On 2012-10-01 08:26, caf4926 wrote:
> UK speeds still suck
> I’m on what they call ADSL MAX, described as 8Meg, it’s all very
> misleading for the masses.
Sucks? Mine is 1M and I can’t get more in my zone, the telco says. Then mine what, sucks 10 times?
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 12.1 x86_64 “Asparagus” at Telcontar)
On 2012-10-01 05:36, Will Honea wrote:
> Carlos E. R. wrote:
>
>> Ah. Well, language problem here, because I meant oxidation of any metal,
>> thinking specially of the copper cables. The oxidized connections form
>> semiconductor junctions in both directions, ie, non linear connections
>> that distort and degrade signals. Low level signals are very much affected
>> (which is why for high quality work they use gold plated contacts).
>
> In areas constructed in the late 1960 thru the late 1970 time frame we have
> an even worse scenario: aluminum wiring.
Why is it worse? :-?
> The good thing that comes from
> this is that the local telco is replacing much of the infrastructure with
> fiber optics - but I’ll be long gone before they get it all done ;-(
Here you can request it.
The cable complay has fibre to the block, I think, then it is coaxial to the home. The
traditional telco is copper pair, fiber on request to the home (maybe not all cities).
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 12.1 x86_64 “Asparagus” at Telcontar)
Indeed, rust is specific. Try “oxide(s)”, or more generally speaking “corrosion”. 
consused wrote:
> robin_listas;2492235 Wrote:
>> On 2012-10-01 04:36, jdcart15 wrote:
>>> Rust is the oxidation of iron. It requires oxygen to form. Water,
>> with
>>> its associated ions, whatever they may be, essentially serves as a
>>> catalyst to the oxidation process.
>> Ah. Well, language problem here, because I meant oxidation of any
>> metal, thinking specially of
>> the copper cables.
> Indeed, rust is specific. Try “oxide(s)”, or more generally speaking
> “corrosion”. 
Or in the case of copper ‘patina’. And more generally, ‘tarnish’.
120 Mbit down / 12 Mbit up. And getting that most of the time. It would even better if up was the same as down, or at least half of it.
:D. Yes, in UK up to 8Mb/sec (megabits) was the standard ISP ADSL offering, once limited by the equipment in BT’s Telephone Exchanges, and as always, reducing speed as you get further away from the Exchange. That’s still the case in remote rural areas, today. Also the service depends on the quality of the [old] copper wiring from the Exchange to one’s home. ISP’s offering speeds above 8 had to invest in better and more expensive equipment in BT’s Exchange for those lines.
However the low density of population in remote rural areas leads to a lack of investment by ISP’s in equipment needed for the higher speeds (>8Mb/sec). I spent some time this year in such an area where around 4 Mb/sec (wired or wireless) was max achievable. Cable is usually unavailable in those areas. Leaving Satellite for higher speeds, but I know little about that. ISP’s also do load balancing everywhere for peak periods, owing to multimedia streaming (TV etc) and peer to peer downloading especially on unlimited monthly allowances.
Never heard anyone say ‘My copper cable has a rather nice patina’ or ‘Those terminals are badly tarnished’. They might though for household or decorative pieces.
We were thrilled when we recently got upgraded to 1.2Mbs down with 750Kbs up. It used to be much slower, but speed is the least of our issues here.
The issue here is uptime. We live about 300 feet from the ocean, on the upwind side of a small island, so everything here is continually being coated with salt spray. To make matters worse the local telco techs have had a long history of splicing wires by bypassing junction blocks and/or crimped splicing techniques and simply twisting wire ends together with pliers (or by hand) and then loosely applying a single layer of black plastic electrical tape.
The corrosion problem here is so great that we have to call a tech every six months or so and have them come out to check all the connections from the house to the CO, because the noise on the line is so great that voice (POTS) communication is impossible and DSL is problematic due to the high signal to noise ratios. Even our service entrance wire has had to be replaced three times in seven years.
