you ever wanted to know about Kilobytes: [image]

  • jondr (unregistered) in reply to alegr
    alegr:
    In Russia, we've always joked that our phone lines have ropes instead of wires. When you could not connect it's because the ropes dried out.
    <grin> Out here on the shortgrass prairie in the western US we used to have BWN (Barbed-Wire Network). Outage was blamed whenever someone opened a gate. This was broadcast on KOA radio, Denver, with Pete Smythe in the 1950's. Very prescient.
  • (cs)

    TRWTF is the math in that article: 40MB at 500kB/sec is 80 seconds. 80 seconds is not less than a minute. Also, ten times 80 seconds is 800 seconds. Not 2 hours.

  • that tshirt guy (unregistered) in reply to immibis
    immibis:
    TRWTF is the math in that article: 40MB at 500kB/sec is 80 seconds. 80 seconds is not less than a minute.

    Bitches don't know about my data compression.

  • Prince (unregistered) in reply to Lucus
    Lucus:
    Best. Comment. Ever.

    Reminds me of the old joke: Q: Why can't the British make computers? A: Because they could never figure out how to make them leak oil.

    And this one from a bumper sticker in a race engine shop: "Long live Lucas, father of the intermittent windshield wiper"

    Also seen: "Lucas, Prince of Darkness"

  • NotKaren (unregistered) in reply to RealKaren
    RealKaren:
    - no. This is me. :)
    I call shenanigans
  • Stychokiller (unregistered) in reply to Bappi
    Bappi:
    Lego:
    beh:
    The amazing WTF is that he managed it at 500 kilobits per second.
    Data compression?
    Nah, they just used a smaller font.
    Plus, if you just send semi-colons instead of full colons, you increase the speed of transmission (you do know where full colons belong, don't you?;)
  • shenanigans (unregistered) in reply to NotKaren
    NotKaren:
    RealKaren:
    - no. This is me. :)
    I call shenanigans

    Sorry, I'm out to lunch atm.

  • bullshit (unregistered) in reply to Skeptical Cat
    amischiefr:
    Another skeptic:
    MrsPost:
    (And I'm sorry to dispel the myth that there are no females on the interwebz. The 'Mrs' is true. I'm ~gasp~ female.)

    I don't believe you. Pics or it's not true.

    If I don't see tits, I call bullshit.
    Sorry, I'm having lunch with shenanigans

  • Anonymous (unregistered)

    All you people complaining about British cars must be a bit confused, the British car industry died some 40 years ago and we don't produce ANY of our own cars anymore. All we have is Triumph making bikes, and they actually make damn good bikes, speaking from experience. You can beat a Triumph through the worst British winter and it won't let you down. Plus you'll be nice and toasty since they all come with heated grips as standard.

  • Treblemaker (unregistered) in reply to David

    Line's busy.

  • Treblemaker (unregistered) in reply to NotKaren
    NotKaren:
    RealKaren:
    - no. This is me. :)
    I call shenanigans
    Line's *still* busy. Maybe we should try waving a dead joke over it.
  • Henanigans (unregistered)

    Will you stop calling my wife, it's driving her nuts.

  • Shouldbworking (unregistered)

    As a student I served an industrial placement year as a java dev at an interweb startup. The office was a barn conversion and power was provided by means of a not quite long enough cable hung between the farmhouse and the barn. As it wasnt quite long enough there was a nasty looking splice in the middle of it, covered in lots of insulating tape.

    No prizes for guessing what happened whenever it rained there im afraid. Or when the people in the farmhouse went crazy and say.. put the washing machine on.

    Also no prizes for guessing that it didnt survive the bubble burst.

  • Slicerwizard (unregistered) in reply to kastein
    kastein:
    last time my line was down, my DSL was very spotty and I had no dialtone (strange combination eh?)
    Not strange at all. There was enough of a short on the line to trigger an off-hook state, but not enough to kill the DSL link.
  • (cs) in reply to MrsPost
    MrsPost:
    Let me get this straight. It was a known issue (at least on the other end) that this was a problem but no one documented it in any way?

    I can see no formal documentation but this is the kind of thing that gets passed down. "So Bob, when it gets really foggy out or it rains really hard there will be some issues with connectivity. We know about it but right now there's nothing we can do."

    I call shenanigans.

    You obviously have not had experience dealing with "The Phone Company" in the 90's. This sort of thing was SOP.

  • (cs) in reply to Anonymous
    Anonymous (unregistered):
    All you people complaining about British cars must be a bit confused, the British car industry died some 4 years ago and we don't produce ANY of our own cars anymore..
    FTFY.

    And yeah, my car is four years old, because that's when MG Rover finally went bust. I don't think it leaks, since the only time any oil is ever put in is when the oil change is done.

    It was appalling management that killed the company in the end, not their design abilities.

  • (cs)
    ...Plus you'll be nice and toasty since they all come with heated grips as standard.

    Gloves spring to mind...

  • (cs) in reply to Henanigans
    Henanigans:
    Will you stop calling my wife, it's driving her nuts.

    If she has nuts to drive, are you sure he is your wife?

  • (cs) in reply to Henanigans
    Henanigans:
    Will you stop calling my wife, it's driving her nuts.
    Where is it driving them to?
  • ricecake (unregistered) in reply to MrBester
    MrBester:
    ...Plus you'll be nice and toasty since they all come with heated grips as standard.
    Gloves spring to mind...
    Well, the difference with a motorcycle is that it has a readily-available power source (battery) to draw from. Most bicycles I know of don't come with batteries. Also, average speed on a motorcycle is much higher than on a bicycle, so the windchill effect on the hands is much greater.
  • (cs) in reply to Rootbeer
    Rootbeer:
    David's company just says "No, you fix it now or we're not carrying on paying for it."

