ISP change from Pipex to TalkTalk
Moderator: RichardW
I've only ever been with Pipex for Broadband and I've always found the link to be reliable.
I've never had to call on them for support which I suppose is a testament in itself.
At £14.99 for broadband + phone + line rental I'm prepared to put up with less reliability if that's how it turns out.
If I stayed as I am now with Pipex and BT line rental it would cost me over £35 a month.
I've never had to call on them for support which I suppose is a testament in itself.
At £14.99 for broadband + phone + line rental I'm prepared to put up with less reliability if that's how it turns out.
If I stayed as I am now with Pipex and BT line rental it would cost me over £35 a month.
Time for an update on my recent ISP move from Pipex to Tiscali.
I ordered Tiscali Broadband & Phone @ £14.99 on March 19th and was connected last Tuesday April 8th, so the setup time was quite reasonable.
I can connect at 8 Mbits using my existing Conexant AccessRunner USB modem and the typical download rate is 2.2 Mbits which is twice what I used to have, so I'm quite happy with that.
My email comes through FreeServe/Orange so I can't comment on the Tiscali email service.
A Siemens Gigaset SE587 wireless Ethernet router arrived April 9th but I haven't used this yet.
One strange problem I had initially was that I could connect to Tiscali.com but not to Tiscali.co.uk, nor indeed to this forum. I phoned technical support in India at 5p per minute who correctly diagnosed that my firewall was responsible. I use ZoneAlarm 2.1.25 and Win98 SE. I now find I have to set the security level to medium rather than high. The highest setting is stealth mode which "hides all ports not in use by a program". It seems odd that I was able to use the highest mode with Pipex but not with Tiscali.
It's early days yet but from what I've seen so far I'm quite pleased with it.
I ordered Tiscali Broadband & Phone @ £14.99 on March 19th and was connected last Tuesday April 8th, so the setup time was quite reasonable.
I can connect at 8 Mbits using my existing Conexant AccessRunner USB modem and the typical download rate is 2.2 Mbits which is twice what I used to have, so I'm quite happy with that.
My email comes through FreeServe/Orange so I can't comment on the Tiscali email service.
A Siemens Gigaset SE587 wireless Ethernet router arrived April 9th but I haven't used this yet.
One strange problem I had initially was that I could connect to Tiscali.com but not to Tiscali.co.uk, nor indeed to this forum. I phoned technical support in India at 5p per minute who correctly diagnosed that my firewall was responsible. I use ZoneAlarm 2.1.25 and Win98 SE. I now find I have to set the security level to medium rather than high. The highest setting is stealth mode which "hides all ports not in use by a program". It seems odd that I was able to use the highest mode with Pipex but not with Tiscali.
It's early days yet but from what I've seen so far I'm quite pleased with it.
- myglaren
- Forum Admin Team
- Posts: 25480
- Joined: 02 Mar 2008, 13:30
- Location: Washington
- My Cars: Mazda 6
Ooops.
Previously:
2009 Honda Civic :(
C5, C5, Xantia, BX, GS, Visa.
R4, R11TXE, R14, R30TX - x 4922
If you do uninstall it - and I would go along with that suggestion, install the router while it is absent and get it all operating to your satisfaction, then reinstall ZA, or give Sygate a trial.
The router should give you an extra layer of protection but if you are having connection difficulties it is simpler to eliminate one possible cause and concentrate on the other.
The router should give you an extra layer of protection but if you are having connection difficulties it is simpler to eliminate one possible cause and concentrate on the other.
I tried reinstalling Zone Alarm but it made no difference. Besides, even if I do get it to work with ZA in stealth mode, it still will not explain why it works with some ISPs and not others.
I will not be using the supplied router because it is Ethernet and my laptop does not have a native Ethernet connection.
On the phone side of things, it is now much more difficult to connect using Orange 56k dialup which I also sometimes use as a backup. Incidentally, ZoneAlarm stealth mode works ok when I connect using Orange dialup.
As I say everything works fine with ZA in medium security mode. I am just curious as to why stealth mode works with some ISPs but not others.
I will not be using the supplied router because it is Ethernet and my laptop does not have a native Ethernet connection.
On the phone side of things, it is now much more difficult to connect using Orange 56k dialup which I also sometimes use as a backup. Incidentally, ZoneAlarm stealth mode works ok when I connect using Orange dialup.
As I say everything works fine with ZA in medium security mode. I am just curious as to why stealth mode works with some ISPs but not others.
-
- Posts: 4809
- Joined: 11 Jun 2007, 16:17
- Location: Christchurch, Dorset. UK
- My Cars: 2005 C5restyle 1.6HDI 16v 110hp VTR Estate
2008 C5 X7 1.6HDI VTR+ Saloon - x 232
Re-installing is just that, the important steps are to delete all traces of the last install first.ellevie wrote:I tried reinstalling Zone Alarm but it made no difference. Besides, even if I do get it to work with ZA in stealth mode, it still will not explain why it works with some ISPs and not others.
If you'd like to know why Tiscali creates this problem, you'd have do a little digging I'm afraid. ISP's, IMO, are a law unto themselves though you might get lucky and find a knowledgeable and sympathetic support contact. Otherwise you'll need to log and analyse the packets yourself. Does ZA create logs? If not, you can install a packet sniffer but it requires you to decipher the packets.
- myglaren
- Forum Admin Team
- Posts: 25480
- Joined: 02 Mar 2008, 13:30
- Location: Washington
- My Cars: Mazda 6
Ooops.
Previously:
2009 Honda Civic :(
C5, C5, Xantia, BX, GS, Visa.
R4, R11TXE, R14, R30TX - x 4922
Re: Phorm 'illegal' says FIPR
A new move to spike Phorm's guns.ellevie wrote:Phorm 'illegal' says Foundation for Information Policy Research (FIPR)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7301379.stm
Another nail in the coffin !
Antiphorm
- myglaren
- Forum Admin Team
- Posts: 25480
- Joined: 02 Mar 2008, 13:30
- Location: Washington
- My Cars: Mazda 6
Ooops.
Previously:
2009 Honda Civic :(
C5, C5, Xantia, BX, GS, Visa.
R4, R11TXE, R14, R30TX - x 4922
It is a reasonable assumption that it would increase traffic for a while at least, until someone killed one or the other system.ellevie wrote:Interesting, but if everybody were to do this, wouldn't this just needlessly clog up the internet ?The Register wrote:Coding activists have developed an application designed to confound Phorm's controversial behaviour-tracking software by simulating random web-browsing.
More worrying is this piece of nastiness revealed by Slashdot
This isn't really the place for it but as the OP has been sorted there isn't really a better place for it.
Despite the seriousness of the topic the comments are quite amusing.