It’s not bad when the weather is dry, usually during the Winter and Spring, because the salt just builds up on the wires with no effect on our service. But, as soon as it rains and the salt becomes moist all bets are off. Even a humid day can cause problems. The corrosion can leave us without voice or DSL for a week or so until the techs work their way down the island to us.
The same corrosion affects our electric service (even though those wires are properly spliced), but that’s not so bad since the power company usually responds to re-splice the wires within a couple of hours when the power goes out. I recently started leaving a volt meter connected to an outlet full time, and now I call them whenever the voltage gets to less than 70% of normal for more than a few minutes.
Oh… then there’s the effect of all that copper wire out on all those poles with no lightning diverters. The last time the line got hit we lost 11 surge protectors, a microwave oven, our DSL modem and two phones. It happens about every two or three years.
So, if you think your service is a little slower than you’d like, be grateful if you have service with better than our 75% uptime.
On 2012-10-01 18:16, caprus wrote:
…
> So, if you think your service is a little slower than you’d like, be
> grateful if you have service with better than our 75% uptime.
Yeah
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 12.1 x86_64 “Asparagus” at Telcontar)
Am 01.10.2012 21:13, schrieb Carlos E. R.:
> On 2012-10-01 18:16, caprus wrote:
>
> …
>
>> So, if you think your service is a little slower than you’d like, be
>> grateful if you have service with better than our 75% uptime.
>
> Yeah
>
I start to appreciate my ISP (which I nearly canceled because of 3 or 4
downtimes last year).
–
PC: oS 12.2 x86_64 | i7-2600@3.40GHz | 16GB | KDE 4.8.4 | GeForce GT 420
ThinkPad E320: oS 12.2 x86_64 | i3@2.30GHz | 8GB | KDE 4.9.1 | HD 3000
eCAFE 800: oS 12.2 i586 | AMD Geode LX 800@500MHz | 512MB | KDE 3.5.10
Mine at home:
I have only a slow one at home compared to others here, never upgraded
the contract during the last years.
http://www.speedtest.net/result/2215125550.png
–
PC: oS 12.2 x86_64 | i7-2600@3.40GHz | 16GB | KDE 4.8.5 | GeForce GT 420
ThinkPad E320: oS 12.2 x86_64 | i3@2.30GHz | 8GB | KDE 4.9.1 | HD 3000
eCAFE 800: oS 12.2 i586 | AMD Geode LX 800@500MHz | 512MB | KDE 3.5.10
My speed test results are,
Downloadspeed:1.787Mbps
Uploadspeed:0.837Mbps
I performed my internet speed test here Scanmyspeed.com .
Is this good or not?
On 10/18/2012 01:26 AM, srima wrote:
>
> My speed test results are,
> Downloadspeed:1.787Mbps
> Uploadspeed:0.837Mbps
> I performed my internet speed test here ‘Scanmyspeed.com’
> (http://www.scanmyspeed.com/) .
> Is this good or not?
What performance are you paying for?
I am not sure that scanmyspeed.com is reporting correct info. My line is rated
at 7 Mbps download with higher bursts and my TX is 1 Mbps. Running with a wired
connection, I go the following:
www.speedtest.net: RX 14.00 Mbps, TX 1.06 Mbps
www.scanmyspeed.com: RX 7.57 Mbps, TX 1.68 Mbps
The RX speeds look OK, but I do not believe the scanmyspeed upload value.It is
too high.
On Mon, 01 Oct 2012 10:03:09 GMT, “Carlos E. R.”
<robin_listas@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:
>On 2012-10-01 05:36, Will Honea wrote:
>> Carlos E. R. wrote:
>>
>>> Ah. Well, language problem here, because I meant oxidation of any metal,
>>> thinking specially of the copper cables. The oxidized connections form
>>> semiconductor junctions in both directions, ie, non linear connections
>>> that distort and degrade signals. Low level signals are very much affected
>>> (which is why for high quality work they use gold plated contacts).