    Right, and then the other company says, "Very well then, we have determined that we no longer wish to have you as a customer. Please have fun trying to run your business with no data lines between sites, or telephone service of any kind."

    Noooo... it means that the telecom has breached the contract and must correct the problem or refund charges, lost revenue, and possibly punitive damages.
  • (cs) in reply to Rhywden
    Rhywden:
    Rootbeer:
    If only there was some way that two parties could enter into some kind of agreement or 'contract', stipulating the obligations of each party...

    Okay, fine.

    The other party says "Our position is that we are in fact providing the service stipulated in our contract. If you don't agree, sue us. And if you stop sending payment, we will consider you in breach of contract and seek recompensation, by suing you if necessary. And regardless of who wins in court, your contract with us shall not be renewed at the end of its current term. At that point, please have fun trying etc...."

    Never get in a contract dispute with a company that (a) you depend on for critical business needs, and (b) is a monopoly.

    I think what you're defining here is "extortion" and not a contract. And I think that courts frown on that.

    Probably just me, though.

    Indeed. In practice, large telcoms are lazy and impersonal. But the entire reason that companies pay $1000/month for a T1 instead of $50 for DSL line is for service guarantees. If you're not willing to lean on your telecom when an issue arises, you might as well get DSL or a cable modem, run a VPN over it, and save yourself a lot of money.

  • (cs) in reply to David
    David:
    MrsPost:
    shenanigans:
    MrsPost:
    I call shenanigans.
    Yes?
    You sir are my hero for the day.

    (And I'm sorry to dispel the myth that there are no females on the interwebz. The 'Mrs' is true. I'm ~gasp~ female.)

    I call shenanigans.

    I think you meant:

    while(true) {

    MrsPost:
    shenanigans:
    MrsPost:
    I call shenanigans.
    Yes?
    You sir are my hero for the day.
    } ;)

  • (cs) in reply to operagost
    operagost:
    Noooo... it means that the telecom has breached the contract and must correct the problem or refund charges, lost revenue, and possibly punitive damages.
    Depends on the terms of the contract, which we don't know. They may only guarantee the linespeed during certain periods, or may have other clauses that allow them to legally wrangle round breach of contract.

    Although if they did, the real WTF would be signing that contract ;)

  • (cs) in reply to Dr. Z
    Dr. Z:
    The article states "500kb/s"

    kb can mean anything, because it's certainly not "kilobits" (Kb) or "Kilobytes" (KB).

    The only thing worse than someone who is pedantic is someone who is pedantic and wrong.
  • n00barmy (unregistered) in reply to Ollie Jones
    Ollie Jones:
    I guess ice doesn't ground out signals as well as liquid water.

    I think you mean liquid ice.

  • alex (unregistered)

    On 500kb. This man just looked at the network meter and noticed momentary value, I think. No one will do statistical research then critical line is down.

  • alex (unregistered)

    Here is a cabling solution from my ISP.

    [image]

  • OldTechSupport (unregistered) in reply to Loren Pechtel
    Loren Pechtel:
    He's actually doing pretty well by my experience. Where I grew up pushing data over phone wires became hard every time it rained. As this was a desert this wasn't very often. Getting the problems solved was impossible.

    And we had a ring trip for several months that was finally diagnosed as a wire running too close to a tree branch: when it was windy enough, and damp enough, the branch would touch the wire where the insulation had worn off and ground it out, dropping the call. That was kind of fun, once we understood it.

    The same technician figured out why we were getting seemingly random wrong numbers: our number was (say) 742-1234. If someone started dialing 431-2348, which was not a local call, without dialing a '1' first (yes, this was a while ago!), the old, local switch would dump the call back to the NXX, with the '1' still in the buffer. The 234 would then complete OUR number, and the 8 would be dropped. So the phone would ring, we'd answer, it would be a wrong number, and when we'd ask what number they were calling, it would bear no apparent resemblance to ours. It wasn't until I started keeping a log, noticed the embedded "1234", and asked this old-timer tech that someone explained it. I used it as entertainment for friends for years -- "I can dial a different number and make your phone ring" -- until they replaced the switch.

  • Orbstart (unregistered) in reply to captzimmo
    captzimmo:
    Lucus:
    Best. Comment. Ever.

    Reminds me of the old joke: Q: Why can't the British make computers? A: Because they could never figure out how to make them leak oil.

    And this one from a bumper sticker in a race engine shop: "Long live Lucas, father of the intermittent windshield wiper"

    Why do the English drink warm beer? Because they have tastebuds that work

    FTFY.

    Knock the car industry by all means, don't knock the booze

  • Shanya Almafeta (unregistered)

    The fog comes
    on little cat feet.
    It sits looking
    over harbor and city
    stealin ur pakkits and then moves on.

  • (cs) in reply to Bappi
    Bappi:
    Lego:
    beh:
    The amazing WTF is that he managed it at 500 kilobits per second.
    Data compression?
    Nah, they just used a smaller font.

    Golden.

  • kastein is an anal retentive faggot (unregistered) in reply to Code Dependent

    check out kasteins QRZ photo...where he is in the act of putting on his kneepads...amusing.

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