Bell's Banter 2021

[Gerard C]

Yes it does rotate. And you manage to have the race number accordingly. Well done, she looks fine with the '44 behind. I remember the original settings give no or very few toe in/out at front. Maestro… music!

[Tel 911S]

Got a new scam call today .
About loft insulation .
Seemed dodgy so did not listen , but checked it up afterwards and apparently they give a load of spiel and want to come into your house to check the loft .

Anyway , it was one that I had not heard of before .

[Peter Mallett]

I apparently bought another ipad yesterday.

[Gerard C]

I dream about a law to punish those companies taking advantage of the situation like codiv. I know it wont happen, sadly. Since two weeks or so, my internet stream has been reduced by a lot. Very worrying because we are two at home using "télé travail". In the meanwhile, my supplier is pushing hard to move my connection to a fiber one. Of course, there's no rapport between the two things… Let's bring back the good old corporal punishment and we'll see if a good spanking can open some ears!

[Gerard C]

Peter I think its the right time for you to open a Mac'Mallett store!

[delta]

Originally Posted by GORDON STREETER

Ok mate, I'll try and get some house points of off Sue Presumably it's in the morning ? I'll bring a spare coil

Your on the Delta Motor Sport list Gordon "Top Race Car engineer "

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

I dream about a law to punish those companies taking advantage of the situation like codiv. I know it wont happen, sadly. Since two weeks or so, my internet stream has been reduced by a lot. Very worrying because we are two at home using "télé travail". In the meanwhile, my supplier is pushing hard to move my connection to a fiber one. Of course, there's no rapport between the two things… Let's bring back the good old corporal punishment and we'll see if a good spanking can open some ears!

The vagaries between broadband providers is truly frustrating, Gerry. In my village, my provider can only supply a minimum, yes minimum, of 100 Mbps whilst in the village where my son lives the maximum that any provider can supply is 35 Mbps. As he has needed far more than that because his wife requires a constant feed as she has been teaching her class of infants from home on the internet, my son works from home now and his job requires at least two monitors running different processes, plus my granddaughter has been doing distant learning with her university and my grandson is studying at home for what should have been his age 16 exams.

So, although we only live 10.25 miles (16.5 kms) apart as the crow flies, he has had to have a second supply from another provider to keep everyone on line, whilst I have a supply that is far more than I need but the package with my provider is reasonable and he actually pays more than me! Try to make sense of that!

[GORDON STREETER]

Originally Posted by Tel 911S

Got a new scam call today .
About loft insulation .
Seemed dodgy so did not listen , but checked it up afterwards and apparently they give a load of spiel and want to come into your house to check the loft .

Anyway , it was one that I had not heard of before .

They had better not come into my house as I've been watching "The Intruder" on the TV

[justracing]

Originally Posted by GORDON STREETER

They had better not come into my house as I've been watching "The Intruder" on the TV

Gave up on that one, the acting was atrocious.

[GORDON STREETER]

Originally Posted by justracing

Gave up on that one, the acting was atrocious.

Well I say "I've" been watching it, it's my other half that is glued to it and I sometimes look up from my laptop when there is any action, apart from that you'r right it isn't the best

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by GORDON STREETER

Well I say "I've" been watching it, it's my other half that is glued to it and I sometimes look up from my laptop when there is any action, apart from that you're right it isn't the best

It's funny that you say that Gordon, as my 'TV watching' is done in a similar manner, but instead of a laptop, I'm looking up from the book or magazine that I happen to be reading. If there is anything that I personally want to actually watch I wait until I have the TV (and remote control) completely to myself otherwise Mrs V will interrupt with silly questions (why do commentators always say that?) when I'm trying to listen carefully to whatever is being said!

[Gerard C]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

So, although we only live 10.25 miles (16.5 kms) apart as the crow flies, he has had to have a second supply from another provider to keep everyone on line, whilst I have a supply that is far more than I need but the package with my provider is reasonable and he actually pays more than me! Try to make sense of that!

Obviously impossible to make sense of that, Mike! My wife uses now two screens to work, her company is almost paranoid with all the datas, normal thing IMO, but the broadband became so ridiculous that she also uses her smartphone as a support. No more video available!

What is frustrating here is that we are very much encouraged by the instances to work remotely. This makes sense, good thing again. But who cares to ask to the providers to make some efforts or at least to play a fair game with the customers? Nobody! And this does not make sense.

[Mike Harte]

Gerard, over here it all depends on where you live. For reasons known only to my broadband provider, they decided to lay their own fibre cables throughout the village where I live, but they haven't done so throughout the county, or even to where my son lives.

There, all the broadband is delivered on the old copper cables, and all the different providers are reliant on just one company, our old public utility British Telecom - now privatised - to supply fibre cables so that everyone in the country can have the same type fast speeds that I can enjoy, which currently could be as high as 1,000 Mbps, if I wanted to pay for that speed.