>>
>> In areas constructed in the late 1960 thru the late 1970 time frame wehave
>> an even worse scenario: aluminum wiring.
>
>Why is it worse? :-?
It is a longish list of many properties. First aluminum is actually more
reactive than copper, thus oxidizes more readily. Then aluminum oxide is
a rather good insulator, and can be quite hard; whereas copper oxide is a
semiconductor, thus promotes rectification. Third aluminum cold flows,
this means you must retighten connections on a regular schedule and you
must use two tightings about one day to one week apart about once every 5
to 10 years. Finally is has higher resistance, thus you need larger
gauge wires for everything. There are some more problems but these lead
the pack. They quit using aluminum for household wiring because it caused
so many fires.
>
>> The good thing that comes from
>> this is that the local telco is replacing much of the infrastructure with
>> fiber optics - but I’ll be long gone before they get it all done ;-(
>
>Here you can request it.
>
>The cable complay has fibre to the block, I think, then it is coaxial tothe home. The
>traditional telco is copper pair, fiber on request to the home (maybe not all cities).
On 2012-10-20 21:44, josephkk wrote:
> On Mon, 01 Oct 2012 10:03:09 GMT, “Carlos E. R.” <> wrote:
>>> In areas constructed in the late 1960 thru the late 1970 time frame we have
>>> an even worse scenario: aluminum wiring.
>>
>> Why is it worse? :-?
>
> It is a longish list of many properties. First aluminum is actually more
> reactive than copper, thus oxidizes more readily. Then aluminum oxide is
> a rather good insulator, and can be quite hard; whereas copper oxide is a
> semiconductor, thus promotes rectification. Third aluminum cold flows,
> this means you must retighten connections on a regular schedule and you
> must use two tightings about one day to one week apart about once every 5
> to 10 years. Finally is has higher resistance, thus you need larger
> gauge wires for everything. There are some more problems but these lead
> the pack. They quit using aluminum for household wiring because it caused
> so many fires.
Thanks.
I don’t think I have ever seen it in use, except on heavy duty aerial
cabling. Maybe I read about advantages years ago, but I thought that
soldering would be impossible for electronics usage.
Now that I think… my house was wired on that time period, and when I
replaced some cables recently I noticed that the metal was white.
However, I think it is tinned copper: I scrapped the surface and,
although I don’t see it well it seems copper.
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 12.1 x86_64 “Asparagus” at Telcontar)
On Sat, 20 Oct 2012 23:18:06 GMT, “Carlos E. R.”
<robin_listas@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:
>On 2012-10-20 21:44, josephkk wrote:
>> On Mon, 01 Oct 2012 10:03:09 GMT, “Carlos E. R.” <> wrote:
>
>>>> In areas constructed in the late 1960 thru the late 1970 time frame we have
>>>> an even worse scenario: aluminum wiring.
>>>
>>> Why is it worse? :-?
>>
>> It is a longish list of many properties. First aluminum is actually more
>> reactive than copper, thus oxidizes more readily. Then aluminum oxideis
>> a rather good insulator, and can be quite hard; whereas copper oxide is a
>> semiconductor, thus promotes rectification. Third aluminum cold flows,
>> this means you must retighten connections on a regular schedule and you
>> must use two tightings about one day to one week apart about once every 5
>> to 10 years. Finally is has higher resistance, thus you need larger
>> gauge wires for everything. There are some more problems but these lead
>> the pack. They quit using aluminum for household wiring because it caused
>> so many fires.
>
>Thanks.
>
>I don’t think I have ever seen it in use, except on heavy duty aerial
>cabling. Maybe I read about advantages years ago, but I thought that
>soldering would be impossible for electronics usage.