And as BT are securely in the driving seat, so to speak, they have just come to a real sweetheart deal (others might say blackmailed, but I would never say that) with the regulator to provide a speedy supply of fibre for all their competitors, but at a price that gives them a jolly good return. And this is the problem, because BT also competes with all their provider rivals to supply individual households and businesses. And as far as I know, all fibre cables have to be routed through BT's own distribution centres, so they can and do control the market.

And they set their own rules. For example, when I moved in to my present property, my broadband provider installed all the cabling into my place on a Saturday morning, and set up all the equipment. However, they then said that they would be back on the Monday morning to complete the installation because BT wouldn't allow them to access their property to actually "wire" me into the system.

It's not a healthy situation.

[Gerard C]

Comparable situation here. Instead of BT, we have Orange and their monopoly inherited from PTT. Under the gov' pressure, they had to share with other operators like Bouygues, Free and SFR but when I asked to check my connexion (I'm with Free ATM) the very competent engineer whispered that Orange put some "knots" in the cabling slowing or reducing the broadband, copper wires or fiber, to offer better performance than the competitors.
The worse is that this kind of unfair trading works, at least on people working remotely, next month I'll move from Free to Orange to keep acceptable working conditions. Unfair but efficient. As you say and I quite agree, not healthy. Disgusting.

[Gerard C]

And some years ago, we had the same situation with the cell phones network, was only Orange way before Bouygues or SFR to be allowed to have antennas. Slowly improving now.

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

And some years ago, we had the same situation with the cell phones network, was only Orange way before Bouygues or SFR to be allowed to have antennas. Slowly improving now.

Cell phone service is not that bad in the UK, although there are areas that suffer from very poor to non-existent coverage. This was a case that affected me last year when I was in the hospital, because depending on where about you were in the main building, you could have virtually no signal on certain networks. Luckily, because this is a problem around where I live, I have a dual SIM mobile connected to two different networks, and I was able to receive and make calls on one or the other number when necessary.

Similarly, when I moved to my present house, I couldn't get a decent signal from my then network even though I had a really good signal in my previous place, although I had only moved about 350 metres as the crow flies. And if I stand with my back against the left hand wall of the property, I can actually see the antenna for that network, placed next to the antenna of the network that I changed to. So, it's not only important how near you are to the mast, but possibly more crucial what equipment they have in the mast.

The silly thing about it was that the network refused to release me from my contract even though they had sent an engineer out to verify that the signal was insufficient to be of proper use, and they spent six months digging their heels in, and it took a decision in my favour from the Ombudsman to make them give in, release me from the contract and refund all the monthly fees from the time that I had moved.

They were stupid because if they had agreed right from the off, then I would have had no compunction about going back to them when and if I moved again to an area where I could get a good signal. Now, however, I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole, and wouldn't advise anyone else to either.

The major problem in the UK is that although there are many mobile phone providers, there are only 4, I think, networks that broadcast the signals, and two of them have gone into an antenna sharing arrangement, providing the services for all the providers. So you have to always check who's who to see which network a service is on.

[john ruston]

We need some 2 inch Pre war SU’s
Can’t find them anywhere!!!

[GORDON STREETER]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

Cell phone service is not that bad in the UK, although there are areas that suffer from very poor to non-existent coverage.

Where we live in the UK there is virtually no mobile signal coverage as our house is in a valley. I am with EE for my mobile but I found that I can make and receive calls on it via my BT internet connection that doesn't cost me anymore money.

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by GORDON STREETER

Where we live in the UK there is virtually no mobile signal coverage as our house is in a valley. I am with EE for my mobile but I found that I can make and receive calls on it via my BT internet connection that doesn't cost me anymore money.

Probably because BT is on the EE network, Gordon.

[GORDON STREETER]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

Probably because BT is on the EE network, Gordon.

I think is something you can do with a mobile on different providers, I looked into the phones menu and found there was a part saying that it could be connect for sending and receiving calls and messages simply by ticking a box.

[Gerard C]

Originally Posted by john ruston

We need some 2 inch Pre war SU’s
Can’t find them anywhere!!!

Hi John. No guarantee, but a friend asks about your carbs: HD6, HS6, H6, engine capacity (may be displacement is better?) and diameter (2" right?). Engine type too. I'm not on commission but glad to help if possible.

[zefarelly]

Originally Posted by john ruston

We need some 2 inch Pre war SU’s
Can’t find them anywhere!!!

Which war ? Have asked a few people, you never know.

There's a pair of HS8 on the online jumble sale, presume they're no good being 50's/60's?

[Gerard C]

We need some 2 inch Pre war SU’s Do you have a type in mind? Or a correspondance? How many, two or three?

[GORDON STREETER]

Just a few from Brands today,he's been a busy boy !

[John Elwin]

Originally Posted by GORDON STREETER

Just a few from Brands today,he's been a busy boy !
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I love that Alfa! I spent the day persuading mine to pass it's CT...