ACSR (aluminum conductor steel reinforcement) has been standard for long
haul transmission and high voltage distribution for many decades. They
don’t solder it, the utilities use special clamps and special crimps, some
explosively driven.
>
>Now that I think… my house was wired on that time period, and when I
>replaced some cables recently I noticed that the metal was white.
>However, I think it is tinned copper: I scrapped the surface and,
>although I don’t see it well it seems copper.
I’ll bet it is aluminum, tinned copper is unheard of for household
wiring.
?-|
On 2012-10-27 01:56, josephkk wrote:
> On Sat, 20 Oct 2012 23:18:06 GMT, “Carlos E. R.” <> wrote:
>> Now that I think… my house was wired on that time period, and when I
>> replaced some cables recently I noticed that the metal was white.
>> However, I think it is tinned copper: I scrapped the surface and,
>> although I don’t see it well it seems copper.
>
> I’ll bet it is aluminum, tinned copper is unheard of for household
> wiring.
>
> ?-|
Different countries
Those cables have a plastic sleeve, then a cotton sleeve coated in something black that stands
water. And they are brittle, specially the cotton sleeve breaks out simply by handling it, and it
stains my hands and the walls in black. That’s why I had to replace most of it, the sleeves break
and the cabling short circuits or leaks to earth, depends.
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 11.4 x86_64 “Celadon” (Minas Tirith))
Carlos E. R. wrote:
> On 2012-10-20 21:44, josephkk wrote:
>> On Mon, 01 Oct 2012 10:03:09 GMT, “Carlos E. R.” <> wrote:
>
>>>> In areas constructed in the late 1960 thru the late 1970 time frame
>>>> we have an even worse scenario: aluminum wiring.
>>>
>>> Why is it worse? :-?
>>
>> It is a longish list of many properties. First aluminum is actually
>> more
>> reactive than copper, thus oxidizes more readily. Then aluminum
>> oxide is a rather good insulator, and can be quite hard; whereas
>> copper oxide is a
>> semiconductor, thus promotes rectification. Third aluminum cold
>> flows, this means you must retighten connections on a regular
>> schedule and you must use two tightings about one day to one week
>> apart about once every 5
>> to 10 years. Finally is has higher resistance, thus you need larger
>> gauge wires for everything. There are some more problems but these
>> lead
>> the pack. They quit using aluminum for household wiring because it
>> caused so many fires.
>
> Thanks.
>
> I don’t think I have ever seen it in use, except on heavy duty aerial
> cabling. Maybe I read about advantages years ago, but I thought that
> soldering would be impossible for electronics usage.
>
> Now that I think… my house was wired on that time period, and when I
> replaced some cables recently I noticed that the metal was white.
> However, I think it is tinned copper: I scrapped the surface and,
> although I don’t see it well it seems copper.
>
>
Your recommendation to tighten wires is the best way to prevent fires
and intermittant electrial problems short of replacing all the wiring.
Many houses were built with alumium wiring in the past but its been
outlawed now. Its especially important to tighten conections in the main
distribution panel but don’t forget all the recepticals also.
–
openSUSE 12.2(Linux 3.4.11-2.16-desktop x86_64)|
KDE 4.9.2 “release 511”|Intel core2duo 2.5 MHZ,|8GB DDR3|GeForce
8400GS(NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-304.60)
We thought our internet was slow before, but then Hurricane Sandy came through here on Thursday with 8.5" of rain and winds of just under 130mph. It’s made us even more humble. Power just came back on today, but the phone lines are still in the bush… in pieces. All but one of the phone company bucket trucks on the island are out for repair, so now we have to depend on our cell phone as a hot spot. The problem is that the two nearest cell towers had all their antennas blow over (One neighbor claims there’s great reception if he stands at the base of one of those towers), so we have to connect to a tower about ten miles away. Download 0.23Mb/s, Up is 0.05Mb/s and latency is 193ms. Such is life on a tropical island.
I guess I’ll hold off on using zypper for a while.